The plane carrying Manchester United players and staff to Cologne was forced to abort landing before touching down safely on Tuesday night.

The Premier League champions were flying out to Germany ahead of their Champions League tie with Bayer Leverkusen, but there were some nervy moments on board when their chartered aircraft pulled up just 400m above ground level.

Another plane was on the runway, so the pilot of United's 185-seater Monarch Airbus 321 had to circle the airport before landing 10 minutes late at 5.40pm.

A source at the club told the Manchester Evening News: "It was quite frightening. We were coming in to land when we had to pull up suddenly, because it appears there was a plane on the runway.

"The captain came on the intercom to apologise for what happened and then we landed safely."

Eight Red Devils players were among the 23 people to lose their lives in the Munich air disaster of 1958. A survivor of the tragedy, Bill Foulkes, died this week at the age of 81.