Manchester United legends visited the Munich memorial site ahead of the Legends’ friendly against Bayern at the Allianz Arena.
Among the group was CEO of the Manchester United Foundation John Shiels, former players involved in the charity game, as Bryan Robson and Denis Irwin laid a wreath in tribute to those who lost their lives in tragic circumstances in 1958.
Manchester United’s Legends played out a 3-3 with their Bayern Munich counterparts in a well-supported match by fans at the venue.
The match which took place at Munich’s magnificent stadium, Allianz Arena was on for 85 minutes to save ageing legs of the legends. Andy Cole showed he still has football in his system when he scored twice for Manchester United with the second coming late in the game.
Manchester United had a good grip of the match early and controlled proceedings. United deservedly went in front when a superb move, including some fine skills by Dwight Yorke, ended with Lee Martin sending the ball in from the right with Cole at the right place to supply the finish past Hans-Jorg Butt.
Paulo Sergio saw on overhead kick wide off the mark but it only took a short time before Bayern Munich got back into the game when Giovane Elber scoped a pass to Paulo Sergio to finish past Thomas Kuszczak.
Bayern’s second goal came from Elber after Alexander Zickler powered his way past Ronny Johnsen.
The oldest player involved, 62-year-old Paul Breitner, who was substituted on the 25th minutes with his replacement, Maurizio Gaudino immediately caught in possession by Dwight Yorke, who laid up Paul Scholes for a simple tap-in with his left foot to level the game.
Thomas Kuszczak denied Paulo Sergio but Zickler was on hand to regain the lead for the host when the Polish keeper was left hopelessly exposed.
Bayern was in control for most of the second half spell due to the obvious reason of having a larger squad than their opponent. They took advantage of this by making more substitutions.
Nonetheless, skipper Scholes dragged a great opening wide from Quinton Fortune’s good pass and Cole was brought down by Butt with his appeal for a penalty after going down in a challenge with the keeper turned down.
Paulo Sergio and Harald Cerny could have put the game beyond the Reds but, instead, Jesper Blomqvist fired in a cross from the left that resulted in a predatory finish at the near post by Cole.
The match follows the success of last year’s clash between United and Real Madrid legends, which raised £1 million for Manchester United Foundation.
Once again, the return leg against Munich will be held at Old Trafford in the summer of 2015. Proceeds from the sales will go to an Allianz foundation for children.
Bayern starting XI: Butt; Babbel, Pflugler, Kreuzer, Kovac; Thon, Breitner, van Bommel, Paulo Sergio; Elber, Zickler.
United: Kuszczak; Martin (Robson 72), Johnsen, Dublin, Irwin (Thornley 72); Fortune, P.Neville, Scholes, Blomqvist; Cole, Yorke. Sub not used: Silvestre.
