milan coach leonardo lined up against gary neville in a 1995 friendly international at wembley, coming on as a substitute in brazil's 3-1 victory. he later faced both neville and scholes in a 1997 friendly in paris that brazil won 1-0.
beckham had a 12-year association with united, signing as a schoolboy in 1991 and making his debut in 1995. he went on to make 394 appearances in all competitions, scoring 86 goals, before leaving for real madrid in 2003.
during his time at old trafford, beckham collected six premier league winners' medals and together with ryan giggs and neville, was part of the team that won the uefa champions league final in 1999.
beckham scored his last goal at old trafford in a 4-1 league win against charlton athletic on 3 may 2003. the previous month he had registered his final uefa champions league goals in a united shirt when scoring twice in the 4-3 quarter-final home victory against madrid.
beckham and michael owen played together at madrid in 2004/05.
inzaghi played with edwin van der sar at juventus between 1999 and 2001.
inzaghi scored an 84th-minute winner for juventus when they defeated united 1-0 in turin in the uefa champions league group stage in december 1997. he also found the net twice against united in a 3-2 home loss for the bianconeri in the 1999 semi-finals.
thiago silva was in brazil's lineup for a 1-0 win against an england side including wes brown, ben foster and rooney in a friendly in qatar last november.
when ronaldinho scored brazil's winner against england in the 2002 fifa world cup quarter-finals, rio ferdinand, scholes and owen all featured on the losing side along with beckham.
ronaldinho and anderson both started their careers with brazilian club grêmio fbpa.
mathieu flamini played in the premier league for arsenal fc from 2004 to 2008, finishing on the winning side against united only twice in eight meetings.
zambrotta was in the fc barcelona side beaten by united in the 2007/08 uefa champions league semi-finals – indeed it was his misplaced pass that led to scholes scoring the only goal of the tie at old trafford.
flavio roma was a colleague of patrice evra in the as monaco fc team that lost the uefa champions league final to fc porto in 2004.
evra played in italy for lower-division clubs marsala calcio and monza calcio.
ji-sung park scored for psv eindhoven against milan in the 2005 uefa champions league semi-final, albeit in a losing cause.
slick united make light work of milan published: wednesday 10 march 2010, 22.30cet
wayne rooney was again milan's undoing, scoring at the start of each half as united advanced to the quarter-finals.
manchester united fc marched into the last eight of the uefa champions league in emphatic fashion with a 4-0 victory against ac milan.
leading 3-2 after the first leg, sir alex ferguson's side tightened their grip on the tie with wayne rooney's 13th-minute header before extinguishing milan's hopes altogether after the restart. rooney again and then park ji-sung and darren fletcher rounded off a 7-2 aggregate triumph.
the rossonero had beaten united in the clubs' four previous two-legged european contests, most recently in 2007 when they overturned a 3-2 first-leg deficit with a handsome 3-0 win at san siro. yet a similar comeback at old trafford always looked a mountainous task and so it proved, milan having no answer to the pace, power and purpose of the home side.
sir alex had called for "an early goal" in his programme notes and his players wasted no time looking for one. rooney and nani both threatened with low shots though it was not all one-way traffic in a lively opening period. klaas jan huntelaar's first touch to let him down after thiago silva's long pass freed him in front of goal but ultimately the first half was a tale of two headers – one scored, the other missed.
first ronaldinho skimmed the post after nani unwittingly flicked a pirlo free-kick into his path. five minutes later, rooney was less profligate as he nodded gary neville's pinpoint cross inside the far corner. that was his seventh successive header, including a first-leg double at san siro, marking a remarkable sequence from a player who, prior to 2010, had scored only four with his head in his entire club career.
with their early goal united could sit back and absorb milan's pressure, which they did effectively, the visitors struggling to penetrate a back line featuring rio ferdinand and nemanja vidić together for the first time in the uefa champions league since october. though milan had the greater first-half possession united looked just as likely to score. edwin van der sar needed two takes to smother an andrea pirlo shot but darren fletcher was even closer with a shot that missed by a whisker just before the break.
leonardo sent on clarence seedorf at the start of the second half but within 60 seconds, united had their second. nani's fine pass with the outside of his right foot sent rooney clear and he beat the advancing christian abbiati with the confidence you would expect from a man netting his 30th united goal this season. united made it three on 59 minutes, paul scholes's pass picking out park in space on the right and the winger arrowed a low finish into the far corner.
there were chances for milan – huntelaar had missed a free header before park's goal, while mathieu flamini and david beckham, another substitute, forced saves from van der sar. the huge cheer that greeted beckham's arrival showed old trafford was in party mood, and fletcher's late header from rafael's cross was the icing on the cake as milan slumped to a record-equalling uefa champions league defeat. for united, a fourth consecutive quarter-final beckons.
yardımcı hakemler: matthias arnet (sui), francesco buragina (sui)
4. hakem: carlo bertolini (sui)
man. united: edwin van der sar (gk), gary neville (c) (dk. 66 dimitar berbatov), patrice evra, rio ferdinand, wayne rooney (dk. 66 rafael), park ji-sung, nemanja vidić, nani, paul scholes (dk. 73 darron gibson), darren fletcher, antonio valencia
yedekler: tomasz kuszczak (gk), jonny evans, gabriel obertan, mame diouf
teknik direktör: sir alex ferguson (sco)
milan: christian abbiati (gk), klaas-jan huntelaar, mathieu flamini, marek jankulovski, ignazio abate (dk. 64 david beckham), andrea pirlo, marco borriello (dk. 69 filippo inzaghi), massimo ambrosini (c), daniele bonera (dk. 46 clarence seedorf), thiago silva, ronaldinho
yedekler: dida (gk), gennaro gattuso, gianluca zambrotta, giuseppe favalli
teknik direktör: leonardo (bra)
goller: 1-0 wayne rooney dk. 13 2-0 wayne rooney dk. 46 3-0 park ji-sung dk. 59 4-0 darren fletcher dk. 88
sarı kartlar: dk. 68 paul scholes (man. united) dk. 71 ronaldinho, dk. 85 mathieu flamini (milan)
