Sir Alex Ferguson has invited Chile's 33 rescued miners to a game at Old Trafford. The boss met with Chile president Sebastian Pinera at a Vina Concha y Toro promotion in London. During the event, Pinera compared the situation the miners faced to the Munich Air Disaster...

Sir Alex said he was honoured to invite the 33 Chilean miners to Old Trafford, echoing Sir Bobby Charlton's invitation last week. The 33 were trapped in a mine shaft in Copiapo, Chile for 69 days after the cave collapsed. All were rescued in a major operation last Wednesday, watched by over a billion people worldwide.

Speaking in London today, Sir Alex said: "The courage, bravery and resilience of the miners and the rescue teams was inspirational. It is a privilege to be able to extend an invitation to Old Trafford."

Chile's relatively new president, Sebastian Pinera, compared the miner's first situation - trapped for 17 days without communication with the surface, facing death - to the 1958 Munich Air Disaster, where 20 of the 44 people on board the plane died - 8 of those being Manchester United players.