Beckham 'happy' to stay in Madrid even after the end of career

By PA Sport

David Beckham has claimed that he is so happy at Real Madrid that he wants to live in the Spanish capital even after his playing career has finished. The England captain is in his third season with Real and has yet to win a trophy with the club, contributing to speculation that he would return to England to play for Arsenal or Chelsea.

But the former Manchester United midfielder said he has no intention of leaving Spain. "I will always keep my house in London, but I will never the hide the fact that I want to be here for the rest of my career," he said. "I want to continue here at Real and continue being England captain.

"My children are in school here and I will remain for a couple of years, even after I finish my career. Yes, probably I will stay here even after I retire from football. I am happy.

"I played many years in England. Now I am delighted to have experienced the atmosphere of another country and have a different life in Spain."

Beckham admitted that his time at Madrid might have been easier had there been more stability in the club's coaching. Vicente Del Bosque was sacked before Beckham had played his first game and several other coaches have come and gone since.

"I knew [Carlos] Queiroz well and it went well," he said. "Jose Antonio Camacho didn't stay long and I didn't really get to know him. I had the same coach at United for 10 years, week after week working with the same person. The coaching changes has been the most difficult part at Real Madrid."

In Italy, David Trezeguet scored a hat-trick to lead Juventus to a 3-1 win over Ascoli yesterday. The Frenchman scored three times in 10 first-half minutes at Ascoli's Cino del Duca stadium to end a streak of seven weeks without a goal and strengthen Juve's position at the top of the Serie A table.

Trezeguet scored his first goal after eight minutes with a left-footed diagonal shot and made it 2-0 in the 12th, putting the ball into an open goal from a pass by Mauro Camoranesi. The striker's 18th goal of the season came six minutes later from a pass by his captain, Alessandro Del Piero.

The veteran forward Marco Ferrante revived Ascoli's hopes in the 33rd minute with a volley from the edge of the area, but Juventus found some solidity at the back after Thursday's 3-2 home defeat to Roma in an Italian Cup quarter-final.

Milan lost ground in third place with a 1-1 home draw against Sampdoria on Saturday. Roma beat Livorno 3-0 at home yesterday for a sixth straight Serie A win. They moved above the Tuscan team into fifth place with 39 points, 20 fewer than Juventus.

The Roma captain, Francesco Totti, returning from a two-week injury absence, scored twice and the Brazilian Rodrigo Taddei added another.