During an exciting afternoon on Merseyside, famous faces from both clubs went head-to-head for the second time this year, following on from the first-leg of this charity campaign at Old Trafford back in May. 

On that occasion, it was the visitors that emerged victorious with a 3-1 win and Liverpool consolidated that score line today, beating Andy Ritchie’s United by 2-1 (5-2 agg.) at Anfield. 

In the May fixture, over £1.3 million was raised for Manchester United Foundation, a figure that will go a long way to improving the lives of young people across Greater Manchester. Liverpool FC Foundation hope their fixture will have raised a similar amount for their community projects, meaning the joint campaign will have impacted thousands of children across the North West.

John Shiels, CEO for Manchester United Foundation said: “Seeing the fans support both legs of this special campaign shows just how important each Foundation is to their clubs and their supporters. Events like today are absolutely vital to continue our work and we’d also like to thank the players from both sides for their ongoing support.”

Both games included a strong contingent of former players from both clubs, led by managers Andy Ritchie and Andrew Cole, and Sir Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush respectively, and supporters were treated to appearances from fan favourites such as Roy Keane and Dimitar Berbatov for United and Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia for Liverpool. 

Legendary club captain Keane made a surprise return, much to the delight of the travelling away fans, in what was his first appearance at Anfield since his final game for United almost 17 years ago to the day. 

Needless to say that with Keane on the pitch, the competitive spirit was high, but the true importance of these games was not lost on the players.

Dimitar Berbatov, United’s goal-scorer in each leg of the charity fixture, said: “It’s the most important thing [raising money for the Foundation]; as an ex-professional we always want to win, but in this case it’s more important that we do it for that great cause.”

Manager Andy Ritchie said: “Despite the score, it’s all for charity, which is great. We know it’s never any friendlies when we’re playing Liverpool, but it’s for great causes, the Foundations do a lot for young people – we’re just glad to be part of that and make a lot of money.”