Becks plans grand finale as Real title finally within grasp

After 12 years of flying boots, hanging effigies, goals from the halfway line and last-minute free-kick winners, Beckham has six hours of football left —before the soccer begins.

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In those four games the man dubbed a B-list movie star in the making by his Real Madrid president and who was ruled out of playing contention indefinitely by his own manager, could have the last laugh and win the Spanish league.

Beckham said after last weekend's 3-2 win over Sevilla that lifted Real one place and two points behind Barcelona: "Things have changed in the dressing room and on the pitch.

"We are together as a team, there are no individuals. We are coming back and winning games."

Real could go top for the first time this season on Saturday. Beckham will be serving a one-match ban but Madrid are still favourites to see off mid-table Espanyol, who will have next week's Uefa Cup Final on their minds.

Barcelona play on Sunday and will return to the top if they beat Real Betis. But the feeling, at least in Madrid, is that Real have the momentum to overtake their rivals before the season ends on June 17.

Barcelona's formidable attacking trio had kept them head and shoulders above the rest in Spain for the previous two campaigns but six month lay-offs for Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi and an unsettled season for Ronaldinho have robbed them of their potency and exposed an unbalanced midfield and a comic defence.

Real have not capitalised as they should have done, hence the weekly calls for manager Fabio Capello to be replaced.

But the old Italian general has survived and marshalled his troops well enough away from home — where Real have won more points than in any season in their 105-year history — to have them still on the leaders' shoulder in the home straight.

Going out of other competitions early has also left them with the freshest squad going into the last five matches. Beckham is fresher than most, thanks to a mid-winter break that lasted five weeks.

After Beckham agreed terms with MLS side LA Galaxy at the start of the year, Capello said that the Englishman would not play for Real again. "I cannot trust someone who has already signed with another club," he stated.

But after a month of poor results the boss caved in and recalled him. In his first game back, the ex-England captain scored in a 2-1 win at Real Sociedad.

Having won his place back once, he had to do it again after a knee injury ruled him out for six weeks, but he came off the bench to inspire a 2-1 win over Valencia three weeks ago, was man of the match the following week away to Athletic Bilbao and was inspirational again last week against Sevilla.

He even seems to have found a balance between his two preferred positions — playing on the right of a four-man midfield but encouraged to drift infield and compensate for the creative deficiencies there.

Real have won their last three games since his return, scoring nine goals. With Barcelona facing a tricky trip to Atletico Madrid in a fortnight having won only twice on their travels, Madrid will be full of hope.

Maybe Beckham wishes he hadn't signed that $250million contract after all. Real fans don't want him to leave.

His is one of only three names sung at the Bernabeu — home-grown Guti and Raul being the others — and the club have all but admitted they messed up when they failed to extend his contract.

Asked after last week's win if he regretted his decision to quit, he gave the politically correct answer but there was a sense it was starting to dawn on him that it will soon be 10,000, not 80,000, fans watching him.

"I'm going to cherish my last games as a Real Madrid player," he said. "I am always going to miss the big nights but everybody moves on."

As big nights go, June 17 at home to Mallorca could take some beating, even by Beckham's standards.