Manchester United legend Van Nistelrooy has given another dimension to his famous rivalry with Arsenal during his time at the club.
Ruud van Nistelrooy says Manchester United’s rivalry with Arsenal became ‘personal’ during the infamous ‘Battle of Old Trafford’ in 2003.
The striker was involved in all the drama as he missed a late penalty to win the game after a clash with Patrick Viera, which saw the Gunners captain sent off.
Viera was given his marching orders for kicking out at Van Nistelrooy but Arsenal’s players were furious with the decision and the United striker.
The Gunners were even more incensed when the home side were awarded a penalty in the closing stages following a foul from Martin Keown on Diego Forlan.
Van Nistelrooy stepped up to take the spot-kick but his effort came crashing off the bar and back into play, with the game finishing 0-0 as a result.
The Dutchman reflected on a famous rivalry and gave another insight to it.
“That afternoon ignited sort of the… that was more personal towards me I recall,” the Dutchman told the official UTD Podcast.”
“That day and that afternoon, with the penalty miss and the red card and after the game incidents. It made it all go ballistic a little bit.”
Following his miss, the striker was taunted by Keown – who jumped up behind him at the full-time whistle.
“It was a great image of him flying above me but the thing is that he is actually the nicest man you’ll meet outside a football pitch,” Van Nistelrooy insisted.
“When things gets fired up and pressure is on, you’re capable of doing things that don’t look the best when you look back on it. It was the same for me, for him and for everybody that played I guess.”
The 44-year-old also said he was more motivated by his rivalry with Arsenal striker Thierry Henry. The two frontmen regularly competed for the Premier League Golden Boot award, which Van Nistelrooy won in the 2002-2003 season.
“I just wanted to be the top scorer in the league and of course it was… of course, Thierry was always there, high in the goalscoring in the league” he added.
“I checked if he scored and how things were going, yes I did, definitely. That rivalry pushes you to perform.”
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