Gab & Juls Show: Pick One: Gyokores, Sesko or Ekitike?

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28:56Julien Laurens:All right, enough United. How about some quick hits instead? Let's go again. Arsenal beat up Fulham 3-0 and moved six points and four goals clear of Manchester City, who have two games in hand, starting with today's away trip to Everton as we record this on a Monday morning. Jules, what a difference a soccer makes, as in Bukayo. Yeah, I'm surprised you didn't put the return of Calafiore as well in the question gap considering, you know, your brothers. Let, let, let, let. Saka's ankle breaker on Raul Jimenez. Ankle breaker in a good sense, not in breaking his ankle, right? On Jimenez. Come on, man.

29:30Julien Laurens:Like this is what they're missing. There's other people who can do what Calafiore does. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, yeah. What Saka does, come on. Majlouis Kelly as well in midfield. That helped. An amazing game. Probably man of the match for me. Was very important. all of that put together with the fact that Fulham were obviously very kind in this game. And Arsenal could have scored more goals. They hit the woodwork twice. They had a goal dissalade. Gokeres could have scored a hat-trick too, a third goal. So it was a very good afternoon from them. That momentum, that energy, the confidence. Some players rested for Tuesday night's game in the Champions League, the semifinal second leg against Atletico.

30:05Julien Laurens:So very good all Saturday afternoon for them. Inter win 2-0 against Parma And become Italian champions for the 21st time As we said earlier, Gab I want you to give some I know you want to give some love, sorry, to Christian Kivu I do, look, there's a school of thought Out there that says, well, who else was going to Win the title? I mean, Napoli had all the injuries Milan have Allegri In the negativity, Juventus changed Managers, Roma had a new manager Who's weird Atalanta obviously end up changing managers Okay, fine, but he actually had to come out and do it. And let's just remind ourselves where Inter were starting from.

30:41Julien Laurens:Did they have the best squad? Yes. They reached the Champions League final twice in the last three years for a reason. But Kivu, who had won, you know how many games he'd won in Serie A? Sorry, as a first team coach in his entire career? He only coached what, 11 or something with Parma? He only won three games. Three wins, seven well, whatever. He won three of 13 games, right? This is his experience. And he gets dropped in there, into this team that, yes, had a lot of great players, but also was an older team. He did it rebuilding a team where Simon Inzaghi just walks out, right, after the Champions League final.

31:16Julien Laurens:A team that had to be rebuilt psychologically because three weeks before the final, they were in the running for trouble, and they threw away Serie A, and they threw away the Coppa Italia. Okay, I'm not going to say they threw away the Champions League final because they got destroyed. But psychologically, that is a massive blow. And to go through this season, you know, missing without your midfield general, Hakan Chalanoglu, for a good third of the year, without Lautaro Martinez for a good third of the year, all these things, without Marcus Turam, who also missed a chunk of time. He started moving the transition forward a little bit, baby steps if you want, but we saw Suchich contributing, we saw Pio Esposito contributing.

32:01Julien Laurens:he acquitted himself well Luis Enrique as well he acquitted himself well I think as a leader, as an image guy he kept the controversy away I think this is tremendous on him he helped Zelensky grow as the season went on and a lot of doubts surrounding him so I think he showed that you know, he's he's done a phenomenal, phenomenal job and yeah sorry about Bodo Glimt, but this was fully fully deserved. No Rafinha, no Laminya Mal and the goals come late for Barcelona away to Alessio Lishi's Osasuna. It finishes 2-1 and Jules, Robert Lewandowski can still head the ball. Yeah, if you give him the time and the space and if you give Marcus Rashford the time and space as well to pick the pass and the cross.

32:48Julien Laurens:It wasn't good at all from Barcelona's point of view and Osasuna a tough team to play against, especially over there in Pamplona because of the way they play and Budimir is so hard to defend against. He hit the post. He could have scored one just after Zoum from long range. Budimir with his Christian Vietti impression in the first half, ripping the high line to shreds. Or they should have gone with his right foot instead of the outside of his left. But they found a way of winning it without being pretty, without being very good anywhere with the ball, especially without those players. As you mentioned, Gabi, and that was the most important.

33:24Julien Laurens:They went there. It was another step towards the title. And there we see the classic corner next week. but no team has ever won the title on a classical, if you see what I mean. So that could be a first. Shout out to Osasuna as well, playing also without Victor Munoz, arguably the best player. Another week, another Bayern comeback in the Bundesliga gab. This time they go 2-0 down against Heidenheim and then 3-2 down too. But Mikel Olisse's magic in the 10th minute of injury time to salvage a part. This is where I get a little bit mystical, Jules. Obviously, they go and they mix it up and play most of the B team again.

33:56Julien Laurens:They don't necessarily care. or Heidenheimer down. But to have this guy that can score in the 10th minute of injury time. Deflected shot right away. Whatever. He shoots from a million yards out and he scores. I mean, if anything, I mean, this makes me think, you know the scene in Pulp Fiction where your namesake jewels, the guy opens fire at him and misses him completely? Doesn't this make you a little bit uneasy if your party says your man or our show at Letico Madrid that there's some magic stardust on Michael Elise's head this year? Certainly, that's a feeling I got. Aston Villa versus Spurs had huge implications, both for the Champions League places and for the relegation fight.

34:35Julien Laurens:Jules, Unai Emery made seven changes from the side that lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest in the Europa League semifinal first leg, and they lost 2-1 to our boy Roberto de Zerbi. Yeah, I mean, well done to Spurs for taking this opportunity. West Ham had lost the day before at Brantford, so they went for it. They were really good with the ball, without the ball. They had a lot of intensity. They were aggressive. everything that Villa Connor Gallagher when you score early like that it helps you massively when that's also part of your you know your game plan but everything that Spurs were Villa were not I thought it was again disgraceful performance from some of those players who had a chance to play because they don't play much like Jadon Sancho or Ross Barkley who I thought were appalling really Villa had no shot in the first hour they had one touch in the Spurs box for the first 70 minutes or something.

35:26Julien Laurens:It was really embarrassing. In front of your own fans, for your, not your last home game of the season, but your second from last, they only have one last game at home against Liverpool. I thought it was really, really embarrassing from them. But good for the Zerbe, back-to-back wins. Let's not forget, it took Ruben Amorim 11 months to get back-to-back league wins for United. Roberto de Zerbe, in a very different context, did it. And for me, there's no way back now for West Ham, who play Arsenal next weekend, when Spurs have Leeds at home. Leeds are already safe. So Spurs with Teb, this is just a thing they needed to get out of the bottom three and now they're not going to go back down in the bottom three.

36:03Julien Laurens:I mean, Villa fans were leaving like at the end of the first half. That's how bad it was. I think they knew there was just no... Nobody's going to remember this if Henry then wins the Europa League or finishes, but this could also completely unravel too. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, Bournemouth beat Crystal Palace 3-0 also on Sunday and they're up to 6-9 at the table, which strangely means they've got even better after Antoine Semenya left in January. He was the problem, Jules. He was the problem. He might have been part of the problem with Villa and Liverpool both losing. Can they seriously hope for a top five finish and some Champions League football?

36:34Julien Laurens:I would love to say yes. I'd love to say Brentford and Chelsea, they can also be in the mix. Hey, why not? Why not Brighton too? But then I look at this and I look at the run-ins and Liverpool and Villa would really need to collapse. Liverpool, Chelsea at home, Villa away. Obviously, that's a head-to-head. And Brentford at home. I mean, realistically, three points will do it for them. And you figure in one of those games, I'll get them. Villa, the interesting one, because they got Burnley away. If they screw this up, and then they lose to Liverpool at home, which, again, is a bit of a stretch, right?

37:12Julien Laurens:Last game of the season is City away, and City might need points and goals. Maybe it's Villa, but then they win their Open League, because that's what Emery does. So, yeah, I don't know. I don't feel good about having a Champions League race. Paris Saint-Germain are held at home by Lorient 2-2. Jewels wholesale changes to Luis Enrique ahead of the buy and return leg, including Renato Marine between the sticks. There we go. I have an Italian guy in three of the four teams. Although he's kind of half Brazilian, but whatever. William Patra and Desiree Duet, the only holdovers from Wednesday night.

37:46Julien Laurens:Patra had a bit of a rough day, as did the poor kid who came on, Mungo, whatever his name is. Yeah, yeah. Mugange who lost the ball that led to the Lorient's second goal with Pacho being dribbled about although he touched the ball. Yeah, it was a game where, again, I think none of those PhD players really were up for it. Although they had enough chances to win it, they hit the woodwork two or three times. And in the end, even that road didn't really matter in the title race anyway. Well, they knew Lons, but Lons played after them, didn't they? Yeah, yes. So they couldn't have known. No, no, no.

