Gab & Juls Show: PSG-Bayern lives up to the hype

24:16Julien Laurens:no real limer for davis no limer for stanisic so there's no chance of well no limer can start ahead of david the reason why davis started is because of those one-on-one abilities that he obviously why would you do that put a guy who's a worse athlete in that situation because then you also get you know i think you also get more control with limer and limer can do things in midfield coming inside inverting that alphonso davis can't do alphonso davis would just bomb would run out with the ball very well especially in his one-on-one with hakimi in the first leg he would be zair emery in the second leg better than limer would do although limer did hakimi the injury of hakimi comes because limer twist him the video makes him look okay so the video it's a little out of context i don't think so you don't think so you think it's i think it's a little bit unfair to Hakimi at the end of 90 minutes where he's obviously run himself into the ground to make it seem as if Lymer on his own is responsible for his injury.

25:19Julien Laurens:The three turns that Lymer does threw him away and then he ends up tripping and then getting injured in that way is the truth. But Lymer I think in what company ideally wants to do, which is more than with Davis, that's why Lymer has been playing a lot, even if Davis was injured, but when Davis was fit, it's because Leimer would be an extra body in that midfield, which Davis cannot do. And that's where the second leg might be a little bit different if Leimer and Stanisic both start compared to Davis and Stanisic in the first leg. And with Leimer and Stanisic, you also have the option, of course, of inverting them and bringing Leimer to the right and Stanisic to the left, which we've seen him do before, which I think creates a very different matchup, especially without Hakimi, because we don't expect Zaire Emery to come forward and be the fourth attacker.

26:04Like we said, it could be a situation. So you have a little more, I think, flexibility tactically if you're buying a net game.

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27:32Shopify.com slash network. Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start? Thumbtack knows homes, so you don't have to. Don't know the difference between matte paint finish and satin? Or what that clunking sound from your dryer is? With Thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro. You just have to hire one. You can hire top-rated pros, see price estimates, and read reviews all on the Thumbtack app. Download today. All right, enough of events at the Parc des Princes. Let's talk about the other semifinal, Atletico Madrid against Arsenal. Now, Jules, people were looking at this, looking at the way these two teams have been playing.

28:15I think probably more Arsenal than Atletico Madrid in the sense that I think with Atletico Madrid, there's a certain number of people who still think it's like 2014 and Diego is back there and Raul Garcia and Diego Costa and all this stuff. But, you know, there's all those jokes. Oh, look, it's Haram ball. Ha, ha, ha. You know, yada, yada, yada. I didn't think this game was, we can compare it the night before, finish 1-1. I thought a fair reflection of what was on the pitch. I thought one team much better in the first half, the other team much better in the second half. Yeah. penalty incidents, which we'll get to.

28:51But I didn't think this was a bad game or a badly coached game from either team.

28:56Julien Laurens:No, I thought it was great. It was very different to Tuesday, of course, and that's why we should not compare different styles and different managers and different teams, different players. But for what those teams are doing this season, I think it was good. You could be a bit disappointed maybe by Atletico's first half in the sense that you thought they would go and show more energy and go after Arsenal and press them high because the stadium was, the atmosphere was amazing. You could see they were up for it. And instead, I think they gave far too much time and too much control to Arsenal. That changed in the second half with the tactical change from Simone.

29:28Julien Laurens:That was brilliant and needed and worked, really. That's why Atletico were better, certainly for the first half hour of the second half. Maybe not so much towards the end of that second half. But yeah, it was exactly, again, we knew what we'd get on Tuesday. We knew exactly what we'd get on Wednesday. We got both of those games. I think a lot of people thought this game would be a lot worse and there would be a lot less. Yeah, but there's no point talking about those people. They don't know anything about football. You know, for people who know football... A lot of them are on my television, that's why I pointed out.

29:56Julien Laurens:Oh yeah, exactly. They shouldn't be on your television. Or you shouldn't listen to them because I think it's exactly, you know, what we got. It was never going to be a snoozefest. We knew that. But yes, it was going to be structured and tactical. And there were moments of real individual skill as well. Of course, yeah. Which I think, again, pales by comparison to the night before, but I think it's also the context. Yeah. So, obviously, you mentioned Diego Simeone changing it around at halftime. One decision he didn't make, which some people expected, was Alexander Sorloff didn't get into the game.

