Sir Alex Ferguson Liverpool nightmare could soon become a reality as Arne Slot handed new target Liverpool and Manchester United are now level on 20 league titles each - and the Reds have the perfect chance to now move past their historic enemies Sir Alex Ferguson walks out during the Barclays Premier League match between Aston Villa and Manchester United at Villa Park on February 10, 2010 (Image: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images ) The celebrations were still likely ongoing in the home dressing room at Old Trafford when Alex Ferguson looked towards his next conquest as Manchester United manager. Liverpool's historic enemies had just outlasted a spirited chase from Rafa Benitez and his players in May of 2009 to go level on league titles with their most fearsome of rivals, but Ferguson was already looking past his latest and, at the time, greatest achievement. ‌ Speaking shortly after a goalless draw with Arsenal confirmed league title No.18 for the Red Devils, Ferguson reflected: "The great challenge now is to try to win it next year because that would be something special. A 19th league title would give us a special place in the club's history. ‌ What greeted Liverpool players on return to AXA Training Centre after winning Premier League READ MORE: "I am already thinking about next year. You have to do it here. There is nothing else for it. You just drive on. I do take a lot of pride from equalling Liverpool. When I came down here they were the top guns. My job was to try to change that." Inevitably, the great Scot would have his day. His aims of a fourth successive title were to be dashed by Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea the following year but by 2011, it was United who were English football's most dominant side, securing their 19th championship with a draw against Blackburn Rovers. By this point, Ferguson was more circumspect, denying he had ever actually coined a phrase that is famously attributed to him from the 1990s about the clubs' rivalry and knocking a dominant Liverpool "off their f****** perch" back. Article continues below "It's not so much passing Liverpool," said Ferguson. "It's more important that United are the best team in the country in terms of winning titles. That thing about knocking Liverpool off their perch, I don't think I actually said it." Betraying his manager's more sanguine outlook on the battle for supremacy at the summit of English football, Ryan Giggs added: "It means a lot, especially for the older supporters who through the 1970s and 1980s watching Liverpool win everything. "Now, obviously, the tables are turned. We've done so well over the last 20 years so to overturn that sort of deficit, to get to 19, is special and the fans know that." ‌ Ferguson's apparently new-found attitude to usurping Liverpool was maybe rooted in the fact that his life's work had finally been complete. If the Glaswegian had adopted a softer outlook to toppling the Reds once it was actually achieved, it's fair to take him at face value in 2009 when he spoke so deliberately about it being a burning ambition. In many ways, then, Liverpool's great equaliser is surely Ferguson's worst nightmare, particularly given it comes against the backdrop of what is being served up at Old Trafford in 2025. With Liverpool the champions of England once more, it sees the two behemoths of the game level on league trophies at 20 apiece, at a time when United are at their lowest ebb in decades. ‌ Shockingly, United have lost 15 times this term - some under former boss Erik ten Hag - and Ruben Amorim and his players find themselves in 14th with just four games left to negotiate. It will see them record their lowest finish of the Premier League era and Amorim's Europa League semi-finalists appear light years away from even mounting a half-credible challenge for the Premier League as things stand. "Slot has secured his place in Anfield folklore by restoring parity with Ferguson. He will be riding the number 20 open-top bus on the parade. Once the many celebrations are over, all eyes will be on the timetable to jump on board number 21," wrote Jamie Carragher in his Telegraph column on Monday. ‌ "If you had asked me on the day of my retirement how long it would take for Liverpool to catch up to United’s total, my honest answer would have been that it might not happen in my lifetime. They kept telling us we were 'living in the past'. You don’t hear that anymore." "The base was there but I never expected us to challenge for the league," Sander Westerveld, a former team-mate of Slot, tells the ECHO. "Everyone says City and Arsenal aren't playing well but we've only lost one game. Even if City and Arsenal were at the same level as last year, we would still win the league and it's been an unbelievable achievement. ‌ "A new coach coming in, doing this and we have seen so many times after Ferguson, big coaches who leave and the new coaches who come in and can't do the same. "Everything has come together. I don't know if a new manager comes into Liverpool because we had Shankly, Paisley, Fagan, Dalglish...I am not sure if a totally new manager comes in and wins the league for us straight away. "You could see the struggle of the last few years, matching Man City, winning in 2020, falling short once or twice. Slot signed and I thought he had a great base, attackers and midfielders." Article continues below How much such records hold sway in the dressing rooms themselves is unclear, particularly with a younger and more cosmopolitan squad who aren't reared on this rivalry, but having gone level with United on 20, the desire to take the record outright will be more acute at Anfield when the 25/26 campaign gets underway, one suspects. That will be Slot's next challenge, even if he will be forgiven for basking in the current title glow a little longer than Ferguson once used to.