Gab & Juls Show: Farewell Mo Salah?

21:53Julien Laurens:So, I'm not sure this is a week off for everyone which I think a lot of managers will welcome and players but this was quite worrying I thought. Takes a late penalty won and committed by Harry Kane for Bayern to avoid defeat at home to bottom of the table Mainz. Gab, what went wrong? I don't think this is that deep in terms of over analysis. They had 4.24 expected goals. They created a ton of chances against the team that went there set up to defend and he didn't take them. And when you don't take them, you find yourself in that situation. That guy, Pulaski, who gave away the penalty, also scored a goal.

22:28Leonard Carl scoring again. It's a bit special, a bit exciting. And then, yeah, the shirt pull on Kane leaves you no choice. I don't think you're concerned about the record. I don't think you should be concerned about the record. You're nine points clear at the top of the table. Move on, and soon you'll have your break. Rafinha scores twice, and Barcelona defeated Osasuna. 2-0. Jules, I'm guessing you will say you're not impressed.

22:53Julien Laurens:It was one of those games again where they were so superior to the opposition. I think the expected goal is super high. I thought Lamine looked great again. But they don't take many of those chances. It's the goals that you score. I mean, the first one is in transition. Okay, great. The second one, you'll be lucky. And defensively, you look a bit shaky at times, obviously, again, for the same reason that we mention all the time. They got very lucky with the disallowed goal because it could have been 1-1 because the guy gets pushed into Joan Garcia by Eric Garcia. By Eric Garcia, yeah, in his mask.

23:27Julien Laurens:But they were still very, very, they're still superior to Osasuna without a problem. But it's just, they're not easy wins for them. It won't advise people who deal in stereotypes that Osasuna's coach is Italian and set up with the super catinacho to end all super catinacho. Chelsea rolled past Everton, turned the last time for Bridge to Gab, why is Maresca so grumpy and talking about the worst 48 hours of his life since joining the club? I have an idea but this is a memo to my last guy look you I thought you played reasonably well every time a tough out by the way the guy O 'Brien I was at the game the guy O 'Brien the guy who was at Lyon last year two years ago he's enormous I've never seen him in person but he looks like he looks like a he looks like a tight end in football but he's got like big arms big head and he moves pretty well yeah he's a discipline But when you go out and you say, somebody's not supporting me.

24:23This is the worst 48 hours. If you don't want to name them, you have to do it in such a way that everybody understands WTF you're talking about. Here, what is it? Is it the players? Is it the fans? Is it Todd Boley? Is it Bedad? Is it all these things? And this just leads to more speculation. Some people might feel targeted as a result. I mean, he specified, no, no, the fans are great. But then again, I don't know. Are you being sarcastic? I don't know. Right? So this is not good communication. And so you do so many things well. You normally communicate well. This is not one of those examples.

24:58Aston Villa come from behind twice away to West Ham as Morgan Rogers bags two goals. Second one, I thought, magnificent. They win 3-2 and go up to third in the table. Nine wins on the bounce in all competition. Ten wins in their last 11 in the league. Jules, I'm going to come out and say it because you know my thoughts on Unai Emery. he looks like a vampire this is Voodoo

25:20Julien Laurens:how are they so good? yeah I mean they're not if you looked at all the expected underlying metrics they're not that good but they certainly are winning all those games and in this game they were behind twice came back every time they've got a decent squad so they've got options off the bench he rotates really well between Europe and the league and they've got I think this amazing momentum and confidence that carries them even when they're not playing well. Like, they didn't play well yesterday at all. But they found a way, and they won again, man. So, Viktor Lindelof, he made an appearance yesterday.

25:55I remember who that was. So, obviously in the summer, they brought in 10 players over the summer. The one who's played the most in the league is Guisson, and he ranks 14th for minutes played. That means he's doing it. He's taken the guys he had before and made them, I think, made them better. It's not easy to do.

26:13Julien Laurens:Nottingham Forest destroyed Tottenham 3-0. Gab another setback for the man with the two first names. Yeah, and I'm getting a little bit tired of this. And you can look at this and you can say, oh, look, you know, individual error from Archie Gray for one goal. The other one, you know, Hudson-Odoi didn't mean it. And the third one is an absolute worldie from Sangare, who, you know, I don't mean to disrespect for Nottingham Forest and two European Cups, but I think could make any club in England just about better. That said, they were so bad outside of it. Take the goals out of this game finishing nil-nil.

