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.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS