Post War Home Testimonial & Benefit Matches 3
- UNICEF 2
- O G Solskjær
- G Neville
- P Scholes
Christiano Ronaldo takes on Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan) and Roberto Ayala (Valencia) in the European friendly to celebrate United's fifty years in European competition.
UNICEF Benefit
United met a European Select XI managed by Marcello Lippi to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the club's first European campaign as well as the 5oth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome. UNICEF were again the beneficiaries, the crowd of over 74,000 contributing £1.25m. for the charity.
A plethora of second half substitutions upset the rhythm of the game somewhat but it was an entertaining game. A brace of goals from Wayne Rooney, a Wes Brown header and a Cristiano Ronaldo free kick gave United a 4-1 half time lead, Malouda scoring for the visitor's. Bolton's El Hadji Diouf scored twice in the second half to bring a little more respectability to the score line.
Amongst the second half substitutions for United were Dong Fangzhou, who made his Old Trafford début, and Andy Cole. Henrik Larsson, in his final appearance before returning to Helsingborg after his loan period at United, came on for the European Select XI.
Carlos Tévez is incensed by Daniel Jarque's late tackle in Ole Gunnar Solskjær's testimonial at Old Trafford. The Espanyol captain died in August 2009 after a heart attack, aged 26.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær: 366 apps (150 as substitute) - 126 goals
Although Ole Gunnar Solskjær will forever be associated with scoring United's winning goal in the 1999 Champions League Final, his contribution to United's successes during his time at Old Trafford should not be under estimated.
After a summer in which United had tried unsuccessfully to lure Alan Shearer away from Blackburn, they instead turned to Norway to sign the almost unknown Solskjær from Molde for a fee of £1.5m. He made his début against Blackburn on August 25th, coming off the bench and scoring within six minutes. It was a feat he would repeat frequently. Solskjær was a keen student of the game, preferring to analyse the defensive weaknesses of the opposition from the bench rather than spend the time texting his mates. When called upon he was often deadly, on one notable occasion scoring four in ten minutes in an 8-1 win at the City Ground, Nottingham.
His career was ended prematurely by a knee injury that had limited his appearances since 2004. He eventually announced his retirement from playing in August 2007, taking up a coaching role at Old Trafford. On November 9th 2010 he signed a four year contract with former club Molde to act as Manager.
Left to right: Back row - D Beckham, N Butt, T Kuszczak, W Brown, J O'Shea, M Owen;
Front row - R Giggs, P Neville, G Neville, P Scholes and W Rooney.
Gary Neville: 602 appearances (36 as substitute) - 7 goals
Sir Alex Ferguson rates Gary Neville as "the best English right-back of his generation" and who can argue? He made his first team debut in 1992/93, establishing himself as a regular in United's defence during 1994/95 and was made club captain following the departure of Roy Keane in November 2005. He won the first of his 85 England caps in 1995.
Neville spent his entire career at United, initially as a central defender before converting to a right back. He captained the Youth side to the FA Youth Cup in 1992 and by the time of his retirement in February 2011, he had added eight Premier League titles, three FA Cups, two European Cups, an Intercontinental Cup, a FIFA Club World Cup, and a League Cup winners medal.
Neville received some unfair criticism, particularly in his early career, and his obvious enthusiasm and passion for United made him an easy target for opposition fans. Of course it was these very qualities that endeared him to the Old Trafford faithful. Never a prolific goal scorer, all seven of his senior goals for United came at Old Trafford. It was announced that Neville would be joining Sky Sports as a pundit for the 2011/12 season.
Paul Scholes during his testimonial game against Eric Cantona's New York Cosmos.
Paul Scholes: 676 appearances (124 as substitute) - 150 goals
Regarded by team mates and opponents alike as one of the finest midfield players in the world, Paul Scholes began training with United at the tender age of 14. He was a member of the 1993 side that reached the FA Youth Cup Final, and made his senior bow in September 1994.
Initially a forward he converted to central midfield in 1997, although he continued to contribute goals regularly often from a deep lying forward role. Scholes scored 20 goals during 2002/03 - a career best. He developed into a hugely influential player, stamping his authority on the midfield, setting up United attacks with precision passing and breaking up opposition attacks with ferocious tackling. Unfortunately on occasion he was guilty of lunging tackles which brought him countless bookings. Indeed his 32 yellow cards in the Champions League is a record (Gattuso has the next highest with 29 bookings), and he is the third most booked player in the Premier League (his 90 bookings place him behind Lee Bowyer and Kevin Davies).
Scholes won ten Premier League titles in his time at Old Trafford, together with the FA Cup three times, the Champions League twice, the League Cup twice, the Intercontinental Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. He won 66 England caps before he announced his retirement from international football in August 2004.
Can you help?
We have been unable to identify the kits worn in the following testimonial matches:
| 30/9/53 | Tom Curry (Hibernian) | 10/11/70 | Bill Foulkes (Man City) | 24/10/73 | Tony Dunne (Man City) | 24/8/82 | Jim Headrige (Bolton W) |
| 23/4/56 | John Aston (Home Farm) | 3/10/73 | Denis Law (Ajax) | 26/11/75 | Pat Crerand (1968 XI) | 11/8/91 | Sir Matt Busby (Ireland) |
