Van Nistelrooy’s response to Capello on Real Madrid’s locker room controversy

The past has an uncanny way of resurfacing, and Ruud Van Nistelrooy is no stranger to this truth. The former Real Madrid player finds himself entangled once more in controversy related to the behavior of the Whites’ locker room during his tenure at Chamartín.

The recollections of Fabio Capello

Fabio Capello, the former coach of the Dutch forward during his time at Real Madrid, recently reminisced about some anecdotes from his coaching days at the club. Some of these anecdotes directly implicated Ruud Van Nistelrooy. Capello recounted an incident, saying, “One day, Ruud van Nistelrooy approached me and said, ‘Sir, it smells like alcohol in the locker room here.’ And it was true,” asserts the Italian.

The denial in 2020

Interestingly, Ruud Van Nistelrooy denied the truth of these allegations back in 2020 when Capello first shared this supposed anecdote. In a recent twist, Van Nistelrooy once again refuted that these words ever came out of his mouth, reopening the controversy. It appears that these events have resurfaced, sparking a fresh round of denials and disputes.

Van Nistelrooy’s response

In a tweet that Van Nistelrooy reposted on his social media, he categorically denied the claims attributed to Fabio Capello, stating, “Regarding the statements attributed to Fabio Capello, indicating that I once told him that the Real Madrid locker room ‘smelled of alcohol,’ I want to emphatically deny such allegations. From day one, that locker room exhibited the utmost professionalism.”