Football: Beckham show at Old Trafford

David Beckham gives Brooklyn a fatherly hug as he is substituted. Photo / AP

Crowds treated to England legends and a doting father — all for a good cause

Never for a moment was the game in doubt. Greater Manchester Police were happy that, despite the attack in Paris on a football game, this one could take place without compromise.

So David Beckham's Match for Children went ahead as advertised at Old Trafford. And an astonishing 75,341 people turned out to support it, in the process delivering a pointed message of defiance and solidarity.

Not everyone could make it. Zinedine Zidane, who was due to captain the Rest of the World side against Beckham's GB and Ireland team, pulled out. So too did Patrick Vieira.

"I understood why Zizou took the decision," said Beckham. "He is a very passionate man, it hit him very hard what happened."

Friendship and philanthropy - two concepts alien to the Paris murderers - were, he added, the aim here. Beckham had played in six games on six continents in the past nine days in a pan-global, fund-raising marathon for Unicef. This was the final leg.

"This was always going to be a special day," he said. "It gave us the chance to shine a light on good causes around the world."

Plus for the crowd, it gave the chance to revel in a burst of glorious nostalgia. On the GB and Ireland team, Beckham had assembled his Class of '92 mates.

The reception for Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville once more stepping out in red on to the Old Trafford pitch was effusive. How keen were those gathered to relish the reminders of the time when, unlike recently, this stadium was renowned for its attacking ambition. And they could not help but demonstrate tribal loyalties by booing Jamie Carragher every time he touched the ball.

But it was Beckham who most excited the crowd. Boy band-style screams accompanied the 40-year-old father of four whenever he went to take a corner. And no wonder: he looked magnificent. Even though he had wisely selected several players for his team still playing in the Premier League (John Terry, Darren Fletcher and Peter Crouch), Beckham looked the fittest, sharpest, most athletic player. He could still propel a ball 36m with unerring accuracy, still wrap his foot round a cross to land it inch perfect in a colleague's stride (or in the case of Phil Neville, not quite maintaining the pace of old, a couple of metres ahead of him).

It was his delicious, curling invitation of a cross that allowed Scholes to leap above Fernando Couto to head home the first goal.

Beckham to Scholes: let the good times roll.

But the game belonged to Beckham, who first gave way to son Brooklyn - giving the lad a paternal kiss as they passed on the touchline - then returned to exchange passes to huge acclaim.

Several million pounds raised for his good cause, broad grins all round and a father-son bonding exercise: as a defiant gesture to those who would destroy civilisation, it was a telling afternoon's work.