When David Beckham arrived in Italy for what, at the time, seemed a novelty excursion some 14 months ago, he received a text message from an old friend. It consisted of just seven words: “David Beckham. Manchester United. Real Madrid. Milan.” The point was being made that, long after he stopped being a footballer, he would have a unique legacy: he has belonged to the three most glamorous clubs from what, in the span of his playing career, have been the three most celebrated leagues.http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/sports/rap_sheet/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/david_beckham1_300_400.jpg">
So storied is the life of David Beckham that there is plenty to insert in between the Manchester chapter, the Madrid episode and the coda in Milan; there are debates to rehearse about the ratio of skill to hard-sell that motivated those who have employed him; arguments to hold about the greatness of the actual sides he played in at each of those clubs. But the sequence United-Real-AC gives Beckham a great deal of pride, not just because it reflects professional peaks set across so sustained a time, but because it also shows a sportsman with the dedication to see out and deliver a grand plan.
What he had never quite planned for, he admits, was the moment when the distinguished line of fabled club names had a kink in it, a meeting of the threads, as it does on Tuesday, when Milan face his “ex” — his most loved ex. “You know, I’ve never had to do this before, play against one of my old teams,” says Beckham, struck by the curiosity of that fact. In Madrid, he used to look forward to Uefa draw ceremonies at least twice a season, and the strong possibility that the names Real and Manchester United would be paired and he would be obliged to stand in a line and shake hands before kick-off with Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and perhaps Roy Keane as they filed past him wearing red while he wore white.
As Beckham spent a third and then a fourth season as a Madrid footballer, always in the Champions League, the chance of playing against United became more probability than possibility. It never happened. Once he joined Milan for the second half of the 2008-9 campaign, his adventures abroad were restricted to the Uefa Cup. When Milan did meet Madrid in the senior competition last autumn, Beckham was at the other end of his transatlantic commute, seeing out his obligations to Los Angeles Galaxy in America.
And so, 15 years and two months after Beckham made his Champions League debut for United, it is United he faces on his Champions League debut for Milan. The occasion will have an extra drumroll and crash of cymbals because it is Milan’s 100th match in the European Cup to be played at their San Siro site.
As Beckham spoke on Friday evening, it was clear that if he was preparing to put on the professional blinkers to safeguard against a confusion of emotions, those around him were readying themselves for an occasion of gravitas. His children, who have continued their schooling in the US while dad does his five-month stint in Italy, have come over. His head coach at Milan, Leonardo, spoke of “a very special moment in David’s life. For any player to play in the Champions League against an old club is special, but for David it is particularly.”
Leonardo was stressing that this was not just a case of an itinerant professional playing against a former club. Beckham is not a peripatetic Nicolas Anelka or Christian Vieri, he is a Manchester United fan, several of whose contemporaries never left Old Trafford. Beckham still sometimes suggests that he would have been equally happy, in the summer of 2003, had he stayed there rather than joining Madrid.
Will there be a knot in his stomach, a lump in his throat on Tuesday? “Obviously there will be emotions,” he says, “but I don’t think it will be a problem. I’ve played in many big games. There has been so much talk about me going back to Manchester United in the second leg, because it will be my first time playing for a club there in seven years. But this tie is not just about me playing against United, it’s about AC Milan. It’s about two great clubs coming together, and that’s what makes it such a big game, for the teams, for the fans.”
There are plenty of grounds for trepidation besides his own butterflies. “United are just on fire at the moment, which means it’s going to very tough for us.” It goes without saying that Beckham — “I love to watch every United game where possible” — has as precise a gauge of United’s form as anybody at Milan, and the same understanding of where the principal menace comes from: Wayne Rooney.
