Adios, David: Englishman exits Bernabeu with head held high

It was around 40 minutes after the whistle had blown on Real Madrid's extraordinary season when their manager, Fabio Capello, was asked what mistakes he felt he had made during the campaign.

Out on the pitch, David Beckham had just got down on bended knees to kiss the sacred Bernabeu turf and, having chosen the centre-spot on which to plant the kiss, had come up with a face full of white chalk.

Tom Cruise was still wearing his sunglasses, despite the fact that the floodlights had been dimmed for the players' lap of honour. Capello, meanwhile, was not hesitating over his answer. "Leaving out Beckham," he said. "Not considering him for selection in January because he had signed for another club was the biggest mistake."

Meanwhile, the Madrid sports press were writing their epitaphs on Beckham's Real career. "The best right foot that has played in the Bernabeu for decades is leaving and, as he goes, the overriding sensation is one of injustice that a player as good as him did not win more," wrote Carlos Carbajosa in El Mundo.

And the fans were rolling up their banners ready to leave the stadium. Some just said: "Beckham thanks"; others "Get divorced and stay with us", a reference to the belief in Spain that Beckham is leaving to fulfil his wife's dream, not his own.

The roar that went up when he received his medal was the fourth loudest of the night, bettered only by the noise generated for each of Madrid's goals.

As trophy hauls go, one title in four seasons at the richest club in the world is nothing to crow about. A far greater achievement, it seems, is that, in spite of winning so little, the former England captain leaves Spain having won so much respect - from journalists, fans, dressing room heavyweights ... and even from the manager who once vowed to never pick him again.

Capello had admitted in the run-up to his last game: "We were all wrong about Beckham. The coaching staff made a decision for which I take responsibility. We got it wrong. Beckham would have been a very important player for Madrid next season. If the club said he was staying, then I would be very happy."

The hard-line Italian coach had been no more impressed with the showbiz trimmings that go with Beckham than Sir Alex Ferguson had been before him but you can't argue with results - Madrid lost just once in 12 games after the decision not to play Beckham again was reversed.

Capello was a hard nut for Beckham to crack, but he was not the first. The most political dressing room in football did not take kindly to the fanfares that accompanied his signing in 2003.

Madrid were then going for their 29th La Liga title under Vicente Del Bosque. "It's annoying there's so much talk of Beckham when we're competing for the league," said goalkeeper Iker Casillas. " Besides, I can't really imagine him at this club. He's more about marketing than football."

As Beckham waltzed into the Madrid dressing room four years ago, the title-winning manager Del Bosque and legendary captain Fernando Hierro were being carted out - culled in a power-consolidating operation by Real's then president, Florentino Perez.

The home-grown midfielder Guti was dropped to accommodate Beckham in the team, Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane had to stand aside as the president's favourite took all the free-kicks and corners, and the whole squad were dragged around Asia to trade on Beckham's lucrative image. He might has well have had "kick me" written on the back of his training bib.

Yet six months ago when Beckham was exiled both Guti and the club captain Raul offered their public support to their team-mate. "It's not good to have anyone training apart. It will be best for everyone if Beckham returns," they said.

Hierro and Figo even attended a recent goodbye dinner for Beckham and the same Casillas who branded his arrival an unwanted distraction said recently that it was sad he was leaving.

He departs having won the respect of the dressing room with some fiery displays on the pitch and a passionate performance off it too. When the players called a meeting with the club's sporting director, Pedrag Mijatovic, and president, Ramon Calderon, after the latter had made insulting comments about members of the first-team squad, Beckham shocked team-mates by being one of those who stood up and had their say, letting both Calderon and Mijatovic know he had lost all respect for them.

The Madrid media, like the players, have warmed to Beckham in his final season. Columnists such as Tomas Roncero of Diaro AS said that he "got the grand exit he deserved".

The Marca columnist Jorge Valdano, who was sporting director when Beckham signed, was equally generous. "He would have easily been able to play for another year and I think probably more," he said.

"He could have played a mature role. I think he has been put under pressure to go and play in America. Both parties have made a mistake. And now it's too late to change.

"He will be remembered as a gentleman first and foremost, and as a player of great honesty. Behind Ruud van Nistelrooy and Sergio Ramos he has been the greatest influence on the title win."

And when Beckham was left to watch Madrid struggle from his private box during January, the Marca front page dedicated to a picture of him nervously looking down on his team-mates, accompanied by the headline "Get him out of there", was typical of the press campaign for his return to the side.

Once he was back in the team and the catalyst for Madrid's revival, it was the decision not to renew his contract that became the centre of controversy. "He is leaving and no one knows why," wrote Carbajosa in El Mundo.

"Real Madrid has committed one of the greatest acts of stupidity in its long history. Why is a stupendous player who also earns the club a fortune leaving? If the sporting decision is questionable, the financial one is an undisputed mistake."

And if coaches, difficult dressing rooms and commentators have been won over, fans, remarkably, never really needed to be. The notoriously hard-to-please Bernabeu crowd, capable of chewing a player up on his debut and spitting him out before the first midwinter break took to Beckham immediately.

After every game he has made a point of going to the centre circle and clapping the supporters. A practice commonplace at English grounds but previously unknown in Spain, it has been the kind of detail that helped to carry him through three barren seasons.

"The great paradox has been that the number one sporting icon, king of the catwalk, actually turned out to be an anti-Diva on the pitch," wrote Jose Samano in El Pais the day after Beckham finally won his first trophy.

"Why risk your limbs when you have already guaranteed the Oscar? For the love of football and for pure professionalism Beckham did that," he continued.

"The most galactico of the galacticos off the pitch turned out to be the most down to earth on it."

Reality show: Beckham in Madrid

* DAVID BECKHAM'S REAL MADRID STATISTICS

Beckham had to wait until the end of his four years at the Bernabeu for a trophy. Sunday's title win completed 141 Madrid games for the England midfielder, in which he scored 15 goals and was sent off on four occasions.

2003-04 32 League appearances, 3 goals. 7 C League apps, 1 goal; Beckham made an instant impact with a third-minute goal on his league debut against Real Betis. Madrid ended the season a disappointing fourth behind Rafa Benitez's Valencia, and went out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals to finalists Monaco.

2004-05 30 League apps, 4 goals. 6 C League apps, 0 goals; Barcelona pipped Madrid to the title by four points while Juventus knocked them out of the Champions League in the second round.

2005-06 31 League apps, 3 goals. 7 C League apps, 1 goal; Barcelona took the title by 12 points with Madrid battling to finish second. A second-round defeat to Arsenal again put them out of the Champions League prematurely.

2006-07 22 League apps, 3 goals. 6 C League apps, 0 goals; Another second-round exit from Europe, at the hands of Bayern Munich, focused Madrid's attentions on the title. A recalled Beckham inspired a late-season charge, culminating in the final-day victory over Mallorca that brought him his first La Liga title.

TOTAL 141 Apps, 15 goals.

* REAL MADRID HONOURS

2003 Spanish Super Cup

2007 La Liga