Capello defends Beckham omission

Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello mounted a strong defence of his announcement not to select David Beckham for the Spanish giants again after the former England captain's decision to join LA Galaxy in the summer.

"It is the technical staff - Fabio Capello, Pedja Mijatovic and Franco Baldini - who have taken the decision," said Capello after his side's 1-0 win over Real Zaragoza. "This is not only my call, but a decision jointly taken with the club.

"I believe that if a player already has a contract elsewhere, then it is not correct to count on him anymore."

Capello was critical of Beckham for not telling the club he was leaving before he signed his contract with the LA Galaxy, but insisted no comparison could be made with his own situation 10 years ago, when he announced he was to return to Italy and rejoin AC Milan while he was still Real coach.

"He (Beckham) signed his contract before he spoke with Madrid and for me that doesn't seem right," added Capello.

"The difference is the league in which I was going to train in began in July and the American league starts in April. In my situation I warned the president I was going. There were differences because I did not have a signed contract (with Milan)."

Beckham watched from the Bernabeu's private boxes as Ruud van Nistelrooy struck a first-half winner for Real, who put a turbulent week and back-to-back league defeats behind them with an impressive performance and a morale-boosting victory to move to joint second in the table.