DAVID BECKHAM could not have picked a more hospitable place on earth to
return to football after his World Cup hell.

And it was business as usual for Roy Keane, who was making his return after
a season out with ligament damage - he was booked!

Angry fans back home might be ready to verbally attack Beckham with
Manchester United's trip to West Ham in three weeks already earmarked
as a trouble spot.

But here in The Bislet Stadium, the land of the late midnight sun provided a
haven for the superstar pilloried for his France 98 red-card shame.

There was no hatred, no venom, no baiting. No foul-mouthed reprisals for
Beckham's sending off against Argentina.

Instead, the 22,000 packed house, full of admiring kids, mums and dads, came
to hail him in a rickety athletics stadium where Becks was never going
to do a runner.

The bleached-haired star was besieged by autograph hunters and signed
everything from scraps of paper to T-shirts.

They mobbed him. Idolised him. Paid homage with a deafening cheer when
his name was announced in the team line-up.

"Welcome David Beckham," boomed the Norwegian guy on the crackling Tannoy as
local newspapers proclaiming the same message were waved around the
crowd in unison.

And when he thought it could not get any better it did, with the pre-match
announcement that Beckham had been voted Player of the Year by the
Norwegian branch of the United supporters' club.

It was love and devotion rarely seen on our own shores. But then as one
Norwegian told me: "We love Beckham and his girlfriend's not bad either."

So without any animosity, save for a couple of isolated catcalls, Beckham
was allowed to get on with the job of playing his football in his
famous red No.7 shirt.

As well as Beckham, Keane was back in the thick of the action too, 10
months after ripping cruciate knee ligaments at Elland Road.

The Irishman, his head cropped to his hard skull, looked as though he had
never been away. And United had Ole Gunnar Solskjaer returned to his usual
striking role as speculation raged at home about a possible move to
Aston Villa as part of the Dwight Yorke package.

New £10.7m Dutch star Jaap Stam was also on show although not in the starting line-up.

Beckham lapped up every minute as United began the job of overshadowing the
part-timers of Valerenga, a side third from bottom of the Norwegian
First Division with just three wins all season.

But they are famed, fierce fighters in these parts and United were
pillaged as early as the seventh minute.

John Careu embarked on a free run down the outside of United's defence and
in a flash he had dispatched the ball into the bottom corner beyond
Peter Schmeichel.

Five minutes later United were level when Solskjaer broke clear and
slipped the ball across for Paul Scholes to tap in.

United stormed ahead in the 15th minute when a through-ball from Phil
Neville arrowed to Solskjaer's feet and he bobbled the ball past keeper
Tore Krogstaad.

Business as usual then for United - and Keane showed he has lost none
of his combative spirit during his enforced lay-off when he was booked for a
crunching 43rd minute tackle on Joachim Walltin.

Keane and Scholes put their feet up for the second half with Teddy
Sheringham and Andy Cole getting a taste of the action.

And Valerenga cashed in on the disruption with an equaliser two minutes
after the break as Bjorn Viljugrein squeezed the ball past Schmeichel from
an acute angle.