Owen on target and content to remain with Real

The England striker brushed aside recent rumours linking him with a move back to the Premiership, with Manchester United and Chelsea reportedly interested in acquiring him. Owen, 25, has failed to hold down a first-team place in Wanderley Luxemburgo's side despite scoring 13 league goals in his debut campaign in the Primera Liga last season.

"I have never said that I want to leave," Owen said. "It's the English press that are placing me away from Madrid."

Owen was delighted to hit the target on Monday night, the former Liverpool man opening the scoring as Madrid beat Los Angeles Galaxy 2-0 in front of a sell-out crowd of over 27,000 in the second friendly match of their summer tour.

"I am very happy," he said. "We have played well and I have scored."

David Beckham, however, picked up a hamstring injury in the game. "I had two sore hamstrings after the game in Chicago [on Saturday] and thought it was just stiffness, but maybe it is a little bit more," the England captain said. "We travel to Thailand tonight and we will see how it is. If it is torn then I will probably go home."

Beckham pulled up after taking a free-kick in the 58th minute and was replaced by Luis Figo.

Real had taken the lead in the sixth minute when a pass from Zinedine Zidane found an unmarked Owen on the edge of the six-yard box and the England striker calmly slotted the ball past the Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman.

A series of substitutions in the second half, which began with the departure of Beckham and Zidane around the hour mark, disrupted the flow of the game and turned the match into a more even contest.

However, the Madrid striker Roberto Soldado sealed victory for the nine-times European champions with 15 minutes remaining, firing a low shot past Hartman from the edge of the penalty area.

Real are apparently trying to help their unsettled midfielder Guti to leave the club but have yet to find a buyer for the Spanish international. "The president [Florentino Perez] wants to help him and he wants to leave but the third ingredient is missing and that is a club that wants to buy him," Real's director of football, Arrigo Sacchi, said. "If one comes forward then we will talk."

A product of Real's youth system, the 28-year-old is one of the longest-serving members of the squad but has been forced to play second fiddle to some of the more high-profile players.

"Guti is a great player and he has made it clear he wants to play," said Sacchi. "But where? I could put him on the wing but he feels happier just behind the forwards or up front.

"In those positions we already have [Zinedine] Zidane and Raul, two great champions, and further forward we have Ronaldo , Owen and we may have Robinho too.

"So in order to play, Guti has to play out of position and that's why we understand his request."

Guti, who has been one of Real's most impressive players on their pre-season tour of the United States, has been linked with a possible move to England with Everton and Tottenham both reported to be interested in signing him.

Internazionale, however, have said they are "not optimistic" about their chances of signing Figo. The Italian club's president, Massimo Moratti, said he is not close to finalising a move for either Figo - with whom Liverpool have held talks, though they do not want to pay a transfer fee - or the former Portuguese international's Real Madrid team-mate Walter Samuel.

"We are not optimistic when it comes to the financial side of the deal," Moratti said. "But from the sporting side, we are."