Updated October 29, 2018 08:13:47

The 12 members of a Thai football team who were trapped in a cave in northern Thailand for almost three weeks were guests at Manchester United's 2-1 over Everton in the English Premier League.

It has been three months since the 12 boys and their coach spent 18 days in a cave in northern Thailand after flooding left them trapped inside, with the situation and subsequent rescue mission attracting attention from around the world.

The group met United manager Jose Mourinho at the club's Carrington training ground on Saturday before cheering the Red Devils on to a 2-1 win over the Toffees.

The boys posed for pictures in the dressing rooms with some of the club's most famous players including Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial, Ander Herrera and Ashley Young.

Photo: The Wild Boars players and their coach showed their thanks to the crowd. (AP: Dave Thompson)

But there was a tinge of sadness to the visit to the Premier League match, with the crowd pausing for a minute's silence dedicated to the victims of the helicopter crash at Leicester City's home ground, owned by Wild Boars' compatriot and Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

The Manchester club is one of the most recognisable in the world, and offered to host the boys immediately after learning they had been saved.

The Wild Boars players were invited by world governing body FIFA to attend the World Cup final in Moscow in July, but it was too soon for them to make the trip.

The Old Trafford visit is part of a wider world tour which has seen them meet some other famous faces.

The boys played football at Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires against a River Plate junior team during a visit to Argentina for the Youth Olympic Games.

They also were guests of talk show host Ellen DeGeneres on her television program in Los Angeles, meeting Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

ABC/AP

Topics: soccer, sport, human-interest, disasters-and-accidents, united-kingdom, thailand

First posted October 29, 2018 07:20:08