No looking Beck as United move forward with Roo

PERCEIVED wisdom might have been that David Beckham had a point to prove in the San Siro last night, the prodigal son seeking to show how wrong Manchester United were to cast him out seven years ago, sending him on a global odyssey that has since taken him to Madrid, Los Angeles and, now, Milan.

Yet it was the club he never wanted to leave, the defending champions of England and last season’s Champions League runners-up, who were facing the stiffer test of their credentials.

It was United, after all, who had lost all of their four previous visits to face AC Milan at the San Siro, by a combined goal tally of 10-0. It was United, and many of their current players, who had performed abysmally in losing their last visit, a 3-0 humiliation which had cost them a place in the Champions’ League Final three years ago.

And it was United, or more specifically, Beckham’s footballing “father” Alex Ferguson who was being scrutinised for his stubborn refusal to significantly strengthen his squad following the embarrassment of last May’s Champions League Final defeat by Barcelona and the subsequent departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, the successor to Beckham’s crown as the king of Old Trafford.

After 90 minutes of pulsating football at the famous old stadium last night, there was little doubt who fared better from such analysis. To question Alex Ferguson – as Beckham found to his cost seven years ago and countless critics have found before and since – is either an act of football bravery or the deepest stupidity.

However hard the revisionist Beckham Hollywood publicity machine may try to convince us otherwise, the simple truth of the player’s departure from Old Trafford and English football lay in the manager finally losing patience with his star’s off-field lifestyle and activities. The much-publicised differences of opinions between player and manager were nothing to do with his football ability and everything to do with his refusal to dedicate his very being to the game with the same fanaticism as Ferguson, and the manager’s loyal lieutenants.

To hear Ferguson wax lyrical about alumni such as Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes, Dennis Irwin, Peter Schmeichel – even the esoteric Eric Cantona – is to listen to a proud patriarch talk warmly of a beloved family raised by and on his own exacting football standards.

Beckham? Ferguson reluctantly spoke this week of the fine career enjoyed by the former England captain but the unavoidable underlying subtext was that the Scotsman has far less respect for Beckham than he does for his United peers – Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes – all of whom will end their playing careers with far more club silverware than their contemporary.

“Set pieces,” snapped Ferguson before last night’s game, declining to expand on the subject, when asked what was the biggest threat posed by the winger. It took Beckham barely two minutes to remind his former mentor just how dangerous he is from those set-pieces, and a further 88 for United and Ferguson to answer many of the questions hovering over them this season.

Wayne Rooney may lack the cinema idol good looks of Beckham, the pop star wife, the global marketability – although he is no slouch in that final field – but, as a footballer, he is everything Ferguson wishes Beckham would have been. Dedicated, single-minded, obsessed even, Rooney’s whole life clearly revolves around his profession. In an era of squad rotation, players being wrapped in cotton wool and demanding mid-season holidays in the sun, Rooney is a throwback, who insists on playing every game.

In short, Rooney is cut from the same cloth as his manager in a way Beckham never was and never could be once he made his first step onto the celebrity carousel.

The first half, Rooney was frequently seen hurling angry words at team mates – Nani, in particular – so poor were United, so inept the service coming his way. The introduction of substitute Antonio Valencia finally gave Rooney the service he deserved and two goals would follow.

Yet, given the extraordinary nature of Rooney’s performance, perhaps the most interesting aspect of the night was that it was merely par for the course, a course which has already brought him 25 goals this season.

More will undoubtedly follow for Rooney; this season and beyond. For Beckham, the opportunities and honours are fast fading but if last night threw up one intriguing question, it is how might the former England captain’s career have progressed at Old Trafford had Beckham shown the same qualities and dedication to his game currently being displayed by Rooney.