2006-05-09: Man Utd 1-0 Celtic, Roy Keane Testimonial

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Trivia

  • Roy Keane Testimonial
  • The attendance at this game is 69,591, a record crowd for a testimonial match in the U.K .
  • Keane, 34, played for Celtic in the first half but ran out for United after the break, to the delight of the United fans.

Match Ticket Match Programme

Review

Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs combined to set up Cristiano Ronaldo to score United's winner after 55 minutes.

Keane, who left United in December, told the crowd: "This is something I'll remember for the rest of my life."
The game is expected to raise £2.5m, the majority of which Keane will give to charity.

Teams

Man Utd:-
Howard (van der Sar 46), Brown (Lee 7), Vidic, Pique, Evra (Neville 46), Ronaldo (O'Shea 84), Giggs, Ferdinand (Keane 46), Richardson (Campbell 74), Saha (Scholes 46), Rossi (Solskjaer 46).
Goal:- Ronaldo.

Celtic:-
Boruc, Telfer (Mulgrew 74). McManus, Varga, Wilson, Petrov (Quinn 84), Keane (Pearson 46), Lennon, Maloney (Thompson 46), Zurawski, Hartson (Dublin 46).
Subs not used:- Marshall, Camara, Virgo, Wallace, Lawson.

Att:- 69,591

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Pictures

Articles

Keane given Old Trafford send-off

BBC
A crowd of 69,591 watched Manchester United beat Celtic 1-0 in Roy Keane's testimonial at Old Trafford.

Keane, 34, played for his current club in the first half but ran out with his former United team-mates after the break, to the delight of the home fans.

Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs combined to set up Cristiano Ronaldo to score United's winner after 55 minutes.

Keane, who left United in December, told the crowd: "This is something I'll remember for the rest of my life."

Tuesday's game is expected to raise £2.5m, the majority of which Keane will give to charity.

Sir Alex Ferguson hailed Keane as one of United's best players of all time, and Keane responded by paying tribute to the club at which he spent more than 12 seasons.

"You get clubs who are happy to come second or third. Not United," Keane said in the match programme.

"The fans don't deserve anything less than winning and that's what the manager and the club are about."

Keane to decide on playing future

BBC
Celtic midfielder Roy Keane will decide in the next fortnight whether to continue playing next season.

The 34-year-old, who joined the club in January, has been troubled by a hip problem and will take medical advice before deciding whether to retire.

"I have an appointment in the next week or two with a specialist and I will see what he says," said Keane.

"If I am going to play it's got to be 100 per cent," said the former Ireland international. "It's all or nothing."

The former Manchester United player added: "I will speak to the manager at Celtic (Gordon Strachan) and the doctor and I am sure I will make the right decision.

"I am sure I could carry on at a decent level but I am about giving my best every game. It will be difficult next season, with Europe as well, and I have got to weigh up a lot of things.

"But I am relaxed about it. What will be will be and I am not fearful of it."

Keane, who has the option of extending his contract by a year, made the announcement after his testimonial at Old Trafford on Tuesday between United and Celtic.

Strachan decision shocks Ferguson

BBC
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has expressed surprise that Celtic recalled three players from Scotland duty to face his side.

Scotland boss Walter Smith is reportedly angry at the decision by Gordon Strachan, who wanted the players for Tuesday's Roy Keane testimonial.

And Ferguson said: "Gordon Strachan phoned Walter Smith to say he wanted them to play against United.

"I don't know what this game is coming to. But it shows they mean business."

Smith had originally chosen Celtic striker Shaun Maloney, goalkeeper David Marshall and defender Stephen McManus, who would have been earning his first cap, for this week's Kirin Cup matches.

Ferguson's apparent backing for the view of his former Old Trafford assistant follows newspaper reports that the national boss had broken the "pretence of acceptance" of the situation.

He rejected Strachan's claim that, had Smith insisted on taking the players to Japan, he would have accepted the national call-up.

"In the conversation we had, he stated to me he'd withdraw all Celtic players from the tournament," Smith was quoted as saying.

"That meant the three players I had named, plus Stilian Petrov of Bulgaria and Japan's Shunsuke Nakamura.

"When that is said to you, Scotland have got no right to take a player.

"Insist? I can't insist on anything.

"If somebody phone me up and tells me they're withdrawing them then I have no recourse because they are friendlies."

Smith also warned players who had withdrawn from his under-21 squad that they risked not being chosen for his full squad in the future.