England star David Beckham vowed Tuesday to make his mark at Real Madrid by scoring his first goal during his debut at the Bernabeu stadium after a slow start since his arrival in the Spanish capital ten days ago.

Beckham gave a lacklustre performance during last week's goalless friendly draw at Valencia followed by an infuriating substitution in Real Madrid's 2-1 Spanish Super Cup first leg loss to Real Mallorca Sunday.

But the 28-year-old said there was more to him than his pop star image and he wanted to fulfil his dream of scoring on his first game in the Barnabeu stadium during Real's crucial Super Cup second leg game on Wednesday.

"I'd love to score in the Bernabeu. It's going to be the day of my debut before the Real Madrid fans and I really want to do well and win my first title with the club as well. Playing in the Bernabeu really means a lot to me," the England player said during his first press conference at Real Madrid.

Beckham could find his caused aided by the absence of Claude Makalele.

The French international, looking for either a sizeable pay rise or a transfer, provided some much-needed shape and bite on replacing Beckham last Sunday. But the 30-year-old claims to have a fever, which Spanish media has described as 'diplomatic'.

Beckham admitted that he could have been more present on the pitch than he has been since his arrival at the Spanish champions, but he had no doubt that he could succeed in the number 23 jersey.

"If I didn't think I could succeed at Real Madrid I wouldn't have joined this team. I know that I can play much better than I have until now and I hope that I can start to improve in the coming games."

Beckham said that he had not asked coach Carlos Queiroz for an explanation over his substitution during Sunday's game saying that "as a player you have to accept these decisions.

"I would have liked to play the 90 minutes, but he decides the changes (...) Sometimes you are called on to play sixty minutes and other times the entire match."

Beckham said that he had been overwhelmed by the welcome he had received from his teammates and fans, but refused to speak of his private life, pop star wife Victoria, and young sons.

"I don't speak about my father, nor my family, nor my hair. The most important is football and it will be the centre of my life in the next few years," he said.

"The pop star image that people have is something I don't care about at all. It's an idea people have," said Beckham, adding that he hoped that the frenzy surrounding him would calm down in Spain.

"The media have followed me everywhere since I arrived and I hope that this relaxes a bit and that I can live a little more relaxed. I'm in the best team in the world and living in an exceptional country," he added.

Real and Beckham in particular, were slammed by the Madrid media after a disjointed showing against Mallorca.

But on Wednesday's evidence the general feeling is that Beckham has been having to shoulder more than his share of the.

"Becks and Queiroz under the microscope," was how AS sports daily saw the situation ahead of the Mallorca game.

Yet the paper, having blasted the entire team after the first leg loss to Mallorca, stressed it would be a fallacy to blame Beckham's hype-filled arrival for the below-par showing both in that match and in a friendly a week earlier at Valencia. "It doesn't seem fair to make Beckham pay for plates he didn't break," commented AS.

Queiroz says criticism of his side is water off a duck's back.

"I'm not too worried about the criticism. You can always learn from all points of view," he told reporters.