IF THE “Golden Boy” image of David Beckham appears to be on the wane in his homeland, it is taking a battering on the continent, too. When Real Madrid were humbled 3-0 away to Lyons in the opening match of their Champions League campaign on Tuesday night, the England captain cut an unhappy and almost forlorn figure for most of the match.

The fitness of Beckham had been in question beforehand and he had had to miss pre-match training. He seemed to be limping in the second half but Vanderlei Luxemburgo, the Madrid coach, instead brought on Guti for Thomas Gravesen.

All is not lost. An academic conference heard yesterday that while Beckham has yet to perform any miracles, at least off the pitch, he is perhaps the closest thing that modern Britain has to a Messiah figure. “Beckham the brand is all about salvation, redemption, even resurrection,” Carlton Brick, of the politics and sociology faculty at the University of Paisley, said. “It is not me saying that Beckham is a pseudo Christ-like figure but it is how he is often portrayed and it is how he portrays himself.”

It was almost exactly a year ago that Real lost 3-0 to Bayer Leverkusen in their opening Champions League match of last season. They went on to lose in the league to Espanyol, whereupon José Antonio Camacho, the coach, who had been in the job barely long enough to warm his seat, resigned. Real have begun their European campaign with another 3-0 defeat and, this weekend, take on Espanyol in the league.

Whether history will repeat itself with Luxemburgo, the fourth coach since the start of last season, remains to be seen, but Real are being dismissed as stars without a constellation, having struggled to beat newly-promoted Cádiz in their opening game and then losing 3-2 to Celta Viga, also up from the second division.

The problem is not lack of money. Real spent roughly €80 million (about £54 million) on transfers fees this summer (Barcelona, the champions, spent nothing) and in the past year have spent €75 million on defenders alone: Walter Samuel (€25 million, sold to Inter Milan for €16 million), Jonathan Woodgate, who has yet to kick a ball in anger, for €22 million, and an absurd €27 million to Seville for Sergio Ramos. Ramos and Pablo García, the other new defensive signing, made their debuts in the starting line-up against Lyons.

Ronaldo was injured and Raúl, who marked his tenth anniversary in the Champions League in Lyons, appears to have lost his gift, but Real’s real weakness is in midfield. Robinho, the new Brazilian wonderboy, is a joy to watch, but he is physically lightweight. Júlio Baptista, the Brazilian signed from Seville, is big but is not much of a tackler and is more of a striker.

That leaves Beckham. The absence of Luis Figo or a player like him, who can hold up the ball and run at the defence, is marked. On Tuesday, there was no Zinedine Zidane either and as age diminishes his fitness, he is likely to be absent more often. Since Real sold Claude Makelele to Chelsea, they have not won anything.

The worse things got in Lyons, the farther Real sank into what one paper described as “rage and impotence”. The usually saintly Raúl committed three petulant fouls in the first half and was lucky not to be booked. Beckham did little either and had a snarl on his face for most of the night. His record for this season is one brilliant pass that set up Robinho to score the winning goal against Cádiz. It is not enough.

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