Real Madrid’s Ruud van Nistelrooy has announced his retirement from international football.
“After studying the schedule of Madrid and the Dutch team I realised playing for both would mean too tough a load for me,” said the thirty-two year old striker.
Van Nistelrooy retires with a fine record of thirty-three goals from sixty-four games. He palyed and scored at the major tournaments in 2004, 2006 and 2008.
His decision came as a surprise to new national team coach Bert van Marwijk. “I had a comprehensive conversation with Ruud and I can do nothing else but respect his decision. I regret it that I can’t use his quality and experience when I compose my squad but I wish him all the best at Real Madrid.”
Van Nistelrooy is still a top class striker whose scoring rate shows no sign of slowing down. His retirement is bad news for the Dutch, but is bad news for Real Madrid’s rivals as well.
(Source – BBC)