30:31Since we're second-guessing, the school of thought is, oh, send him on, he'll scare the Arsenal defenders, and maybe we can win the first leg. I will posit that maybe what Cholo was thinking is like, you know what? like first leg, second leg, I don't care. It's a slog. I'm going to keep it tight. And then we're going to win it closer to the end. And I like much better what Baena gives me and maybe having Lokman a little bit, a little bit forward, you know, a little bit closer to the front line.

30:59Julien Laurens:I just think Solos doesn't defend. You can't play him in a game like that 1-1, even at home. It's the first leg. If it'd been the second leg and I think it's a center forward. I mean, but in a game like that, where everybody needs to work hard and defend For first leg, when he was so tense at 1-1, you don't bring him on. And there's a couple of times where the camera was on Simeone and you could see him saying, Alex, come on, come on. Solo doesn't give you that. It's just as simple as that. It's not because Solo is not good enough for a game like that. It's not because Simeone doesn't trust him with the ball or in terms of taking chances.

31:36Julien Laurens:It's just that he doesn't suit a game like that in the first leg. second leg he might start because they have to win the game to qualify he might come on if they are going out for sure but not in the first leg like that there was no way he was going to come on at 1-1 if they had been 3-1 down 3-0 down maybe to try to come back never at 1-1 he's not the kind of player for them three big contentious decisions in this one let's deal with the one that wasn't given because I think that's the one where we had Mikel Arteta come out and talking about how everybody's fuming over it yeah I think there's two elements of this.

32:11One is, was it the right decision? Was the outcome the correct outcome? And the second one, which I think is probably why Arteta was fuming, was VAR right to intervene, given how long it took to make the decision? Did it clear an obvious threshold?

32:28Julien Laurens:Yeah, I have to say, I didn't see a contact. I don't see the contact. I think the way Hanko, I don't know, he was also moaning on the first penalty that was a stonewall penalty. We'll get to that. But this one, even the way I think he makes his point, even to Eze, and you could see on Eze's face that I think Eze knows there's not much really there in terms of contact. I personally didn't think it was a pain and I think it was the right call to intervene for VAR, for the referee to change his decision. I know I can understand the frustration from Arsenal and Arteta's point of view, the players, the fans.

33:05Julien Laurens:because you maybe didn't expect it to be overturned once the decision was taken to give it. But I have to say, I'm sorry, I don't see the contact. I think in a semi-final like this, I want them to get to the right decision. I think it was the right decision. I think the different camera angles show very different things incidentally. So you can come down to, you know, what do you go with? But in a game like this, it's so important. I want them to come to the right decision, not say, oh, but it's taking too long, so the decision on the pitch has to stay. Understand the philosophical argument and why for some rando league game, they may be right, but to me, it feels right.

33:37Most important, get the decision correct. Let's just go through them, get this out of the way because people really care about this. But before we do that, we were talking off air. I just want to touch upon this again about the VAR's job with an incident like that one. I think there's a lot of elements. One, to me, and I've been living in England for a very long time. Not that long ago, the story would have been as a diving and as a or not not as a going down right because if you because even the arguments were oh it was they weren't about well it was their contact was there not contact i personally think there was some contact but it's not oh was as a fouled nobody actually thinks he was fouled the question is is there contact and does the contact cause him to go down yeah um we take it for granted that players go down in that situation that's kind of the way the game has evolved um i don't think anybody can hold a hand up and say like oh look we're better than you we don't do that and i like i say a lot i'm not having a go it's just yeah what professional football is and it's kind of like this around the world right yeah yeah i think so yeah yeah um but the other thing is the replays there's the replay you mentioned you and right and others tweeted out where it's a still but they um i guess they kind of put a magnifying glass and it looks the two legs are still in the air they haven't come down yet but it looks like Henschko is going to go down directly on his foot then there's the other replay which I saw in video form where you see that he does not come down on his foot at all I think again there is some contact but also contact because as is going forward the one thing I will say above all that is that Henschko makes a really big mistake on that one.

35:28There is no reason. To dive in, you mean? Yeah, you put yourself in there. Because your best case scenario, even if you get to the ball first, is you're what? You're knocking the ball a few meters forward where there's going to be an Arsenal player who'll pick it up and the play will restart again. And you're always at risk. And I expected a lot more from Hanchko. Obviously, we're going to kill him on the first one, I suspect. So I think that Ivan Simeone, I'm angry about that. Yeah, yeah. And I asked myself some questions for the return leg. The other two penalties on the first one, Hanchko again.