38:16Julien Laurens:But in the end, now we know. I think you're feeling a little too cocky at the time if the players took it. No, I don't think... I would have thought the reserves... That's not what I said. I just think they were not up... Everybody had Bayern second leg in their head. No, no, no. I understand that. And I agree with you. What I'm saying is, some of these guys who know that they're not going to play, they're certain... Semi Mayul is not going to start. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You expect more, right? From some of them. Lucas Hernandez. I mean, what are you doing, bro? Yeah, yeah. But it was not a bad performance.

38:41Julien Laurens:It's just that Lyon took their two goals great. They had another chance that Marin saved, by the way. But, yeah, again, it was really forgotten as soon as the game finished, really. Defender way to Espanyol would have meant Real Madrid handing La Liga over to Barcelona this weekend. Instead, they won 2-0 on Sunday, which means that the title could be decided in next Sunday's Classico, as we said earlier. Galvin issues came big in this game. He did come up big. He's 20 goals in all competitions again, which only for the fifth straight year, only seven players in Real Madrid's history have ever achieved.

39:16Julien Laurens:and those are some pretty big names in there. They need this because this was not a good performance against a team that I don't think has won at all in 2026, like Espanyol. It's funny, I wonder, I don't think it changes the fact that there's a Vinicius Mbappé issue in terms of getting the two to play together. And it also seems weird. People are now turning on Mbappé because, of course, he still has his muscular injury. He's on holidays with his girlfriend. I mean, he came back today to Madrid. But again, maybe don't get photographed if you're going to go to Sardinia and to Paris and stuff like that while your team is struggling.

39:52Julien Laurens:Maybe stick around in Madrid. Have a staycation. Why not? Lots to sort out. Jules, I feel like every week I pick on Max Allegri for Milan's performances. So I'm just going to let you do it this time. Yeah. Fikayo Tomori gets a second yellow after 24 minutes and they lose at Sassuolo 2-0. It's another stinker. Allegri says it's their worst game of the season. and without Luka Modric yeah I mean watching it it felt like their worst game of the season it was a terrible performance from them being down to 10 men for more than an hour is not easy but even before that they're already losing the magical Berardi 11 against 11 so Alex Sassuolo they're a good team they've been good this season but it's what we've been saying for weeks now with Allegri and Milan seven points in the last seven league games when Modric isn't there there's just nothing in terms of creativity or anything in this team.

40:44Julien Laurens:Do you have the gall to say, oh, I don't want us to screw up and have us waste 10 months of work? Bro, you didn't work towards anything. Nothing. They seem to have forgotten that they won the league with the youngest team in Serie A not that long ago. He finishes a nil-nil between Cuomo and Napoli, which means Antonio Conte has taken them back into the Champions League for next season. Gab, would this be enough for him to stick around? I mean, the implication being a lot of people are going to want him to go and play for, go and take over the Italian national team, which I think is still a possibility on the table.

41:15Julien Laurens:I feel for them. The injuries really robbed them to at least challenge for the title. He's done his part. Now it's pretty much up to him and De Laurentiis. These are two very tough negotiators. I'm glad he had a good second season because people said, oh no, Conte's second season issue. No, he got the most out of this team that he could. Diego Simeone sends out the kids and Atletico Madrid win 2-0 away to Valencia. But Jules, who was the old guy who came off the bench and invented that assist or the second goal? Yeah, Antoine Griezmann, who will start on Tuesday, obviously, at the Emirates against Arsenal, who was only on the bench, came on, played that lovely, lovely ball.

41:52Julien Laurens:I had to wait to celebrate because there was a VR check for the offside. But it's good. I mean, he's enjoying the last few weeks, few days that he has there before going to MLS and Orlando. And this could still end up great with the Champions League. triumph for example so everybody rested ready for tuesday juventus had one one at home by verona and ruchano spalletti said that they were a bit unlucky gab do you agree yeah so everybody's not tearing their hair out but yeah no i think they were unlucky um verona scoring through this guy buoy who uh i was unfamiliar unfamiliar with until six months ago but he's a scottish guy uh digger gorgias could have done better but they i think they battered him at the other end 2.60 the expected goals.

