In the second leg of their Legends of the North charity series, Liverpool Legends defeated Manchester United Legends at Anfield.
Liverpool came from behind to win 2-1 this time after winning the first meeting 3-1 earlier this year.
The game was dominated early on by United’s legends, and they took the lead just seven minutes in when a fantastic Michael Carrick pass allowed Dimitar Berbatov to unleash a typically excellent finish to put the Red Devils 1-0 up.
Despite the fact that it was a charity match, the Liverpool team did not take falling behind to United at Anfield well, and there was some bite to the two teams’ play.
Xabi Alonso did his best to raise the roof with a few efforts from range, but they failed to make the breakthrough in the first half.
However, just two minutes into the second half, Liverpool leveled things up as substitute Mark Gonzalez, who netted twice in the last victory, drilled home into the bottom corner.
That goal gave Liverpool confidence but United was still knocking on the door and Jerzy Dudek had to be on hand to keep the score level.
With 15 minutes to go, United stepped things up with the introduction of Roy Keane and Denis Irwin – to an inevitable chorus of boos from the Anfield faithful.
But it was Liverpool who responded and went ahead through Florent Sinama-Pongolle’s well-taken effort with eight minutes to go.
Fraizer Campbell did have the ball in the back of the net late on but was denied by the offside flag, allowing Liverpool to take the victory.
Liverpool Legends squad
Starting XI: Jerzy Dudek, Bjorn Tore Kvarme, Stephane Henchoz, Martin Skrtel, Gregory Vignal, Maxi Rodriguez, Momo Sissoko, Xabi Alonso, Stewart Downing, Anthony Le Tallec, Andriy Voronin.
Subs: Sander Westerveld, Fabio Aurelio, Djimi Traore, Glen Johnson, Salif Diao, Mark Gonzalez, Albert Riera, Luis Garcia, Robbie Keane, Florent Sinama-Pongolle.
Man Utd Legends squad
Starting XI: Raimond van der Gouw, Ronny Johnsen, Jaap Stam, Danny Pugh, Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher, Darron Gibson, Dimitar Berbatov, Fraizer Campbell, Karel Poborsky.
Subs: Kevin Pilkington, Denis Irwin, Clayton Blackmore, Reece Brown, Roy Keane, Eric Djemba-Djemba.
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