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Manchester United has been, is and will always be, one of the greatest football teams of the planet. It has been the target of so much criticism (usually destructive) from the part of its opponents over the years - it is now amongst the most hated teams in England. But behind this hatred lies a lot of admiration, respect and envy from other teams and their supporters. Why? Not because Manchester United breaks records but because of the way that Manchester United breaks records ... Read on...
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In 1968, Man. Utd became the first English team to bring back home the European Champions Cup by comprehensively beating F. C. Benfica (4-1) in the final. We showed other English teams the way to follow and now they have the guts to come and criticise us! The 27-year drought in the League ended in 1993 but the real renaissance of United started in 1986 under the era of Sir Alex Ferguson. It took him just five years to reshape the team before accumulating 37 trophies! United is the team which has lifted English football on the European scene and, if there are four English representatives in the European Champions League today, it's thanks to United. It all started with victory in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1991 against Barcelona (2-1), a memorable night for Mark Hughes ...
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In the period 1983-2011, United has collected exactly 37 trophies:
8 Community Shields, 4 League Cups, 7 F.A. Cups, 12 Premiership titles, 1 Cup Winners' Cup, 2 Champions League trophies, 1 European Super Cup, 1 Intercontinental Cup and 1 FIFA Club World Cup. This is an impressive amount but even more impressive is that, during that period, Man. Utd has completed two doubles (Premiership - FA Cup) and a quadruple (Premiership - FA Cup - Champions League - Intercontinental Cup), an unprecedented feat! Even the great Liverpool of the 70's never managed to achieve this... The double was formerly the property of Arsenal and Tottenham but we showed that we had a lot of character by not only equalling these records but also by breaking them! And what can we say about the unprecedented treble as well as the Intercontinental Cup except that our archrivals Liverpool had been trying to impose their supremacy against South American teams from olden days? In fact they did have a golden chance of completing the Treble in 1977 but who else could have come in their way, against all odds, apart from ... United, of course!
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At present, United holds at least the following records:
- The first English team to win the European Champions Cup (1968)
- The first English team to win the Champions League (1999)
- The first English team to win the Intercontinental Cup (1999)
- The first English team to win the FIFA Club World Cup (2009)
- The first English team to win the Big Treble - Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League (1999)
- The first English team to win 15 home games in a row (2011)
- Winner of a record 19 Division I/Premership titles
- Winner of a record 19 Charity/Community Shields
- Winner of a record 11 FA Cups
- Winner of a record 3 League-Cup doubles (1993-94, 1995-96, 1998-99)
- The most number of goals scored in one season in the Premiership (97, in 1999-2000)
- The first player (Ruud van Nistelrooy) to score in eight consecutive Premiership matches
- The goalkeeper (Edwin van der Sar) to remain unbeaten in most consecutive Premiership matches (1 311 minutes)
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We have reached a point where our rivals' supporters are glued to the TV, not when their favourite teams are playing but when Manchester United is out there for the showdown, praying for them to lose! And people come and tell you to support English teams in European competitions ... they must be dreaming! I know only one English team worth supporting ... and that's Manchester United - the best!
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