Gerard Pique this week agreed to join former club Barcelona, but before he left he asked ManUtd.com to publish a letter of thanks to the club, staff and fans…

I didn’t want to say goodbye without thanking all the club personnel, including the football equipment manager, masseuses, secretaries, coaches, and especially my team mates, who have always treated me well and played a vital role in my development, both as a football player and more importantly, on a personal level.

Obviously I would have liked to play more this season, but I must say that despite some difficult decisions, the manager has always treated me in an exceptional manner, for which I am extremely grateful.

I am leaving with some very special memories: scoring a Champions League goal at Old Trafford, beating Arsenal in April on the way to winning the title and, most of all, the experience of being part of this fantastic group that won the Premier League and Champions League Double.

Finally, a special thanks to the fans for their warmth and support. I would like them to know that I will always carry United in my heart and I hope that they understand my decision to go back to my home club, FC Barcelona.

Thank you all and I hope to see you in the Champions League final next season.

How did it feel to win the European Cup? In his autobiography, Sir Bobby Charlton summed up his emotions after scoring his second, and United’s fourth, against Benfica…

It was triumph and deliverance all wrapped into one, but the deepest emotion would take a little time to well up. For the moment we had enough to do in getting to the finish. The contest was over, but we still had to play out the time. We still had to drag our bodies around and forget how much had been drained from us this night.

When the final whistle went my strongest sensation was worry for the Old Man. He really was, I felt, an old man. He had been through so much, and this was unquestionably the pinnacle of his football life.

For days he had been reminded of the meaning of the game, the legacy of Munich and how his boys had died in pursuit of this trophy. So many people believed that this night was for him and about him, and it was natural, I suppose, that everyone wanted to touch him at the end of the game.

When I got through to the Old Man, a great crowd of people, including some supporters, were holding on to him. Even though I was so tired, I started to drag them off. “Get off, give him some room!” I yelled.

Later I thought that was maybe a bit rude because the fans only wanted to express their happiness, but I was concerned at how he was being buffeted around. Eventually he got to his players and hugged them.

To be perfectly honest, I cannot tell you precisely my feelings at that moment. Fatigue, certainly. I do recall what it meant to embrace team-mates like Bill Foulkes, Nobby Stiles and Shay Brennan, who had been involved for so long – and maybe especially Bill because, like me, he had been on the snowy airfield and seen Matt Busby down and his team, our friends, destroyed.

I know there was an understanding that something was over, something that dominated our lives for so long. I walked to the dressing room and drank two bottles of beer, downing them in a rush, one after the other.

Sir Bobby Charlton’s autobiography, My Manchester United Years, is on sale now through Headline Publishing. 

On 29 May, 1968, Manchester United tasted European glory for the first time with victory at Wembley over Portuguese side Benfica. With scores locked at 1-1 after 90 minutes, the match moved into extra-time, where the Reds scored three goals to triumph on a hot, humid night.

Here, four Reds share their memories of Matt Busby’s finest hour:

Zyg Baranski, 17 (at the time)
My abiding memories are the heat, being parched, how quickly the match passed, Bobby Charlton’s headed goal – we knew we’d win if Bobby was scoring with his head – and Alex Stepney’s save from Eusebio.

I sat my ‘O’ level General Studies exam the morning of the match before rushing into town to meet my mates in a pub. We boarded a special train down to Wembley and were half-drunk on a mixture of alcohol and excitement.

We knew we’d won it quite early in extra-time, so there was tremendous jubilation and a release of emotion. Everyone sang and shouted. Everyone was in ecstasy, with beatific looks. There was something religious about it. A guy next to me was actually praying and thanking the “God of his fathers” for the victory.

Afterwards I was so deflated as I went looking for the trains back to Manchester. Yes we’d won, but like the players we’d given everything and had little left. The journey back home was almost silent, though as we fell out onto the railway platform at Piccadilly the whole train burst into one last song.

It’s up there with my very best United memories – maybe more so because it was my first trip to Wembley, which was a real football Mecca in those days.

Michael Webster, 16
Five of us, all 16, travelled in a car with our youth-club leader. I’d queued all night for tickets outside the Scoreboard End weeks earlier. Queuing was a waste of time though, because people rushed the ticket office when it opened!

You needed 40 out of 42 programme tokens for a ticket. My standing ticket in block B19 cost 10 shillings [50p]. I guarded it safely until the big day – and I still have it.

We all wore white butchers coats, with our scarves tied around our wrists. We stopped at nearly every service station to soak up the atmosphere. There must have been 70,000 Reds, far more than for a usual Cup final.

Johnny Aston was the media and fans’ scapegoat, but he was Man of the Match for many. It’s funny what you remember most vividly, like going in the Green Man pub by Wembley after the game. Beer was being passed from the bar – I’m not sure whether someone was buying it or stealing it, but we drank plenty!

You could buy the papers with match reports and photos at the service stations and Reds were snapping them up. We got back at 8am and walked past our headmaster’s house. He saw us wearing red and white and said: “I hope you’re going to school.” We told him we’d just got home and he replied, smiling: “Okay lads, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Keith Udale, 17
I was swept up in a sea of emotion… with a throbbing finger! I was an apprentice at Simon Engineering in Stockport and the only way we could get off work was to be ill – anyone leaving early was threatened with dismissal – so I had to get one of my mates to crack my finger with a hammer! He did such a good job I needed a skin graft when I got back.

Despite that, I wasn’t nervous – I always had the feeling we would win. Four of us drove down. The others had been waiting for me since 12.30; just after 1pm the nurse said I should go home – no chance! All the way down there were cars with scarves out of the windows.

We parked at Watford and took the tube in, packed in like sardines – it must have been 95 per cent United fans. George Best was at his best, Benfica just couldn’t live with the magic. My other memories are of Brian Kidd, jumping for joy scoring on his birthday in the European Cup final; Stepney’s save from Eusebio that kept us in the game; and Sir Matt hugging Bestie and Charlton at the end – fitting for a great manager and a true gentleman.

David Hall, 21
I didn’t have a ticket because I was just short of the number of tokens. But one of my friends, Dan O’Donoghue, was doing his finals at Sheffield University and had an exam the next morning so he gave me his ticket.

The day before the match I went down to George Best’s boutique. George was there with Paddy Crerand and we talked about the match. Everyone thought United would win. There was no talk about the Babes or the 10th anniversary of Munich – George and Paddy were just looking forward to playing in a European Cup final.

I went down to Wembley with Dan’s younger brother, Hughie, on one of the special trains that left London Road station at about 12pm. The whole station was taken over by United supporters. There were special trains leaving at five-minute intervals. Each had a colour – ours was purple, I think.

It was the first time I’d been to Wembley and we got in early. We were just above the tunnel. One of the things still imprinted on my memory 40 years on is United’s first goal scored at the United end. The ball came across and I can still see Bobby Charlton in his blue shirt rising above everybody to head it in.

The other thing I can still see is that heart-stopping moment towards the end of normal time when, at 1-1, Eusebio was through with only Stepney to beat. It looked as though he had to score but he blasted it straight at Stepney, who’d come out to the edge of the box. That was a real turning point.

Extra-time was all a bit of a blur with the three goals coming in such a short time; then the final whistle, Bobby Charlton and Matt Busby running straight towards each other, and Charlton holding that huge Cup aloft in front of the Royal Box.

After the match we had to queue for ages at Wembley Central, but nobody cared. We got back about 5am and the newspaper sellers were all there with the first editions. I bought every paper I could and read the match reports on the bus back to Newall Green where I lived.