26:49You still laid a really, really big turd on there. And also this time, they also look so lackadaisical as well. You know, Romero, Kuti, the Warrior, Van de Veen. No, these guys were really, really push. Ed Spence, he says there's no quick fix. Yeah. And it's kind of ironic when you're playing a team that are on their third manager of the season and have turned it around with a quick fix. So not good from Thomas. Juventus make it five wins in six as Juan Cabal, of all people, gives him three points away to Bologna. Jules Paletti says it's the most important victory

27:25Julien Laurens:since coming to the club. Yeah, and that might be true, first of all, because Bologna were above them in the table. So you win, you overtake them in the table because also Milan dropped points because Napoli dropped points ahead of you. Okay, they are a bit clearer than you, but still it was probably the weekend where you had to win Inter 1. So it's not like everything when you're away, but pretty much everything else when you're away, apart from the Inter result. So I'm held by the fact that Bologna went down to 10 for the last 25 minutes or so, that Jonathan David was still not very good. But it's a big win.

28:01It's a really big win, I think, for him. And it was important too, coming off a really bad performance against Bafos. Not a good one against Napoli either. Two straight defeats. I thought they played really well against a good opponent.

28:14Julien Laurens:Sticking with Juventus, Gab, the Agnelli family has turned down an offer from minority shareholders, Tether, that value the club at 1.1 billion euros. For those who don't know, Tether, they're a cryptocurrency outfit based in El Salvador. They specialize in stablecoin, but they have 11.3 % of the club. The weird thing about this is it values the club at 1.1 billion, which you can go and debate, But how vehemently they came out. John Elkano normally doesn't get involved. He comes out and he's wearing a Juve hoodie rather than normally wears a suit. And he's standing in front of the historic bench at the Juve Museum, I think, where the club was actually founded in 18-whatever.

28:54He pointed out that it's been in his family for 100 years. And the club's not for sale. This felt like a rallying cry. it also leaked that they were unaware that Tether had made this offer. That's your minority partner. So I find that a little bit hard to believe. I'm wondering if this whole thing was orchestrated just to give the team a boost and show some pride. Louis-Henrique sends out the B team ahead of Paris Saint-Germain's trip to Qatar and they win 3-2 away the Mets. Jules, nice to see Desiree Dwayne get a whole 45 minutes.

29:27Julien Laurens:Yeah, it's good. He came on in the Champions League in big week and was very good in that game at Bilbao. He scored this time when there was no, forget about race defense from Mets on that goal. It's the classic thing, right? A counterattack off an attacking corner, which should never happen. Yeah, that's what I mean. No race defense at all from Mets' point of view. And that's really weird, but a good goal from him. Let's hope that he can stay fit now for a bit longer than the last time that he was fit because that didn't last long. And from a PSG point of view, they considered two goals and they should have done better.

29:58Julien Laurens:The one is a very good finish. But they were already, I think, thinking about the Intercontinental Cup in midweek. And the league, as we know, is not that important for them right now. Is it still PSG when there's only three starters? That is the existential question. Inter beat Genoa 2-1 to go top of Serie A. Gabby got a bit hairy in the second half, though. It did, but I'm okay with that because they were 2-0 up and they continued attacking. Ballon d 'Or, Lautaro, again showing... The guy plays with so much intensity. The first goal early from Jan Bisse it comes because he sprints to keep the ball in play.

30:33The second one, he goes and he just body checks the defender out of the way. I absolutely love for a little guy. And then just viciously unloads in the net. They had a couple of the, obviously, no Chalinoglu in midfield. They still made it work. Genoa, tough out. I'm good. They deserve to be top of the table. And Nick Voltemata, own goal, gives Sunderland the edge over Newcastle in the Tynan where Darby, Jules. Sunderland aren't going away.

31:00Julien Laurens:It's even the wear and tie derby when he's hosted in Sunderland. Oh, really? They flip it around? Yeah. Don Hutchinson told me that last week. I didn't know either. First derby in nine years, pretty much in nine years, in the league, because they played in the Cup in 2024. And Newcastle housed them as ever. Yeah, and then Sunderland trolled them yesterday with a photo in front of the fans. Obviously, everything you expected from that kind of derby in terms of intensity and physicality, it's just that one team responded better to it. That was Sunderland. Then Newcastle, I was disappointed by their performance overall.

