Beckham Jets In For Ibrox Friendly

ITALIAN GIANTS AC Milan travel to face Rangers at Ibrox Stadium tonight, with supporters hoping David Beckham will be featured at some point in the match. Around 100 assorted fans and journalists were waiting for Beckham and his teammates, as their flight from Milan touched down at Glasgow Airport this morning.

Asked how he felt to be in Scotland, Beckham responded "Great, thank you."

The Glasgow side is struggling financially and have set up the friendly as a money spinning exercise in the hope a full house will turn out to see the likes of Beckham, Ronaldinho, and Kaka. It is unclear, however, just how many of Carlo Ancelotti's stars will be made to brave the bitterly cold Scottish weather, and also unclear what the general appetite for this kind of match there is amongst the Rangers support.

Beckham, meanwhile, is in talks between LA Galaxy and AC Milan that could see his loan spell at the Serie A side extended beyond the current registration period which ends on June 30.

"We are looking to get him either on loan until the end of the season or on a permanent basis," said Milan's Adriano Galliani. "There is time until March 8 to get us (at) a table and close a possible deal."

AC Milan have included Beckham in their current squad to compete in the UEFA Cup, and may view tonights fixture as good preparation for the competition, which is in stark contrast to Rangers.

Eliminated in the qualifying stages of the Champions League by Lithuanian minnows FBK Kaunas, Rangers have had instead to engineer a European match in order to stave off their creditors, due to missing out on the much-needed cash that is generated by qualifying for the Champions League group stages.

If reports are to believed, however, only 30,000 of the £25 a head tickets have been sold for tonight's match, which may not be enough to cover AC Milan's fee for taking part.

Rangers next competitive match is away to Forfar Athletic in the fifth round of the Homecoming Scottish Cup this Sunday.