Sir Alex Ferguson will get the chance to see close up the skills of Ronaldinho when the Barcelona forward lines up for a Europe XI against Manchester United this evening, four years after the Brazil international almost signed at Old Trafford.

Ronaldinho is one of three Brazilians chosen for the commemorative game to mark the 50th anniversary of United’s first foray into European competition and of the European Union itself.

Marcello Lippi, acting as coach for the Europe team, interpreted his brief as ranging wider than the 27 nations of the EU and added Ronaldo and Juninho Pernambucano, the Brazilians, to his squad.

The World Cup-winning coach revealed yesterday that Zinédine Zidane has been invited for what would have been the chance of an on-pitch reconciliation with Marco Materazzi, of Inter Milan, after the Frenchman’s infamous head-butt during extra time in the World Cup final.

But Zidane, who was sent off for his response to Materazzi’s verbal taunts, turned down the invitation, Lippi revealed as he unveiled his team yesterday. “The answer arrived and it was a negative answer,” Lippi said. “I had him at Juventus for four years and he is extraordinarily skilful from a technical point of view and his human quality is extraordinary, too. So I was not at all influenced by this particular gesture in the final.”

Many of the tickets for the 72,000 sell-out game were undoubtedly sold on the back of the prospect of David Beckham’s return to Old Trafford for the first time as captain of the Europe XI. He will attend despite his withdrawal through injury and his role will be taken by Henrik Larsson, who will line up against his colleagues days after leaving the club.

Lippi has lined up a strong team who he said had all volunteered to play for free because profits were going to the Manchester United Foundation charity. The squad includes Materazzi, Fabio Grosso and Gianluca Zambrotta from Italy as well as Carles Puyol, the Barcelona defender, Oliver Kahn, the Bayern Munich goalkeeper, and Steven Ger-rard, the Liverpool midfield player.

With AS Roma lying between United and a place in the Champions League semi-finals, Ferguson will doubtless be keen to see Alessandro Mancini, the Italian club’s forward, given a run out by Lippi.

Sir Bobby Charlton said that he was certain that Ferguson would put out a strong team. “All I would say about Sir Alex is that, if he sends a team out, he will send a team out to win,” he said. “It will be a strong Manchester United team.

“I would not dare question whether it was strong enough by approaching Sir Alex Ferguson and asking him because I would probably be banned from the club.

“The history of Manchester United is tied up with that of Europe. Some of the club’s greatest moments have been played out on a European stage.”

At the press conference, Michel Platini, the Uefa president, said that he would be meeting European police officials on March 24 to help to combat violence in the sport. “Uefa cannot legislate on the problems of internal security in each country,” he said.

Platini has put forward the idea of an international police force for sport, as exists for financial crime or internet crime. José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said that it was beyond the powers of the EU to direct member states on how to respond to the problem.

Line-ups

Manchester United (possible; 4-4-2): T Kuszczak — G Neville, W Brown, G Heinze, K Richardson — C Eagles, J O’Shea, M Carrick, Park Ji Sung — Dong Fangzhou, A Smith.

Europe XI squad: O Kahn (Bayern Munich), G Coupet (Lyons), I Casillas (Real Madrid), P Maldini (AC Milan), J Carragher (Liverpool), E Abidal (AS Roma), L Thuram (Barcelona), C Puyol (Barcelona), M Materazzi (Inter Milan), F Grosso (Inter Milan), G Zambrotta (Barcelona), S Gerrard (Liverpool), Juninho (Lyons), F Malouda (Lyons), L Miguel (Valencia), R Gattuso (AC Milan), A Pirlo (AC Milan), Ronaldinho (Barcelona), Ronaldo (AC Milan), A Mancini (AS Roma), Z Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan), H Larsson (Helsingborg).

Television: Live on BBC Three from 7.30pm (8pm).