31:33Julien Laurens:And then Volta Madre with a great header, but in his own goal. Antoine Griezmann backs the winners. Atletico Madrid beat Valencia 2-1 on Saturday, Gab. Not quite a vintage performance from Atletico, though. No, and it's more confusion. Valencia are not good. Valencia just chucked out the kids. They have no money. It was interesting because the other goal in this game came from Coquet. And this was the season you would have thought that Coquet and Griezmann were going to slightly fade out of the picture, right? Instead, you need them to kind of stay in touch with the top four in a game like this.

32:08Griezmann's goal. The first touch is incredible. Timing and touch. That doesn't go away with age. I think he's got, I think Cholo has a lot to go and think about if he takes a break this Christmas. And first of all, what's wrong with Julian Alvarez? Because he's disappearing. In today's world, planning ahead isn't always top of mind. but not having life insurance can leave families facing difficult financial uncertainty during already emotional times. In many cases, loved ones are left managing expenses, debts, or long-term obligations without a clear plan in place. Life insurance is one of those ways to help provide financial security and support when it's needed most.

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33:26That's E-T-H-O-S dot com slash sports. Application times and rates may vary. O 'Reilly Auto Parts can help take the guesswork out of your vehicle's check engine, ABS, or maintenance light with O 'Reilly Veriscan. The service is free and provides a report with solutions verified by ASE certified master technicians. Ask for O 'Reilly Veriscan today. Joe Bellingham gets sent off and Borussia Dortmund have to play man down for nearly the entire second half but they hang on for a 1-1 draw at Freiburg as Lucas Holler scores a world. We saw some great goals this weekend. This isn't going to be number one and you'll see why later for me at least.

34:08Julien Laurens:But this is and Freiburg were very good in that second half with 11 men obviously against 10 and Dortmund were good at the end of the first half 11 against 11. Gervaisi looked sharp We know there's a bit of a tension with Kovac on when he plays and doesn't play, et cetera, et cetera. I thought he did well. I guess you're happy because you got a point with, you know, with 10 men for 15 minutes or so. But, again, you were in the lead and you got pegged back, and I don't think that's good enough from them. Oh, you mean to Uncle Nico again? No, I'm just saying, you know. And you didn't celebrate. I thought you were going to celebrate Holder's goal more.

34:43Julien Laurens:No, it's a great over-head kick. I love it. Flick and then come on. Yeah, no, it's good. It's really good. I love it when no name scores goals like that. It's 32. Yeah. Milan, Lustavs point in Serie A. They're held at home by Sassuolo 2-2. Gabo's an allegory supposed to tie up the defense. Yeah, this is the stuff that annoys me, right? So he talks about how, well, you know, our defenders lack the perception of danger. Now, when you concede goals to lesser teams at home, and by the way, this season Milan have played, everybody they've played at home except for the three promoted sides. They lost to Cremonese, they drew with Pisa, not drew this, right?

35:25When you concede goals, when you're a much better team, and you concede goals against a lesser team, it's usually one of the, correct me if I'm wrong, it's usually one of these things. It's either transition or it's a set piece or it's an individual error, right? There's no real other ways that you're going to concede goals against or it's somebody shooting from 30 yards out, right?

35:45Julien Laurens:Yeah. In this game, Both Sassuolo goals come from one-twos in the box. When Milan have their whole, to use a basketball term, they have their whole kind of like half-court set out there. They're all standing there. Bro, that's on you. This isn't perception of danger. You know there's danger. You know you're ready. That has got to be frustrating. Davide Bertisagi scoring two goals. Both of Milan's old. Not bad for a left-back. Let's take it easy on the new Maldini stuff, because he's already like about three years behind Maldini, even though he's only, I think, 19 years old or 20. But, yeah, this is the stuff.

36:21You've had a whole week to prepare for this. You should be working better on this. Mason Greenwood pops up with a late winner to give Marseille the win over Monaco. Joseph, I had this on. So I had Real Madrid, obviously, on one screen. I had the Eagles on another screen. I had the Juve game on another screen. And I had this on the other screen. Every time I looked up, I thought, Monika are going to score. Monika are going to score. Maybe I just looked up at the wrong times.

