🌎 World Cup Moments: David Beckham's infamous red card 🟥 | OneFootball

'Ten heroic lions, one stupid boy' was the infamous newspaper headline which greeted England's 1998 World Cup exit.

The 'stupid boy' in question was young midfielder David Beckham, who was made the scapegoat for their controversial defeat to Argentina.

England twice led but were twice pegged back and with the score level at 2-2 very early in the second half, the Manchester United man foolishly flicked a kick out at Diego Simeone following an altercation.

The contact may not have been the most serious but the damage was done. Beckham was dismissed, England hung on for penalties but were beaten in the shootout and crashed out in the first knockout round.

Effigies of Beckham were created, death threats were sent and the abuse over the coming months at away grounds across the country was constant from a public who squarely laid the blame for defeat at his petulant act.

So bad was the ordeal that even speaking 25 years after the incident, Beckham admitted that it remains a struggle to discuss it.

"I wish you could take a pill which erased certain memories. I made a stupid mistake and it changed my life. People asked how I could let the country down and called me a disgrace," he revealed.

"I find it hard even now to talk about it because what I went through was so extreme. Wherever I went, I got abused. Every day. I wasn't eating, I wasn't sleeping. I was a mess. I didn't know what to do."

There would be something of a catharsis in 2002 though when the old rivals met again at the World Cup - with Beckham's furious penalty in a 1-0 win looking to have four years of frustration behind it.