Dec

Beckham to return and haunt Manchester United?

Fergie must face his former fledgling

He just can’t help but hog the limelight can he?

David Beckham gets the opportunity to return to Old Trafford and have one final fling in front of the Manchester United fans who first adored him well over a decade ago.

AC Milan were the last European side to deny Manchester United a place in the Champions League final but Ferguson and his Red Devils will have every confidence of righting that wrong and making the last 8.

Given the inconsistency shown by Manchester United this season that may be the wrong attitude to have as AC Milan may just be gelling as a unit under Leonardo. The ghost of Cristiano Ronaldo hangs heavy over Old Trafford this season and you don’t expect United to be spending much this January transfer window.

In all honesty, they shouldn’t have to but the recent loss to Aston Villa was a case in point. United were at home but went with a 4-5-1 formation which saw Wayne Rooney prowling the front line by himself, desperately looking for assistance from non-existent troops.

On the bench sat Michael Owen, on the back of his first United hat-trick, and Dimitar Berbatov, a £30m+ player. Neither of these players were deemed good enough to start the match and the lack of striking edge looks as though it will punish United.

One thing that AC Milan will provide is a defence that will be difficult to breach. They may no longer have Paulo Maldini but the Italian side haven’t lose all of their strengths just yet.

They also offer the striker that most of the world seems to hate but Inzaghi has a scoring record that means he won’t care what people think of him. Yes, it is as though the Italian striker was born offside and don’t expect him to offer much outside the box but if you get the ball there, your money would be on the forward to add another goal to his tally.

But let us return to the main issue of the tie, David Beckham being back in Manchester for the second leg. Beckham has never been anything but respectful about the club and manager since his transfer to Real Madrid but you cant help but think there was more to story than was ever reported.

That may be down to the cynical nature of football fans but deep down, everyone would hope for more in the Beckham quitting Manchester United. The Man U fans would hope it wasn’t just a petty fall-out between the two characters and every other football fan would hope it was something that would show Ferguson up for the nasty bully that most people think he is.

Expect nothing but praise and platitudes to flow between both parties in the build up to this match, Beckham after all will be keen to impress Fabio Capello let alone Ferguson.