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The most prolific goal scorer in world football has to be Real Madrid hit man, Ruud van Nistelrooy. His critics say that Ruud never scores from outside the eighteen yard box. I say that's rubbish. Why am I defending him in the first place? His record speaks for itself.

From his days at PSV Eindhoven, Ruud came across as a special talent. In his first season with PSV, he scored 31 goals in 34 games. The following season, he netted some 29 goals. It was his bagful of goals that prompted Sir Alex Ferguson to acquire his (Ruud's) services.

It is at Man U that Ruud morphed into the goal scoring machine we all know today. Let's let statistics do the talking. Ruud is Manchester United's all time leading goal scorer. And this is a feat he achieved during the five seasons he spent at the club. There's more! In his debut season at United, he scored 23 league goals and 10 Champions League goals, ending the season with 36 goals.

In the following season, he bagged 44 goals in 52 season appearances, including an astonishing haul of 12 Champions League goals. The next season marked a landmark for Ruud, as he scored his 100th goal for the club. It is worth noting that he did it in less than three seasons. Some strikers take 6-8 seasons to achieve the same. Ruud continued his remarkable scoring run for United in the 04-05 and 05-06 seasons, finishing the former as the Champions League top goal scorer; this after a season hampered by injury.

Things didn't change too much when Ruud joined Real, with the Dutchman netting 25 goals in his first season as a Galactico. With this feat, he won over the fans, who celebrated his blossoming partnership with Raul Gonzalez. The 07-08 season was unkind to Ruud, with injury after injury forcing him to miss many a match. But being the great striker that he is, Ruud still managed to bag 20 goals for the season. He is poised to continue scoring goals for Los Merengues until 2010, when his contract expires.

His international record is all the more impressive 33 goals in 64 appearances, an average of a goal every two games.Wow!

Ruud is the complete striker; power, ability to shake off defenders and speedy reaction times; his positioning, too, can't be faulted. He is always in the right place at the right time. Sure, he may have lost some of his pace, but he can still make up the yards on a number of defenders.

Who is the most prolific goal scorer in football? I rest my case.

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