Double Dutchmen speak the same language

Considering what he has already achieved in the game, you would not expect Ruud van Nistelrooy to have much left to prove. And, yet, this is turning out to be one of the most important weeks of his career. Following yesterday's battle for domestic superiority with Arsenal's Thierry Henry, the Manchester United striker is now turning his attention to the far more serious battle for Dutch pride. The venue will be Old Trafford on Wednesday, and the adversary will be Deportivo la Coruña's goalscoring machine Roy Makaay.

Van Nistelrooy may be top dog at his club, but when it comes to national team matters, he is not always guaranteed the orange shirt. Following two early-season starts, the 26-year-old has found himself playing second fiddle to Makaay. No wonder. Deportivo's Dutchman has found the net no fewer than 18 times so far this season.

Makaay is the Champions' League's second highest scorer this term with eight, two more than Van Nistelrooy. He is also the player with the most shots at goal in the competition. His 19 attempts put him three clear of Internazionale's Hernan Crespo, and a full nine lengths ahead of Man United's front man.

"I'm playing better than ever at the moment," Makaay declared. "But the truth is that my success runs parallel with the team's. I know that if Deportivo have a good year, I will have a good year as well. We always try to stay in every competition for as long as possible. In the League, we try to finish in at least the first four to play in the Champions' League; and in Europe, we want to win the competition because it is the toughest test in the world. As for me, I just want to score goals."

Makaay, 27, has been doing just that since August, netting 10 Primera Liga goals and one international strike to add to his ever-growing tally. Likewise, Van Nistelrooy has returned from a quiet Dutch summer – Holland failed to qualify for the World Cup finals in Japan and Korea – full of energy and goals. But the similarities between the two strikers are not limited to their strike rate. Quick on the ground, strong in the air, and blessed with two good feet, both have been labelled as the "new Marco van Basten" at various times – a comparison that embarrasses each man.

More worryingly, both are also prone to severe injuries. In the same way as Van Nistelrooy saw his lucrative move to United almost collapse following a freak knee injury in training, so too Makaay has suffered major setbacks because of his brittle body. Having enjoyed a dream start to his Riazor career, when his 22 goals fired the Galicians to their first Spanish title in 2000, he damaged his ankle ligaments during a training ground accident involving Dennis Bergkamp at the European Championships in the Low Countries later that summer, and then tore his knee ligaments early in 2001.

"Guys like Ruud and I know how quickly things can change," the former Vitesse Arnhem and Tenerife striker said. "Maybe that's why we take such pleasure when we're scoring goals."

Makaay's impressive start to the current campaign makes for anxious reading not just for Van Nistelrooy, but for Sir Alex Ferguson's team as a whole. Bearing in mind their defensive frailties of late, the last thing they needed was the visit of a free-flowing side who are full of confidence. Deportivo have not lost in 10 League and European matches, scoring 18 goals in the process. The one consolation is that Makaay's defenders are as erratic as Van Nistelrooy's, as their 14 goals conceded in Europe confirm.

Perhaps these statistics explain why Makaay is expecting goals in midweek. "It will be tough but open," said the man who travels rather well in Europe, as his hat-trick at Bayern Munich in the first group stage proves. "Man U are a good side, but we have nothing to fear. We played them four times last season, and beat them twice."

The most telling of those two victories was at Old Trafford in the early group stages, when the then Spanish champions gave a demonstration of their superiority. "It is difficult to point at something specific to explain Spanish success in recent times," Makaay said, "but we must be doing something right because there's been at least one Spanish team in the final for the past few years. I don't think it's because our clubs attack more than other nations'. Valencia, for example, play a more defensive game than the others. I think we are simply well- balanced."

Balance is a word that features prominently in Makaay's vocabulary. Having had to endure two see-saw seasons with both club and country, the Dutchman is desperate for consistency. He has found it with Deportivo, and the signs are that he may now be following suit with the national team. "It was very difficult to miss out on the World Cup," Makaay said. "We should have been there but we failed in the qualifiers and we were very honest about it. Now we want to reach the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal, and play good football again."

Van Nistelrooy would no doubt echo those views. The two Dutch strikers may be on opposite club sides this week, but their international ambitions are of a far more co-operative nature. "People talk of us as rivals for one of the striker's positions," Makaay said, "but has no one ever considered that we could actually play alongside each other?" Now there is a mouth-watering thought.

Roy v Ruud How they match up

Roy Makaay

Age: 27
Champions' League
apps this season: 7
Minutes on pitch: 565
Goals: 8
Average per game: 1.27
Shots on goal: 19
Average shots on goal per match: 3.36
Assists: 1
Offsides: 7

Ruud van Nistelrooy

Age: 26
Champions' League
apps this season: 4
Minutes on pitch: 284
Goals: 6
Average per game: 1.9
Shots on goal: 10
Average shots on goal per match: 3.52
Assists: 3
Offsides: 7