42:35Julien Laurens:Dusan Vlaovic coming off the bench, scoring a nice free kick. Everybody's going to go and blame Jonathan David again. I think sometimes it's just variance. They should have had the three points. I reckon they'll be fine for the Champions League. 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 to sell with it because Shopify makes it incredibly easy to start and run your business. Shopify is the commerce platform behind 10 % of all e-commerce in the U.S.

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45:14Julien Laurens:The Champions League race in the Bundesliga is wild. Hoffenheim and Stuttgart both level on points with Bayer Leverkusen on 58. But how about Sebastian Harness' boys He's playing a man down for the final 20 minutes and getting the equaliser deep in injury time. Incredible performance from them. This was a really good game. The two games to watch this weekend were outside of the Premier League. I mean, this one and the one we talk about in a few minutes between Bayer Leverkusen and Leipzig as well, Gabi. But that was great. This two-guard team is fun to watch. They're not perfect again, and they leak a lot of goals, sure.

45:50Julien Laurens:They could be more balanced, absolutely. but they are a lot of fun and they attack so, so well. And I think they deserve that point. They would deserve to go back into the Champions League, which obviously they were last season, you know. So that bit of consistency would be really good for them. But that was an outstanding performance, an outstanding game. Yeah, you know, I'm all here for the Cranmerich story and blah, blah, blah. But you kind of want Stuka to go. Hoonis has been so fantastic. The other Hoonis, I should say, one of many Hoonises. but to come back after losing talent every year phenomenal yeah Villarreal have just announced what we knew already but that Marcelino was going to leave at the end of the season yeah and this is after it became official that they qualified for the Champions League again and will likely finish ahead of Atlético Madrid in the league that's not nothing but obviously it's been a year of transition a year in which they lost some big pieces I think there's a market for Marcelino I know he rubbed some people the wrong way.

46:51Julien Laurens:I think to some degree unfairly. But this is a bit of what we said around Europe. There's going to be such a turnover in coaches this summer. I mean, genuinely, other than, I think you can probably count on two hands the number of coaches that we know are going to stay put. Luis Enrique, Arteta, Vincent Kompany,

47:15Julien Laurens:Hansi Flick, we presume. Christian Kivu, of course. Spalletti and then and then after that and so if you're a Marcelino if you're a Xavi Alonso if you're a Matthias Gaisler if you're a if you're a Francesco Farrioli who won the league with Porto we really should have mentioned but I we did not mention until now he was on the quickest list I'll send you like with Paul Pogba's first start in three years appalling appalling winning the league with Porto this is a guy who has a degree in engineering Sorry, in philosophy, never played professional football and came back from the trauma of throwing away a title with five games and nine-point lead last year at Ajax.

48:00Julien Laurens:Well done, Fadioli. Well done to the all-Polish centre-back pairing of Jakub Kivior and Jan Bagnarik as well. Let's talk about Thiago Silva. Lens take the lead in Nice, but get pegged back after Saoud Abdul-Hamid's red card. Jewels, another week, another two points dropped. It feels to me this is where they gave up any shot at winning Ligue 1. Yeah, I know. And PSI yesterday after the game, I think they also, despite not playing in Europe this season, but it looked like they are either the pressure got to them of that title race with PSG or they just ran out of steam a little bit. We saw Tovin maybe not being as good, those leaders not being maybe the best again, although that's a game they could have won.

48:41Julien Laurens:But they also played not as well as they have done for most of the season really. So they have six points now and I know they will play PhD at home obviously in two weeks now or ten days now. But it feels it would be very difficult. They still have the cup final to focus on. They have qualified for the Champions League which is great for them being back there after the great campaign that they had three years ago. But yeah, it feels like there's not the title race and the final sprint that they would have liked to. And it's a shame because as a neutral, as a PSG fan, you may feel different. But as a neutral, this could have really been something.

49:19Julien Laurens:I mean, again, well, first of all, Saud Abdul Hamid, he doesn't need to do that outside the box. He's been so good for them this season as well. Stay on your feet, you know. But what gets me, if you look at the fixtures, right, if you win the head-to-head, the last week of the season is Paris Derby, Paris FC against Paris Saint-Germain. Paris FC have already beaten Paris Saint-Germain this season in the Coupe de France and Luis Enrique will be inevitably I mean I think if he needs to he'll play strong against 11 I would assume but obviously he might be thinking Champions League final assuming they qualify so it was all set up and an opportunity like this might not come again for a while anyway Bayer Leverkusen as we mentioned earlier level with Tugan Offenheim now in their race for the Champions League they beat up Leipzig 4-1 and your boy Patrick Schick got a hat-trick.

