Manchester's treble teams: who did it better?

Now that Manchester City have matched the ultimate achievement of Manchester United by winning the treble, the question remains: which achievement was bigger?

After having streamed all three tournaments live on Showmax Pro (courtesy of SuperSport), ket’s compare each of the team’s respective tournaments to see who was more impressive in their feats.

UEFA Champions League

Manchester United’s entire run in their 1998/99 Champions League campaign still looks one of the most dramatic ever, where they always seemed on the brink of exiting the tournament.

In contrast, Manchester City looked pretty much in total control throughout their winning run.

In United’s successful season, they scraped through a seriously tough group that contained Bayern Munich as well as Barcelona. They found themselves two goals down in the semi-final against Juventus only to come back and win in Turin. Then came the legendary double late strike to come from behind in the final against Bayern Munich and the dream was realised.

For City, they were too dominant for there to be any drama. They eased out their group with plenty to spare. They absolutely thrashed RB Leipzig in the round of 16, comfortably beat Bayern Munich in the last eight before defeating Real Madrid at home in what will go down as one of the most impressive performances the tournament has seen in the last few years.

Sure, it got a little nervy for them in the final, but they were the favourites that never went behind.

While it was more gripping to watch United’s campaign, it can be argued that City were so much better than their opponents that there wasn’t room for any drama.

Our winner: Manchester City, for being more dominant than Manchester United’s side, although neutrals would’ve preferred watching United’s games unfold.

Premier League

Both of the treble teams’ league campaigns were two-horse races with Arsenal, which means it’s also worthwhile to figure out which Arsenal team was better.

In 1998/99, the Gunners had just come off winning the domestic double and were starting to reinvent the English game under Arsene Wenger. This was before Thierry Henry lifted them to another level, but they still had the likes of Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira to bring serious quality to their play.

No one tipped Mikel Arteta’s current Arsenal side to challenge for the title and they exceeded all expectation when they topped the league as long as they did.

While all of us would say the earlier Arsenal team was better, the fact is that they got fewer points than the current crop mustered. Wenger’s team got 78 points that season. Arteta’s side managed a total of 84.

In 1999, Manchester United only secured the title on the last day of the season with 79 points. This year, Manchester City got 10 points more than that and won the title with games to spare.

Pep Guardiola’s City side scored more goals than Sir Alex Ferguson’s United side and conceded fewer too.

In the modern Premier League age where the expenditure of all teams has risen astronomically (therefore making the whole league more competitive than 24 years ago), the context of City’s dominance is more impressive in every way than United’s title win.

Our winner: Manchester City. When comparing their 38-game league seasons, the stats don’t lie on this one.

FA Cup

When comparing FA Cup campaigns, one has to start by comparing the opponents they drew.

The 1999 United team played the following: Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Fulham, Chelsea, Arsenal and Newcastle.

Out of those six teams, only one of them wasn’t a Premier League club at the time (Fulham) and four of them finished in the top half of the table (Newcastle being the exception).

This season, Manchester City played the following: Chelsea, Arsenal, Bristol City, Burnley, Sheffield United and Manchester United.

Out of those six teams, only half of them play in the Premier League in Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea (who were a dismal shadow of themselves this season).

While it can be argued that Manchester City had a more “box office” final than Manchester United, there’s no denying that United had a tougher run.

Our winner: Manchester United

Overall verdict

All competitions considered, this current City side beats the vintage United team two tournaments to one.

The United faithful will point to the unfairness of City’s vast petro-state wealth at their disposal for transfers while the 1999 side famously did it with fewer resources and a strong homegrown core.

However, the question here is who was the more impressive team through their results on the pitch, not whose balance sheets were more agreeable.

This is not an article trying to show that City’s end justifies the means, but it’s clear that the Abu Dhabi group have methodically invested heavily to create one of the most impressive teams ever seen.

It’s also conceivable that they can win the treble again next season, which would then make many debates dead.

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