Manchester United: Sam Peoples, United Peoples TV, external
It staggers me that this is even a question, and I say that without any red-tinted spectacles on.
One team became the only ever English side to win the Premier League, FA Cup and Uefa Champions League in one season.
The other lost the Champions League final, finished second in the Premier League and ended the season as FA Cup winners, like Wigan Athletic did in 2013.
The measure of any team in the history books is the silverware they win, so to try to compare United's unrivalled 1998-99 treble-winning side with a Liverpool team that, simply put, failed at the final hurdle, is truly outrageous.
It is easy to be swept up in the moment and there's no doubt this Liverpool team is an incredible side but, please, let's not forget what happened previously and be realistic.
Until a team manages to repeat the treble, trying to compare any side to United in 1998-99 is a feeble argument and a waste of time.
Liverpool: Josh Sexton, The Anfield Wrap, external
Every question to this effect contains a lot of nuance, which tends to get lost in subsequent answers. So here goes…
The 2021-22 edition of Liverpool would beat the 1998-99 Manchester United side, because of how much the game has developed over the past 20-plus years - with sports science improvements and the general quality of the footballers now operating at the top level in England.
Manchester United won the league that year with 22 wins, 13 draws and three losses, totalling 79 points while scoring 80 goals and conceding 37. Liverpool last season won 28 league games, drew eight and lost just two, totalling 92 points with 94 goals scored and just 26 conceded.
The opposition have only got fitter and more tactically astute since those days, while the quality of coaches and the information they have available has only increased too - there's no chippy orders and cans on the coach home these days.
Ultimately, though, Manchester United won the two things Liverpool wish they could have got their hands on last season. The two ultimate prizes in English club football. For that, history will remember them more kindly.
But that still wouldn't save Denis Irwin from getting legged by Mo Salah, I'm afraid.
Have your say and check out the rest of this weekend's debates here
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