When David Beckham emerged from the tunnel and gazed up at the steep stands of the Santiago Bernabeu for the final time on Sunday night, he may have felt a lump coming to his throat. Greeting him were some banners, in English as well as Spanish, imploring him to turn his back on the US and stay. “Muchas gracias David” seemed to be the slogan of the night.

Despite his second-half substitution, Beckham had helped Real Madrid to their first title in four years and yet it was not just about winning La Liga but about doing so with Beckham — about doing so for Beckham. Madridistas were desperate for him to leave like a bullfighter, in glory. ‘El Ingles’, they said, deserves it.

This was always going to be an emotional night for Beckham and the fans too. Tellingly, there was as much fuss being made about this, Beckham’s final game, as it being Roberto Carlos’ bow.

On the face of it, that was ridiculous. That Beckham should have been so central to the night was curious. Carlos has been at Real Madrid for 11 years, is arguably the greatest left-back in history, and has played more games for the club than any other foreigner other than the legendary Alfredo Di Stefano. The Brazilian has collected three European Cups and two World Club Cups at Real, while Sunday night he collected his fourth La Liga title, Beckham his first.

The former England captain’s arrival ushered in the longest drought in half a century yet he remained almost exaggeratedly popular. Not just among the screaming girls, who still camp outside the team hotel, re-enacting a kind of footballing Beatlemania, but among virtually everyone.

He is one of only three players whose name gets regularly chanted by the fans, who reside behind the South goal — and the other two are home grown heroes.

Beckham is admired by the local media, who stood and applauded as he bade a formal farewell this week and by the retired Real fans, who grumble about football now. Even the greatest grouch of all, Di Stefano himself, speaks highly of this modern man.

Odd, really. Beckham has not been successful in terms of trophies. One league title in four years would not match Steve McManaman’s two league and two European Cups. Nor has Beckham embraced Spanish life like McManaman did.

When he returns to Madrid, McManaman is welcomed warmly; he spoke good Spanish, has a house there and left friends behind. Beckham has long extolled the virtues of Spanish jamon, as well as joining Michel Salgado in a regular Thursday night pint at the Irish Rover, but his best friends in the squad are the Brazilians and Ruud van Nistelrooy. Meanwhile, his Moraleja home, his third since moving to Real, is on the market and his wife was famously accused of declaring that Spain smelt of garlic. He also gave his final press conference, four years later, in English.

And yet when one journalist asked why he still could not speak Spanish, Beckham gave the Beckham smile and shot back: “Soy timido, joder!” (I’m shy, for ****’s sake!). Amid the laughter, all was forgiven.

Beckham has charm, no doubt about that — and charm goes a long way.

Especially when it is extended to the pitch. Part of the player’s success has been based on things natural to him, but that set him apart. After every game, win or lose, he is the last man off the pitch, applauding all four sides of the ground. The fans love him for being a symbol of commitment to the cause — in contrast to the capricious stars that surround him.

The fact that Beckham was supposed to be capricious too, but is not, has made him more popular. “We expected a pretty boy but we got a Stakhanovite,” wrote one columnist. He may not have embraced Spain but his very Englishness has won them over — the fight as much as the assists and free-kicks.

Then there’s identification with a cause, an injustice. Madrid’s fans love Beckham all the more precisely because he has been treated so shoddily by the president, who let him go and ignored four years’ toil to dismiss him as a B-list actor, dumping him from the team. They will only know how much the Spanish champions have been depleted when Beckham is parading his set-piece ability for LA Galaxy next season.