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The superstar leads Real Madrid to 30th Spanish league title in his final game.
MADRID, Spain — David Beckham was minutes away from a perfect Hollywood ending.
The 32-year-old soccer star-pop icon, who likely played his last professional game in Europe, was taken off the field moments before Real Madrid rallied to win the Spanish league title for the first time in Beckham’s four years with the team.
The England midfielder was replaced in the 66th minute with what appeared to be a recurrence of an ankle injury. But he still managed to limp around the field in celebration after his team beat Mallorca 3-1 to win its 30th league title.
It was the culmination of a season that can easily be called the most difficult of his life. But even being shunned by both Madrid coach Fabio Capello and England coach Steve McClaren over the last year didn’t keep Beckham from proving he still has the skills to compete at the highest level.
“It has been possibly the toughest season of my career on and off the field. I’ve gone through things that I never thought were possible,” said Beckham, who was dropped from the Madrid lineup in January after signing a five-year, $27.5 million contract to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy of MLS.
But with Madrid again eliminated early from the Champions League and the team in fourth place in the league — six points behind leader FC Barcelona — Capello begrudgingly recalled the former England captain.
“A major fault of mine this season was not recognizing Beckham’s potential,” Capello said Sunday.
Beckham, whose good looks and pop star wife have made him an international marketing magnet, marked his return to the team by scoring with a bending free kick in Madrid’s 2-1 win at Real Sociedad.
After missing six weeks with a knee injury, Beckham returned to set up the winning goal in a 2-1 win over Valencia.
Madrid rode an eight-game unbeaten run by scoring 24 goals — more than a third of the total it had scored in the first 30 games of the season.
On Sunday, Beckham nearly scored with a free kick in the 18th minute, and then watched as another one went over the crossbar in the 52nd. Six minutes later, Beckham hit the bar with another.
But Beckham appeared to re-aggravate his left ankle sprain and he was replaced by Jose Antonio Reyes, who scored two of Madrid’s three goals.
Beckham arrived at Madrid in 2003 with nine major trophies from his days at Manchester United. Lining up with Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and Luis Figo, Beckham was the last “galactico” — sure to fill the club’s pockets with marketing money while the nine-time European champions continued to collect trophies.
But life in Madrid was tough for Beckham. The club went four years without winning a trophy — its longest drought in 53 years.