50:09Julien Laurens:Yeah, and I think this was actually more of a case of Leverkusen playing well than Leipzig being on the beach. Oh, they were outstanding. Leipzig have nothing to play for at this stage, right? They know they're going to finish third. I don't know if they have the math yet, but whatever, it's done, right? But to put on a performance like this, and I'm especially happy for Patrick Schick because once again, he scored 21 league goals last season. He's on 16 this year, 22 in all competitions. He's another one of those guys. Unusual skill set. unusual talent i think i take it back i'm not saying that schick is like sesco because sesco's faster probably stronger but it's that kind of profile of the player where you say the upside can be so high and then he doesn't quite do it and then he comes back and then some people like him some people don't and then to know at age 30 that he's still banging him in still really contributing um i just kind of makes me happy yeah let's go to the women's champions league semi-final second legs.

51:07Julien Laurens:Jules, you were there. You watched Lyon or Lyonnais turn it around to be Arsenal 3-1 to advance to the final. Fourth, we're in aggregate. But Jules, they really had to sweat on that VAR decision for a very long time. And it was very close. It was close there. The Euler-Bron goal, the third one. It looked like we were going to extra time. And then for a few millimeters, the goal was rightly so as well. Given an amazing ball from Melchie du Mornay. Four brands. I think Lyon deserve it. Really, they were outstanding from start to finish, even if they lost a bit of control in that second half. You know, Giraldez is doing a good job in the Champions League.

51:45Julien Laurens:For him, who's won it twice with Barcelona before, who's been signed by Michel Kang to win the Champions League again for Lyon. Let's not forget they haven't done it since 2022 now. For a team that is the most successful team in women's Champions League history, it's a long time to wait for another one. So they'll have another chance. at the end of the month on the 23rd in Oslo. Do you think Arsenal could have done better? Yeah, I thought that they just missed their first half completely. It felt like they didn't know if they should try to manage the lead that they had from the first leg the weekend before at the Emirates where they played really well, especially in the second half.

52:23Julien Laurens:Or if they had to attack and they were caught in between and did nothing. And to be fair to Lyon, they started so well. They were really aggressive. They could have been through that. They missed the penalty too, no? No, no, they scored on the retaken penalty. Oh, yeah, because the goalkeeper moved earlier. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wendy Renard, of course. Yeah, Wendy scored. So it was one of those games where there was not much return between the two teams over the two legs. Gladbach win the Battle of the Borussia's in the Bundesliga, beating Dortmund 1-0 with a late Harris Tabakovic goal. Gab, did Niko Kovac's crew look on the beach already to you?

52:56Julien Laurens:Yes, and I think he knows that, which is why, oh, let me give Julian Brandt a run out, since he's leaving us soon. Let me play Guirassi. Let bygones be bygones. Maybe he can enter a goal total. And let me play the kids, specifically the Italian kids. We saw Lourdes Origani start at the back. And the guy most people are excited for, Samuel Inacio. His dad is Inacio Pia, the Brazilian who came through Atalanta's Youth Academy some years ago. I don't think either one was particularly effective. That's not where you judge them on. But, you know, you're blooding the kids. Why not? Back to the Women's Champions League.

53:36Julien Laurens:Barcelona make its six finals in a row with a 4-2 win over Bayern to go through five through on aggregate. But, Jules, the Bavarians aren't happy with referee Stephanie Frapar, who, again, for those who don't know, Stephanie Frapar has refereed major men's games as well. This is a, I mean, by some distance, she's considered the best referee who officiates women's football. Yeah, absolutely. And to be fair, there's a goal disallowed too, that would have brought them to 4-3 in the 90th minute. I don't think there's... Because there's a Georgia-Stanway foul. Yeah, a Stanway foul. I don't think there was that many bad decisions that Frappard made in this game at all.

