Real right to order Beckham back to training says Guti

Real Madrid midfielder Guti said the club were right to order David Beckham back into training rather than allow him to support his England team mates in their World Cup qualifier against Poland.

The FA had asked for the England captain to be allowed to remain with the squad despite being suspended for their final Group Six game on Wednesday but Real refused and Beckham was told to report for training to prepare for this weekend's city derby against Atletico Madrid.

"The people who pay him (Beckham) are Real Madrid," Guti was quoted as saying in sports daily Marca on Thursday.
 
"And if he can't play with his national side then it is much better that he is here with the rest of us. I don't think that should be a problem, should it?"

Real vice-president Emilio Butragueno explained the club's stance by saying that they always tended to suffer the consequences of player absences during international weeks.

"We are a bit worried by what happens at times like this and will have to wait and see what sort of state the internationals are in when they return," he said.

"As captain of England and all that it signifies they (the FA) asked for Beckham to stay, but we thought he should come back because we have an important game on Saturday."

"We told him and as a professional he accepted the decision."

Beckham trained together with two of the club's other suspended internationals, Michel Salgado and Thomas Gravesen in a six-man session on Wednesday.

Frenchman Zinedine Zidane and Spanish internationals Raul, Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos are scheduled to train with the squad on Thursday evening but the club's six South American internationals will not be able to hook up with their team mates until Friday.

Guti had words of encouragement for his other English team mate Jonathan Woodgate who continued his unfortunate start to his Real Madrid career when he scored an own goal for the second time in three games after bundling the ball into his own net in a friendly against Real Zaragoza on Tuesday.

"He's been really unlucky," Guti said. "He would have liked to have started on the right foot, but the important thing is that he has now recovered and we have to give him time.

"He's taking it well and if he keeps going on like this he could end up as top scorer this season," he said.