Sir Alex Ferguson: "We were beaten, there is no other way to address the situation, by the best team. I expected us to do better but at the end of the day we were beaten by the better team. They are the best team we have ever played, they are at the peak in this cycle of their team.
"There was good evidence we are a consistently good European team but we were beaten by the best team in Europe and there is no shame in that. Sometimes you come up against a far better team and tonight was one of those nights.
"We expected to do better, simple as that. We have had a great season in many ways, it is just disappointing that we have been to Wembley twice and been beaten. We are just disappointed it has ended on this note.
"Barcelona mesmerise you with their passing. We never controlled Messi but many teams over the last couple of season could say that. Barcelona are the best team we have ever faced - no-one has ever given us a hiding like that. Our challenge now is to get better and better. Next season we may improve even more."
