Normally an understated affair, the first leg at Mallorca's Son Moix stadium on Sunday (kickoff 2045 GMT) will attract more attention than usual as it will mark David Beckham's first appearance for Real Madrid in a competitive match.

After admitting that his first game on Spanish soil against Valencia in a pre-season friendly "could hardly have been worse", the England captain will be hoping to turn in a more convincing performance against the islanders.

An anxious-looking Beckham never got into his stride during last week's game against Rafa Benitez's well-oiled Valencia and, like the rest of his team, he still looked to be suffering the after-effects of the club's three-week tour to Asia.

The return from the Far East should have given the team time to fine tune its preparations for the forthcoming season, but in fact it has been overshadowed by midfielder Claude Makelele's confrontation with the club.

The French international refused to train last week because of the club's refusal to grant him a pay rise or to consider his request to leave and join big-spending premier league side Chelsea.

He finally resumed training on Thursday, but the dispute is set to rumble on and it is unlikely that the influential midfielder will feature in either leg of the Super Cup.

There is added spice to this year's final against Mallorca because of the humiliating defeats the islanders inflicted on Real during the course of last season.

Real fell victim to Mallorca when they lost 5-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals of the King's Cup and were then handed their first home defeat in the league in over two years when they were thrashed by the same scoreline at the Bernabeu in May.

But after a flood of close season departures and the arrival of former Boavista coach Jaime Pacheco, Mallorca are now a very different side.

Highly-rated midfielders Alvaro Novo and Albert Riera, prolific centre forward Walter Pandiani and combative defender Federico Lussenhoff have all gone as has much respected coach Gregorio Manzano.

Mallorca do still have the live-wire Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o, who will be joined up front by new signing Arnold Bruggink, but it will be a major upset if the islanders manage to deprive Real of their first trophy of the season.