Beckham not a fringe player, says Real boss

REAL MADRID coach Mariano Garcia Remon has insisted David Beckham is not an outcast despite playing no part in the 3-2 win over Racing Santander.

The England captain was alongside fellow ‘galactico’ Roberto Carlos on the bench for the game.

But Garcia Remon insists he bases his team selection on the preparatory work done leading up to the game.

And rather than it being a case of poor attitude, the coach suggested that Beckham’s problems in training were because of injury.

He said: “A coach’s line-up is made in relation to the work the players do during the week.

“I have had players with physical problems during these seven days. They (Beckham and Carlos) have had to leave training twice and that is why I decided not to include them.”

Garcia Remon rotates his side when faced with two matches in quick succession.

For example, ahead of a vital Champions League match at Roma, where they had to win to qualify for the last 16, half of the Madrid side was rested for a game at Villarreal.

Guti and Luis Figo were booked against Levante the week before and missed out, Raul was on the bench along with Carlos and a half-fit Zinedine Zidane was not risked.

“There are 38 games in La Liga and we are in two more competitions, so you can’t take the fact that a player doesn’t play one game out of context,” added Garcia Remon.

The big guns should be back for tomorrow’s visit of Sevilla.

But Beckham is not guaranteed to return, having failed to shine as brightly as his first six months in Spain.

After his first ever Christmas break last year, the edge was lost from his match fitness and he picked up an ankle knock in the first game back, which kept him out for three weeks.

Madrid’s season went into freefall and they ended without a trophy, almost unthinkable for such a high-profile club.

A desperate Euro 2004 compounded Beckham’s misery and a cracked rib, picked up playing for England against Wales in the autumn, then kept him out for six weeks.

He has not made his favoured central midfield position his own and has been cast out to the wing in Figo’s absence. The right side could be where he ends up if the 32-year-old Portuguese playmaker departs the Bernabeu, as rumours suggest.