“It was true” – Fabio Capello recalls moment when Ruud van Nistelrooy noticed how Real Madrid dressing room smelled of alcohol

Former Real Madrid manager Fabio Capello recently recalled the time when Ruud van Nistelrooy noticed the alcohol smell in Los Blancos' dressing room.

Former Italian football player Capello managed Real Madrid on two different occasions during his managerial career (1996-97 and 2006-07). Discussing his second spell with Los Blancos, Capello stated that the dressing room at Santiago Bernabeu smelled like alcohol.

Moreover, he also said that former Dutch attacker Ruud van Nistelrooy was the one who told him about the smell. He said (via Managing Madrid):

“One day, Van Nistelrooy arrived and told me that ‘Here [at Real Madrid] the dressing room smells of alcohol’. It was true.”

After what Capello said about the alcohol smell at Santiago Bernabeu, Nistelrooy also made a public statement addressing the former Real Madrid boss's quotes. The former Manchester United attacker wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter):

“According to statements attributed to Fabio Capello, pointing out that I once told him that the Real Madrid dressing room 'smelled of alcohol', I want to categorically refute such claims. The dressing room from day one showed the utmost professionalism.”

Ruud van Nistelrooy outright denied the claim made by Fabio Capello. During Capello's second spell in Madrid, Los Blancos won 28 matches out of the 50 they played in the season. In July 2007, Capello was named the manager of England.

Fabio Capello reveals the reason why he kicked out Ronaldo Nazario from Real Madrid

Former England boss Fabio Capello revealed that he kicked Ronaldo Nazario out of the Real Madrid squad because of his party habits and weight issues. Capello said (via Football Espana):

“In February 2007, I decided to get rid of Ronaldo Nazario. He was someone who liked to party and encouraged the group to go out with him.

"One day Van Nistelrooy came and told me: ‘Sir, it smells like alcohol here in the locker room’ and it was true. Ronaldo weighed 94 kg that year. In Korea, at the 2002 World Cup, he weighed 82. I told him to lose weight… he reached 92.5kg.”

Ronaldo joined Real Madrid from Inter Miami in 2002. Before leaving the Santiago Bernabeu outfit in 2007, the former Brazilian forward made 177 appearances for Los Blancos and recorded a total of 103 goals and 35 assists.

Capello arrived at Santiago Bernabeu in 2006 and just after seven months in charge, Ronaldo left Madrid to join AC Milan. Playing at San Siro, he made 20 appearances and scored nine goals in addition to five assists.