Netflix revisits the infamous incident that ended Beckham’s Man Utd career

As David Beckham's last-chance free-kick cleared the crossbar and went into the Stretford End, the television coverage cut to Sir Alex Ferguson on the Manchester United bench.

'Ah, f*** it,' the Scot was seen shouting, bringing his arm down in anger and frustration.

Never mind that Beckham had come off the bench with the bit between his teeth and scored twice to keep United clinging to the coat-tails of Ronaldo-inspired Real Madrid in a game that had sped away from them.

Ferguson's side were out of the Champions League and Beckham's United career was well and truly over.

It's just over 20 years since the infamous 'boot kicking' incident that drove a wedge between United's fearsome boss and the man known as 'Goldenballs' whose global fame transcended the game of football.

It's an episode about to be revisited in detail in the new Netflix series BECKHAM.

Unsurprisingly, event the two-minute trailer features Beckham speaking about the freak incident that sealed his Old Trafford exit.

He acts out the moment the stray boot on the dressing room floor, booted by Ferguson in a fit of rage, flew and struck him above his left eye.

Beckham rises from his seat to re-enact how he stood up and 'went after' Ferguson.

Beckham probably realises he'll be asked about this for as long as he draws breath. Indeed, there have already been plenty of accounts of it from both sides already in the two decades since.

It occurred after an FA Cup fifth round tie against Arsenal on February 15, 2003, a couple of months before that Real Madrid game.

United played poorly and lost 2-0 to their main rivals, with hopes of a domestic Double or another Treble going up in smoke.

Ryan Giggs had uncharacteristically missed an open goal before Edu's free-kick had taken a decisive deflection off Beckham's shoulder and wrong-footed keeper Fabien Barthez.

Arsenal's passage into the quarter-finals was sealed when Edu teed up Sylvain Wiltord to double their lead seven minutes after half-time.

The rivalry between these two sides was at its peak and Arsenal's win dealt United a hefty psychological blow. It came nine months after Wiltord's goal won the Premier League title for the Gunners at Old Trafford.

Beckham had endured a mixed season. An injury saw him lose his place and there was friction between himself and Ferguson because the manager suspected Beckham's entourage of flirting with Real Madrid.

The Spanish giants were at the height of their 'Galactico' era, where they'd sign the world's biggest stars regardless of the cost. Beckham was firmly within their sights.

In his autobiography My Side, released later in 2003, Beckham accused Ferguson of singling him out for harsh criticism after the Arsenal loss.

'David, what about the second goal? What were you doing? We told you about it before the game. The problem with you is you don't let anyone talk to you. You don't listen,' Ferguson supposedly said.

Beckham tried to plead his innocence, saying he'd never ignored one of Ferguson's instructions in over eight years of first team football at United.

But the manager wasn't having it. 'David, when you're wrong, you've got to own up,' he retorted.

'I felt like I was being bullied in public. I was being backed into a corner for no other reason than spite. I was trapped,' Beckham wrote.

At that point, England captain Beckham swore at his manager. 'The boss took a step or two towards me. There was a boot on the floor. He swung his leg and kicked it. At me? At the wall? It could have been anywhere, he was that angry now.'

The flight of the booted boot from Ferguson's toe to Beckham's forehead is left to the imagination but Beckham felt a string and blood trickle.

'I went for the gaffer. I don't know if I've ever lost control like that before. Suddenly it was like some mad scene out of a gangster movie,' Beckham said.

He recalled how Giggs, Gary Neville and Ruud van Nistelrooy reacted swiftly amid what must have been a stunned silence to hold him back as he tried to get at Ferguson.

Becks recounted how Ferguson had apologised as he received stitches in the medical room and that his furious wife Victoria wanted to confront the manager herself.