Guti seals cup win

Real Madrid picked up the Ciudad de Alicante trophy on Wednesday night after scraping a 1-0 win against Montpellier at the Rico Perez stadium.

The Merengues had a brisk start to the match, Zidane linked up well with Raul and Figo and the French side were under the cosh for the first 20 minutes of play.

The Real defence of Geremi, Ivan Campo, Hierro and Roberto Carlos however looked a bit shaky during the rest of the half and were frequently troubled by Montpellier's rapid counter-attacks.

The game could have gone either way but for some outstanding goalkeeping by Iker Casillas, who was playing his first game of the pre-season, the 20-year-old was the man of the match.

Striker Jose Maria Gutierrez put Real in front in the 34th minute arriving at the far post to slide the ball past Vercountre.

During the second half, Del Bosque brought off his star players Raul, Figo, Zidane, Geremi and Guti for Munits, Savio, Macca, Helguera and Minambres.

Both sides struggled to put their stamp on the last 45 minutes, the best effort of the half fell to Savio, whose thundering volley was parried away by substitute 'keeper Riou.

It was a disappointing display from Real and coach Del Bosque was first to admit that signs of tiredness were already creeping in: "It's true that we had a mediocre game, but these outings serve as a trial run and we have been able to draw conclusions from the matches we've played. The lads were tired from the Swiss tour and the heat affected them tonight. We've got a few more games to play to fine-tune the side to our liking before the league starts.