From 30 for 30 podcasts. Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing what's about. This might be a hit. You want the truth. They just want a conviction. They're placing the arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now. I'm Gabby's Jules Great skies over West London but we're here to brighten things up Jules because we now have our Champions League round of 16 the playoffs are gone with so much I mean this was real value excitement and drama until the end in the Atalanta-Dorman game in the Juve Galatasaray game In the Benfica game. In the PSG Monaco game. I'm sorry. We'll talk about that later. It's okay. We're through. That's all that matters. But we're going to start with something else. We're doing a little bit different. We're going to talk about Bodo Glimt. Bodo Glimt knocked out Inter. Last year's runners-up. Inter, who, by the way, reached the Champions League final in two of the last three seasons. And look, I'm going to say this about Bodo, right? He's presented. They have a big PR operation. and so they should. I'm not blaming them for them because it is a pretty remarkable story. Yeah. A lot of people know their story. Not everybody knows their story. So we're going to talk into that and I think how it fed into these two games and also what this also means for Inted because this is still an embarrassment. It's an embarrassment to go out because I think they were unprepared. Yeah, yeah, probably. Yeah, there was an element of that. There's an element of players missing. No Lautaro, no Chano glue in that second leg. I think hurt them for sure. No Denzel Dumfries. No Denzel Dumfries, who was only on the bench and came on in the second half. But obviously not Inter's strongest XI, you could say that, sure. They still had their moments, certainly in the first half, to put more pressure on this Bodoglim team. And the game also turned on a massive mistake by Akanji. So it's a thin margin, as we know at this level anyway. But take nothing away from how great Bodoglim were in the two games, at home especially, which you would expect them because they're obviously very special circumstances to their game like a plastic pitch and the weather etc etc but even i thought at times in the second leg in milan where the way they play at times was really breathtaking so well done to them yeah congrats i i think there's a lot that goes into it and look individually i think there's for me there's maybe two or three players in this boat of glim team who could play theoretically at at a higher level. Several have tried it. Now it's obviously, it's Hulch, it's Berg, and Jens-Peter Haugge, right? I don't think there's too much else there. What makes this remarkable is Schettel-Nutzen, I think, using every advantage that he can. So in this case, if you watch them play, it is generally high risk, high reward in the second leg, but also in the first leg. When they counter, they counter with, they send six, seven guys up the pitch. So he's obviously worked out that, hey, we could get done, but if we just send a wave of people on the counter, there's a greater chance we're going to score, right? They're the team that runs the most in the Champions League, and that's the reason why as well they play the way they play. It's probably helped by the fact that right now they don't have anything else. The league is about to start or has just started, which is a very different schedule to all the other European teams who've been playing a lot in the last few weeks, few months, and that makes a massive difference, really. But still, a team that is capable of playing with 65% of the ball domestically in their own league and yet reverse to a completely different tactic and style and game plan in the Champions League with only 35% of the ball is a very special team. It's not easy to do that and they don't do it because they're forced to. They do it because it's their choice and it's the game plan from Knudsen who took over 10 years ago when they were about to be relegated and now it's taken them to a Champions League last 16. they was it 10 years ago I thought it was yeah 2016 2016 I this is how you adjust a team this is coaching and you can say he has the luxury of time because and they have the luxury of time to be fit and fresh and I'm not saying like if you ask a footballer would you rather play regularly or what about ring rust and whatever they've played four games but I think in their case the fact that they've got the time off at the end of the Norwegian season where by the way they did not win the title the Norse time passed they've managed to really top up physically and they managed to train, train, train because you watch them play it looks almost automatic, the movements. So they're really, really well coached. They've taken it on board. All that said, this is an embarrassment for Inter. There's no two ways about it. The absentees cannot be an excuse. I was thinking about the fine margins that you said. Nicola Barella did make the point about, well, if Florian Virts, if Bastoni doesn't push Florian Virts in the 90th minute, then... With ifs, as you always say. Oh, absolutely. But I think it's a reminder that we don't need to make massive sweeping statements because the margins are so fine. We can look at mistakes that were made, and Inter certainly made a bunch over the two legs. And they're paying the price for it, and Bodo are deservedly through. Alright, Joes, let's look at the inquest here from Inter because the numbers say they i don't know if i think it was like 30 shots on goal something ridiculous yeah a lot of those were not high quality chances so if you look at the xg it's not that great equally the xg is also blown apart by the fact by a congee's mistake and then the guy scores from two meters out so we always bring up xg yeah it has to be contextualized yeah um so the question is what does this mean for inter i don't i i thought they were super positive after the first leg and I know it was it was a defeat two goals margin and it's good to be positive because there's always a second leg and they hit the woodwork twice yeah yeah true and there's always second leg and it's at home and but I still thought I'm not saying they took it for granted the fact that they would just come back and win and qualify but they looked very confident to for me after that first leg to start with i i'm not too sure