He felt a right Charlie scoring THAT classic

IT was the goal that changed David Beckham’s life.

But when the Manchester United midfielder sent a shot from the halfway line sailing over the head of Wimbledon keeper Neil Sullivan in August 1996 he was wearing someone else’s boots.

Beckham had asked adidas for a pair of their new Predators ahead of the new season, but the sportswear giants only had one pair left in his size. And they had been customised for Rangers midfielder Charlie Miller, with the midfielder’s dfielder s name stitched into the tongue. ngue.

It didn’t bother Beckham m

(right) and when he put

United 3-0 up from inside e his own half at Selhurst

Park on the opening day of the campaign with a goal described by Sir

Alex Ferguson (above) as

“the goal of the season”, a star was born. “I hit it and I remember looking up at the ball, which seemed to be heading out towards somewhere between the goal and the corner flag,” said Beckham.

“The swerve I’d put on the shot, though, started to bring it back in and the thought flashed through my mind, ‘This has got a chance here’.”

But it wasn’t the first time he had scored for United from such long range.

A similar strike by Uruguayan Jose Luis Zalazar for Albacete against Tenerife ha had fired his imagination in 1991. A And United B-team keeper Kev Kevin Pilkington recalled: “A “After we’d watched it, Becks turned round to the lads and said he was going to do that today – and he did.”

His goal secured a 2-1 victory over Bury.