David Beckham gave his club Los Angeles Galaxy a major scare on Wednesday, when he limped off the field with a thigh injury in a friendly in China.

Beckham who helped his club to a 3-0 victory over a mixed Shanghai-Hong Kong side, played 70 minutes in Shanghai before he went off the pitch limping visibly.

"I got a kick in my leg the first half just in my thigh, and I felt it start stiffening up during the second half, so obviously the manager decided to bring me off," Beckham said in post match press conference.

"It's only precautionary... it's nothing serious," he said, adding that he would be the injury he described as a dead leg would be fine in a couple of days.

Beckham has been dogged by injuries since he left Real Madrid to join the North American US Major League Soccer club in July, playing only 310 minutes due to a lingering ankle problem and a sprained right knee.

The 32-year-old midfielder reported to the Galaxy camp with a swollen left ankle - a sprained medial ligament - only to injure his knee in the Galaxy's SuperLiga final against Pachuca of Mexico last August.

Beckham arrived in China's financial hub as part of the Galaxy's three-city Asian tour that began in Seoul, amid questions about his fitness.

England coach Fabio Capello snubbed him for a game against Switzerland last month that would have given the former Real Madrid and Manchester United midfielder his 100th international cap.

Capello, the former Real Madrid coach, passed Beckham over in that clash on the grounds that the 32-year-old superstar was not in good enough shape.

After arriving in Shanghai on Sunday, Beckham stressed that getting fit enough to play again for England was a top priority as he aims for the milestone that only five other Englishman have achieved.

In the Galaxy's loss to K-League side FC Seoul on Saturday, Beckham played the full 90 minutes.

The Galaxy, who begin their regular season in the United States at the end of March, will wrap up their Asian tour in Hong Kong with a match on 9 March.