54:17Julien Laurens:I don't think Barcelona were by far the better team anyway in this game, over the two legs too, even if they only drew the first leg in Munich. We saw Aitana Bonmati coming back after a broken leg in December for the last 20 minutes. And Alexis Puteas put another great performance on and was outstanding. So this Barca-OL Lyon final in Oslo will be exceptional. It's the fourth time they will meet in the final. It's going to be great. They've been the two best teams in this competition. Proper European women's football royalty. Yeah, exactly. After four consecutive defeats, Newcastle turned it around and beat Brighton 3-1.

54:59Julien Laurens:Gab, this was a wild one and an important win, given what's happening in the background. It is. And again, you expect with everything with Newcastle, with them coming out and talking about how they're going to have to make some changes, which most people read as letting players go. Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali, whatever else. In the background, public investment fund withdrawing their support of Live Golf. People criticizing Eddie Howe, left, right, and center, losing games. And yet here they are against a Brighton team, super motivated, right? Had a real chance to do something. And Newcastle come out, and they win 3-1.

55:37Julien Laurens:And it's deserved. I mean, forget the fact that Harvey Barnes' goal came late. I thought this was definitely a deserved win for Newcastle. They played for pride. I think this is part of the reason why the connection with the team is so strong and why it's going to continue to be strong come what may. And by the way, this is not a live golf situation, right? public investment funds saying they're withdrawing things to they're going to focus more internally they're going to um look at more strategic make more business decisions live golf was losing hundreds and hundreds of millions a year okay it was a moonshot i think a badly executed one um the brainchild of yasir al-rumayan of course is also involved with uh with with newcastle but newcastle different yes they've benefited from some investment but they're not making the massive losses.

56:24Julien Laurens:Newcastle has been run as a business until now, right? This has been a strategic investment situation. So if they cut back, they'll be cutting back less, I think, and it's not going to have the same sort of impact. 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. It's my treatment, my way. Visit vivgartmyway.com. That's V-Y-V-G-A-R-T myway.com.

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57:34Julien Laurens:Marseille lose a nearly relegated nonth or second bottom. We wish them well. Which is never good, Jules, but in this case, it will probably cost them the Champions League. The fans are on the warpath and Mason Greenwood is getting slammed by the media. Yeah, he had another poor game, really. I mean, it doesn't look like he wants to be there anyway. The whole Marseille team was appalling in this game against an outsider. I've been doing a little bit better since Vidalilozzi came back to the club to try to save them. They still have a tiny, tiny chance of staying up. It would be difficult, and they would need a miracle, but it's not completely over yet.

58:12Julien Laurens:So they still believe before Marseille and Happy Bay. I just don't know where you go from there. So they will have like a retiro. They will stay at the training ground the whole week. Is this maybe Benassia's idea? Because it sounds like the kind of thing that he would... The Zerbi did and Benassia did it last season when they went to Rome and stuff like that. This time they're staying at the commanderie, the training grounds. They were expecting a hostile crowd when they came back flying from Nantes. actually nobody showed up at the airport in Marseille, which maybe shows that the fans, as you said, are on the wall path, but maybe just so disappointed anywhere, and rightly so, and so frustrated that they don't even want to go after the players like they used to in the past, really.

58:54Julien Laurens:Although I think the last home game of the season at the Velodrome, they will show how much they've hated this season and how disappointing they've been by the whole organisation, really. They might not even make the Conference League. If Strasbourg had won and Strasbourg lost to Toulouse, which was a good thing for Marseille, but Strasbourg could have got very close to that seventh place where Marseille are. So I don't know where they will finish, but it's been an absolutely disastrous season for them. When you say Mason Greenwood doesn't look like he wants to be there. I saw quotes from the local paper, La Provence absolutely destroying him, giving him 0 out of 10.

59:34Julien Laurens:The whole team had zeros, it's not just him. Okay, but if Mason Greenwood doesn't want to be there, where does he think he can possibly be? What is he? Because he can't come back. He's not coming back to England, right? I think there would be a market for him. But not in England, right? No, no, no. Given the publicity or whatever. No, no, no. Not in England, but in other countries, even in Saudi, there would be. Not for the Saudi. I don't know about the Saudi, but. No, no, no. There is already interest from the Saudi. So there's a market for him. It was always the plan was for him to go at the end of the season, especially with no Champions League.

