GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND 3, REST OF THE WORLD 1
Sir Alex Ferguson made a winning return to Old Trafford as the Great Britain & Ireland team he managed defeated the Rest of the World in the UNICEF match for children.
Michael Owen scored twice for the Reds while Paul Scholes also found the net while Dwight Yorke was on target for the Rest of the World in front of a sell-out crowd of 75,381 raising an estimated £3m for charity.
It was a return to the halcyon days as Manchester United’s Class of 92 were reunited in the England team with the exception of Gary Neville who was absent as he had been away with England in Spain.
But David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville were all in the GB & Ireland starting line up.
The Rest of the World captain Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Vieira and Maxwell all pulled out because of their French connections in the light of the terrorist attack the previous night in Paris.
There was very much a pantomime feel to the charity match as from kick off Beckham was cheered and former Liverpool player Jamie Carragher jeered.
Carragher entered into the spirit as he gestured to the crowd to boo him even louder.
Beckham was spraying long passes from the start, though their accuracy sometimes lacked the precision of old.
However, Beckham put over a fabulous cross for Scholes to head GB & Ireland ahead in the 13th minute.
That came not long after Beckham played a delightful pass to release Peter Crouch who was denied by Edwin van dar Sar with Darren Fletcher’s follow-up effort cleared off the line by Mikael Silvestre.
Butt’s afternoon ended prematurely midway through the opening period when he pulled up with nobody around him as he left the pitch on a stretcher with a suspected ruptured Achilles tendon.
Rest of the World went close when Luis Figo played a delightful return pass with Ronaldinho before curling a shot narrowly wide and Patrick Kluivert had the ball in the net after a cheeky back heel only to be caught offside.
Ronaldinho was the Rest of the World’s most dangerous player and he was denied by a great save from substitute keeper David Seaman.
Great Britain & Ireland doubled their lead midway through the second period when Scholes provided the assist with a cushioned volleyed cross for substitute Owen to score with a typical predatory goal from inside the six-yard box.
The lead was halved not long after, though, when Landon Donovan cut the ball back for Dwight Yorke to side foot home from 14 yards.
The Rest of the World could have equalised when Yorke set up Patrick Kluivert whose low shot was well saved by substitute keeper Raimond van der Gouw.
There was a surprise with 15 minutes left when David Beckham was replaced by son Brooklyn with a warm embrace and kiss on the touchline as they swopped places.
Beckham soon reappeared and there was the unusual sight of David heading over from Brooklyn’s corner.
Great Britain & Ireland sealed victory with four minutes left when van der Gouw allowed Ashley Cole’s cross to trickle through his legs allowing Owen to fire home from two yards.
And Scholes almost added the final gloss with an audacious chip that hit the bar.