Beckham keen on City challenge

LA Galaxy midfielder David Beckham is looking forward to taking on Roberto Mancini’s big-spending Manchester City on Saturday.

But Beckham – who made his name in the midfield of City’s bitter rivals Manchester United – wants his side to first focus on their MLS match against Columbus Crew on Wednesday.

“We’re concentrating on tomorrow’s game first. Once that game’s out of the way, then we’ll look forward to the game on Sunday at our own stadium with a world-class team with a lot of great players in it,” Beckham said.

“We’re looking forward to it. It’s going to be one of those games that fans are going to enjoy, I’m sure. (But) we’ll concentrate on tomorrow night first.”

The Galaxy were comprehensively beaten in another high-profile friendly against another of Beckham’s former clubs, Real Madrid, on Saturday.

Despite going down 4-1 and being outclassed, former England captain Beckham believes Galaxy’s players should improve by playing Real and City.

“I think it’s always great for any player to play against world-class opponents because it makes you a better player, it improves you, you learn from it,” he said.

“As difficult a game as it was, you learn and you watch these players. It’s what I used to do as a young kid and it’s what all the young kids on our team do. You watch the likes of Kaka, Ronaldo … these players that you can learn from.”