Playing on the squad led by the 26-year-old superstar Kaká in addition to several other world-class players at or near the peak of their careers – 28-year-old Ronaldinho, and 29-year-old Andrea Pirlo – as well as club veterans Paolo Maldini, Clarence Seedorf, Massimo Ambrosini, Giuseppe Favalli, Gianluca Zambrotta, Filippo Inzaghi and Andriy Shevchenko, Beckham made his competitive debut for the "rossoneri" in Serie A as a starter away at Roma on 11 January 2009, playing 89 minutes of the 2–2 draw in front of 53,444 at the Stadio Olimpico. Playing his first competitive match in almost three months, Beckham gave a decent performance in right midfield alongside Pirlo. Though clearly lacking match fitness, occasionally struggling to keep up in a high-tempo match, Beckham put in enough useful crosses and corners to justify the coach Carlo Ancelotti's decision to play him from the start. In Beckham's home debut against Fiorentina a week later, he turned in another understated performance on the right side of midfield before advancing into a more active central role in the second half thus effectively taking over Seedorf's role after the Dutchman was subbed off. Milan won 1–0 courtesy of Pato, but the 65,000+ San Siro crowd mostly focused on Kaká, imploring him to stay.