EnglishLegendary Andy Cole said that Man City is not the best team in English football history even after eating these three seasons.
In 1999, Man Utd won the Premier League with 79 points. Cole and his teammates are one point ahead of second-placed Arsenal. In the FA Cup final, they beat Newcastle 2-0. In the Champions League final, the team under the leadership of legendary coach Alex Ferguson upstream defeated Bayern 2-1, thereby completing the first treble in English football history.
After more than 30 years, Man City is approaching the feat of the same Manchester City team - Man Utd. In the English Premier League this season, the Etihad Stadium team successfully defended the crown with 89 points, with a five-point difference compared to second-place Arsenal. In the FA Cup final, Man City beat Man Utd 2-1 in the match at Wembley on June 3. Pep Guardiola's teachers and students still have the last and most important match this weekend: the Champions League final against Inter in Istanbul, Türkiye.
Witnessing the outstanding strength and maintained over the years of Man City, many experts believe that this is the strongest team in English football history. But Cole disagreed. On page BoyleSports On June 6, he said: "To think that Man City is now the best in English football history is completely disrespectful to Man Utd, especially from people who are not in that position. You can see that there is a lot of hate towards Man Utd because of the success of the club. Man City are not better than us even if they eat these three seasons."
Man Utd won the Champions League and completed the treble in 1999. Photo: AP
The former England striker emphasized that so far, Man Utd is still the only English team to win the treble, while Man City need to beat Inter in the Champions League final to achieve the same. He also affirmed that he would not exchange any player in the 1999 Man Utd squad for a current Man City player, because he thought it was an act of disrespect to his former team-mate.
Cole also noted that Man City spent a lot of money to build the current squad, while Man Utd in 1999 trained six main kickers themselves. "Ronny Johnsen is a great player, but he is not respected," Cole said. "If he's so bad, why did he form one of the best central defenders with Jaap Stam at Man Utd?"
Cole played for Man Utd from 1995 to 2001, playing nearly 200 games and scoring nearly 100 goals in the Premier League. He once set a record of 34 goals in a 42-match season of the English top flight.
In history, besides Man Utd, there are six other teams that have won the treble, including Barca in 2009 and 2015, Bayern in 2013 and 2020, Inter in 2010, Celtic in 1967, Ajax in 1972 and PSV in 1988.
Thanh Quy (follow BoyleSports)
