Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 5 Num 248 Fri. February 04, 2005  
   
Sports


The samba Beckham!


England captain David Beckham says Real Madrid's new Brazilian coach Wanderley Luxemburgo has helped him rediscover his old magic.

A spectacular long-range Beckham free-kick maintained Madrid's perfect league record in 2005 with a 2-1 win at bottom club Numancia on Sunday.

And Beckham feels he is doing enough to silence the critics who have called on England coach Sven Goran Eriksson to replace him with Manchester City's Shaun Wright-Phillips.

"As long as I am happy with my form for Real Madrid and England, then it does not really matter what anyone else says," Beckham told Sky Sports News.

"The most important thing is that I am comfortable with the way I am playing and the last month has been my best month for a while."

Former Brazil national coach Luxemburgo was brought in at the end of last year by Real president Florentino Perez and Beckham admits he has been a breath of fresh air at the Santiago Bernabeu.

"He has totally changed things around, as we are working a lot harder in training and we are more organised in games, and that is being shown in the games we have played under him," said Beckham.

Beckham is also happy with how things are shaping up under Eriksson in the England camp.

"It is good, we have some experience and some great young players coming through and we are very lucky as a country to have that," added Beckham.

But despite five league wins in a row, Real remain seven points behind runaway league leaders Barcelona.