Beckham subbed as Real lose

Beckham played in central midfield

Real Madrid coach Carlos Queiroz has admitted he was forced to "sacrifice" David Beckham against Real Mallorca on Sunday as his side crashed to a 2-1 defeat.

Beckham lasted just 55 minutes of Real Madrid's Super Cup defeat in Majorca but played a pivotal role in Luis Figo's opening goal

Queiroz felt he had to introduce more steel into his team's play and introduced Claude Makelele in Beckham's place.

Beckham now has only the return leg of this clash on Wednesday to prove his value to the Real side before they begin the defence of their league title against Real Betis on 31 August.

"The minutes after Mallorca scored their second goal were critical to us," admitted Queiroz.

Beckham stats Goals 0 Goal attempts 0 Goal assists 1 Passes completed 37 Failed passes 6 Tackles won 0 Tackles lost 5 Fouls 0 Fouled 2

"We had to sacrifice one of our attacking players because I needed someone with Makelele's experience in the middle. David was the person I chose but it doesn't mean he had a bad game."

Apart from setting up the opening goal, Beckham had another quiet game against Mallorca.

His mediocre display follows a poor appearance against Valencia last weekend which earned him a zero rating from the Spanish media.

Deployed in a central midfield berth, the 28-year-old's undoubted talents were wasted as he acted as a fetcher and carrier for the likes of Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Raul.

He was forced to act as a decoy when Roberto Carlos lined up the free-kicks and his first corner of the night drifted beyond the Mallorca defence.

After Figo's opener, Mallorca put themselves in control of the tie with goals from Arnold Bruggink and Samuel Eto'o.

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