what kivu did in that game where you were okay in the first half i thought but not brilliant either and yeah the fratasi header okay there's a couple of other good opportunities but i thought we lacked a little bit of something else and i I wonder if Suchic, for example, should have started maybe, if you could have done something a little bit different than just keeping it the way it was, because he was clearly thinking like, yeah, we're going to put pressure on at some point, they will crack, and then once we score once, we're going to score two and three, and we're going to qualify, not thinking that you could also make a mistake like Akanji did, and then would make things even more difficult. So it's not even so much the fact that you didn't qualify, it's the fact that you even lost that game, because you could look at Juve, for example, who would have probably a very different feel after being knocked out than Inter would have, I think. And that's what bothers me. And they will be champions, they're 10 points clear, nobody's going to catch them in the league. But on this, I was very disappointed. Yeah, I would tend to agree. I think it makes a lot of difference when you score first, right? So, I mean, they put up a yellow ball in front of the goal. If you score after five minutes, that also gives you a boost. They kept creating chances. Demarco all over the plate, I mean, he had a tremendous chance. He was great, yeah. They could have scored four or five, right, if those chances got in, but they didn't, and you can't rely on that. And I also don't want to over-egg the fact that, you know, the second goal from Evian is phenomenal. Incredible. I don't think the guy's ever going to score a goal like that ever again. And it was a garbage time goal and whatever, right? And the Okanji mistake, but mistakes happen. I think there are some slightly uncomfortable realities with Ethan right now. One is that Barella is a shadow of the player he was a year ago. And in a game like this, when you don't have Chalanoğlu and you have sort of Barella at half service, I don't mind the Fratesi for his energy. Yeah, yeah. But you're right. Maybe Suchic for Barella could have been. But it would have been a huge call. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But isn't that the kind of game where you have to make huge calls because there's so much at stake? or see i struggle with this right in the one hand on the one hand i take your point right there's a lot at stake so let's make a huge call on the other hand if you have confidence in your players if you're saying yeah we lost the first leg but you know one of the goals was a result of an absurd mistake and we hit the woodwork twice and you know we certainly had enough chances let's go out obviously there's no lautaro but you know We have Taram and Esposito up front. We're going to be fine. And you guys just execute. And then you run the risk that you don't execute, right? As opposed to if you make too radical a change, that also shows, I think, a lack of faith in the play. So I think it's kind of six of one, one half dozen of another. In terms of Kivu, I remind people, the guys had, what, half a season as a manager before this one? They're 10 points clear to the top. They play good football. People always do this. oh look they're getting older you're an older team they're not they're actually i think they've actually managed to rejuvenate a little bit yeah of course bonil with henrique suchic and that was yeah there's more rebuilding to do with that squad right from zoma to probably another center back i think summer definitely another center back probably although i suspect they'll probably try to go and do it you know do another sort of a kanji poverty type deal and get an older guy Chalanoglu. Chalanoglu. Chalanoglu, I think, is the big one. So, Chalanoglu is not that old. He's 31. No, no, yeah. He wanted to leave last... Remember all the thing between him and Lautaro, the club worker last summer? That is one to monitor. If he wants to go, and if he has somebody who will take him, you have to think in terms of that. And that's not an easy one to resolve. Zalinski's filled in for him. He's done okay. I just don't know that Zalinski has the heft that Chalanoglu does. No, yeah. Linsky to me is somebody who operates. I've got great players around me. And I agree. And he's been up and down. But Mkhitaryan as well. It's probably time for him to go. Yeah, I mean, Mkhitaryan. He's a squad player. But at some point, even those squad players. Yeah. But, yeah, there certainly are people. But in terms of the key men, for me, the biggest thing is, let's get Barrela back on track. Yeah, yeah. Fratesi, I assume, is going to go because nobody seems to like him. but you know i think the basis is there i think they can win the coppa italia they're certainly well placed for that as well which i wouldn't care about but you know it is a domestic double that's that that's not a bad thing and you're heading in the right direction i think there are lessons though to be learned here on bodo yeah all right let's remind people i actually i went on google maps and i'm i google earth is one of my passions i waste so much time on this and so yes they're north of the art circle they're it's a town of just over 8 000 people yeah um so their stadium is very small i'm assuming not everybody like a league one stadium right if you live in england it's yeah i think it's around 10 000 there's talk of expanding it now if you look at that part and i invite everybody to go on google earth because this is kind of cool thing to do it's not like oh look there we're from a little small town but you know there's a big town next to it like like the people are like oh via real look a town of 20 yeah and then you got castellan 150 000 people next door it's kind of yeah um the towns nearby are really far away in the middle of their train yeah so they've kind of managed to capture that whole like sort of north uh western part of norway yeah and people drive hours and hours yeah to get there i i think that part is definitely a cool part of the story People talked about the recruitment There are some tremendous individual stories. The goalkeeper, of course, was somebody who, you know, I think when he was very young, he was at Chelsea, at Trials, different places. He was highly rated. He struggled. He wasn't good. He was