Thanks God for Lionel Messi and Barcelona! I know most (surely all?) Liverpool fans were jumping up and down as the Barca boys thrashed the Mancs in the Champions League Final for the second time in three years, but whilst many were cheering just because that smug smile had been off their fans faces (at least momentarily) I was cheering on the fact that the CL Final loss means that Liverpool are STILL the best team in England!
For many years it was undisputed that we were the best, and it seemed unlikely all those years ago that United would get anywhere near to our 18 titles. This year their workmanlike squad somehow managed to win the League Title for the 19th time, which triggered loud boasts that they were the most successful club in England. Whilst the United PR team would love to have you believe as much, it’s not quite true!
They may have overtaken us in terms of League Titles, but you would have thought that any ‘best team’ calculations would also take into account how many times each club has won the biggest and most prestigious competition in the world – the European Cup.
The Mancs have won the title just 3 times in their history, and even then they had to be ridiculously lucky to get the silverwear – playing abjectly for all but the last 3 minutes in 99, and getting lucky when Chelsea’s John Terry skewed his penalty over the bar in 2006. Liverpool have obviously won it five times, playing their part in a remarkable match in 2005, when they came back from 3-0 down!
So 18 titles + 5 European Cups = 23 top flight titles for Liverpool. And 19 titles + 3 European Cups = 22. Liverpool are STILL the most succesful team in the history of British football, and will be for at least as long as Messi and his team-mates can keep on winning the European Cup. A fans group have spelled it out for United fans on their new fan t-shirt (with link to www.liverpooltees.com)