Ligue 1 - Beckham dropped by PSG for season finale

 

Beckham was given an emotional send-off by PSG's players in their final home game at Parc des Princes last week, a Ligue 1 win over Brest last week. The reception was so warm, in fact, that many assumed it would be his last game.

And this has been confirmed by Carlo Ancelotti, whose match-day squad for the dead rubber at Lorient does not include the former England, Manchester United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy and AC Milan midfielder.

Other players missing for PSG include Italy goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu, Brazil midfielder Lucas Moura, France forward Jeremy Menez, and Brazil defender Thiago Silva.

Ancelotti - who is also expected to leave Ligue 1 champions PSG in the coming weeks - handed Beckham a start and the captaincy for the game against Brest, and he was given a standing ovation as he came off 81 minutes into a good performance in the 3-1 win.

It still seemed possible that there would be a final curtain call for Beckham, however, with fans getting so excited that English minnows Leyton Orient claimed to have been overwhelmed with requests for tickets by Beckhamites confusing Orient with Lorient.

Ancelotti had already said that Beckham would be unlikely to feature at Lorient, however, since the title is wrapped up already and Lorient have nothing to play for either, as they cannot finish higher than seventh.

There was also the question of Lorient's plastic pitch, which could aggravate a long-standing Achilles weakness for Beckham, who first suffered the injury during a loan spell at Milan.

Beckham earned 115 caps for England, a record for an outfield player, and announced his retirement on May 16, although some thought he could continue to play.