Beckham proves himself a cut above

David Beckham’s Manchester United career looks safe for a few years yet after inspiring a night of Champions League glory against Juventus.

The media frenzy which followed the midfielder’s dressing room bust-up with Alex Ferguson last weekend led even some of the most measured pundits to declare his Old Trafford days were numbered.

However, after his brief statement declaring "harmony" within the camp on Tuesday, the England skipper produced a far more dramatic statement of his intentions by setting up the goals for Wes Brown and Ruud van Nistelrooy which leave United needing just a single point from their remaining three Group D outings to seal a quarter-final berth for the seventh successive year.

And not for the first time, Ferguson found himself in total agreement with long-time friend and Juve coach Marcello Lippi.

“It is not ironic that Beckham created the two goals but it’s almost ridiculous that there should be any question about whether he should play,” said Lippi.

Ferguson’s statement on the same subject was predictably just as forceful.

“There was never any doubt about starting him,” retorted Ferguson when asked.

“Why do you think he would not be picked. People have misunderstood the situation – but that’s the British way. My best team picks itself.”

With the Beckham furore put firmly in its place, Ferguson was left to reflect on another job well done.

While the source of United’s double strike could have been anticipated given their right-wing origins, the finishers’ goalscoring fortunes couldn’t have been more marked.

Brown’s third-minute opener – a downward header from Beckham’s corner – was his first goal for the club in over a century of appearances. In contrast, Van Nistelrooy was notching for the 21st time in just 22 European appearances for the Old Trafford outfit.

Latching onto Beckham’s cross, the £18.5m Dutchman lofted a first-time volley beyond stand-in keeper Antonio Chimenti to render Pavel Nedved’s injury-time effort worthless.

It could have been even better had referee Kim Milton Nielsen reacted differently to a bizarre incident when he played advantage after Chimenti chopped Van Nistelrooy down in the box, only for Paul Scholes to stride up and slam the loose ball onto the post, allowing Juve to escape what was a clear penalty call without punishment.

“Paul Scholes should have scored but the fact that he missed meant there wasn’t an advantage for us,” observed Ferguson. “The referee wanted to play on because he would have had to send the keeper off, that was the key to it.

“Overall, we didn’t have any outstanding players, we had players who performed well within the framework of the team.

“We were solid, worked really hard and there was a good shape about our play. It didn’t ever look as though we were going to lose the game and when you are playing a side of Juventus’ quality, you are happy when you can say that.”

The experience of European combat is clearly helping United, who were forced to defend for long periods but restricted Juventus to long-range efforts and generally kept their illustrious opponents at arms length.

Given the flu virus which robbed Lippi of six star men, plus the injury suffered by skipper Antonio Conte in the pre-match warm-up, the size of United’s victory might be questioned.

But, in a league situation, that is of little relevance and a draw in the Stadio delle Alpi re-match next Tuesday would be enough to seal a place in the last eight.

Lippi insisted he was happy for the match to go ahead, even though UEFA had been asked to inspect medical reports to judge whether the Italian giants had enough fit players for the game to go ahead.

However, Basel’s victory over Deportivo means the damage inflicted by United is not too great and revenge in Turin next week would leave Juve hot favourites to accompany Ferguson’s men into the quarter-finals.

Ferguson is already looking forward to the contest, especially if it can reach the technical heights of last night’s encounter.

“It was a great game of football,” he purred.

“It was a match of fantastic quality from both teams. You have to admire the tradition of Juventus.

"They had their injury problems but it didn’t stop them. They kept at it and probably deserved more than they got.

“But we defended very well and had some good football ourselves. We quickened up the game in the second half and started causing some problems.

“We only need a point now and hopefully we can get it next week.”