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Red card shame for Beckham
04/12/2005 09:30 - (SA)
Madrid, Spain - Ronaldo scored and David Beckham was ejected in Real Madrid's 1-0 win over neighbour Getafe in the Spanish league on Saturday.
Ronaldo, who was returning from injury after appearing in only one of Madrid's previous nine games, struck in the 18th minute at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium to lift Madrid into fourth place in the standings.
Beckham received a red card in the 57th minute for a tackle on striker Ivan "Riki" Sanchez-Rico.
The midfielder, wearing a black armband in honour of George Best - the Manchester United and Northern Ireland star who was buried earlier Saturday, then exchanged angry words with Getafe coach Bernd Schuster before he exited through the players' tunnel.
"I congratulated him on his good game," Schuster said sarcastically before agreeing that Beckham had appeared over-excited during the game.
The dismissal was the midfielder's fourth since he joined Madrid from Manchester United in 2003. It was also the third time Beckham has been sent off this season. He was ejected playing for England against Austria and for Madrid against Valencia.
"The ejection was bad because it's not good to be with a player less. But to suggest he was seeking a red card is another matter. We're having a difficult time and perhaps he is trying to do things the wrong way," Madrid coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo was quoted as saying by news agency Efe.
Madrid's victory was its first in three league games and only its third in its last seven. It created few chances and was forced into a defensive posture following Beckham's dismissal.
"I'm happy about the result but not about the way we played. Everyone is a bit scared of making mistakes but this win and (last week's) draw with Real Sociedad has boosted our morale. I'd like to play well as soon as possible. But I don't know when we will," Luxemburgo added.
Ronaldo scored when he raced onto a pass by Zinedine Zidane, maintained possession despite colliding with Getafe defender Cosmin Contra and then poked the ball home from just inside the area.
The Brazilian striker had been sidelined for a month with strained ankle ligaments but returned for Madrid's 3-0 defeat by Barcelona two weeks ago. He re-injured the ankle and missed two more games, one in the league and one in the European Champions League.
Madrid supporters voiced their dissatisfaction with Luxemburgo when he replaced Ronaldo with midfielder Thomas Gravesen in the 87th minute. A similar incident occurred last week in the Champions League game with Lyon when the Brazilian coach was jeered for swapping Beckham for defender Michel Salgado.
Uruguayan midfielder Fabian Canobbio started Celta quickly at Balaidos stadium when he converted a cross by Argentine left back Diego Placente in the sixth minute.
Placente also created Celta's second 14 minutes later, supplying a cross to Brazilian striker Fernando Baiano, who capitalised on poor marking by Betis defenders to head home for his seventh goal of the season.
Brazilian forward Edu Schmidt converted a header for a 90th-minute consolation goal for Betis.
Betis was reduced to 10 men moments later when defender Oscar Lopez was ejected after receiving a second yellow card.
Last season's Copa del Rey winner, which beat Chelsea and drew with European champion Liverpool in the Champions League last month, extended its league winless streak to seven and dropped to last place with 11 points.
Atletico's Serbia-Montenegro striker Mateja Kezman opened the scoring in the 12th minute at Bilbao's San Mames stadium although the visitors then lost goalkeeper Leo Franco through injury just before the interval.
His replacement, Ismael Falcon, pulled off several saves until midfielder Orbaiz headed a late goal to lift the Basque team off the bottom of the standings.
Atletico moved up to 10th place with 17 points.
- AP
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