Manchester United folk legend Dwight Yorke Former West Indies cricket captain and special guest Brian Lara came on as a substitute for longtime friend, Manchester United folk legend Dwight Yorke, in the Red Devil’s 4-1 drubbing of Chelsea FC on Saturday night.
The two T&T retired sports greats, in particular Yorke, had exceptional outings at the British Airways Football Legends Invitational Tournament which took place at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, between Friday and Saturday. The Kensington Oval was part sponsors of the event.
In the final, Yorke lined up along side former striking partner Andrew Cole as well as other former Reds including Jesper Blomqvist, Quinton Fortune, Ronny Johnsen, David May and goalkeeper Kevin Pilkington. May opened the scoring for United, following a cross from Fotune.
Johnsen then doubled the scoring with a left-foot shot past Barbadian goalkeeper Mark Armstrong. Blomqvist, a left sided Swedish midfielder then added a third after scoring from a rebounded penalty which Armsrong got a hand to. Roberto Di Matteo, a Blues midfield legend, eventually replied for Chelsea after several failed attempts.
Blomqvist later netted the final goal for United in a finish which complimented the fine series of passes which preceded. Chelsea were also well represented with a star studded line up which included, Di Matteo, Gustavo Poyet, Frank Leboeuf, Ken Monkou and Gioanfranco Zola. Zola was impressive throughout the tournament and was awarded the Most Valuable Player.
Earlier in the group stages, United was up against Newcastle United where Yorke would meet his fellow countryman Shaka Hislop. Yorke, however, was unforgiving as he netted a hat-trick against the former Soca Warriors goalkeeper in the Magpies goalpost.
Quinton Fortune scored the other two goals for United. In an interview with the Barbados Advocate, one of the island’s leading media houses, Yorke had praise for the organisers and the initiative of the Barbados Tourism Authority, describing the event as “well executed”.
“The organisers have done a great job, and we need to showcase these kinds of guys so the kids can come and see them. They (fans from barbados) haven’t been able to see them at that level in person, so it’s great that they can have the opportunity,” he said.
The invited clubs and teams included, Manchester United, Chelsea FC, Newcastle United, Liverpool FC, Tottenham Hotspur, Blackburn Rovers, a Professional Footballers Association (PFA) team and a Barbados Football Association (BFA) team. Proceeds from the event were forwarded to the National Sports Council’s primary schools football programme in Barbados.