Real Madrid take King's Cup seriously

Real Madrid will be close to full strength for Thursday's King's Cup clash with second division Leganes after coach Carlos Queiroz signalled a shift in policy at the club.

Under former coach Vicente del Bosque, Real gave the cup a low priority in the early rounds, fielding teams made up mostly of second-team players and habitual substitutes.

Real have won the Champions League three times since 1998 and the Spanish league title in two of the last three years but they have not won the King's Cup since 1993.

Queiroz, who replaced Del Bosque in the close season, is keen to set that record straight and he named a strong squad on Wednesday, choosing to leave out only Zinedine Zidane and the injured Luis Figo. "You have to be careful in this competition," Queiroz said. "We have to respect the competition and our opponents.

"We'll make the odd change but there'll be nothing radical. We'll keep the same shape to the side."

Queiroz's squad selection raises the possibility of another run-in with an Argentine player for David Beckham.

Beckham was sent off in a World Cup match against Argentina in 1998 and almost nearly missed the 2002 World Cup after being on the receiving end of a bad tackle from Argentine midfielder Aldo Duscher a couple of months before the start of the tournament.

The England captain was also involved in a bad-tempered incident with Deportivo Coruna's Argentine player Lionel Scaloni in the league last weekend.

He could find himself the target for some abuse on Thursday against Leganes, who have 15 Argentine players on their books.