David Beckham supports Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to leave Wayne Rooney at home

Published on Sunday 12 September 2010 20:00

David Beckham has backed Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to drop Wayne Rooney from Manchester United's Barclays Premier League clash with his former club Everton.

Rooney missed the 3-3 draw at Goodison Park following newspaper revelations about his private life.

The England striker and wife Coleen this week asked for privacy while they sort out their marriage, and Ferguson said before Saturday's game: "We made a decision simply because he gets terrible abuse here. We don't want to subject him to that."

United looked to be cruising to all three points at Goodison Park when they held a 3-1 lead going into injury time. But two dramatic late goals snatched an unlikely draw for the hosts.

Beckham has backed his former manager to handle the situation with Rooney in the right way.

"Sir Alex Ferguson knows more than me and definitely knows more than anyone about his players," Beckham told Sky Sports News.

"He has obviously made a decision what is best for him and for his team."

Beckham added: "He's definitely being looked after by the right club and the right manager and with the right people around him. He's a great footballer at the end of the day."

Rooney and his wife released a statement on Friday saying the "last six days have been extremely painful for us and for our families".

The couple have faced a week of torrid speculation and newspaper headlines after claims the Manchester United striker visited a 1,200-a-night prostitute while his wife was pregnant.

Beckham, of course, is more concerned with his own career than that of Rooney's and he has targeted a return for England after coming back from injury to play for Los Angeles Galaxy at the weekend.

The former Manchester Untied and Real Madrid player has also admitted he feared his playing days were over after snapping his Achilles while on loan for AC Milan in March.

Beckham's England career appeared to be over after coach Fabio Capello indicated he would not pick the 35-year-old following the World Cup in South Africa in the summer.

With England having won both of their Euro 2012 qualifiers so far against Bulgaria and Switzerland, Beckham might be considered to be surplus to requirements.

But Beckham, following his return for Galaxy as a second-half substitute in the 3-1 win over Columbus Crew, has indicated he would like to face Montenegro at Wembley on 12 October.

Beckham said: "I'd like to be available to play for England. If I'm fit then I'm sure the (England] manager will consider me," Beckham said.

Beckham also revealed his initial reaction was to question if he would recover from the injury. "As positive a person as I am when I did the injury there are doubts that go through your mind.'Am I ever going to play again?'

"Being back out there and being fit again and with the team it makes it sweet. When you have a serious injury like this it does cross your mind."

Beckham made his return after 70 minutes of Galaxy's Major League Soccer win at the Home Depot Center from an injury which had ruled him out of the World Cup. With Galaxy three goals up when he arrived it was a low-key cameo for Beckham, whose last game for the MLS franchise was in November, but he did find to time to earn a booking four minutes after his introduction.

Beckham came on wide on the right and was quickly in the game, linking up well with Landon Donovan, seeing a shot charged down two minutes after his arrival and indulging in some heated conversations with the referee's assistant.

The former England skipper was taken off the franchise's 'disabled list' during the week and is now expected to play a major part in their post-season schedule.

Galaxy - whose goals came from Edson Buddle, Dema Kovalenko and Jovan Kirovski - should now be among the favourites for the play-offs as they moved to 47 points, the best of either Eastern or Western conferences.

"It feels amazing," added Beckham. "Doing rehabilitation is kind of tough. Being out there felt good,

"I've never been out of the game for such a long time. It's been a quick recovery and I'm happy with that. I thought I was ready for 90 minutes four months ago. After ten minutes on the field, I thought like I was dying. But I came through it, felt good after that and finished strong."

Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said he was impressed with Beckham's dedication.

"It's kind of remarkable that he's back on the field in such a short period of time," Arena said. "To put the kind of effort in to come back at his age is inspiring for our players to see. By the end of the season, we want him playing 90 minutes."

Beckham wasn't the only former English Premier League player making the headlines in the MLS over the weekend, as Arsenal legend Thierry Henry scored his second league goal to help the New York Red Bulls beat Colorado Rapids 3-1.

Henry put New York ahead in the 17th minute when he latched on to a pass from Joel Lindpere. Tim Ream made it 2-0 in the 32nd minute with his first MLS goal, scoring from Tony Tschani's corner. Omar Cummings raced in from midfield to score for Colorado and cut the lead just after half-time, before Dane Richards sealed the victory for New York.

Elsewhere, FC Dallas played out a scoreless draw with the San Jose Earthquakes, the Philadelphia Union beat the Chicago Fire 1-0 and DC United had a 1-0 win over Toronto FC.