Farwell to a gentleman. Ruud In Real

Ruud van Nistelrooy will say farewell to the Bernabeu crowd before the start of the Real Madrid-Malaga match

Ruud van Nistelrooy has become a true Real Madrid icon in the four seasons he's spent at the Club. Now that his departure for Hamburg has been confirmed, Madridistas will have a chance to say goodbye before the start of Sunday's 21:00 CET Real Madrid-Malaga match.

Van Nistelrooy may leave Real Madrid, but the Club's followers will always remember him. During his time on the team, the striker has won a Pichichi Trophy and two league titles, scoring 64 goals in 97 official games. Ruud earned the fourth best goal-scoring average in the history of the Club: 0.67 strikes per game.

Van NIstelrooy's arrival meant goals right from the very start. The striker netted three against Levante on Matchday 2 of the 2006/07 campaign. That same season, he went on to score four strikes in Pamplona against Osasuna and two at Camp Nou against Barcelona; the latter two helped the team turn the league table around and end up winning the title.

Ruud scored ten goals in the last ten games of the season in La Liga that year; Real Madrid fans will always remember the two he tallied in Zaragoza, giving the team a chance to win the title against Mallorca the following week in the final game of the campaign, which it did. Ruud became the league's Pichichi thanks to his 25 goals in the 2006/07 season and was just one strike shy of winning the Golden Boot.

Van Nistelrooy became a true icon in just one year and he went on to net 16 more strikes the following campaign. A serious and untimely injury kept him off the pitch for eight months at the start of his third season at the Club. He came back against Xerez in the present season, but he was injured again during the match just as he scored a goal. Ruud and the fans will have a chance to say goodbye before Sunday's match against Malaga.

Interesting facts
- Established a new record for Real Madrid goals away from home in one season of La Liga (17). The record had previously been held by Puskas (16 goals, 1962/1963) and Hugo Sanchez (16 goals, 1988/1989).
- He is the player to take the most points for Real Madrid in one single league season (25 points, 2006/2007).
- Scored in 7 consecutive games (this hadn't been achieved since the 1960s).
- Top scorer in three different leagues: La Liga, Premier League and Eredivisie.
- Third all-time Real Madrid top scorer in one season of La Liga (25 goals, 2006/07). Only Di Stefano (27 goals, 1953/1954) and Ivan Zamorano (26 goals, 1992/1993) rank above him.
- FIFA chose him as one of the 125 best football players alive.

Honours
2 Spanish league (Real Madrid: 06/07, 07/08)
2 Dutch leagues (PSV Eindhoven: 99/00, 00/01)
1 Premier League (Manchester United: 02/03)
1 FA Cup (Manchester United: 03/04)
1 Spanish Super Cup (Real Madrid: 2008)
1 Dutch Super Cup (PSV Eindhoven: 1998)
1 FA Community Shield (Manchester United: 2003)
La Liga top scorer (Real Madrid: 06/07)
Premier League top scorer (Manchester United: 02/03)
Eredivise top scorer (PSV Eindhoven: 98/99, 99/00)
Champions League top scorer (Manchester United: 02/03, 04/05)

I will be adding more pics but I don't know if I will upload all the Ruud pics RM had on offer today as they are doing it right and there are thirty eight more. Here is the link to more pics.

I invite you to show your love for Ruud here. I think I am finally done adding stuff.

Bye Ruud. Thank you.
sour: Realmadrid.com