UEFA assembled stacked Europe XI to face Man Utd in one-off match and Steven Gerrard could only make the bench

Manchester United once went up against a stacked Europe XI built by European football's governing body, UEFA.

The mouth-watering clash was held at United's home ground, Old Trafford, back in March 2007.

Sir Alex Ferguson was, of course, in the dugout as United's manager, with the visitors being led by former Juventus, Inter Milan and Italy boss Marcello Lippi, who won the 2006 World Cup.

The match was made to mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome - the treaty which brought about the creation European Communities and laid foundations for the subsequent creation of the European Union.

Meanwhile, the Red Devils were selected to take part as they were celebrating their 50th anniversary of playing in UEFA competitions.

Prior to the match, it was rumoured that the likes of Ronaldinho, Paolo Maldini, Iker Casillas, Ronaldo and Carles Puyol all confirmed their participation.

David Beckham was asked to play against his former side, and France legend Zinedine Zidane was also invited, but he declined, allegedly because he did not want to play on the same team as fellow invitee Marco Materazzi, the Italy centre-back whom he had headbutted in the 2006 World Cup final.

However, on the day of the match, a number of players were forced to withdraw, including all of the aforementioned stars.

The Europe XI was still packed with star names, including Andrea Pirlo, Gianluca Zambrotta and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, while Henrik Larsson played up front - one day after his loan spell with United had ended. Liverpool duo Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard were also involved.

But the Liverpool captain only started on the bench.

Ferguson's side, meanwhile, had injury issues of their own, but were still able to field a strong outfit, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs all starting.

Inside the first 10 minutes, United went 2-0 up thanks to goals from Rooney and Wes Brown.

Some big names were involved in the match. Image: Getty

Then-Chelsea winger Florent Malouda then halved the deficit, before a stunning Ronaldo free-kick and a second goal from Rooney made it 4-1 to United at half time.

A brace from El Hadji Diouf - who was called up on the day of the game - meant the scoreline ended 4-3, with Ferguson praising the spectacle after the match.

Despite not playing the match due to injury, Beckham did attend and spoke to the crowd, he said: "The time I spent at this club was the best time in my whole football career.

"I've waited four years to actually come back and to actually say thank you to the fans and the people of the club. I think I wouldn't have got through many things without the people in this stadium. Everyone knows here that you've got the best manager in the world at this club."

The match was the first fundraising event for the newly-created Manchester United Foundation, and it raised over £1.25 million.