1:00:05Julien Laurens:they need money they have to find money so he the biggest value of their squad is the best player has been the best player for the last two years and rightly so one of the best players in ligand but yeah there's if there's no champions league uh he's not going to stick around but i i just i i think given the baggage that he carries with him however well he is he's got to look very very carefully whatever his next step is and and leaving on these terms it's not going to help him no no but i'm sure able to find another club though. Guess who's back? Schalke promoted back to the Bundesliga after three years.

1:00:40Julien Laurens:One of the Germans giants back to his rightful place. Yeah. And look, I love the story. I love Schalke. Schalke belong in the top flight. They've been so dysfunctional over the years for many reasons. One has to do with sort of the extreme level of fan ownership, public ownership. It is a public trust, but huge crowds at the Al Schalke Arena. yeah and also nice to see Laura's carriers but I didn't Jekyll how about that to blast in the past and Jekyll at 40 and I mean I think they they went up thanks to him too so you know and Jekyll going to the World Cup I wonder who they knocked out and of course Laura's curious with the glamorous girlfriend so yeah they're seeing a promotion in Ipswich town are also back in the top flight jewels.

1:01:30Julien Laurens:Educate me about them, please. But you remember them. Well, no, but some of those guys are gone. DeLapp is gone. Omari Hutchinson's gone. The race is exactly the same. The really good left back is still there. Liv Davis, they're the same team. No, exactly the same team pretty much. They deserve it. They've had a really good campaign. It went down to the wire, the last game of the championship season on Saturday where Middlesbrough could have overtaken them, but they beat QPR 3-0 at home in a massive party at Sheeran, who you love listening to in the shower, was there, sang with the players at the dressing room, all of that.

1:02:08Julien Laurens:They deserve it. You know, them and Coventry have been the two best teams in the championship. And then we'll have Southampton against Middlesbrough in one of the semifinals of the playoffs. And more surprisingly, Millwall, who could also have gone straight up and overtaken Ipswich, will play Hull City in the other semifinals. So one of those four teams will be in the Premier League too next season. Kieran McKenna, still the coach. Of course. And Wrexham not going up. No, they missed out on their last playoff place to Hull City because they only drew with Middlesbrough 2-2. Gab, remember Rupinto, the hacker behind Football Leaks?

1:02:45Julien Laurens:Well, he's the reason Manchester City are facing the 115 charges and he's been acquitted for the second time by a Portuguese court. Yeah, so again, for those too young to remember Football Leaks, but basically all these documents started appearing online and everything from, well, this was at the heart of the Manchester City case, but there's lots of reports. A lot of clubs involved with a lot of players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, of course, Gareth Bale, and whatever, details of their contracts leading, details of legal cases they were involved in, and really emails which were at the heart of UEFA reopening their case against Manchester City, which led to their ban, which then later, you know, evidence passed on to the Premier League, which leads to this interminable court case with the charges right now.

1:03:32Julien Laurens:He's not going to serve a day in prison.

1:03:36Julien Laurens:He always maintained his innocence. He's not a hacker that somebody gave him this stuff. I think the court found differently, but they gave him a four-year suspended sentence before, and this time around they decided, you know what? You already served your suspended sentence, which to me sounds a bit funny. Like, if the sentence is suspended, you haven't actually served it. But he was essentially on trial for the same charges. So he walks a free man. But I'd still look over my shoulder if I were Rui Pinto, though. Yeah. Not a good weekend for Lionel Messi, Jules. Inter-Miami go 3-0 up against Orlando City and Messi scores.

1:04:09Julien Laurens:But they somehow end up losing 4-3 with Tyrese Spicer grabbing the winner in injury time. Yeah, really poor second-half performance, especially from them when they were cruising, when they were in control, totally in a bit of a derby. I know the cities are not super, super close, but it's still the same area. Big derby. We talked about Griezmann joining Orlando very soon now. An Orlando City team that hadn't started the season well, unlike Inter Miami, but yeah, found the resources to go and win this one away from home. Ojeda, I think, with a hat-trick too. Outstanding performance from him. And no reaction from Messi.

1:04:45Julien Laurens:Suarez, who started the game before coming off. Not much, really, from Inter. I think it's quite worrying. And sticking with Inter Miami, Gabi, Yannick Bright was back in the starting lineup after his ban for racially abusing an opponent. We didn't talk about this before, but it's not what some expect. Yeah, and the reason we're talking about it now is that, yes, it was a case of racist abuse and using a racist term. But there's a different context here, which explains why he was banned for two games rather than a much longer ban. Yannick Bright is Italian, but he's also a person of color. He's of Nigerian descent, and he used the N-word towards an opponent, Darren Yappie of the Colorado Rapids.