ready to pack it in and give up football. I think he was going to go to university. This was only like five years ago, I think. uh i now look at him now made some big saves um you know bringing back how good whole people like it's not to say brilliant recruitment right you went to bigger clubs elsewhere those players wanted to come back anyway it made i think it's also because boto glim can probably pay them maybe not as much as how it was making a meal in the reintracht but yeah not that far off norway is a wealthy country right it is interesting that correct me if i'm wrong i believe they're all norwegian or certainly scandy looking um yeah yeah pretty much yeah that part's cool there's an argument there about the cohesion yeah that they've built um they have a culture coach come for example who works only is the the whole aim of his job is to get this team gelling in together that's all he does there's a story that like they're very big about yeah you said on the mental side they got a guy this is this as the story goes i'm like this it's a turn into legend a little bit and it's always good to be cynical but i think it's true it's an impressive tale they got this guy to come in who was a former norwegian air force pilot who talked about the culture coach and and you know he is the culture oh i thought he just came in to talk to them no no no yeah it's him um he works for the club every day and that's what he does he's a bit of a psychologist as well but but that mental side of it, all being together, the togetherness, all that kind of things is big. And I guess you think outside of the box a little bit because you don't have probably the resources that big clubs in Europe have. I mean, yesterday, the team on Tuesday, that squad that went to Milan is worth 57 million euros. The Inter Milan squad is worth 650 million euros. So it doesn't mean that you're going to lose every time or win every time. That's not what I'm saying. But in what they have to use, that's why they're also thinking a bit more outside of the box maybe than bigger clubs in Europe. Yeah, and I think using, you know, when, in terms of technical ability, you're going to be behind. I mean, in terms of individual technical ability. Yeah, of course. When I look at the 36 teams, and I've kind of forgotten some of the crappy ones who, you know, who went out early. early, but even just the knockout stages, even the ones we've seen in the playoffs, I mean, Carabag are a more technically gifted team than this, in my view. This team are better coached, they're more athletic, but it's close, yeah? Yeah, yeah. I mean, and yet that they can achieve this through tactics, through cohesion, through physicality, and like you said, that when they play domestically, they are the Real Madrid, so they have, maybe that's not the best example right now, but they're the dominant a team so they have 65% possession. What's interesting as well is they didn't win any of their first six games in the league phase for example and they were out at that point they were not even in the top 24. The win against City at home is the big turning point then the winner at Atletico Madrid in gameweek 7 and 8 made them almost miraculously qualify in the top 24 and now I mean it's City of sporting for them in the last 16. If they draw City I don't think they go through I'll be honest here, I don't think they can beat City over two legs. They can't do it again. If they draw Sporting, that means you'll have one of Sporting or Bordeaux Glimt in the quarterfinal of the Champions, which is super cool. A lot of people love that stuff. And I think they'll probably be Sporting even with the second leg in Portugal over the two legs. Yeah, it's going to be a fascinating clash with Sporting. What I would say, if it is Sporting, if Sporting do their homework, they're the kind of team that can go and I think blunt this kind of thing. Because it doesn't, like I said, it's high risk, high reward. When you mentioned, the first six games, they were, you know, they drew with Spurs when they probably should have won. They lost to Monaco at home when they were not bad in that game, but they still lost the game. They were not that great. They lost to Galatasaray, for example. But they had a lot of games where they played well. Yeah, yeah. And couldn't win. Yeah, yeah, true. Right. And it's funny because one of the things about the club's culture is when they, when sort of this, this new kind of scheme was built up, they really emphasize, all right, we don't care about results. We just care about performance, right? And they really drilled it into the players. And I think that is part of the reason why they were able to go and turn it around at the end. All those games, when they were dropping points, but generally performing well, they already had drilled into them. We believe in performance, not results, right? And so the results will come if we continue the performance. And yeah, I think it's... Whenever somebody does something new in football, we love this, right? So to finish it off, I've got a quiz question for you, Gabi. It's one that I think you would know the answer. So Inter, obviously, finalist, runners-up last season, not making it to last 16. I think that happened only twice in the history of the Champions League itself and the two English clubs. I've given you too many clues now. So either the winner or the runners-up, one of the two finalists, the following season. So straight after they reached the final, didn't make it to the last 16. So basically out in the group stages. All right. One, you know really well and you're probably there. So I'm assuming Chelsea's won. 2012 and then this is slightly cheating because only four English clubs have won the Champions League. Yeah, but you have to give me so you can't just name them. So Chelsea 2012. Yes, after the that was the year that was the Robbie D year. Yeah, Robbie D. And the other one, which I think the year after, or the year, no, the year before, sorry, the year before. So that's a massive clue. The year before, so that would have been 2011? Yeah. Who was the final in that, Barcelona against... Oh, final, it was Manchester United. Yeah, and they didn't make it after that, the season after that. So it's rare. I'm not saying that it's that bad on Inter, but it's really rare. And Spurs fans, I'm sorry, originally I thought he meant Champions