The Spanish football fan who claimed the ball that David Beckham launched into the stands during England's Euro 2004 penalty shootout defeat by Portugal says he now owes the Real Madrid player a favour.

"His error is going to help me realise some of the dreams that I've had for many years," Pablo Carral told Spanish sports daily AS on Friday.

"I thought he'd score for sure and couldn't believe it when the ball came towards me. How was I to know he was going to take the penalty like a rugby conversion?"

"I don't know why people criticise him so much because he seems like a good bloke to me. If I get to meet him in a bar I'll certainly pay for the round."

Carral, a 25-year-old Deportivo Coruna fan, has put the ball up for sale on the Spanish site of Internet auctioneers eBay (www.es.ebay.com), where it has attracted a top bid of close to 24,000 euros ($29,640).

At one stage the ball, which Carral caught while sitting in Row Q of the Luz stadium in Lisbon, had reached the astronomical price of 10 million euros but the bid was found to be fake after security checks.

"For a while I believed it," said Carral. "I saw myself buying beers for all my friends and then travelling around the world, but I'm not going to complain as I now have an offer of 24,000 euros.

"I've still got until July 22 for that sum to triple and I'm not going to come out of it too badly."