1:05:28Julien Laurens:He's also a person of color. The referee heard this. MLS has a zero-tolerance policy about this. You simply cannot use the word when you're on the pitch. Part of me says I don't know if it's necessarily appropriate for a bunch of mostly white dudes telling other people, including people who've been on the receiving end of racism, to tell them what words they can and cannot use. Equally, I can look at it, this is your place of your employment, this is your work, and there are rules at work, and there are some things you can't say. What I would say is, I'm glad he got banned if he's not allowed to say the word, even though he is from Milan, but let's not call this racist abuse in the same way, because I think it's a different context.

1:06:14Julien Laurens:It's a different intent. It's a different situation. And it's way above my pay grade. And frankly, MLS is pay grade to judge. Cafu told the Times that Neymar is technically a better player than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Jules, you're the Techers guy here. Care to weigh in? And how impressed are you that Cafu is happy in one fell swoop to piss off two of the largest armies of online angry people. Good luck, Cafu, if you have any social media accounts or anything like that. So, okay, Neymar and Ronaldo, I think, and Cristiano, I think, again, it's no dig at Cristiano. He's got different skills.

1:06:53Julien Laurens:Even winger Cristiano, younger, never had the skill set and the technical ability that Neymar had. So then it's between Neymar and Messi. I think they are different styles of dribblers, both of them. uh i think there's a sense of me and neymar's more of a showbota in a way which is fine i think he would he would agree with that uh more than messi uh and he's dribbling i think neymar's technique is just in really incredible and i've seen them all three are training because i think you see those kind of things more training than in a game itself where um and i think it's really difficult to pick between Neymar and Messi as who could be the best dribbler.

1:07:41Julien Laurens:But I would say in terms of freestylers, in terms of that kind of technical ability, okay, of doing, you know, yeah, like showboating and freestyle style of dribbling and technique, maybe Neymar is still the best of the best. What I would do in Proviso I would put in is for me, when I read that, this is like technical ability, obviously close control and dribbling is a huge part of it. I think passing and shooting on goal are also part of it. And I would put Messi ahead of Neymar in those categories. Yeah, I read this just on dribbling, but maybe I was wrong. Well, I have to ask Cafu, Marcos, just tell us.

1:08:24Julien Laurens:You can come on to the show and you can explain to us what you meant. Let's go back to the FIFA Congress. Gab, Janine Fontino ended up embarrassed for attempting to stage a photo opportunity. Okay, so at first I felt a little bad because I wanted to give Johnny the benefit of the doubt. So what happened, obviously, difficult political issue. Israel, Palestine, Palestinian FA complaining about the fact that there's teams in the occupied territories in the West Bank and whatnot of settlers and stuff that hadn't been heard. And, you know, we don't expect FIFA to resolve these issues. People who do this for a living are trying to resolve.

1:09:03Julien Laurens:however at one point he in jibreel rajoub who's the head of the palestinian fa been there a long time he's up there with his keffiyeh talking johnny goes down and basically does his whole my brother and my brother spiel and then basim suleiman who's the guy from the israeli fa is the vice president of israeli fa appears on stage and he tries to get them to shake hands to kind of have a moment sort of like clinton with yitzhak rabin uh and yasser arafat in the 90s talk about completely misreading the situation right um when arafat and rabin did this they had a peace deal they had just signed a peace deal these two countries they're not there yet and i think rajub also thought there was a degree of cynicism and the pasim suleiman funnily enough he's an arab israeli yeah and there was also a sense that oh did they send this guy so that he would get less abuse than if they had a jewish israeli uh fa official there and was he somehow being used in this context um i think it was a big misstep like he's still going to be very popular in these parts of the world and whatever um but it looked really really clunky and i think set a really bad tone because, you know, what are we talking about?

1:10:24Julien Laurens:Football cannot solve the world's problem. It can help, but nobody here wants to pretend when there's so many people living in fear and violence and dying and whatnot. Yeah. Just, this brings us to an end, but we got to come back on Thursday. Oh, yeah. Some big verdicts coming in in the Champions League semifinal. Until then, love the game, love your neighbor, love yourself.

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