THE SUN: Alex Ferguson lit the fuse for Tuesday's Real Madrid epic by insisting: We will not fall for your dirty tricks.

DAILY MIRROR: Sir Alex Ferguson has hatched a plan to make Steve McClaren his successor at Old Trafford.

DAILY MAIL: Sir Alex Ferguson warned Real Madrid that his Manchester United players will not be put off by dirty tricks when the teams meet in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final in Spain tonight.

DAILY EXPRESS: Sir Alex Ferguson accused Real Madrid of a dirty tricks campaign as his Manchester United team prepared for their Champions League moment of truth.

DAILY STAR: Read Madrid chief Jorge Valdano launched an astonishing attack on Sir Alex Ferguson claiming: You've cracked.

THE TIMES: Ian Botham, the great all-rounder who left Somerset when Viv Richards and Joel Garner were dismissed in 1986, is to return to the club in an unpaid, part-time advisory capacity.

THE INDEPENDENT: "Hooligan Ferguson" was the headline greeting Manchester United and their manager when they arrived in Madrid.

THE GUARDIAN: On of the front-pages in Madrid read "Hooligan Ferguson" and, if Sir Alex Ferguson was genuinely taken aback by the hostile headlines when he arrived in Spain, the Manchester United manager's lack of diplomacy succeeded in ensuring the encounter with Real Madrid will be littered with grudges.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The temperature soared in Spain's elegant capital and it was not solely the mercury spiralling upwards.