"I made that decision too quickly" - Ruud van Nistelrooy claims leaving Real Madrid was the 'biggest mistake' of his career

Ruud van Nistelrooy has revealed that his decision to leave Real Madrid was the biggest mistake of his life. He claimed that it was solely based on the FIFA World Cup at the end of that season.

Real Madrid signed Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Kaka in the summer of 2009, which saw Nistelrooy fall down the pecking order. He wanted to play regularly and thus moved to Hamburg in the Bundesliga.

Speaking in the new episode of The Overlap with Gary Neville, Nistelrooy claimed that his biggest mistake in his career was leaving Real Madrid. He said:

“Pellegrini was our coach and he signed Karim Benzema, Kaká and [Cristiano] Ronaldo. There was no place for me anymore. I accepted it, also because I was 33 years old. I wanted to go to the World Cup in 2010, so I decided to go to Hamburg. I made that decision too quickly. If I look back, I shouldn't have left Madrid, it was the biggest mistake of my career. Also, it was not the right time for my family to leave either."

Ruud van Nistelrooy on Sir Alex Ferguson fight

Ruud van Nistelrooy has revealed that he has patched things up with Sir Alex Ferguson. He claims that he has spoken with the legendary manager after leaving Manchester United and stated that all issues were because of a League Cup final in Cardiff.

He said:

"It was me who took the first step to make it okay again. I called him. A few times a year I felt bad about what I had done to him and the names I called him when he kept me on the bench the entire match in the League Cup final in Cardiff. In a blind rage I shouted at him."

Nistelrooy added:

"I called him something. I called him a number of things in a blind rage. Cocky and stubborn as I was, I couldn't snap out of that for some time after. That's how it all crashed. It was just really disrespectful, there were lots of other people there. It wasn't all that outrageous in terms of words but it was completely out of order. Not done. I wasn't proud of it, still am not."

Ruud van Nistelrooy is currently the manager of PSV, who are third in Eredivisie.