Becks told to stay at home

Fears that David Beckham will miss England's Euro 2004 qualifier against Turkey intensified yesterday with the news that he has been ruled out of Real Madrid's Champions League match against Porto tomorrow.

Beckham damaged his right foot in Real's 2-0 defeat by Valencia on Saturday and is out of the squad who travel to Portugal this afternoon.

The England captain is also doubtful for Real's home league match with Espanyol on Sunday - 24 hours after England boss Sven Goran Eriksson names his squad for the final Group Seven qualifying match in Istanbul on Saturday week.

England must avoid defeat to be certain of a place in next summer's Finals and Beckham will do everything in his power to be fit for the crunch match. Eriksson is being kept up to date on Beckham's progress, but a Real Madrid spokesperson admitted: 'Up to now the medical people don't know whether David will be fit for the weekend.

'But he will definitely not be travelling with the rest of the team to Portugal.' Beckham, still limping heavily and grimacing with pain, was unable to train with his team-mates yesterday but had a 40-minute work-out in the gym and received intensive treatment from the club's medical team.

His Real team-mate Michel Salgado admitted the absence of Beckham tomorrow would be a major blow to the Spanish champions.