‘He’s won everything, he’s a symbol, a legend, a hero’

Alex Ferguson’s retirement has provoked an extraordinary response right across Europe, a wave of emotion almost comparable to the day Seve Ballesteros died, exactly two years earlier.

It’s hard to think of another football manager in history whose departure would have provoked such a unanimous expression of goodwill.

Spanish commentator Marcos Lopez led the way for Marca with an emotional tribute, evoking the spirit of the Busby Babes and describing Alex as the man “who ensured the future of his club originated with its past, doing honour and justice to a lost generation”.