36:03To me, I'm going to make a basketball analogy. Gjokoros gets in front, establishes position. He can get a shot off. If he decides to be the big strong boy that he is, he can get a shot off even with Hanchko running into the back of him. But the point is, Hanchko runs into the back of him. and you cannot do that.

36:27Julien Laurens:I don't even understand the debate. I don't know how people can say that's no opinion. I really don't understand it. I'm with you 100 % on that. And finally, the Ben White handball. I don't know if you see this as a rerun of the Alfonso Davies situation. My take on this is, well, first of all, he's looking at Marcos Llorente, right? When Marcos Llorente shoots. He can see, because everybody sees, Marcos Llorente slices the ball. It's not going anywhere near. It's going, yeah, for throwing. I don't know if it would go down all the way for throwing, but it's just certainly in that general area, right?

37:00At that point, there is no need to screw yourself, screw your body out in a completely uncoordinated position like that because the ball is not going in that direction. And as a professional athlete, I expect you to be reactive and be able to receive the ball and be coordinated enough not to be in that situation. And secondly, he makes it worse by turning his head. and yeah at that point you're in danger you're in danger of giving it of giving away a penalty

37:29Julien Laurens:if the ball strikes your arm yeah yeah but it's the same as davis i would not i would not give it it's the letter of the law they give it yeah i think the way why the ball comes i am very i think really fast too like the davis dembele one i don't like those given i know what they're given i understand it's the rules it's the law but i yeah i don't think they should be given hey to be fair to Arteta. He said afterwards, well, they're consistent with it. I don't have an issue with it. I think that's what you can answer. You could not like the rule, but then let's change the rule. I would give it even less if the shot is not even on target.

38:05Julien Laurens:Because if the shot is not even towards goal. The cross from Dembele on the Davis one is a little different because there's people in the box. So you could say, okay. But a shot that is going wide or way over the bar and then you give a penalty for it, I think it's unfair. Alright, so this sets up the return leg. It's 1-1. I think it's very difficult to separate these two teams. I think the context here really, really matters because Arsenal have a game against Fulham that, in their minds, I think it's on Saturday, they need to not just win, but hopefully add some goals to their goal difference.

38:38They're in the midst of a title race. You can see the wear and tear on the team psychologically. You can see it in Arteta, who I think is wound up tighter than a drum, understandably. Atleti, nothing to pay for. They can rotate if they want to. They can not rotate. They can sit there, review tape all day with Simeone and prepare for the return leg. From Arsenal's perspective, though, I think a potential game changer could be Saka, not because Madueke played badly, but because I can put Madueke on the other wing. That's what I would do personally. I mean, do you think Madueke played well? Yeah, I thought so too.

39:14Okay, so, and he can, with his other foot, but he can do those same things on the other side. Yeah. if Saka if I'm confident Saka is 100 % fit I would assume Saka will start this weekend maybe yeah I think

39:26Julien Laurens:both him and Eze will start on Saturday and then we start again on Tuesday Eze on the left Saka on the right and then you keep the same midfield but it's true and that's also why it was not surprising that in the second half on Wednesday night Atletico physically were stronger they were better they put Arsenal under pressure because they are fitter right now than Arsenal their players have played less they've been rotated and played the kids in the league for the last five weeks. Arsenal haven't been able to do that. So it's inevitable that, again, it'd be the same at the weekend. Atleti play away at Valencia and they will play.

40:00Julien Laurens:They will change 11 players. And then they will bring the other 11 players for the Emirates game on Tuesday night. For Arsenal, I think there will be some changes from Arteta, for sure. But the core of players will stay the same. The other change, and I've been banging this drum the whole time, is the Arsenal fullbacks because it's not as Atletico are necessarily a pressing team, but they do stuff the midfield pretty well, maybe further back along the pitch. If you can have a fullback that can step in there, give you some help creatively passing-wise, that helps a lot. Ricardo Calafiori was back on the bench.

40:36There's no sign of Urien Timber yet, which I think at this point for me is a concern because it looked to me like two weeks ago, it looked like he was coming back. I kind of feel one of those two, or Luis Skelly, which won't happen for the reasons that we know. If one of those guys starts, I like Arsenal's chances a lot better.

