Visit to Alex Ferguson makes Ruud van Nistelrooy proud | Football

“In 1999 we had a very difficult time. Then the crowd support was as strong throughout the game as it was in the first half this time. A few years later I came back as a United player and we won and now a draw. I have now had all possible results here,” said the PSV coach.

It gave Van Nistelrooy a kick that his old teacher Sir Alex Ferguson had witnessed the match. The former Manchester United manager grew up in Govan, a neighborhood near Ibrox. Afterwards there was a meeting between the PSV trainer and the famous English manager, who brought him as a young striker from the Netherlands to Old Trafford, where Van Nistelrooy pushed through to the world top and scored goals on the assembly line for five years. “Sir Alex Ferguson came down to say hello to me and Gio,” said Van Nistelrooy.

“He thought it was a great game, a fight between two football teams, who play full on the attack. He loved seeing me on the line as a coach at Ibrox. I was very proud to have him there. Fortunately, he and his family are doing well. Nice to see him again. As a player I learned an incredible amount from him. When you start working as a trainer yourself, you also look back at how the trainers you had as a player did things. He is a huge role model for me.”