Michael Carrick enjoys fitting testimonial on day where victims in both London and Manchester were remembered

There is always defiance in a crowd and never more so than when crowds are the principal targets of the man with the bomb, or the knife or behind the wheel of a van

Michael Carrick enjoyed a fitting testimonial after 11 years at Manchester United (Getty)

There was a late change to the schedule for Michael Carrick’s testimonial. They had to include more people to remember in the minute’s silence.

Carrick had invited the families of the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing and 300 members of the emergency services that had fought so long to save lives on that Monday night to Old Trafford. Now, they also paid tribute to those killed or wounded on London Bridge and at Borough Market.

There is always defiance in a crowd and never more so than when crowds are the principal targets of the man with the bomb, or the knife or behind the wheel of a van. The square mile that includes the Old Trafford football and cricket grounds attracted 130,000 for Carrick’s testimonial and the One Love concert, headlined by Ariana Grande. Both would be broadcast live on terrestrial television.

Carrick assembled a star-studded cast for his special day (Getty)

In November 2015, the day after the murderous attacks in Paris that had begun at the Stade de France and climaxed at the Bataclan concert hall, Old Trafford had staged another charity match, organised by David Beckham on behalf of Unicef.

Beckham had lived briefly in Paris during his spell with PSG and spoke movingly about what the city had meant to him. It was the day they introduced random car searches in the Old Trafford car parks with motorists required to open their boots and submit to having mirrors examine the underside of their vehicle. Manchester United, an obvious target because of the sheer fame of the club and its American ownership, became the first to appoint an anti-terrorism officer.

He marked it with a stunning goal (Getty)

Now there were armed police around the stadium, just as there have been at the Trafford Centre, the biggest shopping mall in the north west, since the Manchester bombing. One posed with his machine gun with a young fan. No bags of any description were being allowed into the stands.

As Carrick walked out on to the pitch, he was greeted by a table on which was every trophy he had won as a footballer – the European Cup, the Uefa Cup, the Premier League, the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Community Shield. From Peter Beardsley to Steve Bruce and Alan Shearer, the Wallsend Boys Club, on the north bank of the Tyne, has produced many great footballers but none who has achieved that much.

Carrick was watched by more than 70,000 at Old Trafford (Getty)

Alan Keegan, the Old Trafford stadium announcer, described Carrick entirely accurately as: “A true Manchester United player who represents passion, dedication and commitment”. It was typical of his innate modesty that Carrick’s first thoughts on accepting the testimonial was a shudder of anxiety that ‘nobody would turn up’.

More than 70,000 did turn up and saw a highly-entertaining game between Manchester United’s 2008 European Cup winning side and a team of highly-skilled if mostly-retired footballers trading under the banner of ‘Michael Carrick All-Stars’. Two of them, John Terry and Jamie Carragher, were greeted with pantomime boos every time they touched the ball.

Sir Alex did the honours for the home side (Getty)

Given the age of most of the players it was played at the kind of pace associated with the Louis van Gaal years at Old Trafford. It finished in a 2-2 draw that saw Carrick score the equaliser for the 2008 team.

It was not the finest goal he had scored at the stadium – that would have been the thunderous drive that triggered the 7-1 rout of Roma in the 2007 Champions League quarter-finals – but, delivered from the edge of the area, it was still special.

Carrick enjoyed his well-earned moment (Getty)

The cast-list was well-chosen. It would be a toss-up between the 2008 European Cup winning team and the one that won the Double in 1994 to find Sir Alex Ferguson’s favourite Manchester United side.

There was one notable absentee. Cristiano Ronaldo, who had scored United’s goal in the final against Chelsea in Moscow, was celebrating another European Cup with Real Madrid. In that 2008 final in the Luzhniki Stadium, Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney would have been equals in fame and ability. Nine years on, Ronaldo, a few months Rooney’s senior, was still on top of the world but at Old Trafford everyone wondered if they would see Rooney’s final goal in the red shirt of Manchester United. There was plenty of effort but nothing in the net.