League winners which obviously you're not but I'm not trying to troll you I know you won the final you lost Liverpool and in fact take heart Arsenal yeah 06 2005 06 I was there alright enough Bodo how about some quick hits instead let's go no Kylian Mbappe but Real Madrid advance as they beat Benfica 2-1 3-1 on aggregate Jules they're not great but they're good enough yeah just enough to go through Courtois had to make some big saves again I think we said literally on every show or after every Real Madrid game they did Vinny score which in a way after what happened in the first leg is and it is a version of the celebration we saw but he did it in front of his own fans and he was smiling when he did it but I think it's justice in a way I thought to be fair Benfica played well at times I think it was really interesting. Some of the things that they did, considering Mourinho wasn't there, and then he was hiding, and there was a room where he was supposed to be, and nobody knew if he had arrived or not. I mean, it's one of those Mourinho's moments, really. For Real Madrid, they could face City now, sporting in the last 16, it's one of the two. Let's see, if it's City, I still think that this team is struggling collectively, really. You can go very far if you have a goalkeeper who saves everything and a striker who scores almost every game. A striker who's injured, though. But he's injured now, but he'll be back. Well, they're hoping in 10 days, but in two weeks, he's the first leg of the last 16. So, yeah. Benfica Gianluca Prestiani did not play, as he was given a one-game provisional suspension after Vinicius accused him of using a racist slur in the first leg. We talked a lot about this story, of course. and gab did that make sense to you the suspension even if it's unprecedented right it's really rare for you um yeah so look i said this on the last show there is no doubt i was there based on what i said that he racially abused and on the balance of probability so yeah right and i think there is an important precedent in uefa um the fact that there's no witnesses uh doesn't make a difference You remember the Glen Camara case? He was racially abused and the guy who abused him got 10 games. And there was no evidence there either. I mean, no video evidence, right? So I think this is the way it's heading with Presiani. And it's right. And maybe you should get more than 10. In fact, word up to me, I give more than 10 for some of the stupid things that he has said, such as justifying himself by saying that Vinicius called him a dwarf. Bro, you're short. like this is not you we were creating a moral equivalency between this um that version which came out and then denied and then was simply confirmed that he used a gay slur that was his defense rather than a racist one makes no difference that's discriminatory language in fact you should get more games because you're stupid for thinking that this is a legitimate excuse call vinicius ugly tell him that you went and you slept with his mother you know you can get away with those things you cannot use a gay slur but whatever all that said i'm not comfortable i i think presumption of innocence is a massive legal principle and i'm not comfortable preemptively banning somebody even in cases even in like the real world lawyers like they will put you in jail and bail you out if there's a risk of you running of of you running away or you temperate with the evidence. There's no risk of that here. There is one in a bazillion possibility that Vini says, oh, yeah, no, maybe he's right. Maybe I misunderstood. I withdraw my charge. And then you can't get him the game back. So much as it pains me, much as I don't like this guy, partly because he says something racist, I believe, and partly because he's definitely something stupid. He's a very stupid, stupid individual. I throw the book at him, but I'm not comfortable with a one-game suspension before he's been judged and gone through the process. But I thought it was a disgrace from Benfica to take him on the plane. I know they appealed to that suspension, which was rejected on the day of the game, but I think Benfica should have read the room much better and left him at home anyway. Read the room, exactly that. Just go out there and say, not the right frame of mind. Atletico Madrid are also through with a resounding 4-1 win over Mr. Champions League, Hans-Oanaken and Bruges. Jules, it's a hat-trick for the only living Soloth in captivity. I praise them enough this season. It's your turn. Yeah, incredible season, especially since the turn of the year, really, when Alvarez just dipped massively with his level. He took over, and when Griezmann is obviously older and on his way out as well, Soloth took over, and has been very good. He got a little bit lucky in these. The first goal, for example, should have never scored. But after that, he's efficient, which is something that we've said against him before, because he used to create chances or have chances to score and used to miss them, sometimes sitters. Remember the Barcelona game last season? And now he seems to have found a consistency in being quite clinical. So they need him badly because, as we said, Alvarez is going through really the worst patch of his career, I think. And there's not much more than Soloth really to score goals. I mean, great for Johnny Cardoso to have scored. He's a US main national team player. We like him a lot. Luqman says hi. And Luqman has made a massive difference. But not as a center forward. But not as a center forward. So let's see. Let's see where they go. They will face Liverpool or Spurs in the last 16 atletico Madrid. And I think if you're Liverpool and Spurs, you don't really want to face Sorlott. They have a lot of things to sort out. By the way, Sorlott's goal, non-penalty goals per minute are absolutely insane. He's not far from Mbappe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Incredible. Newcastle also threw against Carabao. But Gab with the 3-2 scoreline. It's a win. Closer than you expected? Alright they were obviously 6 up from the first leg I expected him given how Newcastle have got to be absolutely drained and tired given how many injuries they have especially at the back I expected him to play more kids, to be honest. Yeah, he still rotated quite a fair bit. Not as much as I would expect. I was really surprised to see Byrne, who, by