Speaking candidly after England's quarter-final exit from Euro 2004, Beckham said he would be forced to "take a long look," at his situation if his two young boys, who are due to join him in Madrid this summer, are not spared the intense scrutiny that follows their father’s every move.

"The intrusion and the invasion into my life is tough because I've got children and I want them to enjoy their lives but people will just say 'why's he complaining?'," the England captain said.

"I'm not complaining but of course it's tough. It's tough on any family."

Asked if the level of media attention he received had become intolerable, Beckham replied: "I think it's reached that a few times this year because the move to Spain is a new environment, people are not used to me there. In Manchester I was able to go to the Trafford (shopping) Centre and walk around with my family.

"That's not possible in Spain. I can't go out of my front door and people know that."

The media's fascination with Beckham, his pop-star wife Victoria and sons Brooklyn and Romeo reached new levels earlier this year when the player, who moved from Manchester United to Madrid in July 2003 while his family remained in England, was reported to have had an affair with his former personal assistant, Rebecca Loos.

Beckham denied the claims but has not taken any legal action against newspapers which published them.

Shortly after the reports emerged, it was announced that Victoria and the two boys would be moving to Madrid this summer, killing speculation Beckham would return to play for Chelsea in his native London in order to save his marriage.

"I had them around me more than people realised last season," Beckham said. "My wife was there most of the time apart from when Brooklyn was at school. It's always nice to be with your family and we finally have got Brooklyn in a school.

"One of the reasons why Brooklyn didn't go in a school was because of the press attention. I was told by (fellow Real star Zinedine) Zidane that his children were in school and for the first two months there were people filming his kids in the playground.

"I'm personally not prepared to put my children in that situation. If that's the situation I will take a long look at it. I'm very protective over my children.

"People say I do photo-shoots with my children. I've never done a photo-shoot with my children and never will and as far as I'm concerned I will protect them as much as I can."

Beckham insists that he is capable of blanking-out all the strains linked to his status as one of the most famous athletes on the planet whenever he runs on to a football pitch.

But he is also realistic enough to accept that there could have been a link between the turmoil in his private life and the slump in his form for Real in the second half of last season and subsequent failure to provide England with the kind of inspirational leadership he has produced in the past.

"When you have tough times on a football pitch occasionally you think about what's going on but I never ever want to regret anything and I never will," he said.

"It has been tough this season on and off the pitch because of certain situations but I'm a strong enough person, I've got to be strong enough because I'm a father, I've got to look after two little boys and look after a wife.

"When I'm down they pick me up, and when they're down I pick them up. I'm strong enough."

Beckham's critics may see an element of hypocrisy in his complaints about the invasion of his privacy. He and his wife have always assiduously courted the media's interest in them - by selling pictures of their wedding to a glossy magazine to take just one example - and are happy to profit financially from their fame.

But Beckham insists the scale of his commercial activities are exaggerated.

"I don't do as much as people think I do. Yes, there's adverts out there and photographs of me but people sometimes stick pictures of me on magazines week in and week out and say 'Exclusive' and people think I've done an exclusive.

"I've come to terms with that - it's the way my life is. But my family are number one, my football is number two and that's the way it will always be."

While clearly stung by the criticism of his performances, Beckham insists he will shake off the disappointment of England's quarter-final defeat by Portugal and come back stronger for it, perhaps with the help of some consoling words from Beckham jnr.

"Brooklyn's started playing football and been to football training and he gets upset when he doesn't score a goal or doesn't win a game," Beckham revealed.

"Even on the arcade games he gets upset when he doesn't finish it. I've explained to him that you can't win every time and maybe he'll explain that to me when I arrive home."