Ruud van Nistelrooy Always looking to improve: "I want to build on this"
"It was hit very badly," said Ruud van Nistelrooy when explaining his missed penalty kick in last night's Champions League match. However, the Dutch striker has only one thing in mind now: Real Madrid's next match against Celta Vigo. He has scored seven times in twelve matches so far this season, and while pleased with his scoring average, he wants to score more goals while wearing the White shirt.
It´s been two months since you joined Real Madrid. How have you settled in?
It´s been good. It’s been going quickly.Moving to a new country, changing houses. A lot changed with the baby of course. I’ve started a new career here. It’s a new step that I have really enjoyed so far. We’ve settled in well and things are returning to normal.
Seven goals in twelve games is a good record.
Yeah, it’s OK. We always look to improve, and that’s always important. I want to build on this and continue. Hopefully we can make it a good season.
Talk us through last night’s penalty.
I felt good taking it. I knew exactly where I wanted to put it, and looking back on it, I slipped a little bit. It obviously wasn’t hit well. It was hit very badly. When you see it missing the target, it’s a blow for the rest of the evening, but thank God we won the game in the end, which helps forget about it.
Will you still keep taking the penalty kicks?
Well, if the manager wants me to take them, I will.
Looking back at the game, it was a strange own goal. What was your take on it?
I was thinking ‘What’s happening here?’ I just saw it going in. It was a weird way to win a game. We could have scored a couple more, but it must have been a disaster for [Nicolita].
They say that the making of champions is that they can play badly but still win games. That can describe the game against Nastic, which wasn’t particularly pretty, nor was last night’s match. But it’s important to keep getting these victories, isn’t it?
That’s correct. I think it’s important when we’re not playing particularly well that we have something that will make us win games. And that’s what we’ve had over the last two games where we didn’t really play well but did enough to win it. We also defend a lot and don’t give a lot away, allowing us to win a game with one goal like yesterday. We’re always looking to improve and play well. That’s the ideal situation. Sometimes it has to go like it did yesterday, which is also positive.
Also positive is qualifying with two matches to play.
Yeah, it’s great. Now we can focus on winning the last two in order to finish first in the group and to continue our good run. We’ve now won four games in a row, and that’s great.
It’s Celta Vigo on Sunday. Will they be a tough opponent?
Yes, very tough. We have to play well to beat them and it’s going to be a very tough game. It’s a good challenge.
There’s a lot of talk about Ruud and Ronaldo playing together up front. Would you like to try?
Sure. Why not? I think whatever can help the team is most important. We’ll see what happens in that sense.
Do you think it can work?
Yeah, I don’t see why not. The thing is, we have so many great players and you can only play eleven. It’s amazing if you look at the bench. The quality trickles throughout the squad. We have to be at our best, but we’ll see what happens.
Interview by Dan Thomas
Photos by Realmadrid.com
posted by khalidmrrakchi@hotmail.com @ 8:47 PM
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