the way, was on a booking, out there starting the game. I mean, again, I know you don't have other senators, senators, defenders. There might be some dude from the youth team you can play, right? And Byrne gave up a penalty, incidentally, as well. It's a weird atmosphere. I think Eddie Howe probably felt that he owed a performance to the fans at home. And so he went for it. Happy for him. Carabag, nowhere near as bad as the first leg. And I think they lead the Champions League with their head held high. Sorry, bro. I have to go there. It's okay. We're through. defending champion Paris Saint-Germain came very close to crashing out against Monaco at home. In fact, if Valt Face had even more hair than he does, this might have gone extra time. What's going on here? Another if. The most important, as Vincent Duluc and L'Equipe reminded us all this morning, is to qualify. Yeah, I would have loved PSG to qualify by playing much better, a bit like last season. I don't know where this team has gone. It's not the same as last season, But in a way, it's never been this season. It's not like if they played really well and then suddenly don't play well. They haven't played well all season. It's the Club World Cup's fault. Yeah, there's a bit of that. No, there's a bit of that for sure. I don't think it helped. But it's just not them in midfield. They were certainly until the Koulibaly red cards on the hour mark. They were dominated massively in midfield by a very good Monaco team. The 3-5-2 worked really well from Poconoli. Well done to him. A Cleoche, Paris Bonnebret, obviously, was on fire. Balogunatho played really well. The midfield three of Bamba, Koulibaly and Kamara was outstanding. I'm sure Koulibaly got sent off. Yeah, yeah. So I said, yeah, after the hour mark, that obviously changed it all. Because in the next minute, Marquinhos scored to make it 1-1. And after that, it was only PSG, even if the end was a little bit tensed. It's just they won't win the Champions League again, this PSG team. I don't know how far they can go. It depends on the draw now. Is Barca or Chelsea for them in the next round? And after that, if you look at the bracket, it would be even more complicated because I think there's probably City or Real Madrid from that side and then Bayern or Arsenal even. So it could be very tricky, but they're still in it. I will cheer you up and give you a reason why I think they may well win the Champions League and I wouldn't be so definitive about it. And a reason why they probably won't. One is Paris Saint-Germain have lost six games this season. Four of those defeats have come against French clubs. They won't face any more French clubs. The only two teams that have beaten them this season are Sporting, and that was a game where Paris Saint-Germain deserved to win. You remember the game 2-1? And then the other one was against Bayern, who admittedly are pretty good, right? So I wouldn't be so negative. And they all have won. They've been there. They've done that. They're all a year older. The reason they won't win, I'm sorry, you downgraded your goalkeeper in a significant way from whatever common... Sometimes I look at this and I say if you had Safonov and Chevalier in goal together at the same time you'd be worse off than where you were last season with Donnarumma. So... Yeah, that's not the main reason why they're not playing well. Not because Donnarumma is not in goal. But Donnarumma was a big part of the reason why they won it last year. Yeah, yeah. So now you have that... They won't win it this year because they don't play well. But what I'm saying is you have to play even better because you don't have that safety blanket. But even if they can't get near the level that they showed last season, which is a shame, really. Although, all that said, I don't want to be contrarian here. Other than Arsenal. And you can say Bayern and City are ahead of them, and they probably are, but they're not streets ahead of them. And they're also capable of laying an egg. True. What's up in Turin, Gab, after the 5-2 humiliation in the first leg away in Turkey against Galatasaray? Juventus get it back to 5-5 on aggregate before considering two goals in extra time. One of them from your boy, Victor Ozyman. Who doesn't celebrate? So I'll celebrate for him. The best is yet to come. Like, you want a reaction. And they got it. And I think this was so important. Again, there's five games without winning. Like I told you on Monday, they weren't that bad in all of those five games as people made it out to be like the sky was falling. They were terrible against Galatasaray away. They were terrible against Como. Here, they went out there and they showed that they could execute. The XG was more than 5.0. And you can say, you need to put your chances away. Fine, you need to put your chances away. I signed wingers from Ligue 1. Jeremy Boga and Zagrova, that's the path to happiness. Keiran Yildiz, unplayable. And what they did with 10 men, they played with 10 men for the entire second half, practically, and extra time. Don Hutchinson on commentary made the point towards the end. The momentum was with them towards the ends of regular time. you guys need to go and try to win this. And they tried and they tried and they tried. Couldn't get it done. Got to ask you the Lloyd Kelly red card. Harsh? I understand that the controversy and how harsh it is, but referees don't look if he means it or doesn't, if he sees or not, if he's looking or not. It's a reckless incident, which it is. Even if he doesn't mean it, even if he doesn't know that the leg is there, it has to be a red card. Yeah, I'm not so sure about that. But let's detour to the Premier League and celebrate Manchester United because they're massive. They are big. Yet another win. One nil away to Everton. We're the Benjamin Sesko goal. And they're fourth in the table. Yeah, they are. They just overtook Chelsea in fourth. That fight, as we said, now with Aston Villa. And Liverpool too. Yeah, Liverpool too. They were level on points. Only three points behind Aston Villa in third now. Even for United, still unbeaten under Michael Carrick. Not a great performance, let's be honest here. But really good goal in transition. Mbomo for Sesko who just came on three goals in his last four-night in the Premier League for him. I think he deserves to start against Palace at the weekend on Sunday. And