Owen

Madrid: A few days after signing for Real Madrid, England striker Michael Owen justified his decision to leave Liverpool by saying that he was making the move in order to step out of the Anfield ?comfort zone?.

A month on, after spending most of the time warming the Real bench watching his Galactico teammates struggle on the pitch and witnessing the premature departure of team coach Jose Antonio Camacho just three games into the season, he must be wondering what he has let himself in for.

The 24-year-old striker joined what he thought was the most talented, attack-minded team in Europe but so far they have found it almost impossible to find the opposition net in open play.

Real have scored just four goals in their last six competitive games and two of those have come from David Beckham free kicks.

Despite the fact that both first-choice strikers Ronaldo and Raul have been in poor form, Owen and fellow substitute Fernando Morientes have been given few chances to shine. (Reuters)