Liverpool tie Man Utd on 42 trophies after Champions League win… as Spurs’ wait for silverware reaches 4,118 days
STRIFE begins at 42 for Liverpool and Manchester United.
Saturday's 2-0 win over Spurs in the Champions League final put Liverpool level with their biggest rivals - traditionally - at the top of the trophy-winning tree for English clubs.
So now the rivalry will really hot up as Reds' chief Jurgen Klopp insists Euro glory is just the start for a team he claims will only get better, while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will spend his first pre-season as United boss revamping their squad.
Meanwhile, Tottenham's misery in Madrid extended their staggering run without a trophy triumph to 4,118 days.
Liverpool and United are well clear in the silverware table, with Arsenal on 30, 24 for Chelsea and Aston Villa at 20.
So who's really summit special when comparing the two peak achieving clubs?
That depends how you value each competition, particularly the domestic top-flight and Europe's top club tournament.
Liverpool have been English champions 18 times and Euro kings on six occasions.
United head the top-flight list on 20 but have won the European Cup or Champions League just three times.
According to "Deep Thought" - the super-computer from The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - 42 is the answer to the "Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything".
But DT forgot to assess comparative values for football trophies when producing his answer.
So the battle for the lead will have to wait until Liverpool or United win their next trophy.
Johnny-come-lately's Manchester City could well break into the top five this decade.
City's domestic Treble, including a second successive Prem title, took them to 19 trophies.
They have now won six top-flight crowns - four in the last eight years - but their only glory on the continental stage was lifting the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1970.
That might make Etihad chief Pep Guardiola extra keen to break their Champions League duck next term - as it will be the 50th anniversary of their 2-1 ECWC victory over Polish team Gornik Zabrze in Vienna.
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But for all Guardiola's hunger to lift the most prestigious club trophy of them all, City's 2018-19 triple means they will be nowhere near as itchy for silverware as poor Spurs.
Despite winning the top-flight twice and the FA Cup eight times, Tottenham have lifted a trophy just once this century.
That came when they picked up their fourth League Cup success in 2008, beating Chelsea 2-1.