I think he will. But yeah, they keep going. The fact that they have Carrick has a whole week to prepare them. And he's making the best of them. Well done him. Yeah. Atalanta turning around against Borussia Dortmund winning 4-1 after losing the first leg 2-0. gap the last dish penalty rami bencevani on nikola kristovic was key okay so a couple points here one is bruce adornment yeah let's all laugh like that their self-destruction they did it again yeah right and that said a lot of this is down to one person rami bencevani shocker one of the worst individual performances i've ever seen in the champions league yeah uh incredibly bad all right in the end frank labeuff on the show last night said that that should have never been a penalty at the end, Ben Savigny, on Nikola Krzyk. How is this not a penalty? He literally cut his head off. Because Krzyk's head was low, Frank said. No, no, no, no, come on. Okay. Maybe it was the fun news. We both agree, right? We both agree it's a red card every single day. 100%. It could have killed him, literally. Yeah. And Krzyk is obviously a very brave man, made from sterner stuff. I think Krzyk doesn't even think that that's what Ben Sabaini could do, you know. Well, also because Ben Sabaini is in the wrong position. He misreads the flight of the ball and that's why he has to do, it looked like, it looked like he was trying to do a scorpion kick. Yeah, like an homage to Giroud. He probably doesn't know Christovic is there, but still it is. It is, it is. I think it's, it's dangerous play. I think we need to give a shout out to Atalanta too because Atalanta's best midfielder, Ederson, in my view, he was injured, he was on the bench, but he was injured, not fit to start. And they were also without the prince, Charles de Quetelaire. They lost Lukman in January. They lost Lukman and his replacement at Raspadori wasn't eligible for this game. So you put all those things together. It was a tremendous, tremendous performance. Roll on, Atalanta. Bayan Ewe Kuzin are held at home by Olympiacos, 0-0. But it's okay because they advance thanks to their 2-0 win in the first leg duel. Yeah, it was enough. I mean, this was a poor game. I think Olympiacos could have tried and played for like 10 hours. They would have never scored really. They were never in that kind of position. well controlled game for Hulman and his players and already looking forward to the last 16 it would be Arsenal or Bayern for them in the draw tomorrow imagine a Bayern game which I think would be cool but yeah nothing much more to add I think I don't need to imagine it I saw it last year and it wasn't cool yeah true Bayern demolered them Chelsea and West Ham have been finally combined 625,000 pounds following their brawl at Stamford Bridge Gab yeah and apparently it's a record for the Premier League it's even it's like twice as much remember the battle of the bridge yeah spurs um west ham find a little bit more 325 000 i don't know on what basis i'm sure there's written reasons and justifications i don't want to be too cynical about this i'm i guess they're fining the clubs and then do the clubs then take it out of the players wages do is it case by case how do they decide how it goes i to be honest if you want to cut the stuff out you have to give suspensions you can't just have you can't just have fine yeah um that to me would be much more much more meaningful back to parry saint-germain jewels ashraf akimi will stand trial following an alleged rape in 2023 yeah long investigation three years and it was announced this week that uh there will be a trial he denies any wrongdoing he said that the rape didn't happen at all the girl that went to his house on that night in in Boulogne in the kind of west suburbs of Paris has a strong case according to the prosecution and that's why we have these this trial it's a girl he had met on Instagram exactly yeah Yeah, exactly. And we came during one night in his place. So we see we don't have a date yet of when that will be. It's not the first time that these kind of things happen, but it's not good. It's not good for him. It's not good for football. It's not good for PSG. It's not a good look. And justice has to be done. Again, you know, Hakimi said he didn't anything wrong the girl said that he did we will have a trial and justice has to be done yeah and i also hope they also come up with an explanation just about because justice delayed is justice denied so why the investigation took so long took so long um you know you would think rape kit statements witnesses uh she took a uber there i believe or taxi there and then she got a friend and she called a friend to go and pick her up. You know, it's not like there were too many other people that you have to track down in terms of witnesses. Yeah, yeah. All 20 Premier League clubs have met their profit and sustainability rules requirements. Gab, are you impressed? Yeah, well, I guess it's good news because nobody's getting docked points, but we should point out that Villa, Everton, and Chelsea, so they're women's clubs to themselves, and that's something which UEFA doesn't allow. So this is not an issue that's going to go away. I think it's pretty ridiculous that you can sell an asset to yourself. They had the chance to close the loophole. But basically what happened is because Chelsea did it, then now the other clubs say, oh, well, this is a way that we can generate money out of nowhere. I think the fact that on this front that they're out of line with UEFA certainly isn't a good thing for the clubs that play in Europe. Marcelo Gallardo or Gachardo as he likes to call himself in Argentina has left River Plate Jules he's had a bumpy ride in the last couple of stints he's only 15 years old what do you see in his future? Yeah tonight is his last game on Thursday after we record this I think it's an incredible story because he has to go the results haven't been great he's obviously a River Plate club legend both as a player from the academy from the area and then also as a manager his first stint. This is his second stint. The first stint was incredible. They won 14 titles over like eight seasons or something like that including the Libertadores obviously And then he left he went to saudi arabia i think didn work out he came back he was in saudi arabia for not a long time and he was at uh al-itihad yeah with benzema yeah yeah i think didn't