Arsenal’s Invincibles survived a last-minute scare when Ruud van Nistelrooy crashed his penalty off the crossbar before an infamous brawl with rival Martin Keown
Ruud van Nistelrooy says he came to terms immediately with helping create the Invincibles – but he’s happier he destroyed them.
Leicester City’s boss faces Arsenal on Saturday with memories of two titanic clashes with the Gunners still fresh in the mind. It might now be 22 years ago, but the iconic battle at Old Trafford was one of the high points of Arsene Wenger ’s time in charge as his side went 38 matches without losing a game.
They only did so because the Dutch ace, then playing for Manchester United, cracked an injury-time penalty against the crossbar, sparking wild scenes – not least from defender Martin Keown who celebrated the goalless draw in the striker’s face.
But the forward took his revenge one season later when he succeeded from the spot-kick as Sir Alex Ferguson ’s men ended the visitors 49-game unbeaten streak. Van Nistelrooy said: “At the time, I was gutted I missed the penalty. For me, that was the big thing.
“It was my responsibility to win the game late on for my team. I didn’t do that. Other than that, I wasn’t really bothered about what happened afterwards. I was only focused on performing and helping Man Utd as a striker, winning trophies.
“One year later, there was another penalty moment. For me, that’s what it’s about. You miss one. You take one. It was the same again. Nil-nil. It was late again. That’s what it’s about. You do it – and score.”
Asked whether that compensated for missing the first one, he replied: “No, because I needed my team to win. It’s about that. I don’t look at it being so big, like the public and the media do.
“The media want to create stories. And it has to be done like that because it’s part of the game. As a player, you want to score – and win. But of course, you can see in my emotion after the second one that it meant a lot to me.”
Van Nistelrooy said he had never crossed paths with Keown after football. Asked what he would say to the former England international, the Foxes’ chief responded: “Hello.” But he said that those close tussles were a part of football and that he relished those occasions, despite the second encounter being dubbed ‘Pizzagate’ after food was thrown in the players’ tunnel after the final whistle.
He added: “ Football needs those rivalries. If you look at the Merseyside derby, Barcelona / Real Madrid, if you look at Man Utd/ Liverpool, PSV/Ajax – they are games you want to see. I travelled to the other side of the world to see Boca Juniors against River Plate. Why? Because it’s the best thing in football.
I saw Boca/River and the next on the wish list is River/Boca in the Monumental. I have some time to do a couple more. Celtic/Rangers is on the list. It’s special. And you want to see it because it’s football in an extreme atmosphere.”
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