Liverpool Ranked Best Team In The World After Latest Win, Manchester United Are Miles Behind

In a comprehensive list compiled by data analysts, Liverpool have been ranked as the world's best team following their dominant 4-0 victory against Manchester United on Tuesday night.

The guys over at fivethirtyeight.com use a 'Soccer Power Index' rating system to determine their findings.

So how does it work? The system calculates an offensive and defensive rating for each team based on how many goals they would be expected to score or concede against an average team on a neutral field.

Through these ratings, the analysts are able to predict how a club will fare in their respective leagues, as well as how they compare to others across the world.

Image credit: Alamy

As the season plays out, a team’s ratings are adjusted after every match based on its performance in that match and the strength of its opponent. You can read more about how fivethirtyeight reach their conclusions here.

And after Tuesday night's dominant display against United at Anfield, current Premier League leaders [at the time of writing] Liverpool went above defending champions Manchester City in the Global Club Soccer Rankings.

As you can see in the graph below, Jurgen Klopp's side come out on top with a SPI rating of 93.5.

The Reds are in scintillating form at present and following last weekend's 3-2 victory over rivals City to reach the FA Cup final, it's no surprise to see them hop into first place.

Image credit: fivethirtyeight

Manchester United, meanwhile, feature in the top 25 but their fall from grace in recent years is damning.

Following their humiliating defeat to Liverpool in the league, Ralf Rangnick's side are 21st in the Global Club Soccer Rankings, with the likes of Bayer Leverkusen, RB Salzburg, Spurs and Ajax recording a higher SPI rating.

Here is the top 25 in full:

25. Aston Villa

24. Real Sociedad

23. Brighton and Hove Albion

22. Sporting

21. Manchester United

20. AC Milan

19. Athletic Bilbao

18. Leverkusen

17. RB Salzburg

16. Atletico Madrid

15. Tottenham

14. Arsenal

13. Borussia Dortmund

12. Villarreal

11. Porto

10. Inter Milan

9. Paris Saint Germain

8. Barcelona

7. RB Leipzig

6. Real Madrid

5. Ajax

4. Chelsea

3. Bayern Munich

2. Manchester City

1. Liverpool

Image credit: Alamy

You can see the full rankings [from 1-640] here.

Liverpool winger Sadio Mane believes his side have the squad to fight for a historic quadruple. "We will see. We have a lot of games to go, we will try to do our best. It’s a dream, for sure. We’ll go for it, we will fight for it."

Do you think Jurgen Klopp's men can scoop the lot? Is this the best Liverpool team of all time?

Let us know in the comments.

Topics: Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool, Premier League, Manchester City, Manchester United

Jack Kenmare

Senior Journalist at SPORTbible with a passion for long-form journalism. Almost 10 years’ experience across online and print.

@jackkenmare_