really go well there came back i think with a lot of hopes and ambitions and it's just not as good as in the first thing really despite spending quite a lot of money in the last two years or so he's he didn't lose that that many games, but he drew as many as he wants. So that's not good enough. Really, they didn't even make it to the Libertadores as in qualifying for that. So it's a shame because I don't think anybody would want him to go. He has to go because the results are not good. But everybody was so sad when he announced and himself included. I mean, his press conference on Monday was heartbreaking. If you want to go and check it out, he's almost crying saying that, you know, he's going because he has to, because the results are not there. The team is not responding to what he wants. He can't really find the solutions because he's such a legend there he's got a statue at the monumental so um it's it's really sad because sometimes when a manager goes or is psyched fans are happy usually you know in this case they're not they're not happy they know it has to happen but they're really not happy about it so what i find fascinating is you go back six seven years um you know he was as hot as any manager in the world at the risk of being eurocentric you know and he was linked with a number of clubs in Europe, he basically always said no. He could easily have gone over. I'm not saying he would have walked into Real Madrid or Manchester United, but who knows? But he could have certainly gone that next year down, killed it, and then... I've had people question, oh, why didn't he, you know, he lacks the bottle for a... doesn't feel he's ready, blah, blah, blah, which I think, again, is a pretty Eurocentric view here to have. I wonder now if he feels that his next step is going to be in Europe just to try it because he showed that he's willing to do something different by going to Saudi, right? And he can't coach anywhere else, I think, in South America anyway. He won't go back to Saudi. Maybe MLS at some point, even in between Argentina and South America and Europe, maybe. I wouldn't be surprised if he was going to MLS. I mean, forever, he would obviously be the manager who won the Copa Libertadores with River Plate against Boca Juniors in that final. The greatest game in their history. He won it. So, at least he will always have that. But yeah, the second stint is a bit disappointing to be fair. Gab, it's been nearly 40 months since Manchester City were charged by the Premier League and 15 months since the hearing actually concluded and the panel went to deliberate on the verdict. Any idea why is it taking so long? Not only do I not have, well I have an idea, I have speculation. I've spoken to, I have a story coming up later today, I've spoken to a whole bunch of different people. Mostly football lawyers but also people at clubs and whatever and none of them have any idea. Because this is what you call a black box hearing. so this whole thing when you take a step back it's completely absurd that it's taking this long the most often cited explanations are that the case is really really complicated and they have to take time to make their written reasons bulletproof so that you know they're not thrown out on appeal whether city appeal or the Premier League appeals but come on that doesn't mean it takes 15 months far more complicated you know uh disciplinary hearings involving trade arbitration stuff like that all this stuff gets resolved uh the other explanation is that they didn't think it was going to take this long and these guys the three people on the panel who by the way we don't know who they are the judges know one of them the only rules is that one of them is illegal is a lawyer but we don't know their names which again is another i think absurdity but that is how the rules were set up that's what was accepted by the parties but the other argument is these guys have day jobs and they agreed a certain amount of compensation from the Premier League to deliberate, but presumably it's not that much. Maybe it's even a fixed fee. It's all mysteries. And at some point, they probably have to go and pay the bills. So they have other work that they need to do. And so they have scheduling conflicts. It's a complete absurdity. I love the fact that nobody knows. They'll repeat these same two things I just told you because they seem the most plausible. I wonder if in the back of my mind, there isn't some super... The logical thing here would be to reach some sort of settlement, like a plea bargain. But that's extremely difficult to do, and I'm pretty sure that that's not what's going on, A, because the window to do it has passed. The window would have been after the charges. And B, because clubs are so leaky that we would have found out, not from City or the Premier League, but we would have found out from one of the many other clubs. UEFA reportedly ready to back FIFA's expansion of the Club World Cup to 48 teams. Jules, I guess more big European clubs making more big FIFA money. How could they possibly say no? That's true. So what, from 24 to 48? Is that right? Yeah. It's twice the fun. Twice the fun. I mean, will it last twice long as well? Because it felt already long at the end of a long season and before another long season. I'm not sure where you fit it. It's not going to be any longer than the 2026 World Cup, Jules. True. Where can you play even then? 48 teams. Brazil's a very big country. Yeah, USA as well. But there's not that many countries. let's go to Qatar again hey it's not that too hot in the summer is it? I don't know like this is blowing my mind how you can have even more teams more players playing more games so the argument was that UEFA were going to stand up to them because obviously there's no love lost between Cheffrin and Johnny at the same time Johnny's working on his re-election Cheffrin as well? well yeah yes or no hasn't decided yet will he won't leave you know neither one is really spoiling for a fight right now because they have other things to do and ultimately from uefa's perspective the clubs want to do this so the clubs want to make more money so they can pay more players and i think the next one to fall is going to be the limit of two of two per country right yeah they're gonna say oh hey this is stupid why is it two per country well that would change you can't have that roof with 48 teams