Man. U. cancel presser, players react to concert attack

Manchester United on Tuesday cancelled the press conference that they were scheduled to hold ahead of Wednesday's Europa League final. A statement issued by the club said the European governing body, UEFA, had granted their request not to hold the presser, in light of Monday night's attack on a pop concert at the Manchester Arena that killed 22  people and injured 50, many of them children.

"Due to the tragic events in Manchester last night and the effect that this has had on everyone here at our club and within our city, we have decided to cancel this evening's prematch press conference in Stockholm. We are sure that, in the circumstances, you will all understand our position on this matter," the statement said.

"Our thoughts are with the victims at this terribly difficult time."

United manager Jose Mourinho expressed his thoughts in a statement released via the club's Twitter account.

The club's players held a minute's silence before Tuesday's training session, which was held under stepped-up security at their Carrington facility.

A number of first-team players from the Red Devils - past and present - also took to Twitter to pay tribute to the victims.

Tributes poured in from other leading sports figures and teams, including United's opponents in Wednesday's final, the Dutch club Ajax. Here are a few of them:

 

As things stand, Wednesday's night's game is expected to go ahead as planned. Swedish police have said that taking into account the possibility of a terrorist attack is always part of their preparations for security operations for this sort of event. They have advised fans attending the match to get there early enough to get through the security checks in time for the opening kickoff.

UEFA said in a statement that they were working with all of the relevant authorities, but that "there is currently no specific intelligence which might suggest that any of the UEFA Europa League final activities in Stockholm may be the target of attacks."