Alex Ferguson believes Manchester United winning the Europa League was a "lift" to the people of Manchester after Monday's (UK time) deadly terror attack.
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Players dedicated United's 2-0 win against Ajax in Wednesday's Stockholm final to the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing, which killed 22 people after an Ariana Grande concert.
United and Manchester City have pledged to donate £1 million to support the victims and their families and Ferguson hailed the strength of the city's people, citing the example of the 1996 Arndale Centre bombing as an example of how Manchester can recover from the attack.
"First of all, Manchester is a city like [Ferguson's home town] Glasgow, it's a working class city with fantastic people and they'll get together," former United manager Ferguson told Sky Sports.
"They've been through some difficult times in the past with the bombing of the Arndale Centre in 1996 and they recovered from that. They'll get together because they're working class and there's a great unity in the city.
"Last night United gave the city a lift. That's what it was about. We're all proud of them, it was a great achievement."