Real Madrid defeated Liverpool by 1-0 to win their 14th UEFA Champions League title on Saturday in Paris but Reds legend Michael Owen who also played for the Spanish team insists the Premier League side are still better football team than the White Angels of Carlo Ancelotti.
Michael Owen on BT Sport said:
“When a team beats another, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are better. Would you back Real Madrid to beat Liverpool if they played again next week? Or Man City who dominated them for 160 minutes out of 180?”
Owen continued : “I don’t think it’ll change much about how [Klopp] will approach the game, that just happens sometimes. I still think they’re the best team in Europe, I really do. On other occasions they’d be getting their name etched in the trophy.
That comment seemed to raise a few eyebrows, with Ferdinand immediately interjecting and saying: “How can you say they’re the best team in Europe? They’ve just lost the league and the Champions League final.” Owen then attempted to explain himself by saying Liverpool are still the most feared team in Europe”
Owen then said : “The season they’ve had, I still think they’re the team to beat. Real Madrid have got past them today, but you know as well as anyone that a one-off game is a one-off game. I still think they’re the most fearsome team in Europe and they’ve not got any of the big two trophies to show for it, that’ll be the biggest pill to swallow.”
Ferdinand again took issue with Owen’s comment, and explained that Liverpool cannot be considered among the best due to the fact they missed out on both the Premier League and Champions League. He declared: “I don’t think they’re the best team in Europe, I think you’ve got to win the biggest trophies to be considered the best. They’re an unbelievably exciting team, the points tally they’ve got in the league, the consistency in which they’ve played, they’ve competed in every single game available to them, but you’ve got to get your hands on the big trophies to be called outright the best team in Europe.
I don’t think they’ll be considered that and it would be disrespectful to Real Madrid to say that. They’ve just beaten all our top three teams in our league, they’ve got rid of them and got their hands on that trophy.” Ferdinand said.
Owen continued his argument : “Possibly today they’ve ground it out, but just cos you win the trophy I think there’s a lot more to be said over who is the best team. Nobody is taking away from how they’ve won this trophy, it’s phenomenal.”
Ferdinand replied: “They’ve not won the league though. If they’d won the league I could understand, but if they haven’t won the league and they haven’t won this, I don’t think they can be in the shake-up to be the best team in the world right now.”
