"[4] Although the capacity of Old Trafford at the time was over 76,000, this was substantially reduced for the game due to the installation of two giant screens that would show a pre-match video featuring clips of Manchester United's involvement in European matches over the previous 50 years.

Proceeds from ticket sales went towards the Manchester United Foundation, a group working towards improving the lives of young people in the local community using football.

[8] The next additions were Lyon trio Grégory Coupet, Eric Abidal and Juninho Pernambucano,[9] and then the Barcelona quartet of Carles Puyol, Lilian Thuram, Gianluca Zambrotta and Ronaldinho.

In addition to allowing his players to play in the match, Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard joined Marcello Lippi on the Europe XI coaching staff.

[11] Also confirming their availability on 10 March were Internazionale trio Zlatan Ibrahimović, Marco Materazzi and Fabio Grosso, as well as a further Lyon player, Florent Malouda, and Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.

[12] A final tranche of players was added on 11 March, including Milan quartet Paolo Maldini, Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo and Ronaldo, Roma midfielder Mancini, Valencia defender Miguel and Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

[15] Other drop-outs were Oliver Kahn, Iker Casillas, Paolo Maldini, Lilian Thuram, Carles Puyol, Fabio Grosso, Miguel, Juninho and Ronaldo.

The last-minute nature of these withdrawals led to further call-ups, predominantly teammates of the remaining squad members and from other English clubs; these final players were Santiago Cañizares, Roberto Ayala (both Valencia), Iván Campo, Stelios Giannakopoulos, El Hadji Diouf (all Bolton Wanderers), Dejan Stefanović (Portsmouth), Philippe Christanval (Fulham), Kim Källström (Lyon), Boudewijn Zenden and Robbie Fowler (both Liverpool).

Edwin van der Sar strained his calf in the warm-up before United's FA Cup match against Middlesbrough on 10 March, and Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidić picked up knocks in the same game.

[16] Other long-term injury concerns included Mikaël Silvestre (dislocated shoulder), Darren Fletcher (ankle), Louis Saha (hamstring) and Ole Gunnar Solskjær (knee).

[18][16] There were also places in the team for youngsters Kieran Richardson, Chris Eagles and Tom Heaton, while Dong Fangzhuo – recently returned from a loan spell at Royal Antwerp after receiving a UK work permit[19] – was added to the first-team squad to bolster a depleted strike force.

Manchester United opened the scoring in the sixth minute of the match, when Paul Scholes played a through-ball to Wayne Rooney, who deceived the onrushing Santiago Cañizares by stepping over the ball before tapping it past the Spanish goalkeeper into the net.

[21] After a couple more chances for the home side, the Europe XI got themselves back into the game midway through the first half, via Florent Malouda's low, long-range strike, which passed just out of reach of Tomasz Kuszczak's outstretched hand.

[21] Rooney added a fourth goal for Manchester United (his second) two minutes before the half-time break; Ronaldo picked up the ball just inside his own half before driving forward and passing to Park on the right wing.

[21] Not wanting to risk their best players getting injured, Manchester United made five substitutions at half-time, bringing off Kuszczak, Ronaldo, Giggs, Rooney and captain Gary Neville to be replaced by debutant Tom Heaton, John O'Shea, Chris Eagles, Michael Carrick and Andy Cole, who was making a one-off guest appearance.

[21] Assistant referees: Alessandro Griselli (Italy)[1] Mark Simons (Belgium)[1] Fourth official: Howard Webb (England)[1] After the game, Sir Alex Ferguson paid tribute to the spectacle of the event, saying, "It was fantastic.