Van Nistelrooy lifts the lid on his relationship with Ronaldo

Van Nistelrooy has opened up again on his relationship with former Manchester United and Real Madrid teammate Ronaldo.

Despite admitting to a few intense moments with Cristiano Ronaldo, Ruud van Nistelrooy insists he had a good relationship with the Portuguese.

Ronaldo and Van Nistelrooy first became teammates in 2003 at Manchester United. The pair had a three-year spell together at Old Trafford and won the FA Cup and EFL Cup.

Ronaldo later reunited with Van Nistelrooy at Real Madrid for one season upon completing a then-world record €94m transfer in 2009.

But their relationship hasn’t always been smooth sailing. There rumors of a transfer ground bust-up, and Rio Ferdinand revealed he once ‘smashed’ Van Nistelrooy over his treatment of CR7.

🗣| Ruud van Nistelrooy on the Cristiano Ronaldo training incident:

“I was in the wrong, I immediately apologised to Cristiano in the changing rooms. I was frustrated but when I look back on I regret it.” pic.twitter.com/SNpSpm626T

— TeamCRonaldo. (@TeamCRonaldo) March 23, 2021

“There’s no secret about how things go on the training ground or in a match between players,” said Van Nistelrooy on the UTD Podcast.

“We tried to get the best out of each other.

“When I joined [United] and I didn’t hold up the ball as much as the other players and the manager liked, they would tell me off and tell me to keep the ball, chest it, be strong and allow the team to relieve a bit of pressure.”

“I had the same with Cristiano. It took a long time in the beginning to make his game effective.

“A lot of dribbles, a lot of scissors, and I was making runs for crosses and passes, I had a couple of moments with him where it got fired up, that’s no secret.”

“But in the general relationship between us, we were always fine because you shake hands and move on. Later in Madrid, when we were teammates again, the relationship was good.”

“So, it’s a story [that became bigger than it should have]. With Cristiano, it was a discussion about what we just said.

“Making earlier decisions from my part to him, nothing more, nothing less, and that’s it.”