40:53Julien Laurens:Yeah, yeah. Although Luis Skelly started the game against Atletico in the league phase, the Arsenal won 4-0 back in November and played really well in that position. So that could be an option, I think. Yeah, I think Calafiore. But the thing is, you can't play Calafiore in white. That doesn't work as a pair of fullbacks. So you'll have to play Mosquera right back and Calafiore as left back if you want Calafiore to start the game, which is obviously OK. And Mosquera came on late and I thought he did well when he came on. It was only for 10 minutes, but in the first leg on Tuesday. But that's the adjustment that Arteta will have to make.

41:30Julien Laurens:So let's see who starts on Saturday against Fulham, Saturday late afternoon, and then we'll have maybe a better idea on who can start on Tuesday. word on Atletico Adamola Lukman I think he probably should have scored I don't think he played badly I kind of feel that in the 4-4-2 scheme I think he has to do way too much up and down and you lose he loses the freshness in front of the goal it's not a coincidence he was so prolific at Arsenal when he was playing closer to the goal which is kind of what happened after they rejiggered the formation at halftime, he became more effective. Is this something we might see?

42:16Because doing that kind of means forsaking Giuliano. Yeah, that's the thing. You know, recovering somebody else in the middle of the park. It's a bit clunky, yeah?

42:27Julien Laurens:Yeah, but I think he can well start with the back three in the second leg. I would if I was him. I would definitely play the formation that he started the second half with, with the three centre-backs. And I know Arsenal will have other tools and certainly will overload that midfield and that's the problem and that's why he doesn't want to do this. I can understand. But for me, that's where I would go and then see where you are after an hour or even a half time and then you still have time to change. So it'd be very interesting tactically again what more Simony than Arteta, you know how Arsenal are going to play.

42:58Julien Laurens:It's just the players and what players will be in there. But from a Simony and Atlético point of view, what they do tactically in that second leg would be very very interesting but you know i think i think they have enough to trouble arsenal although i would say arsenal are still favorite to go through right now i of course will support in the final whichever one of these two teams advances because of course they're the two teams with italian players although paris saint-germain's third or fourth goalkeepers in that kind of marine yeah yeah there you go yeah exactly and now chevalier is injured so marine will be number two and he doesn't have a man button right no tell me he does not have a man bun okay all right so three out of four that's that's pretty good we're pretty dominant here and you know what and i am sure given the size of the population in germany of italian descent that brian have somebody in the under 16s or under 18s munich is very you know our friend says munich is the northern most italian city so exactly yes i'm nicely hedged for the final come on 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.

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45:47Julien Laurens:I mean, don't come at me, United fans, but I didn't think your team looked that great in that game, I won't lie, especially in the first half, maybe more than in the second once you've scored two goals already. But I thought Brentford were great hitting you in transitions with attacks, everything. I don't think that United look that good. I don't think they've looked that good recently anyway, not just in this game, but even in previous games, even when there's been a win at the end of it. So this is great in the table for what they want to achieve and qualify for the Champions League, sure. But I think the reality is that they're not playing great.

46:23Julien Laurens:Jules not impressed. No. Gab, the win means that they can qualify for the Champions League this weekend and make sure that they've got a top five finish guaranteed. The chatter around their permanent manager has died down and many things that they should be giving it to Michael Carrick. Are you one of them? No, I'm not. I mean, not without a proper review, a proper process. Guys, we've learned this before with Solskjaer. Now, I think Carrick is far more likable and probably a far better manager than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. But, you know, with Solskjaer, the argument was, oh, let's give him the job now so that he has the authority to lead us this season.

46:59So the season's almost done. Carrick has done what he was appointed to do, which is get them in the Champions League just about. They're playing Liverpool this weekend. If they win, they automatically qualify. If Brighton drop points, they automatically qualify. So that's done. And then you take a step back. You get Jason Wilcox and Omar Barada and whatever other wise men to do to say, okay, this is our process for appointing the next manager and this is our plan. And then if Carrick gets it because he's the best candidate, no argument. But I don't think, you know, because there's enough ex-United players screaming and shouting that their friends should get the job, I don't think you should go and make any kind of move now.

47:33Liverpool have confirmed that while Mohamed Salah did pick up an injury last weekend, he will, in fact, be able to return before the end of the season. Jules, I'm glad he gets to say goodbye properly.

