So who does write his scripts? And where does this rank in the never-ending saga of David Beckham comebacks? Not quite like the 90th-minute howitzer against Greece, perhaps, but it was pretty sweet judging by his beatific smile after Real Madrid had reversed a 1-0 deficit against Real Sociedad last night with one man squarely, rightly and dramatically attracting a heavy proportion of the credit. You know who.

Act One: a month after being told by Madrid coach Fabio Capello he would never play for him again, Capello picks Beckham.

Act Two: a fortnight after Capello told everyone who cared to listen that the former free-kick genius was worth a mere “two or three” goals from dead balls across his entire Madrid career, Beckham scores with a set piece.

Acts Three and Four follow naturally: Beckham turns the match around. Capello owes him one. And this story has legs.

Next episode, Act Five: Saturday night at the Bernabeu, followed by Bayern Munich there three days later.

If the first surprise had been the Beckham recall, after his exile and punishment for having committed his future, as of June, to the USA, the second surprise had been a place in Madrid’s starting XI. Beckham effectively leapt not just from exile but from about 23rd in Capello’s hierarchy to rather near the top. Six days earlier, even a footballer who had not kicked a ball in competition for two and half years, one Oscar Minambres, had been preferred as cover for Beckham’s flank. Suddenly, Beckham moved from outsider straight in at outside right.

It could not have been because Capello took Beckham for a lucky omen. Beckham had started five league games this season, only one of which Madrid won. But Capello needed to review something. Following an aggressive display of frustration from fans at the Bernabeu the previous weekend, it was once again ultimatum time for a Madrid head coach, and Capello’s points of principle seem less fixed with each passing day. He is the martinet who vetoed the sale of Ronaldo in one transfer window and endorsed it in the next. He is the iron-willed governor who told his president to stake his mortgage on the solidity his favoured signing, midfielder Mahamadou Diarra, would give the team. Diarra began on the bench last night.

And Capello is the coach who argued that Beckham’s commitment to a future in LA meant that he could no longer give his best for Madrid. Well, the former England captain gave his all last night, even if Madrid started badly, conceding a sloppy early goal when keeper Iker Casillas palmed out a cross for Aranburu to head home from inside the six-yard box. Capello was staring crisis full in the face.

No trip to the Basque country by the club from the Spanish capital is ever serene and comfy, and there are members of this Madrid side who have capitulated here before. Beckham responded to the setback with urgency. Not all his passes were perfect, but he exuded gumption: here an encouragement for Sergio Ramos, there a quickly taken free kick from halfway, designed to shake off Madrid’s languor, surprise the opposition, but alas too urgent for some colleagues. Beckham had verve and looked like a man who had spent too long in the “cooler” at Camp Capello. The rest of Real played like Capello’s Madrid, ponderous, insecure.

Beckham’s goal, though, perked them all up. A clever piece of work it was, too, not an orthodox Beckham dipper over a leaping wall of defenders, but one that, from 30 yards, traced a lowish, flat trajectory and hummed to the ground in an awkward no man’s land just far enough in front of goalkeeper Bravo to keep him from advancing, just near enough to put him in two minds. The poor keeper got his hands nowhere near it. It was Beckham’s 11th direct free-kick goal for Madrid.

Not long into the second half, Ruud van Nistelrooy scored the winner, and if any man is almost as pleased as Beckham to have Beckham back it will be the Dutchman, who misses the crosses and telepathy they enjoyed at Manchester United. Van Nistelrooy celebrated vividly after Beckham´s goal. “You can’t write him off,” beamed Van Nistelrooy. “He’s done this a couple of times before and now he’s proved himself again. Of course we are all pleased for him and we’re happy to have him back.”