36:50Julien Laurens:No, no, no, no. I mean, looking from Paige this morning on Monday morning is a miracle at the Velodrome because this win was miraculous from a Marseille point of view. I mean, outside of Greenwood and Rulli, Rulli made some incredible saves. On Minamino, for example, a couple of times, Greenwood scored another great goal, but through the whole game, he was so dangerous. If you take them out, the rest was so average from a Marseille point of view with Monaco were really good. Flo Balogun played great, scored one goal that was distilled for an offside that was fair. However, the other goal that Monaco scored from La Min Camara should have never, in my eyes, should have never been distilled.

37:27Julien Laurens:It's a similar incident that we had in the Arsenal Wolves game with Saka leading to the corner for the first Arsenal goal. Balogun is in the box, but doesn't touch the ball, doesn't interfere at all, and the referee gives offside on him. which I thought was really, really harsh, really unfair. And for Monaco, they deserved at least a point in that game at the Velodrome. They didn't. The ninth, Marseille at third. Marseille had to win because both PSG and Lens won. So it's good, especially before the winter break. But it was a bit, it was really unfair on Monaco, I thought. Napoli, Folaudinez, they got two defeats in four days now.

38:01Julien Laurens:Who is Conte blaming now? No, his old friends. Injuries and fatigue. Fatigue, yeah. Because, of course, they had to play in midweek. away to Benfica, so they're tired. Look, he's right. De Bruyne is not there. Andre Frank Zambonguisa is not there. Billy Gilmore is not there. La Volca is only just coming back. He's got to somehow make it work with McTominay and Elif Elmas in central midfield. Elif Elmas, wonderful player, but not really central midfield. Now, he does have some kids who we talk about are supposed to be really good. Vergara and stuff. Maybe play these guys once in a while. maybe see if they can do something rather than just go and put it all on intensity, whatever.

38:45I think we need to give credit to Udinese too, because I saw they played really well. And Napoli just looked flat. Like, bro, the reality is you have the bigger squad now, right? And you can't just keep showing like, you know, Lukaku's not coming through that door, although he'll be back soon. Hoyland, by the way, one of his worst performances.

39:06Julien Laurens:Nothing for him at all. Maybe worse performance since he wore the United shirt. Yeah, maybe. Bayer Leverkusen become on two now, but Jules, never mind that. Tell me about Martin Thierry's scorpion kick. Absolutely. Remember the Olivier Giroud goal for Arsenal against Crystal Palace on that New Year's Day in 2015 or so? Or the René Guita save. Or the René Guita save. But this time the cross comes from the other side than the Giroud goal, if you think. The ball at that time came from the left. This time it comes from the right. behind Thierry, who then like hit him with his heel basically over his head into the goal.

39:41Julien Laurens:It's an incredible goal for somebody like him who had had so much bad luck with injuries since he joined by Leverkusen from Rennes. He was a wonderful player back in Ligue 1 and then that obviously has stopped massively or slowed down massively his progress and his development. But that's the goal is a reminder that he's a very talented player. How old is he now? Can he get back to where? I'd say 28 maybe. I need to double check. But yeah, it's a shame. Yeah, but that's a wonderful goal. Yeah, more than half the Premier League clubs have gambling sponsors on the front of their shirts this season, but they won't be able to do that from next season.

40:15That's right. They voluntarily decided that, oh, no, no, no more gambling sponsorships on the front of the shirts. Although, hey, you can keep your corporate bookmaker partner and you can keep the sponsorship on the sleeve. Yeah. It's just kind of tacky when you see that, you know, 862 or the other one, Man Bet, which reminded me of Grindr, that some people had. Part of the issue here, and I'm not making fun of these bookmakers, is there's this concept called White Label, which is bookmakers conform to certain regulations. A lot of these other bookmakers do not. They market solely to certain countries, not the UK.

40:57they do pay a lot more and by the way they get around a lot of advertising restrictions in their home countries because if I'm on the front of Team XYZ's shirt and they show the game on television and people can see my logo and they know who I am and I don't need to spend on advertising they voluntarily took the step because they probably figured rightly so that the government was going to crack down on this it's a difficult relationship They have certain clubs, as we know, are in the news now for some links between ownership and betting. I don't know. I know they pay more than traditional sponsors.

