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Denis Law funeral: Man United greats pay respects to 'The King'

Manchester United players and managers past and present turned out to pay their respects to club legend Denis Law, who was laid to rest on Tuesday.

United captain Bruno Fernandes, centre-back Harry Maguire, and manager Ruben Amorim joined former manager Sir Alex Ferguson and ex-players including Ruud van Nistelrooy, Gary Neville and Peter Schmeichel for the service at Manchester Cathedral for the player known as "The King."

Law, one of the club's greatest ever players who made 404 appearances over 11 years, passed away aged 84 last month.

Prior to the funeral, the cortege started at United's Old Trafford stadium beforehand and thousands of fans paid their respects.

To a backdrop of applause, the procession went around the stadium and stopped briefly at the Trinity Statue that commemorates Law, Sir Bobby Charlton and George Best, the three-pronged strike force which led United to English league titles in 1965 and 1967 and the European Cup in 1968 -- a first for an English club. The lead car in the cortege had a Scottish flag in its rear window.

"What a man. What a player first and foremost for this city. But what a person, what a human being he was," Schmeichel, United's goalkeeper from 1991-99, told Sky Sports.

"I was fortunate to work quite a lot with him, and he was just a fantastic man. He was one of those players who drew my attention to Manchester United, so I grew up with him as an icon and the other two [Best and Charlton] as well."

Law's coffin was carried into the cathedral to a piper playing "Flower of Scotland."

"His humility and empathy toward people was superb," Brian Kidd, a United forward from 1967-74, said. "You would never believe he was such a superstar, so down to earth, just such a lovely, lovely person."

Law started his career with spells at Huddersfield Town, Manchester City and Torino but it is at United where he made his name, scoring 237 goals in all competitions. The tally leaves him third all-time for the club, behind Charlton (245) and Wayne Rooney (253).

He was capped 55 times for Scotland and his 30 goals for his country is matched only by Kenny Dalglish. Law is also the only ever Scottish player to win the Ballon d'Or, claiming the award in 1964.

He left United in 1973 before one final season at Manchester rivals City.

After football, he regularly worked in radio and television and he had been living with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia for more than three years when he died.

Information from Reuters and The Associated Press was used in this report.