Valdano turns down Beckham heat
Beckham has repeatedly been linked with an end-of-season move to Santiago Bernabeu after Valdano expressed his admiration for the England captain.
Both clubs have strenuously denied Beckham would be swapping Manchester for Madrid in the summer but it has not stopped the undercurrent of hostility ahead of their Champions League tussle on Tuesday evening.
Valdano has been at pains to stress Beckham is not in Real's calculations for summer reinforcements by insisting the Madrid squad is already overflowing with star names.
The former Argentine international also believes it is time for the issue to be placed on the backburner to enable everyone to focus on the match itself.
"With a great club like Real Madrid, and a great player like David Beckham, it is not unusual for the media to identify the two together," Valdano told the Daily Telegraph.
"However, at Real Madrid we have our nucleus of star footballers. It would be very difficult to expand that even further and, yes, it has reached a stage when it is getting too close to the game to talk about this.
"It distracts from the essence of what this game is about. Now it is time to enjoy the football.
"Real Madrid and Manchester United are great clubs but football is greater than both."
Valdano added that it would be highly unlikely for any match to supersede Tuesday's meeting in terms of recognition on the global stage.
He continued: "These two teams are perhaps the two that give the most pleasure in football terms when playing on form.
"It is very difficult to find a football match in the world where you see 22 names and faces which are all so recognisable to the footballing world. Every single player is a great footballer."
