Zidane ducks out of Old Trafford reunion with Materazzi
The European XI selected to play against Manchester United tonight
reads like a who's who of the modern game, but one great name will
be missing. Zinedine Zidane has snubbed an offer to come out of
retirement for the match after being asked by Uefa to line up hand
in hand with Marco Materazzi, the Italian defender who he is more
accustomed to greeting with a flying headbutt.
Zidane did not make public the reason behind his decision to avoid
tonight's fundraising game at Old Trafford, but the presence of the
man who provoked his dismissal in last July's World Cup final is
unlikely to have been alluring. "It would have been a fine thing if
he was one of the players, but he won't be," said the manager of
the all-star side, Marcelo Lippi, who would have been another
reminder for Zidane of the calamitous climax to his career in
Berlin having taken charge of the Italian team in Germany, which is
providing five of the 22 players in the squad.
Another big name who will not be playing is David Beckham, who will
take a place in the stands after being ruled out of the game
through injury. But three Brazilians - Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and
Roma's Alessandro Mancini - will play, alongside some more familiar
faces including Liverpool's Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher and
Henrik Larsson, whose period on loan at Manchester United from
Helsingborgs ended at the weekend.
The match is being held to celebrate the 50th anniversaries of both
the European Union and United becoming the first English club to
play in European competition. The hosts' team is unknown, but they
have promised to field their strongest available side and Bobby
Charlton insisted last night that they would play to win. "When Sir
Alex Ferguson puts out a team, it goes out to win," he said. "I
wouldn't dare to question whether it was strong enough as I'd
probably be banned from the ground. He's a very strong
character."