Personally I've always thought the greatest team of all time the united side that won the treble. Until recently.. This barca side is just getting better and better. As a united fan I will still always say the team of 98/99. I just wanna see what some of you guys think....
I think the current Barca team is better. Imo our 1999 team would rank alongside many of the great European sides, but Barca are probably the best club side ever to play in Europe. Better than Real in the 50s, Ajax and Bayern in the 70s, Liverpool in the 80s and Milan and Juventus in the 90s.
The 1994 double winning side of ours is our best I reckon. My personal opinion of course. The 1999 follows it.
What you have to remmeber is that in 99 we didn't actually beat Barca or Bayern in the group stage and only beat Bayern with a couple of late goals in a game in which we were outplayed, which suggests we were on a par with those sides. We also only just edged Arsenal in the title race and the cup. Barca look head and shoulders above everyone at home and abroad.
Dont want to cause a huge argument but that 98/99 side would get soundly beaten by Barcelona and probably this current Real team. Although this will never happen so no need to worry!
why? because i think that UTD 98/99 would get beaten by the current Barca and Real sides? im sure 3/4 fans would probably agree with me.
I'd agree on the Barca bit but the Real bit is immaterial really. They haven't won a bean so shouldn't be up there for comparison. Domestically the '99 United side is almost peerless, never mind they nearly didn't win it, that is frankly irrelevant, but the fact is it went onto to win it for the next two season too. No way is it anywhere near one of the best ever european sides though, our own '68 side would have tonked it. Still think '94 is United's best. Hard as nails and pioneers, it also contained a certain Eric.
I think Rusholme answered for me really. Plus your post had no substance and was a merely made to wind up.
"I'd agree on the Barca bit but the Real bit is immaterial really." - Look at how the competitions have been decided on the domestic front, European front, and in the league for the two, and the only side to of called a halt to Madrid is Barcelona. Truth be told, little more than the odd goal or two has seperated them this season.
They've won nothing and got past the last 16 of the CL for the first time in about six years. Until such time they win the league or CL and prove how good they allegedly are they have no right to be compared to either Barcelona or any former great CL winning side, including United '99. Anything else is irrelevant. Truth be told only the odd goal seperated us and Blackpool this season. We won the league, they were relegated.
Definitely. I was sceptical up to a point and certainly thought we'd give them a game in the final but they blew us away, never seen a performance like it and they had us passing back to the goalie in fear for the last ten minutes when we should have been chasing the game. The current Real side are light years behind them, not even close.
Same can be said of the Hercules side Real Madrid faced. You'd also be naive to think little has changed for them in the past 2 years, with Mourinho now at the helm; problem for them meeting your criteria being that Barcelona were in the way. If tables do not lie, they are within full right to be compared: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/spain_results/tables/default.stm Also having beaten Barcelona to the Copa Del Rey by 1 goal to nil, it's fair to say they have provided Barcelona a close match over the course of the season. Would United of 99 provided 'that close' a competitor to Barcelona? In my opinion, no.
"Same can be said of the Hercules side Real Madrid faced." - By that i mean what has seperated Madrid and Barcelona over the course of the season in the competitions for which they have opposed eachother. Not in any one result picked out of a hat.
Not really. Over the course of five games the aggregate score between Real Madrid and Barca is 9-3 to Barca. In fact, when Real Madrid tried similar tactics to us in the CL final and Barca played at their best, Real got thrashed 5-0. Ultimately, Barca comfortably crushed Real Madrid in the matches that really mattered in the CL and the league, and were nowhere near their best level in the CdR final. Saying Real provided Barca a close match over the course of the season is like saying United provided Barca a close match in the first half of the CL final.
Exactly. How anyone can throw a side that has won precisely zero into a conversation about greatest ever sides is completely beyond me. For the record, I think Mourinho is a genius and I've got no axe to grind with him or Real at all. Until such time it wins something a bit more prestigious than the Copa del Rey it is not a great side.
Yep couldn't have said it better myself. Real will be waiting a long time to better this barca side... It looks like there unbeatable at the moment tho.
