Jamie Carragher insists that Liverpool would have won the Premier League title under Rafa Benitez if they’d signed one of two former Man Utd stars.
The Reds had to wait until 2020 to lift their first Premier League title when Jurgen Klopp guided them to glory in a Covid-hit campaign.
Liverpool have had a number of good teams over the Premier League era, including the side which famously overcame AC Milan in Istanbul to win the Champions League in 2005.
Man Utd were blessed with quality wingers like David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Ji-Sung Park during the early to late 2000s with Carragher picking that area as a weakness of Liverpool’s during the same period.
Under the guidance of Rafa Benitez, Liverpool only lost six Premier League matches over the 2007/08 and 2008/09 campaigns combined and Carragher has an explanation of why Man Utd still finished above the Merseysiders in both seasons.
Speaking on The Overlap, Carragher recalled: “At the time, in those two years, we played 76 league games and we only lost six. And we weren’t even that close to winning the league!
“We obviously drew a lot of games but maybe that goes back to the way we were set up as a team, maybe from the manager.
“Did he take enough risks? You can look at things like that.
“I always say, when you talk about winning the league, from 2005 to 2010, that was probably the best Man U team. You had the best Arsenal team, (with) the Invincibles. The best Chelsea team with Mourinho.
“Even though we didn’t win the league, we were probably one of the best four or five teams in Europe for four or five seasons. The only issue was the other teams were in the Premier League!”
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And Liverpool legend Carragher reckons the Reds would’ve won a Premier League title if they’d had Giggs or Ronaldo on their side in the two seasons they came close.
Speaking to Man Utd legend Gary Neville, Carragher added: “We just didn’t quite have enough. I think in the wide areas. You never played against an amazing winger for Liverpool.
“We never had a Ronaldo. We never had a Giggs. If we could have had one of them… I think we could have won the league.”
Neville replied: “None of your wide players that I played against for 10, 15 years, not one of them was as good as the four you’ve got now. Diaz, Salah, Jota, Gakpo, (previously Sadio) Mane.”
