England midfielder David Beckham admitted playing injured in his
final games for Real Madrid aggravated the ankle injury now
delaying his Major League Soccer career, but he said he had no
regrets.
Beckham is expected to miss the Los Angeles Galaxy's MLS game
against Toronto FC Sunday, and if he does it will be the fourth
match he has watched from the sideline since his token debut as a
78th minute substitute in a friendly against Chelsea on July
21.
Beckham damaged ankle ligaments playing for Real Madrid four
days after spraining the same left ankle in England's match against
Estonia on June 6. He said he aggravated the injury further on June
17, when Real Madrid beat Real Mallorca to clinch the Spanish
League title.
But he said he couldn't regret his role in Real Madrid's run to
the championship.
"I sprained it playing for England, played again four days after
for Real Madrid with the sprain and pulled the ligaments," Beckham
said here Saturday.
"Then I played the last game of the season for Real Madrid with
three injections to numb my ankle so you can imagine what my ankle
looked like after the game. I ripped the ligaments in that last
game so it was a bit of a mess.
"Then I went on holiday to recuperate and then when I arrived in
LA, it was the first time I really had treatment apart from about a
week of fitness work that I was doing in the south of France," he
added.
Beckham said the decision to have injections went against the
grain, but with a title on the line he felt it was worth it.
"I personally have never agreed with any injections and anything
that could be unnatural. I like to feel naturally fit going into
games. But I think because we were going for the league title, and
we needed to win the last two games, I would have done anything to
play in that game.
"It wasn't healthy, it wasn't, maybe, the right thing to do long
term, but I did it and at the end of the day I'm glad I did it,"
Beckham said. "I played in a game for 65 minutes and we ended up
winning the league."
(China Daily via AFP August 6, 2007)