David Beckham said Friday that he wants to continue playing for at least another two years and that he is keen to be included in this summer’s Great Britain Olympic squad.
“I want to continue to play football for as long as I can, maybe for another two years. Then I’ll always be involved in sports and football in some way. I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved in the years I’ve played,” Beckham said. “My dream came true. I wanted to play for Manchester United and the national team and I achieved that.”
Beckham, who was in Greece as part of the delegation to accept the Olympic flame, visited an Athens school with London Olympics 2012 chief Sebastian Coe, hours before they joined the rest of the British party taking the flame back to England. He said he wanted to be selected for the British side at the Games “because of what I can bring to the team” and not because of his ability to fill a stadium as a celebrity. The 37-year-old Los Angeles Galaxy player, and former England captain, was part of London’s winning bid team in the contest to stage the Olympics and is looking to be included in the squad.
“We’re very excited and very proud to stage the Olympics in the UK and I’m very proud to be a part of it,” Beckham said. “It’s incredible what’s been created down at the Olympic Park.” He said he plans to take his children to the Games and “they’re very excited as long as I find tickets”.
“I have four children, including three boys, and they keep me busy. I’m always either kicking the ball around with them or throwing the ball around with them or just running in the park,” Beckham said.
Moscow memories can inspire Chelsea: Chelsea are hoping the bitter memory of defeat in the 2008 Champions League final will inspire them to victory over Bayern Munich here on Saturday.
Four years ago, Chelsea suffered a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out loss to Manchester United at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium that left several members of their shattered squad in tears. However, the Premier League side now stand just 90 minutes away from redemption after an unlikely march into this year’s final against Bayern at the German club’s Allianz Arena.
For veteran members of Chelsea’s squad such as Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, Saturday almost certainly represents their last shot at victory in club football’s most prestigious competition. “We’re very pleased to be back in the final,” Lampard said. “You wouldn’t have believed we would have been two or three months ago. “We’ve good and bad memories of Moscow but the main memory is defeat as it is in any final. It took us a long time to get back here but we always believed we had the ability in the dressing room to get to this stage.
“As a footballer, you know you can’t win everything. We’ve been very lucky to win leagues and cups in England. But sometimes you lose and with experience you realise you have to take the positives out of every defeat.
“There’s nothing more from Moscow than remembering that feeling and remembering the disappointment and using it to inspire us tomorrow.”
