David Beckham duly said farewell to the Bernabeu on a night of joy for Fabio Capello's men. But the two-goal hero of Real's La Liga glory night also has pretty strong ties with London . I guess we always knew it wouldn't go according to the script - just like that nailbiting Premiership relegation finale a few weeks back. It was supposed to be the night David Beckham and Roberto Carlos said farewell to the Bernabeu and Real Madrid basked in the glory of their 30th La Liga title. It turned out to be exactly that - but it was substitute Jose Antonio Reyes, on the verge of ending his year-long loan spell from Arsenal, who proved the hero of the night with two vital goals in the last 25 minutes.. What a relief it all was as Fabio Capello’s men celebrated their first title win since 2003. Unfortunately, we all reckoned without Real Mallorca's impressive fighting qualities...and that crucial 31st minute, when 25-goal Ruud van Nistelrooy pulled up with a hamstring injury that ended his involvement in the action. By then the Galacticos were a goal down to Fernando Varela's impressive 17th-minute strike for Mallorca - and when news came through minutes later that Barcelona had gone 2-0 and then 3-0 ahead against Gimnastic, the title seemed to be heading for the Nou Camp yet again. At half-time Real, now without their most potent striker, needed at least two goals in 45 minutes to take the crown. Some remarkable 'Gimnastics' of their own, in fact. Nevertheless, we all know Madrid’s reputation for late revivals and as the teams came out for the second half, we still had hopes of a twist in the tail. Beckham, who had seen a first-half free kick parried by keeper Miguel Angel Moya, came agonisingly close to getting a touch at the far post just before half-time. And early in the second half, he sent one set-piece onto the roof of the net, and another against the junction of post and bar. It began to look increasingly as if the former England captain's dream farewell would have a nightmare ending - and with Real throwing caution to the wind, the chances of Mallorca scoring a breakaway second goal increased by the minute. Varela almost got it with an angled shot that whizzed inches wide. And then, woe upon woe, our Becks had to be replaced by Reyes after 65 minutes after apparently suffering a recurrence of an ankle injury. To those of us who didn't realise the great man was crocked, Capello's decision to substitute him was somewhat mystifying since Beckham had certainly posed Madrid's greatest goal threat up to that stage, albeit almost exclusively from set pieces. However, Beckham's agony turned to pure joy within little more than a minute as Reyes pounced to steer home the equaliser with his first touch of the ball. The on-loan Gunner was making a big impact - and never more so than when he hacked down an opponent in retaliation and was lucky to get away with a yellow card. Then, wonder of wonders, Real took the lead. Mahamadou Diarra bravely got between two defenders to get his head to a cross, Moya dived and got his fingers to the ball...but in it went off the backside of Mallorca defender Angelos Basinas standing on the line. When Reyes smashed a magnificent third from 20 yards with seven minutes left, it was all over. Real were champions - Barcelona vanquished because of head-to-head results, even though they finished level on points and with a better goal difference than their arch-rivals. As the Madrid players celebrated, I actually saw tennis's king of clay Rafael Nadal, sitting in the stands, smile for the first time ever. Hardly what one would have expected of a Mallorcan but Rafa’s a big fan of the Galacticos. And there’s nothing he enjoys more than seeing them kick his home island team in the Balearics. Did Real Madrid deserve to win the title? Leave a comment below or submit an arrticle to Sportingo if you prefer.
