Ferguson:
* "Gravesen is a good player, no doubt about that, we've seen him often enough to know what he can do. He may even be a better player than Petrov, but I think, in terms of the game on Wednesday, Petrov might have been a better bet to get Celtic a goal. That's something Gravesen is not renowned for."
* "That's a good one, saying that Celtic are bigger than Rangers.
"I am not going down that line. What I have to get rid of is the Scotland-England thing because if we go down that road we will make it harder for ourselves. We don't want to get caught up in the emotion of it all. We managed to do that against Rangers, forgot about me being from Glasgow and playing for Rangers, and it's the same with Celtic."
* "Who would have thought that United would never have qualified?"
"What really disappointed was our performance.
"We missed experienced players and we just didn't score enough goals. The players won't want reminding of it – they're bad memories.
"It shows you can't guarantee anything in football, but it will be different this year. What happened last year has sharpened our desire to get it right."
'Who would have thought that, looking at the table beforehand?'
'We couldn't even get into the Uefa Cup and who would have believed that with the group of players we have?'
Gravesen:
"Being part of a game like this is what I wanted at this club and I am looking forward to it," he said. "It is two fantastic, massive clubs with incredible histories behind them."
"To begin saying we might fight for second? I won't do that. I want to play a game first and see the strength of our team and how we can impose ourselves in the games, not to start by saying we lie down and don't want to do anything. We want to go there and see the strength of our game. People rise to the occasion in the Champions League, they thrive on it and want to be part of it. I know I do."
Strapon:
"There is no great variation in formations.
"It's either a three or a four-man defence and then you can tinker with the rest.
"It's players that make managers and players who get results. What it boils down to is that formations and tactics don't matter as much as how players perform. The one certainty about United is that they have pace everywhere and that is something we will have to address specifically. Otherwise, we will rely on our own strengths to get ourselves a result.
"Our fans actually expect us to go to Old Trafford and beat United. But the rest of the football world say we are the underdogs and can play without pressure.
"In Glasgow, and in Scotland as a whole, they'll want us to take the win - even though we are playing against one of the world's best teams in one of the world's best stadiums.
"I'm new to the Champions League and so are nearly all my players. The United boys have got years and years of experience of it. But there's no pressure off us going there.
"I've never thought about what Fergie did as my manager. Everyone's got their own way of doing things. I don't think of the hairdryer treatment or whatever, I just go with the flow.
"The person I do refer back to is Gordon Strachan! I look at my earlier years in management and try not to repeat the mistakes I made.
"All the history between me and Fergie is an irrelevance to Wednesday's game. He sat in my office recently for 40 minutes and we laughed and joked and talked about football and the old days."
Does that mean they are now friends? "What anyone interprets from that is up to them."
Aidan McGeady (Celtic player):
"If you look at Giggs, he has been at the top for the last ten or 11.
"I remember when I was younger, always being a massive fan of him, especially when he first broke into the United team as a teenager. I was only eight or nine, but he was always one player to look up to.
"Ronaldo has so many aspects to his game. He is quick, strong, good in the air and has great skills. He has also added an end product to his game within the last year that he maybe didn't have before. There is no point in beating a player and then putting your cross behind the goals, there has to be an end product be it a goal, shot at goal or a cross and that's what these guys are so good at."
Keano:
"I knew that fixture was going to come out of the Champions League draw.
"I had a feeling in my gut that United would get Celtic but I have to look on it as history as far as I'm concerned.
"If I am being truthful, I would admit that it has played on my mind maybe once or twice. But you have to move on, don't you?
"I've got a busy week here and we have a game on Wednesday so I won't even get to see the game on television. That's the way life works out."
Gary McAllister for some reason:
"I call him [Strachan] the 'Wee Tazmania' because he flies around never stopping, always working, checking things out - completely committed to whatever he does.
"They might not get on that well but it's easy to see the similarities between Gordon and Sir Alex who, even after all these years, still has that glint in his eye.
"Sir Alex was always a workaholic. That's exactly what Gordon is and while no one can know what the thinking is inside Old Trafford about who will take over, if they were looking for a successor with that same drive, that incredible urge to keep going and keep striving, then Strach would have to be considered.