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Manchester United have suffered a fresh security alert after youths broke into Old Trafford on the eve of Michael Carrick's testimonial.

The group of teenagers evaded stadium security and scaled Old Trafford, entering the world famous stadium via the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand.

The 16-18-year-olds risked their lives walking around the perimeter of the Old Trafford roof and dangling their feet over the edge, before running over the pitch.

The group, devotees of Parkour, the urban free-running discipline, even sat in the dug-out, which was later occupied by Carrick, former United boss Sir Alex Ferguson and a host of star names for the 70,000 sell-out testimonial.

The youths, who posted a video of their exploits on YouTube, were eventually chased away from Old Trafford by security in the early hours of June 4, just hours before Carrick's star-studded testimonial, which drew a net capacity crowd.

(Image: Rikke Brewer/Youtube) (Image: Rikke Brewer/Youtube)

The episode is the latest security embarrassment for United, after two foregoing students, who had been on a stadium tour, managed to sleep overnight at Old Trafford in a bid to watch a game against Arsenal the following day, but were foiled when they were discovered by security staff.

And on the final day of the 2015-16 season, United's game against Bournemouth was abandoned following a bomb scare, although it later emerged the device found in a toilet cubicle at Old Trafford was a dummy device left behind following a security training exercise.

United confirmed the latest episode in a statement today which read: "In the early hours of last Sunday morning, stadium security chased 4 urban climbers off the premises at Old Trafford after they had gained access to the stadium illegally, by scaling the outer works area of the stadium and gaining access to the roof. Such efforts appear to be motivated by a trend for similar actions on social media and followed a successful attempt to climb to the roof of a city centre hotel earlier that day.

"Their stupid and irresponsible actions, especially at such a sensitive time, put last Sunday's game at risk and occupied both club staff and, more importantly, police officers in hours of work to make sure that the stadium was safe to stage the match.

(Image: Rikke Brewer/Youtube) (Image: Rikke Brewer/Youtube) (Image: Rikke Brewer/Youtube)

"The response of the police was outstanding. With over 130,000 people coming into the Old Trafford area on Sunday, the last thing they needed was to have their time wasted in this way. But as ever, they conducted a thorough search of the stadium to confirm it was safe to hold the match.

The security of fans attending games at Old Trafford is our highest priority and we work constantly with all local authorities and security contractors and advisors to keep all security measures, systems and protocols under constant review. The fact that the necessary checks were carried out in time for the game to go ahead is testament to those close relationships."