Reactions on Wednesday's announcement by Premier League champions Manchester United that manager Alex Ferguson will retire at the end of the season:

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson's time at Manchester United has produced some memorable quotes. Following is a selection of some of them:

One of Britain's best known football managers, Sir Alex Ferguson, is set to retire as Manchester United boss after 27 years at the helm of the team.

Juan Mata's deflected shot gave Chelsea a 1-0 victory over Manchester United which moved the third-placed Blues closer to the Champions League qualification.

Lionel Messi came off the bench to move Barcelona to within two points of clinching the La Liga title with a 4-2 win over Real Betis at Camp Nou. Dorlan Pabon and Ruben Perez had twice given the visitors the lead in the first-half either side of Alexis Sanchez's equaliser on Sunday.

Real Madrid forced Barcelona to delay their title celebrations as two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo helped them to a 4-3 win over Valladolid at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Barcelona would like to forget the horrendous Champions League semifinal against Bayern Munich and would want to crown themselves the La Liga champions for the 22nd time this weekend.

Chelsea outscored Basel 5-2 at Stamford Bridge to enter the Europa League final in Amsterdam where they will face Benfica.

Bayern Munich cruised into their third Champions League final in four years as a 3-0 win over Barcelona at the Camp Nou gave them an incredible 7-0 aggregate semi-final victory.

Borussia Dortmund qualified for their second ever Champions League final, beating Real Madrid 4-3 on aggregate despite losing the second leg of their semi-final 2-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu.