You were no good, Beckham!

MADRID: Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello launched a blistering attack on David Beckham on Sunday even though the former England skipper played no part in the embarrassing 1-0 defeat to lowly Levante. Capello said in early January that Beckham would never play again for Real after the midfielder announced he was moving to Los Angeles Galaxy. In recent weeks he has appeared to back track on his decision but the Italian made it clear again on Sunday that Beckham had no hope of ever being recalled even though he is contracted until the end of June.

“Beckham doesn’t do anything for me. In his three years here, the results were not too good. Now we are looking for a new way, another direction and we are waiting for important players to recover,” said Capello, after being asked whether he thought the Beckham could yet be the answer to Real’s problems. The player himself watched the game from the Bernabeu’s VIP seats but television pictures showed him repeatedly fiddling with his mobile phone and clearly less-than-concerned about Real’s tepid performance.

Beckham or no Beckham, the dilemma for Capello remains: how can his team improve on a sorry scoring record which has seen only two leagues goals scored since the start of the year? “We had six or seven chances to score and three penalties were not given. They had one shot on goal, the result was unfair,” whined Capello. “This was a tough team with its backs against the wall and we played well in the air. We also had bad luck when shot went off the post.”

Capello had to face the wrath of the near-capacity 75,000 crowd calling for his head at the end of the game, which was the 1000th to be staged in Real’s historic Santiago Bernabeu stadium. “The coach always has to take the blame for everybody. I’m not thinking about resigning,” said Capello. “I always say that because I remain convinced that we will win something this season. The whistling was fair, it always happens when things aren’t going well.”

Nevertheless, courting controversy once more, Capello did praise one section of the crowd and in doing so will probably alienate himself even more from many Real supporters. “I am grateful to the Ultras because (at least) they were helping us,” commented Capello, paying tribute to Real’s notorious group of followers which contains a significant element of members of the extreme right. Adding to the humiliation, the win for Levante was their first ever in eight league encounters. Two seasons ago, when Levante were last in the Spanish first division, Real beat their visitors from Valencia 5-0 in the same fixture.