David Beckham even managed to steal some of the limelight from Kaka as the England midfielder scored his first goal in Serie A as AC Milan beat Bologna 4-1 on Sunday.
Kaka, who snubbed Manchester City's big money approach last week, added two goals and was given a standing ovation by Milan's fans when he was taken off with 20 minutes remaining.
Kaka may find that the Milan fans will soon be campaigning for Beckham to stay after an impressive display capped by his first goal since joining on loan from LA Galaxy last month. On 60 minutes, he netted Milan's fourth goal, finishing off a slick move with a powerful shot after being put into space by Alexandre Pato.
Beckham is due to return to America on 9 March but said after the game: "To score my fist goal is great and I will keep this shirt, but the important thing is we won. I think we played well, even when they went down to 10 men, we still played our game.
"The future? We'll have to see. I want to enjoy my time with AC Milan, like I've always said. It's a fantastic experience and I'm having a great time."
But adding to the speculation that he is desperate to stay in Italy and show England coach Fabio Capello that he is still worth a part in his future plans is the news that he is learning Italian and even willing to take a drastic drop in wages.
Top-selling Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport had a front page headline in English on Sunday saying: "Beckham Forever."
Gazzetta also revealed that he was staying up until the early hours every day to brush up on his Italian verbs – not an easy task and had downloaded conversation classes on his ipod for away trips on the coach and plane.
Beckham's problem is that his deal with LA Galaxy – worth $200m over five years – ties him to LA Galaxy for five years. He can get out after three but that would not be until October when he would be almost 35 and unlikely to be offered a return to Italy.
AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani said: "He is a great player. At first we were criticised for taking on a doll but now there is regret that he is leaving in March."
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