That’s why I can get on with my football because we are happy and we love each other.”The Beckhams’ relationship came under the microscope last year following allegations that he had had an affair with his former personal assistant Rebecca Loos – a claim he dismissed as “ludicrous”.After a low-key start to the season, Beckham has been in outstanding form for Real Madrid in recent games. I’m happy about that and that’s a big part of why my fitness levels are so much better.”Beckham said greater stability in his life off the pitch had a positive influence on his game. “Over the last month or two months my fitness has been the best it’s been for a long, long time, better than at any time since I was at Manchester United.”I’m happy, not with getting older of course, but it happens to everyone. My wife [Victoria] is 31 and she says I’m still her toy boy, so I look forward to being 30.”But Beckham said that both he and his wife had felt betrayed by the allegations made by their former nanny Abbie Gibson.”I find it quite amazing and quite unbelievable that people sell things like that,” he said.

He played a pivotal role in Real’s 4-2 victory over arch rivals Barcelona earlier this month and was the man of the match in his side’s 2-1 comeback victory over Villarreal on Saturday.Beckham said the new fitness regime introduced by Wanderley Luxemburgo when he took over as coach at the end of last year had been the main reason for his return to form.”At United it was a much more physical game than here in Spain.”Since Luxemburgo arrived, he has worked us very, very hard which is good for me and for the team. The England captain, David Beckham, has shrugged off a new round of allegations about the state of his marriage and made light of the fact he is about to turn 30 by insisting that he has never been happier in his life both on and off the pitch.
“I feel great,” the Real Madrid midfielder said. Of course we have arguments like everybody, but at the end of the day I know that I love my wife.”I’ve been brought up the right way, to treat women with respect, and if I did not do that my mother would be the first one telling me off. “What I will say is that the reason I can keep my mind on football is that me and my wife are happy We are normal people, although people might not think that. “When you invite people into your home to look after your children – which are the most prized possessions in mine and Victoria’s life – you need to be able to trust them.”Beckham and his wife, who gave birth to their third son, Cruz, in February, are suing Gibson, 27, for breach of confidence after failing at the weekend to win a court order banning the News of the World from publishing an interview with her containing allegations about their marriage.”I can’t say too much because there are a lot of legal things going on at the moment,” said Beckham, who turns 30 on Monday. “The showcase matches have to be clean, otherwise the sport as a whole suffers.”French referees had been saying even before the Barthez case that there was a growing lack of respect for referees, and not only in the professional game.Barthez was reported for spitting at Moroccan referee Abdellah El Achiri during a friendly between Wydad Casablanca and Marseilles in February that was marred by ugly scenes. He has never really apologised publicly.The 33-year-old, a member of France’s 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000-winning squads, said he intended to carry on training during his suspension, which started at the weekend.

The former Manchester United goalkeeper announced last month that he had decided to retire at the end of next year after becoming increasingly disillusioned with football.Marseilles said they would defend Barthez and did not rule out taking the matter to the courts if the sanction were to be revised.. “Our only concern is that our rules were not interpreted correctly,” said the FFF president, Jean-Pierre Escalettes.Bernard Saules, the president of the National Union of French referees, called the verdict “simply ridiculous” and said it could have repercussions on the amateur game.”When you have problems in Ligue 1 games on a given weekend, you have problems in the amateur games the following Sunday,” he said. They did not try to play an offensive game.” He added: “It was not an outstanding game. They did their game and they got a bit of luck because we should have scored a minimum of one goal.” That was debatable, given that the two notable saves in the match were made by his goalkeeper, Petr Cech, although chances were spurned ­ most obviously by Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba. However, Mourinho continued to declare it was Chelsea who will reach the final ­ pointing out that his Porto side had drawn 0-0 at home before winning away to Deportivo La Coru?t this stage last season while Chelsea had won against Manchester United in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup “No panic,” he said. “I trust we can do it.Benitez was his usual cautious self, although he reasoned: “Before the game if you said to me just a draw is a good result then I would have said: ‘Yes’. Before the start of the competition if you said you have the chance at Anfield to go the final I would have said: ‘Yes’.” But then Mourinho would say the same..

By spitting at the referee during an obscure friendly, Fabien Barthez has triggered a crisis in French football. It has also raised fears among French referees that it might become more difficult for them to retain the respect players, not only in Ligue 1 matches but also at amateur level.The FFF has appealed against the ruling by its disciplinary committee, saying that the governing body’s rules state that the punishment for such an offence should be a ban for at least six months with no suspension. The appeals committee of the FFF is expected to come up with a new, tougher sentence within the next two weeks but Barthez’s lawyers have already threatened to take the case to the civil courts.With the end of the season approaching, the sanction announced on Friday, a six-month ban with three of them suspended, means Barthez will miss only four Ligue 1 games and will be available when the new season starts on 30 July.”I’m surprised because I think that respect for the referee is of paramount importance,” the French sports minister, Jean-Fran?s Lamour, said immediately after Friday’s ruling.The FFF then said it would appeal but insisted its decision had nothing to do with pressure from the government. Poverty, combined with images of sex in films and on television, were driving many of the pressures on boys, her research has shown.She said: “Years ago, these boys may have had apprenticeships to go into that would have made them feel like men. She said young teenage girls were also forced to perform “sexual favours” on boys as part of the gang culture.Judy McRae, a school nurse from London, also told of the new trend of “daisychaining”, where groups of teenagers go to one house and all have sex with each other.Kathy French, a sexual health adviser to the RCN, said boys as young as 13 and 14 were feeling peer pressure from girls the same age to have sex, as well as the other way round. When he was told, he said: “I can’t be HIV positive – only old people get it.”The nurses did not want to identify the area where they worked for reasons of client confidentiality, but they came from towns and cites across the country.Babara Richardson-Todd, a school nurse, said: “I have some young girls and also young boys who are prostituting themselves through force of circumstances.