Manchester City will put sporting rivalry aside to mark the 1958 Munich air disaster, which killed 23 people, including eight Manchester United players, with a wreath-laying ceremony today.

The players, officials and journalists, among them former City and England goalkeeper Frank Swift who was travelling with the team as a reporter, died on February 6, 1958, when the plane crashed on a cold and snowy day in Munich. "It's refreshing, we appreciate that from Manchester City," Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson said. "And of course one of their own players was killed in the crash, their former players anyway."