Real tour leaves Chinese fans wet, disappointed
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-25 17:32

Real Madrid earned millions in its four-day tour of China, but its lacklustre performance and the absence of David Beckham may have cost the team some of its many Chinese fans, the China Daily reported on Monday.

The Spanish giants netted as much as $4 million dollars in appearance fees in China, including 5 million yuan ($616,000) for a five-minute free kick competition in the eastern city of Tianjin, the newspaper said.

England captain Beckham did not play in Real's rain-soaked 3-2 win over Chinese side Beijing Guo'an on Saturday because of a hamstring injury sustained during a tour match in the United States last week.

"Many female spectators came to watch their idol (Beckham) rather than the match itself and were forced to leave the stadium in frustration," the newspaper said.

Zhang Ran, an 18-year-old fan, said, "The organisers should have told us that Beckham would miss the match. It's like we have been cheated."

Despite the enormous hype behind Real's visit, the 70,000-capacity Beijing Workers' Stadium was only just over half full for the match.

Other Real stars like Ronaldo, Michael Owen and Zinedine Zidane came off the field in the second half.

In a post-match Internet survey, 62 percent of Chinese fans said they would not support Real if the team returned to China and over one quarter said they were bored by the water-logged game.

Real Madrid have flown to Japan to play on Monday and Wednesday and will wrap up the money-spinning tour with a friendly in Bangkok on Friday.

($1=8.111 Yuan)

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