A big sigh of relief at the end of the game but why did we have to sigh at the end when it was so comfortable for so long in the match? It was because once Manchester United took a 2 goal lead,...
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If you've had more clubs than Marcus Bent, or if you've just fallen out of touch with your old team-mates, a new website is aiming to put you back in touch with those lucky enough to have been on the receiving end of your exquisite range of passing over the years. Footballmates.com connects you with [.

Manchester United head into Sunday's fixture at Stamford Bridge off the back of three consecutive victories in the Premier League and an opportunity to back on level points with City.

Penalties from Javier Hernandez and Dimitar Berbatov either side of half time on transfer deadline day lead Manchester United on their way to 3 points as Manchester City were being beat at Everton thanks to a strike from former Red Devil Darron Gibson.

In the summer of 2006 Manchester United were written off. Chelsea had just won the league with ease and added one of the best players in the world for each position to their squad. Ashley Cole, Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko joined them, whilst in contrast we sold our top scorer, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and didn't replace him, and brought in Michael Carrick, who was hardly the midfield general the fans had been hoping for.

By Chris Wright

In which, during the warm-up, ESPN pundit Martin Keown is accidentally-on-purpose thwacked in the side of the head by a ball launched toward the pitchside podium by one of the Leeds players/Ruud van Nistelrooy in a Leeds shirt...

So satisfying.

Ke-owned They really were rolling back the years at Arsenal last night. Thierry Henry was back on the scoresheet and Martin Keown returned to make an imperious defensive header. Sort of. The former Gunners defender got smacked in the face as he appeared on ESPN's pitchside pre-match build-up ahead of Arsenal's FA Cup tie with [.

It's not everyday that you get to see Lionel Messi crying but Barcelona's official photographer Miguel Ruiz managed to capture this image of the Argentinean maestro during a private moment in the dressing room. This was snapped after Barcelona's defeat to Real Madrid in the 2011 Copa del Ray final, where some ugly scenes took place on the pitch.

La IFFHS (Federación Internacional de Historia y Estadísticas del Fútbol) eligió al holandés Ruud van Nistelrooy, delantero del Málaga, como el máximo goleador del mundo de la primera década del siglo (2001-2010).
El holandés sumó 86 tantos, uno más que el francés Thierry Henry, y cierra el podio el marfileño Didier Drogba, con 83.

The FIFA backed "International Federation of Football History & Statistics" (IFFHS) has named Ducth & MALAGA FC player RUUD VAN NISTELROOY the "Highest Goalscorer of the Decade" ( 2001-2010) with 86 goals. The IFFHS took into account all the goals scorered in International matches, Olympic Games, World Cup Championships, Intercontinental SuperCup games in all Confederations etc.

The FIFA backed "International Federation of Football History & Statistics" (IFFHS) has named Ducth & MALAGA FC player RUUD VAN NISTELROOY the "Highest Goalscorer of the Decade" ( 2001-2010) with 86 goals. The IFFHS took into account all the goals scorered in International matches, Olympic Games, World Cup Championships, Intercontinental SuperCup games in all Confederations etc.

Manchester United and Arsenal, from 1997 to 2005, undoubtedly engaged in the era-defining rivalry in English football. In order to be classified as a great sporting rivalry the protagonists must move beyond the feudalistic; the edge and the aggro, and be ultimately characterised by supreme competition and a bountiful supply of dramatic and heart-stopping moments.

Manchester United and Arsenal, from 1997 to 2005, undoubtedly engaged in the era-defining rivalry in English football. In order to be classified as a great sporting rivalry the protagonists must move beyond the feudalistic; the edge and the aggro, and be ultimately characterised by supreme competition and a bountiful supply of dramatic and heart-stopping moments.

Manchester United are the most successful English club of all time. Their comprehensive history includes: 12 Premier League titles, 11 FA Cups, 4 League Cups, and 3 UEFA Champions League Cups.

They are also the club to attain the most FA Cups in English football history by winning the prestigious title a total of 11 times.

Not quite sure that to make of Malaga. After beating Racing Santander tonight they are up to fifth place in La Liga, four points behind third place Valencia.

Maybe it is was money that they spent this summer that changed expectations, but I expected Malaga to be closer than 11 points behind Real Madrid after only 12 games.

