Beckham blunder as Real are thrashed

Bayer Leverkusen 3 Real Madrid 0

Michael Owen could not hide his disappointment at being left on the bench as Real Madrid crashed to defeat against Bayer Leverkusen last night.

On a night when David Beckham was partially responsible for the first goal, former Liverpool striker Owen was forced to sit and watch as the rest of the 'Galacticos' were taken apart by the German side who suffered a defeat by Real in the 2002 final.

Owen had come on in Madrid's previous two La Liga encounters but could only watch as his new side's campaign for a 10th European Cup got off to the worst possible start

'I always want to play but it wasn't to be,' said Owen. 'I'm always confident I can do things if I get a chance, but the game wasn't there for me tonight so I will wait for the next one.'

Bayer Leverkusen went some way to putting right their 2-1 defeat against Real at Glasgow's Hampden Park two years ago with an impressive display.

But any more performances like last night's and Real's English contingent of Beckham, Owen and Jonathan Woodgate can forget hopes of bringing the Champions League trophy back to Madrid. Real were dreadful and if any representatives of their other Group B opponents, Dynamo Kiev and Roma, were present they must have been delighted by the way the Spanish side crumbled.

Jacek Krzynowek blasted Leverkusen into a well-deserved first-half lead after Beckham, who until then along with returning centre back Walter Samuel had been largely responsible for keeping the opposition at some sort of arm's length, sloppily cleared from a corner.