Legends

Yesterday's "Corazón Classic Match" celebrated it's sixth consecutive year with Real Madrid Leyendas beating Ian Rush's Liverpool Leyends 4-2.

Only some shocking refereeing marred a fantastic occasion in the Spanish capital. The event, organised by the Real Madrid Foundation, brought some of world football's most iconic figures to an almost packed out Santiago Bernabéu.

Liverpool's 2-0 (Kewell, Owen) lead was shortly ended by two dubious Roberto Carlos penalties. The home side then went on to win 4-2 through Jose Emilio Amavisca's second half strike, followed by Iván Pérez's short range effort which was clearly offside. Sander Westerveld told me in his post match interview, "Their fourth goal was so offside, I didn't even bother diving for it".

However, as many players said after the game, yesterday's match was solely about the occasion, meeting up with old team mates and more significantly helping to raise money for social schemes that the Red Cross are involved in. The foundation informed me that "The money will be primary spent on providing over 20,000 disadvantaged children with school materials such as rucksacks and sportswear"

Given the amount of money floating around in modern football, it is pleasing to see clubs starting to collabrate with each other by staging such events in order to help out struggling local communities. Due to the popularity of our sport any football related venture is guaranteed to be a success. It has the power to attract high attendances which consequently raises more money. 

Without a doubt, Liverpool FC and Real Madrid are two of Europe's footballing giants, sharing an incredible fifteen European Cups and a staggering fifty league titles. Therefore, it is understandable why nearly 70,000 fans turned out to watch these two legendary teams.

Moreover, not only is a considerable amount of money raised but also due to the fact that ticket prices were nearly ten times cheaper than normal, thousands of families were given the opportunity to attend a football game at a top venue, without having to break the bank in the process.

I strongly believe that more clubs should follow Real Madrid's example and participate in these special occasions. As an avid Liverpool fan myself, it was a rare but fantastic opportunity to see former players get together from various past Liverpool teams in order to raise money for Charity. 

Not just the fans would have enjoyed the event. For the players themselves it would have been a memorable experience. Many of the Liverpool lads during their professional playing careers missed out on playing at one of world football's most iconic arenas. Therefore, to be then presented with the opportunity to have a run out, years down the line, at the Santiago Bernabéu, for the likes of Rob Jones and Jason McAteer, is a great achievement in itself.

I'm very much looking foward to the return leg at Anfield and hopefully as Jamie Carragher told me after the game, "we will be bringing our own referee!"

As always thanks for Reading.

@anfieldeurope