well why not I mean you could what club are you going to get then if you already have two I mean I suppose you could what start going like two Swiss teams I've got nothing against Switzerland football well there was only one French team at the last one yeah true you could go to two French teams yeah okay well yeah but there was two of everything else in the big countries I mean so like you can't devalue the competition by having more teams though you need teams of the similar caliber to the one you had before exactly which is why which is why certainly that will have to go i'm wondering if they'll have the intermediate step of three teams or just go to cut straight to the chase go to four or just hey look the premier league has six big yeah there's a big six the premier let's have them all chuck and villa and newcastle as well while we're at it clubs in argentina have announced that they will go on strike in two weeks time gab why are they doing this this is such a bizarre story so the background to this is the guy who runs the argentina phase a guy named claudio tapia who is kind of slightly lefty slightly old school in the sense as you know the clubs in argentina are they're not set up as businesses they're set up as clubs like in europe we'd be familiar with barcelona around madrid um a lot of clubs want to which means they they can't really attract outside investment a lot of clubs want to change this uh or a number of clubs want to change this including of course famously independiente with veron which is why you had all that nonsense before i'm the current president of argentina uh javier millay being a big free market guy he wants to change it tapia does not they had this back and forth tapia has now been accused of misappropriating social security contributions and he's been called to to testify he's been barred from leaving the country. And Tapia is saying, wait, I'm being essentially persecuted because I disagree with the government, with Millet. This is weaponized justice. And out of solidarity, the players have called a strike. Will it be every team? Because obviously some teams don't like Tapia. I don't know. But this is a perfect example of where politics should not be in sport at all. Frightening scenes in Mexico earlier this week following the killing of reputed drug kingpin El Mencho. Violence erupted all across the country. Jules, FIFA say they're in touch with the government and everything's going to be fine. Are you as confident as they are? Not really. I mean, I don't know much about drug cartels in Mexico and things like that. But if you're not just from a fans point of view, but first of all, from the team, the countries who are due to play there, scheduled to play there. You're seeing this, and I know this is only February, and it's a long time to go between the start of the World Cup in June, but that has to worry you massively. If you're the FA of, to be fair, I didn't look on who's supposed to play there in Mexico at the start of the World Cup. Mexico have a friendly against Iceland. Yeah, exactly. More importantly, I think... Is Portugal playing there or something like that? the the inter-confederation playoff is happening in guadalajara yeah in a couple weeks they've got tennis tournament right now in mexico as well but it's also like this guy was from the streets the the state of jalisco which is where puerto vallarta is and it's near guadalajara as well so there was concern there i mean like i said neither one of us is an expert but from what what we do know is president mexico claudia scheinbaum gave assurances and what I'm told often happens in these situations is twofold. One is gang members who are affiliated with the cartel, they will create trouble, start trouble to kind of vent their anger and show that they're still in charge. And other gangs, because it's not like this guy was like the boss of all of Mexico. He was like a regional boss, the biggest one, but he was. Others are acting up to try to perhaps gain control. So it's something that hopefully will pass, that hopefully can be managed. But worst comes to worst, I think if FIFA need to move the Inter-Confederation playoff, they will. Gab, FanFest have been fixtures of World Cup since Germany 2006, but it's not clear how many there will be that this summer's World Cup. No, that's right. It's all over the place. There's funding problems with the one in Miami, in Foxborough, which is where FIFA calls it Boston, but it's not. It's Foxborough. It's a different place. There's still an issue where there's like a funding gap to provide security. And then one of the biggest ones is going to be in Jersey City, just across from Manhattan at Liberty State Park. That's now been scrapped. They sold tickets. People will be refunded. It's interesting, the reaction. There's a certain type of football fan, especially from this country, who makes fun of FanFest saying that, oh, beer's overpriced, it's all corporate and everything, which it is. i'll just go into a bar like okay fine but if you've got kids if you're not 21 if you don't drink if you're muslim you may not want to go into a bar and watch the game so i think the fan fest actually have an important role um to play for for a lot of people and part of the issue here is that again has to do with how you pay for these these places essentially they're large outdoor spaces they have big screens they have concessions um they have expensive drinks and they have corporate sponsors. And because you, in your local fan fest, if you want to organize one in your city, you have to get sponsors, but they can't clash with FIFA sponsors. That's how they run into trouble. That's why they're having trouble paying for these. I think it's a real shame. They may be corporate. Yeah, me too. It's not my bag, but having been to them, I know, and having, we've both met a lot of fans in the World Cups. They're really popular with people who don't know what to do otherwise. no and they can't just all go to a bar and drink the way I've heard some of our colleagues say not everybody does that Jules this brings us to an end but we gotta come back on Monday because it's the magic of the FA Cup no it's not this weekend Arsenal Chelsea the Classica those are big games you know this weekend in Europe Borussia Dortmund can he bounce back watch his face until then love the game love your neighbor love yourself Bye.
