If you’re the kind that’s easily spooked, stay away-stay far away-from what’s happening with David Beckham and Real Madrid in Spain. After Real Madrid’s improbable last-gasp draw in Zaragoza was mirrored by an equally improbable last-gasp draw in Barcelona, you might have got the feeling that someone else is calling the shots out there.
Even Real players David Beckham and Ruud Van Nistelrooy suggested having some kind of religious experience. “I was thinking, ‘We need another goal here’ and I couldn’t understand why they were still celebrating,” Van Nistelrooy said after scoring the 89th-minute equalizer. “Then I looked up at the scoreboard and saw that Espanyol had equalized at the same time. I couldn’t believe it. It’s impossible to describe the feeling I got when I saw that. I thought all was lost.” Said Beckham: “Someone up there is watching over us … because in the last few games we’ve had a lot go our way.”
Which the Guardian points out is something of an understatement. After surrendering a 2-0 lead late in the second half three weeks ago, Real beat Recreativo Huelva thanks to a 90th-minute winner from Roberto Carlos. That match was preceded by a mammoth 4-3 comeback from 3-1 down to Espanyol at home a week earlier. “Sure,” you might say, “last minute goals happen,” but it’s an absolute miracle when two last-minute goals in different places at the same time contribute to the same end.