•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

London. Big-spending Real Madrid was knocked out of the Champions League by Lyon on Wednesday and Manchester United spoiled David Beckham’s return to Old Trafford with a 4-0 victory over AC Milan.

Madrid was held 1-1 at home by Lyon, which meant it went out 2-1 on aggregate and failed to reach the last eight for the sixth season in a row.

In Manchester, two more goals by Wayne Rooney — who also scored twice in the first leg in Milan and now has 30 league and cup goals this season — helped United triumph 7-2 overall and join Arsenal and Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals.

Rooney scored United’s first two and Park Ji-sung and Darren Fletcher added two more to send United into the last eight.

“When we play at that tempo, we’re difficult to play against and it was a really solid performance,” said United manager Alex Ferguson, who has guided the team to the last two finals. “With that kind of team I’ve got, it doesn’t matter who we play.”

It was 3-0 by the time Beckham went on as a substitute to a big ovation from the United fans, and the former England captain, on loan to Milan from the Los Angeles Galaxy, could do little to stop his team going out of the competition.

“It was nice to be back and obviously a disappointing night,” Beckham said. “When you don’t start in a game, it’s one of those things when you always want to play. But it was an unbelievable reception and I have to say thank you.”

It all looked hopeful for Madrid when it wiped out Lyon’s 1-0 first-leg lead within six minutes of the kickoff.

A long pass by Guti released Cristiano Ronaldo down the left and the winger fired an angled shot through the legs of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

Miralem Pjanic made it 1-1 in the 75th minute when he got clear down the left and fired past goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

Following its surprise ouster, the club came under heavy criticism and was accused of throwing 250 million euros ($340 million) down the drain.

Club president Florentino Perez returned for a second term last summer and brought in top players, including Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, in a bid to end five years of failure in Europe’s elite competition.

However, Thursday’s Spanish newspapers suggested the construction magnate’s investment had been a waste and the nine-time European champion had focused too much on glamour and spectacle at the expense of sporting success.

“You don’t buy titles, you win them,” columnist Jose Samano wrote in daily El Pais.

“When the ball is in play, it’s the business of the players and Hollywood-style theater is irrelevant,” he added. “Everything is possible in sport except for those who consider the pitch a stock market.”

Real’s elimination ended Perez’s dream of winning a 10th European title at the club’s Bernabeu stadium, where May’s final is to be held.

“The catastrophe suffered by this pharaonic Madrid team is as if an earthquake had destroyed the Valley of the Kings,” Orfeo Suarez wrote in El Mundo. “Watching the competition to which they owe their legend from the sidelines will be their penitence and torment.”



AP, Reuters