"Owen has only just arrived and has to adapt to the club," the midfielder was quoted as saying in sports daily Marca on Thursday. "It remains to be seen whether he can score the same number of goals with Real as he did with Liverpool.

"He's a great player and a natural goal scorer, but he will have to be in top form if he is going to play at Real and leave Raul on the bench. Raul is the captain, the symbol and the soul of the team."

Owen made his debut for his new club in the first league match of the season at Real Mallorca last Sunday, replacing Raul after just 25 minutes when the Spanish international hobbled off after a blow to his hip.

He went on to set up the only goal of the match for strike partner Ronaldo, but also missed two good chances himself.

Raul's future in the Real first team has been the subject of constant speculation in the Spanish media following his disappointing scoring record in the last year.

He has scored just three league goals since January and ended the last campaign with 11, his lowest total since the 1997-98 season.

However, Guti said it was unthinkable to doubt the ability of the 27-year-old striker, who has been one of the most prolific scorers in the history of the club.

"When he scored 20 goals and was top scorer in the league no one said anything, but now he is having trouble scoring everyone seems to want to criticise him," he said.