The Old Trafford giants have lifted the Premiership crown. NICK LATUS ponders the fact that two of Fergie's cast-offs are on the verge of landing the La Liga title for Real Madrid. Were it not for the fact that Manchester United reclaimed English dominance in the season just ended, a couple of Real Madrid players would be taking even more satisfaction that their club are one win away from becoming Spanish champions. Ruud van Nistelrooy is about to finish just shy of 30 goals, and David Beckham has arguably been the best player in the Real Madrid squad since he was recalled to the first team. Not to mention that he was the best player during England's friendly against Brazil and the Euro qualifier against Estonia. You can't tell me that with each strong performance by these two players there isn't some hope that father-figure Alex Ferguson was tuning in and regretting just a bit that there was a falling out. Beckham has been suffering through this problem of wanting to prove something to Sir Alex for much longer than RvN. Any football manager, player or fan, who looks at Ruud's output this season in one of the best leagues in the world has to be impressed. The guy scores goals in bunches. He has now done it in three different leagues on the continent and continues to score them at the most crucial of moments. Until the past couple of months, Beckham had been mostly an after-thought. It took his pending move to LA Galaxy to bring him back into the footballing spotlight, coupled with the Real Madrid and England recall, to make him worthy of front-page news once again. Most observers comment there is no way Beckham would get a game in today's Manchester United line-up. Maybe. But I would argue that he's in his best form since the '99 season, and while his signing was clearly a PR move by Real Madrid, RvN's was one to significantly improve the squad. Discovering that jersey sales were not going to be enough to make it in manager Fabio Capello's squad, the former England captain had to work harder than he ever has in training and be sharper than he ever has in matches. If Sir Alex is paying any attention to his former players' success, it is probably annoying him that their exploits are pushing his courting of Athletico Madrid's Fernando Torres below the fold. Having Cristiano Ronaldo - the best player in the world - at his disposal, combined with fantastic new signings that have United well positioned to defend their Premiership crown and make another deep Champions League run, Ferguson is not having to deal so much with the "what if" questions he would inevitably be peppered with had his club finished another term without the league title. This might take some of the joy out of any trophy-hoisting by the two former Old Trafford players next weekend in Spain. I would imagine Ferguson will be sipping his wine on vacation in France while watching the Real Madrid match next weekend. After 90 minutes there might be some "my trophy is bigger than yours" posturing. There might very well be none of that as RvN takes his winner's medal on a summer holiday, Beckham deals with the pressure of trying to lift the profile of a second-tier league and Manchester United attempt to land a striker who has the potential to be as proficient as the Dutchman. Good luck with that, Sir Alex. You might have the cash on hand - and the influence - to bring in Torres, Carlos Tevez or Dimitar Berbatov. But none of those players are a sure bet to provide the goal haul that will be needed as Chelsea and Liverpool attempt to bring in signings that will more than make up the goal-deficit ground lost last season. Given Real Madrid's opponents next weekend, I think it is a safe bet that they will hold off Barcelona and win La Liga. Sir Alex will have to deal with looking at the papers and seeing two of the biggest grins in the football world staring back at him. He might take satisfaction in knowing that his discarding of them was one of their biggest motivations to reach the Spanish summit.
