Champions League: Van Nistelrooy breaths sigh of relief

Just like Stuart Pearce had done during Euro ’96, Ruud van Nistelrooy exorcised the demon of a missed penalty when he scored Manchester United’s final goal against Olympiakos.

Only van Nistelrooy didn’t punch the air and scream, eyes bulging, like Pearce had done at Wembley against Spain.

His atonement was much more personal and symbolic as he threw his shirt down on the penalty spot from where he had failed to hit the target nearly 30 minutes earlier.

That was the Dutch international’s closure and his way of saying sorry to his team-mates and the United fans.

He had felt like the loneliest man inside Old Trafford when Olympiakos goalkeeper Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos dived to his right to keep out his spot-kick.

He admits that at that moment he felt he had cost United the match. But the man whom Sir Alex Ferguson described afterwards as the best striker in Europe, refused to give up.

And 11 minutes from time he slipped the ball through for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to break the deadlock.

That made van Nistelrooy feel better, but his real rehabilitation came in the dying seconds when he scored United’s final goal to confirm their place in the Champions League second phase.

‘‘I thought we were going to lose or only draw because of me,’’ he said. ‘‘I was so relieved when we finally scored because I didn’t want that to happen to me.

‘‘It was such an important moment to miss a penalty kick and my first thoughts were that it was not going to happen for us after that.

‘‘You begin to think that it will be one of those nights, but I just kept on going and that’s what you have to do.

‘‘I was very relieved when Ole Gunnar scored and I was happy to be part of his goal.

‘‘I felt a little less bad about the penalty at that stage and when I put the third one in I was all right again.

‘‘I was so happy and I was able to forget about the miss after that.

‘‘I just wanted to show that I could score another goal and so I was glad it happened when I scored the third goal. ‘‘I just wanted to show that I will always keep going and do well for the team.’’

Van Nistelrooy overrode the claims of regular penalty-taker Denis Irwin to take the spot-kick. Despite his failure he claims he wants to take more penalties for United, although he realises he may have to wrestle his team-mates for the ball.

‘‘I’ve always taken penalties during my career and I felt good at the time,’’ he said.

‘‘That’s why I stepped up for it. I hope I can take more for United, but when you miss the other players will want to take them too.’’

Van Nistelrooy’s miss was the only blemish on an otherwise great performance and he looks like he is worth every penny of the £19m United paid PSV Eindhoven for him during the summer.

Once again he battled manfully alone up front as United’s lone striker before Solskjaer’s introduction. It says it all about the striker that despite the obvious handicap of Ferguson’s 4-4-1-1 system, he has still managed to score seven times this season from 11 appearances.

No doubt he will score several more during the campaign, although perhaps not that many from the penalty spot.