10月23日，在皇家马德里队主场迎战瓦伦西亚队的比赛中，主队1：2败北。其中英格兰球员贝克汉姆在比赛临结束前2分钟接连吃到两张黄牌，最终被红牌罚出场外。而在10月8日英格兰队同奥地利队的世界杯预选赛中，贝克汉姆同样被裁判出示了红牌。

    据英国《卫报》10月24日报道，贝克汉姆在本场比赛中被裁判出示的这两张黄牌都是咎由自取的。当皇家马德里队队长劳尔被判犯规后，贝克汉姆因不满意裁判的判罚而吃了第一张黄牌；接着，他在转身的同时讽刺性地鼓掌示威，被裁判迅即出示了第二张黄牌，从而最终被红牌罚出场外。贝克汉姆的表现让人们立刻想到了他英格兰队队友、曼联前锋鲁尼在欧洲冠军联赛对阵西班牙比利亚雷亚尔队时因同样的举动所吃的那张红牌，而执法这两场比赛的主裁都是伊贝内兹。在本场比赛中，伊贝内兹在比赛的第82分钟还红牌罚下了皇马中场球员、丹麦人格拉维森。让人惊讶的是，格拉维森也是从英超转会来到西班牙的球员。

    赛后，皇家马德里队主教练卢森博格表示：“这场比赛结束后，我们不仅输掉了3分，而且还损失了2名球员。我们本来就已经失去了巴普蒂斯塔，现在又因为红牌失去了格拉维森和贝克汉姆。” 　

    赛后贝克汉姆拒绝就红牌一事接受采访，不过格拉维森倒是有什么说什么：“对方当时是一次反击，我没办法只能从背后把对方球员放倒。我不后悔，而且如果以后遇到同样的情况，我还会这么做的。我不认为这应该是一张红牌，顶多就是张黄牌。我现在还必须学会适应西班牙裁判的判罚尺度。”

    虽然贝克汉姆没有就红牌一事接受采访，但从上个月世界杯预选赛英格兰队负于北爱尔兰队后他给与前锋鲁尼的忠告中人们还是能够看到他本次吃牌的一些端倪。“作为英格兰队队长，我有责任督促球员们在比赛中保持冷静，但鲁尼就是一个火爆脾气的球员。”他说：“大多数伟大的球员都有这样的脾气，但你必须努力把这种情绪控制在一个相当的水平上，当然有时这种情绪会稍稍有点越线。就我个人而言，在年轻的时候，我也犯同样的错误，那时其他年长的球员就会来劝我，让我冷静下来。现在我成熟一些了，但还有不冷静的时候，因为我天生就是那样的球员。”

    David Beckham was sent off for the second time in 15 days last night as Real Madrid, finishing with nine men, slipped to a 2-1 home defeat against Valencia in the Bernabéu.

    The England captain was shown two yellow cards in quick succession two minutes from time having also been dismissed in England's penultimate World Cup qualifier against Austria on October 8.

    With time running out in the Spanish capital and Real trailing, the referee Arturo Dauden Ibá?ez penalised their captain Raúl González for a foul. Beckham was shown a yellow card for dissent after reacting angrily to the decision and then sarcastically applauded the referee as he turned away. The England captain suffered an identical fate to Wayne Rooney - sent off in Manchester United's Champions League game at Villarreal last month for a similar gesture - as Ibá?ez promptly produced a red card. He had sent off the former Everton midfielder Thomas Gravesen for a foul on Vicente Rodríguez five minutes earlier.

    The Madrid coach Wanderley Luxemburgo said afterwards that he had not seen Beckham's actions but he sounded distinctly unimpressed with his midfielder: "I wasn't standing next to Beckham at the time, so I don't know what he did," he said. "Gravesen's was a foul from behind so ... [shrugs]. We haven't just lost three points; we have lost two players. We are already without Julio Baptista and now we have lost Beckham and Gravesen because of red cards.

    Beckham declined to discuss the matter after the game but Gravesen was unrepentant. "It was a counter-attack and I had to take him down," the Denmark international said. "I don't regret it and I would do it again if I had to. I didn't think it would be red - I thought I'd get yellow. I still have to adapt to Spanish refereeing. I couldn't take the chance to let him get away."

    Only last month Beckham was offering Rooney advice on controlling his temper after his attempts to calm down the striker during England's defeat by Northern Ireland met with a furious response. "As [England] captain it is my job to calm players down but Wayne has that fiery side to him and that's what makes him the player he is," he said. "Most great players have got it but you have to keep it to a certain level; sometimes it goes a little bit over the edge.

    "I had the same things when I was younger and I'm just acting now in the way that other senior players tried to calm me down. I'm older now but I still want to react in certain ways because that's the sort of player I am."