Thursday 11 March 2010

Beckham at Old Trafford

Yesterday Manchester United knocked an inept AC Milan team out of the Champions League. But the man of the moment was the ageing David Beckham, returning to Old Trafford for the first time since 2003, but as a Milan player.

I was rather biased against Beckham in the early days because of all the media hype around him. But opinions change with time, and yesterday, I did not much care whether Milan won or lost; all I wanted was a goal from a Beckham free-kick, or better still, a goal from a Beckham cross.

It almost happened too. Beckham came on in the 74th minute, but still created some opportunities which may have been converted if not for the sheer mediocrity of the Milan forwards. And deep into stoppage time, he sent in his best cross of the match, a cross such as can only come from the right foot of David Beckham. A thing of beauty, a perfect cross – and with almost the last kick of the match, Inzaghi put it wide.

Football is so sad sometimes.

6 comments:

rorschach said...

it was the same with me... biased against beckham at first. but i grew to believe that the man is a genius. i wish i'd followed him more closely in his prime.

Karthy said...

and that's why one can wax so wonderfully about football - it's the only game where one can say with a straight face that there were manly tears involved. okay...not when i say it but generally...because football inspires greek god moments of tragedy and triumph.

and yes, i'm going to go completely girl on you when i say that i was secretly infatuated with the man :) In school, my parents used to be pleasantly surprised when i'd wake up at 4:30 in the morning and then promptly bemused when i would glue myself to the tv to watch him play...though for all the hype which did definitely attract me in the first place...he really could play. :) though that was albeit a later and less important realization at the time :D

Pratiti said...

It is? I guess so. Sujaan has tried to convince me and failed so many times.
I commented as my father by mistake on your last post. Of course, I'm sure I speak for all of my family, immediate and extended, when I talk about food.

Priyanka said...

Completely unrelated, but just noticed the About Me. Supercool. Where from?

Sroyon said...

@rorschach: I actually like him because he's not a born genius like, say, Ronaldinho. He got there through sheer hard work and devotion. They say he would continue to practise free-kicks and crosses long after everyone else had left the field, and on some days, he had to be eventually dragged off the pitch.

@Karthy: All sports do. It's a question of which ones you're passionate about.

@Pratiti: Oh. I was just thinking: this Souvik fellow has his ideas in the right place.

@Priyanka: Thank you. :) This is a variation on a phrase I came up with for describing Parnab: He never lets the truth stand in the way of a good question.
So in that way, the About Me is original. But Google yields a few hits for the phrase, usually unattributed.

rorschach said...

@sroyon: thats an admirable feature of the man i dint know.

i began to truly like/admire him for the ease with which he constantly delivered balls at any given spot. it was almost as if he willed the ball to land right where he wished it to. and the seeming effortlessness just adds to the beauty of it all.

god given or self made he's a great footballer man. an artist. no doubt about it.