David Beckham has praised his former manager Sir Alex Ferguson for the way he helped him regain his confidence after the 1998 World Cup.

While playing for the Three Lions in a game against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup, Beckham was shown Red Card because he had kicked out an opposition player. England eventually ended up being defeated in that game in the penalty shootouts and with that defeat; they got knocked out of the tournament as well.

That sending off incident affected Beckham’s image adversely. The English fans started hating him. He also got a few death threats.

According to Beckham, that period was very difficult for him. He had lost his self confidence and he was finding it hard to concentrate on his game but because of the support that he got from Sir Alex Ferguson and the fans of Manchester United, he managed to put his career on track again.

Talking to the reporters a couple of days ago, Beckham said, “It was really a horrible period. All of a sudden, I was a villain in England. People were intimidating me. I was getting death threats too.”

“Sir Alex helped me a lot during that tough period. The Manchester United supporters treated me pretty well too.”

“I am really happy that I managed to come out of that phase. I got stronger as a person after that incident. When you face criticism, you shouldn’t give up. You need to back your capabilities. If you do that, you can leave the difficult periods behind.”

One would definitely not have expected Beckham to give these sorts of statements especially after what Sir Alex has written about him in his recently published book.

In that book, the former Manchester United manager has criticized Beckham for his undisciplined behaviour towards the end of his tenure at Old Trafford.

French club Paris St Germain were reduced to 9 men after David Beckham was sent off just a few minutes after coming on as a substitute. PSG were playing against Evian in the French league and they were leading 1-0 in the match after just 50 min following a goal from Javier Pastore. However, they had defensive midfielder Marco Verratti sent off for a second yellow card. Just when it seemed that things could not get worse for Carlo Ancelotti’s men, Beckham was given a straight red minutes after coming on for a lunge on the Evian player, Youssef Adnane.

After the match, PSG sporting director Leonardo criticised the decision of the referee to give a straight red to Beckham because it was totally unfair. He said that the referee also made several mistakes over the course of the match, but PSG managed to hold on to the victory that has put them one step closer to the title. There was also other dismissals in the match after assistant manager Claude Makelele was sent to the stands as well. Beckham has been at PSG last few months after signing in January on a five month deal. Carlo Ancelotti has been calling for the contract of the former England international to be extended.

“It was always a very tense match. Nobody wanted to lose, especially Evian, who are struggling to stay up. I also believe that our team is really tired at the end of the season,” said Leonardo. As a result of the victory over Evian, PSG have been able to maintain their top position in the league. They are also having a nine-point advantage over second placed Marseille. There are only four games left in the season, which has made PSG the unofficial champions France for the first time.

The former Real Madrid, Manchester United, and LA Galaxy midfielder David Beckham has said that he still thinks that he has the opportunity to play for the club in the Champions League. The 37-year-old midfielder recently became a free agent after deciding not to extend his contract with the MLS club LA Galaxy. He is expected to join the European club once again after completing his five-year stint with the American club. He has been linked with a number of clubs like the Premier League club QPR and the French club Monaco. However, very high-profile clubs like Paris St Germain have also been linked with a move for the former England midfielder.

Beckham has opened the door to joining the club like Paris St Germain by saying that he still feels that he has a lot to offer at the Champions League level itself. Beckham was last involved in the Champions League back in 2009 with the Italian club AC Milan. He recently ended his stint with the American club by lifting the second MLS cup in two seasons by helping the team beat Houston Dynamo in the final of the competition. The French club Paris St Germain represent the best opportunity for Beckham to take part in the Champions League once again.

“I always loved it when I went back to AC Milan being back in the Champions League. I still miss playing in it, they are the games you love playing in. Of course I’d want to play in it again. We’ll see where I go next. If it’s a team that’s in the Champions League then it will be nice to be back. It’s nice to see them still playing at United,” said Beckham about his future and his former teammates Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, who continue to represent United.

Both David Beckham and Robbie Keane will not be part of the squad that will play in the Champions League against Puerto Rico because the manager has decided to leave most of the squad with the view of keeping them fresh for the rest of the campaign. Alongside Landon Donovan, both David Beckham and Robbie Keane have an important role in the squad.

Due to the fact that both Robbie Keane and David Beckham coming to the end of their careers, the manager Bruce Arena decided to not take these players for the match against Puerto Rico, even though its a bit like Barcelona leaving Lionel Messi at home!

He has said that this is the third game for the club in the space of a week, which has put tremendous pressure on the resources he has at its disposal. Further, it would have meant that David Beckham and Robbie Keane would have been overused. So, he decided it is best for them to remain home under this situation, which would mean that they would be fresh for the remainder of the season. LA Galaxy come into the match with comfortable lead under the favourites to go to the next round. Following this match, LA Galaxy will be having only a few days of recovery before they take on Toronto.

“We’re just in a week where we’re playing three games. We’ll have some different players on the field that we did in the first game. But we’ll have a mixture of players. When you’re out awhile, it takes some time to get fit. I was a little tired towards the end of last week when I came out, but I think if I had to go 10 or 15 more minutes, then I could have gone through it. The only caveat to that is that this is a different environment. It’s hotter, it’s humid and that could play into it,” said Bruce Arena.