Beckham, a close witness to Ronaldinho’s recent revival in form, has no hesitation in likening Rooney to the Brazilian in his best form. He sees a Rooney liberated this season, operating at the sharpest point of the attack. “I have always thought,” says Beckham of his England colleague, “that Wayne is one of the best goalscorers in football anywhere. He’s proving that. He’s at a great club and doing what he does best, which is scoring goals. United are playing so well for him, too.” Not least Ryan Giggs, whose absence with injury seems a genuine source of personal regret for his former colleague. “It’s a big shame Giggsy’s out. To have played on the same field as Giggsy, but against him for once, would have been really nice for me. Hopefully he’ll be fixed up soon and maybe he’ll make the second leg.”http://www.sportsagentblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/david_beckham_victoria_beckham_boob.jpg">
As for his own fitness, Beckham, 34, is happy with progress since reaching Italy and with his capacity for taking his season all the way into July, as part of the England World Cup squad. Fabio Capello is expected at San Siro as an observer on Tuesday and the understanding between the England manager and Beckham is that the player needs to show sufficient stamina and competitiveness with Milan to earn his ticket to South Africa. Major League Soccer was not a convincing platform for Capello. Milan is.
“My fitness is good, really good,” insists Beckham. “Obviously being back at Milan and working hard with the medical regime they have here has been great. To be part of an England squad, you have to be playing at the top level. You have to be playing with top players and be at the top of your fitness.” And his form? “Good,” he replies. Up and down, say the Italian media, ranging from a beaming 7.5 out of 10 from Tuttosport for his showing on his first game back, to a grumpy 4.5 from Corriere dello Sport for the Milan derby three weeks ago.
Leonardo, appointed head coach last summer, appears pleased to have Beckham back at Milan. “He arrived in December, he already knew everything he needed to, knew the atmosphere, most of the team, and how we play,” says Leonardo. “All of that’s not been a problem for him.”
Of the new teammates, the strikers were especially welcoming. Marco Boriello, who spent most of last season injured, has already profited from Beckham’s crossing. The Dutch international Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, signed last August but more out of the first XI than in it so far, hopes the combination of his alertness in the penalty box and the Englishman’s passing might prove fruitful. “He’s got a real eye for the assist,” Huntelaar thought immediately. “He’s always looking for the strikers and to swing the ball in, in front of you. It’s nice to play as a striker with him there and with Ronaldinho on the other side.”
“I got a great welcome from everybody, fans and players,” says Beckham. But there was one significant change from the last Milan dressing room he had been a member of. “Obviously Paolo Maldini’s retired and a couple of other characters have gone who were here last time. But the team is similar. There’s a great spirit within the club and that’s definitely not changed. We’re just as strong. When we play well, we’re a very good team.” The “when” is heavily weighed. He acknowledges that Milan have had a horribly inconsistent month.
January started superbly as Beckham seemed to have brought his Golden Balls knack with him into the new year: Milan had finished 2009 with just three points from their past three games. Beckham went straight into the starting line-up and they won the next three matches, racking up 12 goals, including a 3-0 win away at Juventus.
Then came the derby with Inter, a 2-0 defeat, and two subsequent draws, the second of which, against Bologna, Beckham watched entirely from the bench. Is he frustrated at being left out of the XI? “No,” he replies, “because I’ve always said when I came to the club, I never expect to start any games here.”
His return to action in Friday’s 3-2 win over Udinese, albeit as a substitute, suggests he will have a senior role on Tuesday. “We needed that win after the past couple of games,” he says, “and we needed also to get players fit again, like Alex Pato, with the United matches coming up. Both are going to be tough, but I’m looking forward to it.”
FIFTH TIME LUCKY FOR UNITED?
Manchester United have a score to settle with Milan. The teams have met in four previous two-legged European ties — three of them at the semi-final stage — and Milan triumphed each time, twice going on to win the trophy — in 1969 and 2007.
May 1958 European Cup semi-final: Man Utd 2 Milan 1, Milan 4 Man Utd 0.
April/May 1969 European Cup semi-final: Milan 2 Man Utd 0, Man Utd 1 Milan 0.
Feb/Mar 2005 Champions League, 2nd rd: Man Utd 0 Milan 1, Milan 1 Man Utd 0.
Apr/May 2007 Champions League semi-final: Man Utd 3 Milan 2, Milan 3 Man Utd 0.
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