David Beckham practised on his own on Sunday after flight delays hindered his return and caused him to arrive late for Real Madrid’s first full training session under new coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo, the club’s website said.
”Beckham worked out alone as he was not able to arrive on time to exercise with his teammates due to problems with flights,” the club added.
The afternoon training session on Sunday was the first conducted by Luxemburgo, who was hired on Thursday by the club to replace Mariano Garcia Remon. Luxemburgo watched Friday’s training session from the touchline, observing his new charges before they were dismissed for the New Year’s holiday.
Assistant coaches Marco Teixeira and Antonio Melo also worked with the side for the first time, preparing the club for a ”mini pre-season”-like training schedule that will include twice-a-day sessions heading into Wednesday, when the club will resume the final seven minutes of a match against Real Sociedad that was abandoned on December 12 because of a bomb scare.
Real Madrid are in fifth place in the Primera Liga, 13 points behind first-division leader Barcelona.
The club have a schedule that includes five league and two King’s Cup clashes in January — which could stretch to three if the team qualifies for the quarterfinals. — Sapa-AP