MANCHESTER United fans should feel cheated.

For last night's clash with Inter proved that David Beckham has been freewheeling throughout his career.

Everyone knows that the man has immense talent.

But now we know he is a footballer.

Beckham has justifiably suffered at the hands of rival supporters for his moment of madness against Argentina in France.

That was a small price to pay for the broken dreams of a nation.

And Beckham's sense of injustice has clearly been festering since June and that bottled aggression was spectacularly released in a dazzling display at Old Trafford.

The pin-point whipped curling crosses are now an almost commonplace part of the Beckham armoury.

But his feud with Diego Simeone brought out a new side to his game.

Suddenly Beckham was matching Roy Keane and Paul Scholes for competitiveness, albeit against one player.

If Alex Ferguson could somehow motivate him to similar levels week-in, week-out, Beckham really would be the best in Europe.

It doesn't matter that his anger was misdirected towards Simeone.

It must be remembered that the Argentinian was not the villain of the piece.

He reacted as any footballer, British or otherwise, would have reacted. It was not the feigned injury that resulted in the red card, it was Beckham's childish flick. It is therefore a bit rich that Manchester United fans, who have voiced their support for Argentina throughout the season as a counter to the taunts aimed at Beckham, should provide such a heated reception for Simeone.

It was also clear that Beckham has still failed to accept the blame for the incident.

His cold handshake at the start of the game, followed by a snide comment to Scholes, and the grimaces that accompanied the post-match shirt-swapping were evidence that feelings still run deep at Beckham's end.

That is part of a part of a persecution complex that surfaces in the kind of petulance matched only by Graeme Le Saux when his eggy soldiers are too soggy.

But Beckham's masterclass against Inter proved that that arrogance, energy and passion can - at long last - be productively channelled.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.