David Beckham headed a 73rd-minute goal on his home debut as Real Madrid downed Mallorca 3-0 and won the Spanish Supercup on a 4-2 aggregate.
The star midfielder netted his landmark goal by nodding home a cross by Ronaldo for Madrid's third goal, after earlier strikes by Spanish international Raul Gonzalez and the Brazilian striker, to earn the Spanish powerhouse its first silverware of the season.
"We fully deserved to win the Supercup. I was pleased with a lot of our attacking movement and the discipline of our game. We have lots of work to do but it is still early in the season," Madrid coach Carlos Queiroz said.
PHOTO: AP
Given a huge cheer by some 50,000 spectators at the Santiago Bernabeu when his name was announced before the match, Beckham looked more comfortable on the turf of his new home and was much more involved than in his two previous games in Spain with Madrid.
"Beckham played a good game but he can play better. You have to remember that players are human beings not machines. It's hard for a player to leave his country. It's not easy to change but little by little things get better," Queiroz said.
Beckham spent most of the match on the right, but it was from a narrow angle to the left of the goal when he almost opened the scoring in the seventh minute with a swerving free kick which flew just wide.
The star midfielder had no fortune with two more deadball shots before the 20th minute, with one hitting the Mallorca wall and the other sailing well over the crossbar.
"We didn't have the luck that Madrid had," Mallorca coach Jaime Pacheco, who said that Beckham's goal should have been disallowed due to a previous foul by Zinedine Zidane on midfielder Toni Gonzalez.
In the meantime, Madrid, lacking midfielder Claude Makelele and defender Francisco Pavon, made a slow start. Mallorca, which inflicted Madrid's last two home defeats in the Spanish league -- most recently a 5-1 thrashing in May -- made regular incursions into the Madrid half.
Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o and Argentine midfielder Ariel Ibagaza, who is expected to leave Mallorca on Thursday for Atletico de Madrid, were frequently involved as Madrid looked stretched in defense. But with Queiroz urging his players forward from the touchline, Madrid slowly took charge with Zidane at the fulcrum of its best moves. Just before the interval, Madrid went into the lead when 'keeper Leo Franco could only parry Zidane's low shot, allowing Roberto Carlos to step in and pass for Raul to tap into the empty goal.
However, Madrid's two-goal lead had cheered its supporters and when the England captain was presented with his fourth free kick of the game on the edge of the area, the Bernabeu crowd chanted "Beckham, Beckham." Madrid's newest star sent the ball narrowly over the bar.
Mallorca battled back and almost scored twice in the 69th minute. Ibagaza had a delicate chip just tipped over by Casillas and from the resulting corner the Madrid goalkeeper performed heroics to palm substitute Jesus Perera's header on to the bar.
Four minutes later, Beckham finished off Mallorca's resistance with his headed goal.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
Jemimah Rodrigues on Thursday hit an unbeaten 127 as India pulled off a record chase of 339 against Australia to set up a Women’s World Cup final against South Africa. Rodrigues and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who hit 89, put on 167 runs for the third wicket as India won with nine balls and five wickets to spare at DY Patil Stadium, on the outskirts of Mumbai. The hosts finished on a total of 341-5 in reply to Australia’s impressive 338 and ensured there would be a new name on the 50-over trophy tomorrow. Amanjot Kaur hit the winning boundary to trigger wild celebrations
Jannik Sinner on Thursday eased past Francisco Cerundolo 7-5, 6-1 at the Paris Masters to set up a quarter-final clash with Ben Shelton, while reigning champion Alexander Zverev earned a straight-sets win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round. A maiden crown in the French capital would return Sinner to No. 1 in the world rankings after current incumbent Carlos Alcaraz suffered a shock early exit at the hands of Britain’s Cameron Norrie. The Italian four-time Grand Slam champion is yet to drop a set in the tournament as he hones in on what would be a fifth title of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
RSS