David Beckham spent most of the second half of his official Real Madrid debut as a frustrated spectator as the Spanish champions suffered a 2-1 defeat away to Real Mallorca in the Super Cup first leg.
The England captain could look back on his own performance on Sunday with at least some satisfaction, though, after showing glimpses of his best form before being substituted on 55 minutes.
"I enjoyed it," Beckham told reporters after Real's narrow defeat. "I got a little bit more of the ball, although it would have been nice to have played the full 90 minutes."
Beckham, signed from Manchester United in a deal worth up to $35 million euros ($38 million), showed his potential worth to Real by setting up Luis Figo for the opening goal of Sunday's game with a perfectly struck corner.
Playing in a central midfield role, he also set Ronaldo clear with a defence splitting pass only for the Brazilian to waste the opportunity.
It was a general improvement on last weekend's poor performance against Valencia but the England midfielder still looked short of confidence and Mallorca easily took control of the midfield, moving 2-1 ahead shortly after the break.
Real coach Carlos Queiroz chose to replace Beckham with Claude Makelele 10 minutes into the second half and the team improved as a result, going close to an equaliser on several occasions.
"It was a hard game -- a difficult game," Beckham said. "We came out with a 2-1 defeat but we've got another game on Wednesday when we can hopefully put it right.
"It was a key pass and it was nice to set up the first goal. You can never be happy with a game you lose, though."
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