TOKYO, 6 August 2003 — England superstar David Beckham opened his goal-scoring account for new club Real Madrid with a trademark freekick here yesterday as the Spanish giants recorded a 3-0 friendly victory against FC Tokyo.
Japan’s National Stadium erupted in a sea of camera flashes as Beckham curled one of his legendary set-pieces around a wall of defenders and into the back of the net following a foul in the 37th minute by FC Tokyo.
In another first as a Real player, Beckham, was yellow-carded just eight minutes into the rain-soaked match for tripping FC Tokyo forward Yuta Baba.
Portuguese international Luis Figo - who moved over to his favored right side of the pitch mid-way through the first half after Beckham shifted into the center - set up the second goal. Figo passed to Javier Portillo across the center of the FC Tokyo net, whose shot was deflected off a defender into the path of Santiago Solari who prodded home.
Brazil star Ronaldo finished things off with another goal in the final minutes of the game. It was another routine triumph for the star-studded squad - minus injured French international midfielder Zinedine Zidane — in the second match of an Asia-wide tour, which is set to earn the club some eight million euros ($9.1 million). Real Madrid defeated a select Chinese side in Beijing at the weekend.FC Tokyo made Real work hard early on, attacking with vigor and almost taking the lead in the fourth minute when a Teruyuki Moniwa strike went just wide.
But the positional switch by Beckham and Figo signaled a change in tempo for Real Madrid to the delight of the Japanese crowd, who roared with excitement every time a ball went near the Tokyo goal.
Torrential rain dampened spirits slightly as did the news that Zidane would not be making an appearance during the game. But Japanese fans, especially those cheering for home-side FC Tokyo, were in good voice.
Some 54,268 fans attended the game. And with so many stars present, security was tight with some 200 police and 800 private security guards, a security official said.
