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The former England captain has decided to bring the curtain down on his illustrious career – despite the best efforts of les Parisiens to persuade him to play on for another year

Paris Saint-Germain midfielder David Beckham has announced that he will retire from football at the end of the season.

The 38-year-old only moved to the French capital on a short-term contract in January but les Parisiens were keen for the former England captain to extend his stay at the Parc des Princes for another season.

However, even though Beckham played his part in PSG ending their 18-year wait for a Ligue title, the midfielder has now decided to bring the curtain down on his illustrious career this summer, with the May 25 meeting with Lorient set to be his final competitive fixture in football.

Beckham has established himself as one of the most recognisable faces in sport during a remarkable career that has spanned two decades.

He made his name at Manchester United, winning six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and one Champions League with the Red Devils before joining Real Madrid in 2003.

Beckham lifted La Liga in his final season at the Santiago Bernabeu before shocking the footballing world by moving to LA Galaxy, with whom he won two MLS Cups. Perhaps more significantly, though, he played a massive role in boosting football’s popularity in the United States.

After two loan spells with AC Milan during his time in America, he eventually returned to Europe earlier this year with PSG, picking another domestic championship to become the first Englishman to win titles in four different countries.

In his homeland, though, he will probably best be remembered for his captaincy of the national team, and the trademark free kick against Greece which secured his country’s qualification for the 2002 World Cup.

More to follow …

Our man at the Bernabeu has picked a bet for Friday’s final which has paid out in nine of the last 10 derbies between the pair

The last time Atletico Madrid beat their cross city rivals in any competition, fans were still buying their tickets in pesetas and a tweet was the noise you might expect from an owl.

14 agonising years have passed since Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scored in a 3-1 win for the Rojiblancos only for Atleti to be relegated come the end of the season.

Friday night’s Copa del Rey derby final, then, gives Atletico the chance not only to lift some silverware but end their interminable run without a win over their fiercest rivals.

The omens for Diego Simeone’s men are not good though, with Real coming out on top 2-1 when the two sides met in the league last month despite fielding a much weakened side because of imminent Champions League commitments.

Jose Mourinho’s side also triumphed 2-0 in the league meeting at the Bernabeu in December in a match where Atleti where bitterly disappointing.

All this therefore makes bet365’s price of 5/1 (6.00) for an Atletico win hardly appealing, with the odds of 1/2 (1.50) for a Madrid success clearly justified.

Goals of course look on the cards, but backing both teams to score at just 4/7 (1.57) is too small despite having an excellent chance of paying out.

However for those of us who have watched Madrid derbies over the years there is one feature that has been constant; early goals. Backing a goal before 24 minutes at 5/6 (1.83) looks a nailed on selection with this bet paying out comfortably in nine of the last 10 meetings between these two sides.

For a value bet, backing a goal inside the first 10 minutes at 3/1 (4.00) looks like an excellent option given it has paid out in five of the last seven derbies.

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Phil Kitromilides is a journalist and TV presenter in Madrid

The Barcelona star has been unhappy to see his Spain team-mate suffer such a controversial season at the Bernabeu, while also discussing his determination to keep playing

Barcelona star Xavi has labelled the treatment Spain team-mate Iker Casillas has received at Real Madrid this season as “terrible”.

The goalkeeper has been exiled from the first-team by Jose Mourinho and regularly criticised by the coach in public, with the Santiago Bernabeu boss preferring to select January signing Diego Lopez between the sticks.

Xavi has been dismayed to see his club rival and international colleague go through such a hard time and says it is not what a player of Casillas’ standing deserves.

“I don’t like to see an important player like Iker going through something like this,” he told a press conference.

“It is terrible and I don’t like it at all. Not so long ago they were putting him forward for the Ballon d’Or and now he’s being discarded.

“He’s my friend, he is a role model for a lot of people, he is captain of Spain’s national team – he doesn’t deserve this. I don’t know if Mourinho will continue [at Real Madrid] or not.”

Xavi’s long-term fitness is often an issue debated when Barca’s squad is analysed but the iconic midfielder insists he is still as keen as ever to play regularly – both for club and country.

The 33-year-old added: “Physically, I am prepared to keep going – that’s why I signed a three-year contract extension.

“I haven’t left the national team and I want to be with Spain for the Confederations Cup and World Cup 2014. I want to keep performing to a high level and I see myself being able to do so.

“I enjoy playing every three days – that’s how you can build up rhythm and form. I want to be with Spain for the Confederations Cup and I want to win it.

“There are a lot of games to get through but that’s because of the way the calendar is. At the end of the season, your legs are tired.”

The Camp Nou club’s latest Liga title was Xavi’s seventh in a star-studded career that has also seen him win three Champions League medals.

The Parisiens have already confirmed that they have rejected an approach from Real Madrid for the Italian coach, who landed the Ligue 1 title last weekend

Paris Saint-Germain boss Carlo Ancelotti has admitted that it is “50-50” whether he will remain at the Parc des Princes.

The Italian coach still has a year to run on his current contract with the newly-crowned Ligue 1 champions but that has not dissuaded Real Madrid from trying to lure him to the Santiago Bernabeu, with les Parisiens president Nasser Al-Khelaifi having confirmed earlier this week that he has already rejected one approach from los Blancos.