41:38But by the same token, I think you have to ask to what degree is this worth it? All this talk of Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille and Monaco. how about instead we hail the Ligue 1 winter champions our boy Joseph Ogurlian

41:55Julien Laurens:not all about the big boys that's true Gav lost won again this weekend against Nice 2-0 at the Stade Bollard which they bought by the way it was not their stadium it was the the city stadium I don't know how you say it in English municipality stadium yeah so they bought that well done to Joseph for that it's something that he wanted to do for a very long time. It had, which means you can develop the way you want. The money comes to you and you don't have to pay rent, for example, to the city. And by the way, that stadium does not look like a French stadium. It looks like one of those like traditional, like English, old school championship stadiums.

42:31Julien Laurens:Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. And again, they were not that great. They didn't have to be that great. Nisa, in terrible form. Stop picking on Jim Ratcliffe. Yeah, no, it's true. But Autun Edouard with two goals to keep them at the top. They were under pressure because PSG had won, obviously, the night before. So they are winter champions for the first time in a very long time. And with only the league to play for, really, and I guess the French Cup, but the league to play for in the second half of the season, they're saying, hey, why not keeping this for as long as possible? So good for them. Who has a better chance of winning the league?

43:06Lons or Aston Villa? I know you're going to say neither has a good chance.

43:10Julien Laurens:No, no, no. I think both of them are very much in the title race. But if you can only back one, Lons. Yeah, because they don't play in Europe where Villa would go far in the Europa League, obviously. So I think it might be tricky at some point for Villa to play in all those competitions, whereas for Lens, it's just the league, basically. Time for some madness, Gav. Lazio go down to nine men against Parma and still manage to score and win 1-0. So, yeah, it's pretty remarkable. They say playing 10 v 9 is difficult. Okay, fine. Sorry, 11 v 10 is difficult. playing 11 v 9 should not be difficult at all because it literally means that somebody is always open, right?

43:50Your goalkeeper is in goal. And yet they get caught in transition, they fall asleep, and Nauslin scoring the goal. Now, here's the fun fact for you. Have you seen this before? No, never. A team 9 against 11?

44:04Julien Laurens:9 against 11 and scoring the goal. You know who has seen it before? And who has been a part of it before? Alessio Romagnoli played for Lazio in this game, and he played the only other time it's ever happened in Serie A. Back in 2017, he was playing for Milan, when Milan, then coached by Vincenzo Montella, came back and did the same thing, 9v11, keep up alive. Yeah. If you've shopped online, chances are you've bought from a business powered by Shopify. You know that purple ShopPay button you see at checkout? The one that makes buying so incredibly easy? That's Shopify. And there's a reason so many businesses sell with it.

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45:20It's why Shopify has the best converting checkout on the planet. Your customers already love it. If you want to see less carts being abandoned, it's time for you to head over to Shopify. Sign up for your$1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com slash network. Go to shopify.com slash network. Shopify.com slash network. I like things my way. My coffee, my schedule, and my treatment. So I talked to my doctor about self-injecting with the Vivgard Hytrulo Pre-Filled Syringe, which contains F-Gartigamide Alpha and Hyaluronidase QVFC. It's injected under your skin subcutaneously. It means I can inject in my space on my time.

46:05It's my treatment, my way. Visit vivgartmyway.com. That's V-Y-V-G-A-R-T myway.com. And talk to your doctor about Vivgart Hattrulo. Brought to you by Argenics. More madness, Jules. Seven goals, four red cards. Oxxair against Lille was something else.

46:23Julien Laurens:Yeah, it was Oxxair's anniversary, 120 years of existence for the club. And it was a great occasion. To be fair, it was a cruel defeat for them. They lost 4-3 in this crazy, crazy game. and they probably deserved better than that really heartbreaking defeat. But it was just everything that you could have seen, two records at the set for players fighting with each other. So first two raids, one for each team at the same time, goals galore from 1-0 to Lille, then 1-1, then 2-1, then 2-2, then 3-2 for Lille, 3-3, then Lille scored 4-3. it was just incredible the third and fourth red cards coming late in the second half it was just two penalties just incredible stuff.

47:10I know Giroud was watching from wherever he is right now probably high above us I wonder if that that little rain that came down I wonder if that was just a little tear trickling down his cheek.

