David Beckham retires: his greatest goals The titans of Europe came together at Old Trafford again in what proved to be a truly memorable encounter. Beckham was left on the bench for 63 minutes but with Real leading 3-2 thanks to a Ronaldo hat-trick. However, Beckham was introduced and within eight minutes hit a superb free-kick to drag United back into a game. He added a second inside the box but Real went through 6-5 on aggregate. October 2001, England v Greece England were trailing 2-1 going into injury-time of their World Cup qualifier at Old Trafford and Germany were heading for automatic qualification. The hosts won a free-kick 30 yards out and up stepped Beckham, blew his cheeks out and curled an unstoppable shot over the wall and into the net, leaving the goalkeeper flat-footed, to send England to the 2002 World Cup. June 1998, England v Colombia Beckham's first goal for England, a trademark free-kick left the Colombia goalkeeper scrambling helplessly across the line as Glenn Hoddle's team won 2-0. However, it was a bitter-sweet World Cup for Beckham as he was later sent off against Argentina and returned to the sight of hanging effigies. August 1996, Wimbledon v Manchester United An iconic moment in Beckham's career. The midfielder served notice of what was ahead on the opening day of the 1996/97 season when he looked up and spotted Dons goalkeeper Neil Sullivan off his line. Audaciously, he executed a perfect lob which gave the back-pedalling keeper no chance as it dipped into the net.