'No difference' between 2000/01 Premier League Liverpool and Leeds United side says Jamie Carragher

Jamie Carragher believes Leeds United's star-studded 2000/01 Premier League side deserved a trophy because there was no difference between the Whites and his cup treble-winning Liverpool.
Mark Viduka taking the ball past Jamie Carragher, who feels that Leeds United team deserved a trophy (Pic: Getty)Mark Viduka taking the ball past Jamie Carragher, who feels that Leeds United team deserved a trophy (Pic: Getty)
Mark Viduka taking the ball past Jamie Carragher, who feels that Leeds United team deserved a trophy (Pic: Getty)

The season that featured Leeds' stunning 4-3 win over the Reds, when Mark Viduka scored all four of the Whites' goals, ended in triumph for Liverpool.

They lifted the League Cup, UEFA Cup and FA Cup under Gerard Houllier and finished third in the league, a point and a place above Leeds, who reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.

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Carragher, who made 58 appearances for his club that season, saw similarities between the two clubs.

“I think Liverpool and Leeds at the time, we were the two teams up and coming trying to challenge Arsenal and Manchester United,” he said.

“They were really going for the league and we felt that we were trying to fight it out for that one remaining Champions league position.

“We had a lot of really good battles with Leeds, we were both young teams really, lots of young players. It was whether either of us could go on and really push those top two.

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“We didn’t quite achieve that, either of us, winning the Premier League; we won a few more trophies than that Leeds team."

But Carragher believes that Leeds team, which featured Ian Harte, Gary Kelly, Lucas Radebe, Lew Bowyer, Rio Ferdinand, Dom Matteo, Jonathan Woodgate, Alan Smith and Paul Robinson, should have put a trophy in the Elland Road cabinet because, to his mind, they were Liverpool's equals.

"They were one of those teams, like Newcastle of the Kevin Keegan era, you looked back at them and think they probably deserved a trophy for the football that they played and the players that they had over those years," he said.

“We won three trophies but there was no difference between us and Leeds, we finished one position above them. Leeds will always be remembered for getting to the semi-finals of the Champions League.”