The former Manchester United man top scored in his debut La Liga campaign with 26 goals as Real, along with his former Old Trafford colleague David Beckham, snatched the title away from Barcelona.

He had to watch as Real came from two goals down to beat Lokomotiv Moscow 5-2 on Friday with Guti scoring a brace but told realmadrid.com he was almost ready to return to action.

"I feel good. I felt comfortable around my teammates today, but I still need a little time. This was a complicated injury and it's important to take good care of it," said van Nistelrooy.

"I want to be 100 percent fit before I play," he added. "We cannot be in a hurry because it's a long season and there will be a lot of matches. It's not worth rushing into things only to get injured again."

Next week's friendly with Deportivo La Coruna is the striker's target for a return, at least from the bench, but more realistically van Nistelrooy has his sights on an August 11 Spanish Supercup first leg against Cup winners Seville.

Asked for his opinion on new German coach Bernd Schuster he said: "The coach has great ideas for the team, and that's a good thing for the players. Who doesn't like to play good football? The players more than anybody like to play good football.

"But we also have to win matches. Winning is what always matters most," concluded Van Nistelrooy in a comment which could almost have come from the lips of former coach Fabio Capello, sacked despite the title success as Real's hierarchy complained his team did not play in truly flamboyant "madrileno" style.