Paul Merson has now given his verdict on whether the potential Manchester City treble would outdo the one and only of its kind in English football from Manchester United.
The well-known pundit gave his two cents on Sky Sports, as he has predicted City to get over the line against Inter Milan on Saturday.
Considering the current Manchester City side have been compared to the Manchester United treble winners from 1999, Paul Merson settled the debate.
Paul Merson settles whether potential Manchester City treble would outdo Manchester United in 1999
Many believe that United’s iconic side will have always the edge for having done the business first.
However, others disagree and believe that City are the greatest team to have ever played in England.
Paul Merson, however believes that if Manchester City win the treble in Istanbul, their achievement would outdo what Manchester United accomplished more than two decades ago.
“Completing the treble would be huge, massive in this day and age where every team has international footballers. Like I’ve said before, this would be bigger than the Man United one in my opinion. I saw the other day, Gary Neville’s combined team and only three City players got in. If only three of them get in, that means it’s a bigger achievement to manage it.”
Paul Merson also claimed that unlike in the case of Manchester United in 1999, Manchester City are playing in a much better league and a more relentless schedule.
“It would be phenomenal. Every game’s hard, we’re playing internationals left, right and centre. On top of that, players don’t really get breaks any more, they get three or four weeks off and they’re back training. It’s a lot of hard work they’ve gone for, and it would be really phenomenal.”
“As I said, the league looks after itself but in cup competitions, you only need a bad 45 minutes or a poor refereeing decision and that’s it.”
Ultimately, if Manchester City do match Manchester United by winning the treble, the debates will rage on for decades to come but Paul Merson already has a winner.