47:22Julien Laurens:Let's talk World Cup now Footballer Supporters Europe says that fans are being betrayed by high prices but this one is a bit different here. Yes, obviously when do football supporters organizations ever say, yeah, these prices are fair. We like them. No way. They're too low. But I think this offers some insight because we hear a lot about the dynamic pricing, fans being ripped off, blah, blah, blah. This is different because at every World Cup game, 16 % of the tickets are split between the two teams. So they're not being sold via the lottery or via FIFA.com. You get them from your own national association.

47:59And those are the fans, by the way. If you're a wonder at a World Cup, why isn't it a bunch of Qatari, well, Qatari in the case of Qatar, but why are there fans from these countries actually there in Qatar or whatever? It's not that they go and buy the tickets randomly. They get the tickets from the Federation because those are 8%. Those are the guys you generally see behind the goals where they're more visible on television, they're more colorful. So, obviously, these are rank-and-file supporters. They're people who follow their teams everywhere and they're supposed to get subsidized tickets.

48:28Well, we don't know what some of the major federations are going to, and major federations say they're not making any money off this. They're passing on whatever they get them from FIFA for, they're passing them on. But Croatia's leaked and cheapest ticket to watch Croatia. If you get your ticket via the Croatian interface,$265. And that's for Cat 3 going up to$500 or$700. dollars. Now, I don't want to be moralistic about it, but the fans who are behind the goal, who add color to the game, this is what makes the World Cup. We should go out of our way to make sure that they're there, that they're bringing the color and they're bringing the atmosphere.

49:16I'm easier on dynamic pricing because I know that in the end, it's FIFA keeps saying, well, but all the cost of the tickets, blah, blah, blah, ends up going to the 211 member federations. I don't, I accept that. And I accept the fact that most people who go to a World Cup are very wealthy people.

49:36And that's fine. I get that. However, in this case, that 8%, FIFA should take another look at this. It should go out of their way to make sure that these people, these are the people who buy tickets to watch the national team. These are the people who travel away with the national team. vast majority of these people come from countries where the cost of living is much much lower than the US it's already expensive for them to be there for you to then gouge them$265 for cat three ticket when they are the reason people and it's such a big TV spectacle whatever I that's just wrong I would expect the federations to band together and say you know we want our fans there it's only 8 % of the tickets or 16 % in total for each game let's negotiate a better deal because I agree with football supporters this time.

50:24They are being betrayed on this point. Estudiantes are champions of Argentina, Jules, and they did it in the most dramatic fashion. Last-ditch equalizer followed by penalties. And that injury time equalizer, by the way, coming from a familiar face.

50:41Julien Laurens:Exactly. Guido Carillo who used to play for Monaco won the title obviously that incredible season when they went fine in the Champions League as well with Falcao and a very young Kylian Mbappe is going in the 91st or 92nd minutes to come back 1-1 away at Racing. By the way, by the way, in case you weren't listening to Jules, a very young Kylian Mbappe, you're talking about what, six, seven years ago. You're not talking about the time they went even further in the Champions League because that was in 2004. Guido Carrillo's old, but he's not that old. No, no, no. That was 10 years ago. He's 33, so Carrillo was 33.

51:13Julien Laurens:Kylian was 17. But that's when they reached the semifinal, if I remember, right? Yeah, and they won the title in 2016-17. So yeah, that long ago, but still there. The goalkeeper for Estudiantes, Muslera, obviously the former Gata Sarai and Uruguay International, who saved the penalty in the shootout. Now they play. So this was the Clausura tournament, if you want. And they will play against Platens to be the super champions on December 20th because you can be super champions in Argentina. But they haven't won a title for a very long time. So well done, Estudiantes and Juan Sebastián Veyron, of course, who is the president of the club.

51:45And I wonder, though, will they then go and play, was it Rosario, who won the other Fugazi thing?

51:54Julien Laurens:Yeah, that they want to do the Guard of Honor for. Exactly. Talking about finals, there was obviously the Liga MX final between Tigres and Toluca with Andre Pierginiak, that also finished in dramatic fashion on penalty, etc. Betra and Toluca won that after the second leg on last night it was. So well done to both Toluca and Estudiantes for the titles. I feel Gignac went to Mexico like 10 years ago. I know, 40 now. He's won five titles. He would have been his sixth title. How old is he now? 40. He scored the first goal. I mean, first goal. It's a deflected free kick that goes in. Toluca, who I think have been the better team anyway, better than Tigre overall the season, not just in this game, or even over the two legs.