What do footballers and football fans have in common with the Mona Lisa? Well I wouldn't be asking the question if the answer wasn't "something", would I now? In his book Irrational Exuberance, the...
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What do footballers and football fans have in common with the Mona Lisa? Well I wouldn't be asking the question if the answer wasn't "something", would I now? In his book Irrational Exuberance, the...
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(parts of this piece are sourced from Mohamed Moallim, whom we thank...)

In Oranje's long and exciting history there was always the role of "lone gunslinger". The killer in the box. The goal-machine... Johnny Rep, Cor van der Gijp, Kees Kist, Wiem Kieft, Patrick Kluivert, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Peter Houtman, Ruud [read more]

'Slave' Kuszczak has made his last United blunder by crossing Fergie

You would think that after all the reminiscing about Sir Alex Ferguson's 25 years, Tomasz Kuszczak would have realised the golden rule at Old Trafford. No-one crosses Fergie. Paul Ince, Jaap Stam, David Beckham, Gabriel Heinze, Ruud van Nistelrooy even Roy Keane in the end made that mistake.

Sir Alex Ferguson cumple 25 años como técnico de Manchester United el domingo, y comienza su segundo cuarto de siglo con el mismo entusiasmo con el que inició el primero.Ferguson es el entrenador más exitoso en la historia del fútbol británico con 27 títulos importantes, pero lo realmente notable es su capacidad para adaptarse a los tiempos y cambiar su forma de jugar.

As the race for spots in the knock-out round intensifies, we take a look at the crucial fixtures which are likely to decide who will be advancing and who will be exiting Europe's premier club competition.

Highly-flying Manchester City will be looking to book their advancement to the next stage when they travel to Italy on 22nd November.

Now that we've had a few days to digest our implosion against Manchester City, the only thing to do now is move on. It's confined to the history books, forget it. Nothing can be changed now. The only thing that can be done is correcting it in the future. Starting on Saturday when we kick-off at noon away to Everton.

It was a goal that ran out of superlatives as quickly as it happened. Time was motionless. To a degree it was unexpected, though there was no shock factor. The date: Saturday 22, March, 2003. Manchester United were 1-0 up against Fulham at Old Trafford, the protagonist of the piece putting them ahead from the penalty spot; his second should have won goal of the season.

A stunning late comeback from Malaga maintained their position at the top of the La Liga. The Andalusian side were briefly knocked off the top by Valencia, but they defeated Getafe 3-2 to reclaim pole position on Saturday.

Getafe led 2-1 in the 88th minute remaining courtesy of goals from Pedro Leon and substitute Nicolas Fedor Miku, either side of Ruud van Nistelrooy's equaliser.

For Fernando Torres, it will be a long way back to media approval. His move to Chelsea, for a record £50m, will lead to him always being highly scrutinised and criticised for each game where he doesn't score.

His performance against Manchester United, which included a fine goal, a number of feats of fleeting footwork and concluded a great week for him, which included two assists against Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, will be remembered for one other incident.

We have a rare midweek slate of matches in La Liga this week, with the highlight being league leaders Valencia hosting Barcelona on Wednesday. That match is just one of 10 midweek matches spread across three days.

A dramatic 4-3 opening day win against Racing Santander, thanks to two goals in the last five minutes, has been followed by successive 1-0 wins against Atletico Madrid and Sporting Gijon as Unai Emery's side moved to the top of the table.

Big spending Malaga are lining up a New Year swoop for Manchester City and Liverpool target Raul Albiol.
The Spain international, who joined Real Madrid for £13m from Valencia in 2009, has fallen out of favour at the Bernabeu and is yet to feature this season.
The 26-year-old is desperate to make Vicente Del Bosque's squad for next summer's European Championship finals in Poland and Ukraine and reports in Spain have revealed he is ready to leave the club in January to secure first-team football.

Die Champions-League ist endlich im Gang und wir können uns wieder über spannende Spiele freuen. Sponsor der diesjährigen Champions-League Saison 2011/12 ist wieder einmal Heineken, die den Vertrag mit der UEFA im Mai um weitere drei Jahre verlängert haben.

