Roy Keane pulled on a Manchester United shirt for the first time in over 17 years as he took to the field in the final stages of Saturday's Legends match against Liverpool at Anfield.
The Irishman last played for United back in 2005 before his explosive exit. He then joined Celtic but was forced to retire just six months later following medical advice.
Since then, Keane has moved into punditry and has spent more than a few afternoons tearing United's current crop of players to shreds in recent years.
However, Keane revealed earlier this summer that United have repeatedly tried to convince him to dig out his boots and feature in some of the Legends games that the club have participated in during recent years. And those attempts finally came to fruition when he took to the field at Anfield for the final 15 minutes of Liverpool's 2-1 win.
His quarter of an hour cameo may have raised eyebrows amongst some, but the midfield enforcer has already lifted the lid on the "embarrassing" reason that always meant he would be unable to play for a prolonged period if he ever did return to the field.
"I’m not fit. I’m far from fit. My fitness levels are actually very, very embarrassing," Keane told Off The Ball last month. "Just because I’ve not put on loads of weight doesn’t mean to say I’m fit. I wouldn’t really be able to do any running.
"Put it this way, I’ve been invited a number of times over the last few years to play legends games or whatever you want to call it. I’d find it really difficult because I wouldn’t be able to get around. Too many injury problems."
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Unsurprisingly, Keane was not welcomed back to the pitch by the Anfield faithful, who vociferously booed the United favourite when he was introduced in the 76th minute with the scores level at 1-1.
And unfortunately for Keane and Manchester United, his introduction was unable to inspire them to victory. The Red Devils headed into Saturday's match, which was the second leg of the 'Legends of the North' clash, needing to overturn a 3-1 deficit from the first match, which took place at Old Trafford back in May.
And although Dimitar Berbatov did manage to fire United into the lead, second-half goals from Mark Gonzalez and Florent Sinama-Pongolle sealed the win for the Reds and spoiled Keane's big comeback.
All proceeds raised from the fixture will support LFC Foundation's community programmes, as well as Forever Reds, Cash for Kids and IntoUniversity. The previous match back in May raised over £1.3million for the Manchester United Foundation.
