Real Madrid coach forced to 'sacrifice' Beckham

Real Madrid coach Carlos Queiroz was forced to "sacrifice" David Beckham on his competitive debut for the club on Sunday.

Beckham was taken off after just 55 minutes of the opening leg of the Spanish Super Cup, when Real Mallorca were leading 2-1.

Despite the introduction of Claude Makelele, Mallorca held on to take that slim advantage back to the Bernabeu for Wednesday's second leg, but Queiroz said he had no choice but to cut short the England captain's first official game.

"It was a critical moment for us," Queiroz explained. "We'd conceded a goal early in the second half and I had to sacrifice one of the midfielders. It wasn't that Beckham had had a bad game."

"Mallorca were playing well and we didn't want them to score again."

Queiroz was far from satisfied with his side's performance, after seeing Mallorca come back from Luis Figo's opener -- a goal created by Beckham's corner -- to win with goals from Arnold Bruggink and Samuel Eto'o.

"We weren't good enough with the final ball," Queiroz said. "Mallorca didn't surprise me, though. They're a good team."