It seems as if it was not just a few weeks ago that the footballing career of David Beckham was considered over at Real Madrid football club. The coach, Fabio Capello all but said that he would not play Beckham again till he left the club.

In fact, some reports suggested that Beckham would be allowed to leave in April, rather than in June when his contract ends. Well, in the eyes of many football followers and analysts, the end had come for Beckham's active playing career. He had been effectively placed on the shelf to gather dust, or so it seemed. Surprisingly, just a few weeks later, the tide has changed. Beckham now holds a regular shirt at Real Madrid, and was named the man of the match in the recent champion's league victory over Bayern Munich. What could have been responsible for this sudden turn around by the coach? Well, the club had been under performing of late, losing some of it's home matches in the Spanish league, and drawing some others. Few goals were being scored and the fans made no secret of the fact that that they were far from satisfied at the club's results. Some fans openly called for the resignation of Coach Capello and the club president, Perez.

Capello's job really came under serious threat when his team lost to lowly rated Levante by a lone goal in a match played in the Bernabeu. Well, it appeared that coach Capello was going to get the axe if he lost his next game, even though it was an away game.

He had no choice than to reconsider his earlier vow not to play Beckham again, and recalled him for the match. And to the surprise of all, Beckham scored a trademark free kick to bring Real back into the game after going a goal down earlier on. According to the Spanish press, his goal saved Capello’s job.

His overall contribution to the game was marvelous.

Needless to say, most people wondered why he had been left on the bench by Capello all this while. He again went on to produce a commendable performance in the next league game, which Real won. He capped it with a fine display against Bayern in the champion’s league, contributing to the three goals scored by Real.

Already, the England manager, Steve Maclaren has admitted that Beckham’s inspiring displays of recent have put him under pressure to recall him back into the England squad. Could the former outcast player be on his way back to playing for England? We can only wait and see as events unfold.