However, Ancelotti has confessed that, while he wants to honour his deal with PSG, his future in the French capital remains uncertain.

“Today, it is 50-50,” he told L’Equipe when asked about the likelihood of him still being at the Parc des Prince next season. “I want [to stay], but only if there is the opportunity to continue. I am well integrated here and I’m not a person who likes change.

“I was disappointed when I left Chelsea. And if I leave Paris, there will inevitably be a little sadness; that’s normal.

“I see, these days, that everyone wants me to stay. The most important thing is to work in an atmosphere where you feel you trust.

“Everybody knows my position: I have a contract with PSG and if I want to leave the club, I have to talk with the club. I will do things correctly, as I have always done.”

Ancelotti dismissed the suggestion that his next move hinges on whether PSG grant him a greater say in the running of the club, insisting that there has been no falling-out with sporting director Leonardo.

“This is not a matter of having more power,” he declared. “My job is to prepare the team on the field. I do not want anything else because my trust Leonardo is fantastic.

“We have all been through a lot of things, some beautiful, some less beautiful. But I have not yet spoken with the club. We will have a meeting on Friday and then we’ll see.

“First, I want to talk to the club and understand what happened this season and what will happen in the future.”

Indeed, Ancelotti revealed that he has yet to discuss this summer’s transfer targets with his employers.

“We have not yet spoken about it,” the 53-year-old confirmed. “We had a lot to do so far. But the backbone has been made. The team is already competitive. We only need to strengthen a little bit.”

Ancelotti added that that also means rejecting any offers for Jeremy Menez and Mamadou Sakho, who have been linked with Monaco in recent days.

“These are two young players and young players are part of the future of PSG,” he explained. “They are non-transferable.”

Ancelotti, who has won the European Cup as a player and its successor the Champions League as a coach, joined PSG six months after being sacked by Chelsea.

The Portuguese coach has fallen out with the majority of his squad and will leave Madrid next month, but will ask his footballers for one last push in Friday’s Copa del Rey final

COMMENT
By Ben Hayward | Spanish Football Writer

The end is in sight. Jose Mourinho draws ever closer to a Real Madrid exit at the conclusion of his third term in Spain. But before the end comes the Copa del Rey final – and he wants to win it.

Mourinho left Porto, Chelsea and Inter on excellent terms with almost all of his players, but the same cannot be said of Madrid. The Portuguese has fallen out with virtually each member of his squad over the last few months and a summer separation now looks to be the only option for all concerned. However, with a trophy up for grabs on Friday, the 50-year-old will ask those footballers for one last effort – a final flourish.

Jose’s tenure in Madrid was kick-started by the capture of the Copa del Rey in 2011, when Madrid beat Barcelona at the showpiece in Valencia. La Liga then followed last season, with the Spanish Supercopa added at the beginning of the current campaign. A second Primera Division title eluded the Portuguese, though, after a stuttering start saw his side lose too much ground to Barca, while the Decima dream remains just that as Mourinho watched his team lose three straight semi-finals in the Champions League – in 2010-11, 2011-12 and again this term.

Nevertheless, a fourth trophy would represent a satisfactory conclusion to his three-year tenure. That is what the club are focusing on now and the squad dined together on Tuesday in a bid to promote team spirit and build morale ahead of the Copa final on Friday, when the Blancos face city rivals Atletico Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Perhaps tellingly, Mourinho was absent at the lunch organised by his players. But despite the bad blood, they will want to win Friday’s final just as much as their coach.

Captain Iker Casillas will be on the bench once again as Diego Lopez starts in goal, but Mourinho should swallow his pride and pick Pepe for the derby clash on Friday.

Pepe recently upset Mourinho by publicly criticising his coach after the 4-3 win over Valladolid, when he told Canal Plus that his boss should show more respect to Casillas.

Mourinho hit back by claiming that Pepe’s problem was Rapahel Varane, the brilliant 20-year-old defender who has displaced the Portugal centre-back in the team this term. Now, however, Mourinho has a problem too: Varane is sidelined.

The young Frenchman injured his knee in the weekend draw at Espanyol and has since undergone surgery to repair the problem. He will miss the final and has almost certainly played his final game under Mourinho at Madrid.

That leaves the coach with a dilemma. Sergio Ramos is expected to be fit for the final after two weeks out, but the Portuguese appears not to trust Raul Albiol or Ricardo Carvalho. So he has to play Pepe.

Ahead of the Champions League semi-final second leg against Borussia Dortmund, Mourinho asked his players for one big effort – and he got it as Madrid won 2-0 to miss out by a single strike in the 4-3 aggregate defeat.

Now he needs another – from Pepe and the rest of his players too. La Liga was finally lost at the weekend, although it had left their reach a long, long time ago. So Friday’s fixture is now all that matters for Mourinho at Madrid. A happy ending is impossible; the scars run too deep and the divisions are too painful. Yet victory against Atletico will bring Mourinho’s spell at Madrid to an amicable conclusion. And that is what everyone at the club will want: a final flourish.

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