Brooklyn Beckham replaces father David in charity match

Zidane pulled out of the event prior to kick off after the horrifying scenes in his home country, and Beckham fully appreciated his ex-Real Madrid team-mate’s decision.

Earlier, a post on Manchester United’s official Twitter feed said players would observe a minute’s silence before kick-off and wear black armbands in respect of those killed in Paris. I think security was very tight in this game and I am sure for a while now security will be heightened at every major sporting game that goes on.

“He was very respectful to me after the promise to play but I totally understood”.

Money raised from ticket sales for the match, which kicks off at 15:00 GMT, will be donated to children’s charity Unicef.

The former Manchester United and England midfielder added: “Paris has always been one of my favourite cities in the world”. We set out to play seven games in seven continents – I wanted to do it in seven days but it was pushing it!

The match ended 3-1 to the Great Britain & Ireland, and all proceeds from the game will go to charity.

Beckham warmly embraced players from both sides after the full-time whistle and enjoyed the acclaim of Old Trafford as he thanked the supporters and posed for photos with Brooklyn. So too was Beckham on the right wing and Ryan Giggs on the left with Paul Scholes prominent in midfield.

Nobody has ever been able to cross the ball like Beckham and nobody will ever replace Scholes.

Beckham provided cross after super cross for 73 minutes before he was replaced by his son Brooklyn Beckham, adding another touching moment to what was already a wonderful afternoon.

“One of my lasting memories of playing here was winning the Premiership and walking around with Brookyn when he was 18 months old so having him here was a big decision and a decision I was very proud”, he said.

“He is 16 years old now, so more hard to get on my shoulders!”

“Thankfully the manager (Sir Alex Ferguson) thought it was something we should do”.