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.
FRUSTRATION: Alcaraz made several unforced errors over four sets against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had never made it past the third round in a major competition Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session. The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament. “I suffered quite a lot today,” Alcaraz said. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.” Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
The horn sounded on Wednesday night to signal a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final, as the Florida Panthers celebrated merely by hopping over the boards and several heading over to congratulate goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. It was a subdued celebration seemingly more befitting a regular-season win for the reigning Cup champs. “I remember a few years ago, it felt like such an accomplishment from where we were at one point,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said, adding: “It’s all business and we’ve got a bigger goal in mind.” The Panthers closed out the Carolina Hurricanes in five games, with a 5-3 victory in
The Edmonton Oilers on Thursday defeated the Dallas Stars 6-3 to book their place in the Stanley Cup Finals, setting up a repeat of last year’s NHL showpiece against reigning champions the Florida Panthers. The Oilers, bidding to become the first Canadian team to win the NHL’s championship series since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens, head to Florida for Game 1 of the best-of-seven series set for Wednesday. Florida, who are to play in the NHL showpiece for the third straight season, won last year’s title 4-3 to extend Canada’s decades-long Stanley Cup drought. Connor McDavid led Edmonton back to the championship series on
RSS