Die diesjährige Kampagne wird von den Spielern Gianluigi Buffon, Rene Adler, Patrick Vieira, Clarence Seedorf und Ruud Van Nistelrooy unterstützt, die gemeinsam in über 350 CL-Spielen aufgelaufen sind.

It's finally here, the Champions League, of course! And just a few hours before kickoff, here's a really innovative ad by Heineken, featuring some great footballers in the setting of an Opera house. The Champions League theme song itself goes off into its own opera ("Die Meister, Die Besten!

By Chris Wright

Seeing as though they're sponsoring this year's competition, this here is Heineken's new 'Legendary Football' Champions League viral campaign starring Clarence Seedorf, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Patrick Vieira, Gigi Buffon and Rene Adler and if any of it makes sense to you then you truly are a better man than I.

For the first time in quite a while, neither Real Madrid nor Barcelona placed among the five biggest spenders of the summer according to Transfermarkt.

Madrid shelled out just 55 million euros, and a large chunk of that was reserved for Fabio Coentrao. Nuri Sahin, Jose Callejon and Raphael Varane arrived for modest fees, while Hamit Altintop was acquired on a free.

For the first time in quite a while, neither Real Madrid nor Barcelona placed among the five biggest spenders of the summer according to Transfermarkt.

Madrid shelled out just 55 million euros, and a large chunk of that was reserved for Fabio Coentrao. Nuri Sahin, Jose Callejon and Raphael Varane arrived for modest fees, while Hamit Altintop was acquired on a free.

Wayne Rooney is on course to shatter Sir Bobby Charlton's all-time Manchester United goal-scoring record of 249-goals by the time he turns 30.

In his seven years at United Rooney has averaged 21 goals a season. If he maintains that rate, the 25-year-old Rooney will hit his 250th United goal at the age of 30.

Overrated. Flop. Failure.

These are words that many believe encapsulate the Manchester United career of the elegant yet frustrating Juan Sebastian Verón. Arriving at United in 2001 for a then British record £28.1 million pounds, the Argentine playmaker was consistently disappointing, the sea of mediocrity that was his United tenure only occasionally giving way to the moments of class and quality one might expect from one of such considerable reputation.

OTP interviews RVN With a new Premier League campaign now underway, OTP can now reveal that towards the end of last season we were given exclusive access to one-time Premier League icon and general goal machine Ruud van Nistelrooy, to talk to him about all things Champions League, scoring goals, and of course hair styling [.

Diego Maradona kisses the Argentina shirt after reaching the final of Italia 90. 20 years later, he went on to manage Argentina and told the press to suck his dick after qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa.

After joining the club from Juventus months earlier, Attilio Lombardo was seen kissing the Crystal Palace shirt during a 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa.

01.08.2011 - Buscando rodaje, el nuevo Málaga de Abdullah bin Nasser Al-Thani venció (1-2) al Roda en el Parkstad Limburg Stadion de Kerkrade con un penal convertido por Baptista y, en la última jugada del partido, una vaselina de Buonanotte.
Los € 58 millones invertidos en refuerzos hacen del Málaga el segundo equipo de Europa en gastos del rubro (después del Manchester City , € 64.

Malaga have formally confirmed the signing of Villarreal midfielder Santi Cazorla for a reported 21 million euros.

Cazorla has signed a five-year contract, with the midfielder's release clause set at 45 million euros by his new club.

Cazorla is the ninth signing of the summer for the ambitious club, who are coached by Cazorla's former boss at Villarreal, Manuel Pellegrini.

After yesterday's Top five annoying transfer sagas, many of you were in touch to suggest your own irritating protracted moves. Here's the pick of them. 1. Ruud Van Nistelrooy to Manchester United This move had first been touted when Darren Ferguson told his dad to sign RVN in the late 1990s. The Dutchman had become [.

Looking back is a nostalgic series set up to celebrate Manchester United's great past but with a twist; looking at the smaller things that cumulatively add (or negate) to the club's illustrious history. Gradually, over the coming weeks and months, these pieces will appear on the blog – but we cannot do it without you.

Retrospective is a nostalgic series set up to celebrate Manchester United's great past but with a twist; looking at the smaller things that cumulatively add (or negate) to the club's illustrious history. Gradually, over the coming weeks and months, these pieces will appear on the blog – but we cannot do it without you.