52:39Julien Laurens:but yeah it was very tense as you would expect obviously. And I assume he's still gigantic and one footed Yeah I think that's fair to say My boy is PSG first Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup on Wednesday night in Qatar Gab remind everybody why they're getting another chance to call themselves world champions What since they screwed up the last one against Chelsea? Let Chelsea win Yeah so this is going to seem weird to people and this is the reason all those guys were arrested. Luis Enrico cares about these trophies. So basically FIFA had signed a longer term contract for this competition, which was the Club World Cup until very recently where you get the winner of the continental title in each confederation.

53:27And many, many years ago they used to go to Japan and they've been going to the Gulf since. The thing is FIFA have a contract with these people and there's stadiums there that they need to fill. So FIFA decided, no, no, let's have a Club World Cup in the summer in the U.S. It's going to be great. Oh, what do we do about this other thing, which we also call Club World Cup? I don't know. Let's rename it Intercontinental Cup since we can't scrap it because we have a contract. And so we get to give out more trophies, more bling. And that's essentially what it becomes because you have a playoff between two of the kind of crummy teams And then the European winner only plays one game, the final, which is what they're going to play against Flamengo.

54:10But then I find this fascinating. You have the CONCACAF champion against a Commonwealth champion. They win the Derby of the Americas Cup. You have the African-Asian Pacific Cup because just in case Auckland manage to beat somebody, they don't. They lost 3-0, I think, to Al-Ajli or Pyramids. Anyway, Pyramids beat Al-Azli 3-1. Pyramids, of course, as the name implies, are from Egypt. Where else? Where else were Pyramids? I suppose it could be from Mexico. It's pretty, yeah. Yeah. And then that sets up the Challenger Cup between Flamengo and Pyramids. Flamengo beating Pyramids there. And so Flamengo finally reaching the final against the Intercontinental Cup.

54:56You better not screw this up, given everybody's well-rested. I know. I agree. Vin Diesel says he's written Cristiano Ronaldo into the next Fast and Furious movie

55:04Julien Laurens:Jules are you excited? I am Gabby I mean I'm not a big fan I won't lie of the franchise of Fast and Furious and the various spin-offs too what number are we on like 15 or something not counting the spin-offs is Cristiano the baddie or gooddie do you think would he be? I don't know he hasn't told us I don't think he makes a good villain on film I think he's got to be one of the good guys But it's going to be called Fast Forever. Fast Forever. So not him. Ugly scenes in Kolkata, Gava's angry fans stormed the pitch for Lionel Messi's Tour of India. So this is really weird for anybody who has, I think, a normal conception of sports and superstars.

55:48I don't say normal, but a conception that I share. I think that most people, certainly in the West, share. Lino Messi and Cristiano in South Asia obviously they're very popular everywhere but in South Asia there's an element of celebrity and obsession to them that goes far beyond anything you might see in the Americas or in Europe or even in Africa

56:15we saw this when we were in Doha for the World Cup there's a lot of South Asian people there's a lot of south asian people um so he decided his people decide oh go on a tour of of asia where people sell tickets to go and essentially watch you walk around the pitch for 20 minutes waving um in colcata they also unveiled this weird looking 70 foot statue to to messi um so he went and he did that but the problem was there were so many celebrity other celebrities actors politicians hangers on and messi's kind of a little fella but a lot of people couldn't even see him they knew he was there somewhere in the middle of this group of people and some of them had paid a lot of money to be there and they got angry and it led to a riot it's horrible it's not messi's fault people came out and said we fulfill their contractual obligations fine maybe do a bit of research though beforehand because nobody's blaming messi however it led to this situation, which is undoubtedly I think it would have been traumatic for Messi himself.

57:21So let's hope, I think he's got a couple more stops scheduled on the tour. Let's hope that they do this in a slightly better way. If you're some Bollywood actor who I'm sure is just as famous back home as Lionel Messi and you want to hang out with him, that's fine. You don't walk around the pitch with him. Just leave the stage. They're there to see him, not you. Jules, this brings us to an end. But we've got to come back on Thursday because we've got League Cup action we got turn the spotlight to those beloved midweek uh cup competitions i enjoy so much until then love the game love your neighbor love yourself

57:59good energy in good energy out

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