Dutch Football - Spain - Primera Division - Real Madrid - Ruud van Nistelrooy: "I shall return at the highest level"

"The intellectualisation
of football has
always foundered
on a simple problem-
-the players. Doing
all your most
rewarding thinking
with your feet seems
to dull the philo-
sophical impulse.
Unless, of course,
you are Dutch.
According to legend,
Europeans played
a moronic, muscular
version of the world's
game, until Holland
proclaimed its vision
of total football in the
1974 World Cup,
and enlightenment
dawned."

From:
Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football

Ruud van Nistelrooy: "I shall return at the highest level"

Friday 14 November 2008

Ruud van Nistelrooy is determined to fight back and to return to the highest level in football.

The center forward of Real Madrid will be out for the rest of this season with a serious knee injury.

Van Nistelrooy underwent surgery at the American specialist Richard Steadman.

"Without this operation my career would have been over," the Dutchman told Spanish newspaper Marca on Friday.

Van Nistelrooy is 32, but says that he sees enough challenges to go through the long recovery period of 6 to 9 months.

"Sure I'll be out for a long time, but there were no other options. It will be testing times, but I know what awaits me and what I have to do."

Van Nistelrooy had the same knee problems in 2000 and was then also operated on by doctor Steadman. o

"I am 32 now but I want to score a lot more goals in the shirt of Madrid. There's still so many things I want to achieve. This is one of the toughest moments of my career. But there are two options: quit or fight. I have decided to fight."