Story added: 21st May 2018

Legends for Norwich City & Inter Milan come together for special afternoon at Carrow Road

Stars from Norwich City and Inter Milan’s past put on a show for a bumper crowd of just under 18,000 at a sun-soaked Carrow Road yesterday.

The game was put on to mark 25 years since Mike Walker’s Canaries made a memorable run in the UEFA Cup, but also to raise funds for the Community Sports Foundation’s Build The Nest campaign.

It was the former manager Walker, back on the Carrow Road touchline for the first time, who led out the host of returning club legends, which included members from the original 1993-94 squad and more recent names.

Their Italian counterparts, wearing the famous blue and black stripes, included four members of the 1993 squad that defeated City, and iconic names in world football including Jurgen Klinsmann, Javier Zanetti and Marco Materazzi.

It would be the latter, the powerful World Cup winning Italian centre-back, who opened the proceedings for the Nerazzurri, beating Bryan Gunn with a nonchalant, but exquisitely placed, free-kick in the 14^th minute.

Gunn, who had been delighting the crowd with his showman antics, made an early exit to a standing ovation – the first of many given by the crowd during the day.

An unfortunate header from ‘93er John Polston into his own net put the visitors up 2-0, but the game became more balanced with the introduction of some of the ‘younger’ City legends, including Darren Huckerby and Grant Holt.

Half-time saw a pitch procession of Foundation volunteers, participants and staff, who formed a large ‘N’ in the middle of the pitch, as a nod to the new hub’s logo.

After the break, a resurgent Norwich City, bolstered by the energy that the new subs gave them, started to make indents on the tiring Inter backline. On the hour, Paul McVeigh duly slotted past Inter goalkeeper Sebastien Frey, after good work from Iwan Roberts and Darren Huckerby, to set up an exciting final twenty minutes.

Despite some glorious chances for City’s iconic (and big) attacking duo of Roberts and Holt, and the woodwork, Andy Marshall and the woodwork again denying Jurgen Klinsmann three times at the other end, there would be no more goals, and the match finished 2-1 to the visitors.

A lap of appreciation from the two teams to the fans followed the final whistle, with many of the 17,969 crowd returning the gesture.

Following the game, Jurgen Klinsmann said: “For me it has been wonderful. Living in California, it’s been wonderful to see my old teammates, some who I hadn’t seen in twenty-five years, but we did this because there was a great cause behind it, the Community Sports Foundation.”

“Events like this are about community and bringing people together. The main part of a football club in every town it its community. It’s been special. Hopefully we’ve raised a lot of money for the Community Sports Foundation.”

Former City manager Mike Walker said: “It was a tremendous crowd, I couldn’t believe it. The atmosphere was great for a charity game.”

“The main thing was for the charitable good it did and I’ve seen it [The Nest], it’s going to be a fantastic place….I’m grateful to the people who turned up today to contribute towards it.”

The Foundation would like to thank all the fans, players, and sponsors – including Aviva, LeoVegas, Bidstack, BBA Digital Media and Chaplin Farrant – as well as Radius Sports Marketing – and everyone at Norwich City Football Club for their tremendous support.

To donate to The Nest campaign, click here. 

Match recap

Norwich City Legends 1 -2 Inter Forever

GOAL ’14 Inter – Marco Materazzi (’15)

GOAL ’23 Inter – John Polston OG (’24)

GOAL ‘ 63 NCFC – Paul McVeigh (’64)

Attendance: 17,969 | Carrow Road | Sunday 20^th May 2018

Match officials: Dermot Gallagher, Darren Cann, John Busby, David ‘Spud’ Thornhill

Norwich City Legends: Bryan Gunn, Daryl Sutch, Mark Bowen, Adam Drury, John Polston, Rob Newman (C), Phil Mulryne, Darren Eadie, Spencer Prior, Lee Power, Rob Ullathorne, Scott Howie, Andy Marshall, Darren Kenton, Darren Huckerby, Efan Ekoku, Gary Holt, Iwan Roberts, Grant Holt, Youssef Safri, Paul McVeigh. Manager – Mike Walker, Assistant Manager – Ian Culverhouse

Inter Forever: Francesco Toldo, Javier Zanetti (C), Alessandro Bianchi, Nicola Berti, Houssine Kharja, Marco Materazzi, Mikael Silvestre, Ousmane Dabo, David Suazo, Francesco Colonnese, Massimo Paganin, Sebastien Frey, Jurgen Klinsmann, Giuseppe Baresi, Giorgos Karagounis

Manager: Riccardo Ferri

Man of the match: Darren Huckerby