47:42Julien Laurens:Yeah, he deserves it, of course. It was sad to see him go just before the hour mark in that game against Crystal Palace. I think a lot of people either watching on television or being in the stadium thought, uh-oh. Let's hope this is not the way he ends because he would be really sad if he was ending like that. Instead, we will get to see him again in his own stadium, on his own pitch with his own fans there. I don't think he will play against United on Sunday at Old Trafford, but after that Liverpool will have two home games left this season. So it's great news that I suspect the club as well will put something very special for Mo Salah's last game at Anfield.

48:18I think there's also an on-the-field impact, too, because, frankly, with Ikitika out, if we ask who is Liverpool's biggest goal-scoring threat, I know you've been critical of Salah's performances this season and whatever, but surely he's got to be one of the main guys now, given how gimpy Isak is, how Virts is kind of there and not there, how Gakpo isn't exactly super prolific, right? I mean why would it be him on the back of his season? Because of what he did before you mean? No I'm just saying even him coming off an injury with the season he had Liverpool's other forwards right now the ones that are available to him

48:55Julien Laurens:are what they are Yeah yeah true I'm not sure Salah makes this team much better when he plays though so let's see what they do at United without him on Sunday and then let's see when he can come back because he might only be back for the last game of the season for example or just the second before last The Athletic reports that the process of Real Madrid hiring their new coach will be driven personally by Florentino Perez And that many believe the road leads to a return to the special one Jose Mourinho Yeah, so I got a couple issues with this story So first of all, this story does come from the club That Florentino will be more involved And that last time it was his number two, Jose Angel Sanchez, who hired Xabi Alonso Now, first of all, you have to be a moron if you think that last time Florentino says oh I don't really care Jose Angel you go sort this out I'm happy with whatever right like you know that didn't happen this is a way of dumping Xabi Alonso's perceived by many people to be the wrong choice not on Florentino but on somebody else right so let's be clear on that secondly people make the connection that Florentino likes Mourinho and wants Mourinho back Mourinho by the way who is under contract at Benfica who's come out publicly and said he's not thinking of Real Madrid.

50:04On what basis do we think that Florantino thinks that Mourinho would be the right guy right now?

50:10Julien Laurens:Well, because I think they like each other. They like working with each other. I think... Because it ended so well last time, yeah? Well, yeah, but they also had good moments. Maybe Florantino thinks that Mourinho's style, if you want, is good for this squad that's underachieved and underperformed the last two seasons. Maybe if you want a bit of, I don't know, discipline, if you want a bit of that. I don't think this fits, but that's the reason why maybe it would go there. I don't know. The release clause for Mourinho is 3 million euros, so it's nothing. You can pay it to Benfica. I don't think this is part of the plan, but I think if you're Real Madrid, it does.

50:47I think it helps everybody to link Mourinho and Real Madrid, because it gives Real Madrid maybe some latitude to work on the guy that they really want to get, whoever that may be. And obviously it suits Mourinho, because it burnishes his reputation. But I think he would have a very difficult time I'm wary to come back. Manchester City are angry about the way the Premier League has rescheduled their late-season fixtures. They will face Crystal Palace on May 13th, Chelsea in the FA Cup final on May 16th, and Bournemouth on May 19th. Jules, do they have a point? I thought it was three games in six days.

51:18Julien Laurens:Arsenal are playing three games in six days now. You know, Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday. I'm not really sure. This is not any different than anything. They wanted Bournemouth on May 21st, and they wanted Palace instead of the Bournemouth game. Bournemouth on May 31st or you know like the more time the better but there's a point where you can't just like ask for fixtures by the way what they wanted I think which was not given by the is to to actually change the order of game weeks yeah which come on I mean I'm always happy if you can ask for an extra day of rest for everyone not just City or Arsenal but for everybody but don't swap don't ask to swap fixtures and get you know and then the game week 37 playing before the game with 37.

51:58Come on. Yeah, I think the argument is the Bournemouth game is at home and their last game of the season is also at home and that way they would, but I mean.

52:06Julien Laurens:It's just the way. All of this. It's also because you've done so well in the FA Cup. If you had been knocked out in the first round of the FA Cup, you would not have this conjunction of fixtures. And I think the Palace game is also because they could have rescheduled this game earlier. This is the game that was moved because of the League Cup, I think. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, fine. But they didn't want to. Yeah. um yeah that's true gab gab we discovered that michaelo mudrick i mean one of your you know long interesting story received a four-year ban for using a performance and has enhancing drug but we only found out because the cast the court of arbitration of sport announced that he was that mudrick was appealing against that four-year ban i bet this makes you angry yeah it makes me angry because i want transparency this is absolutely ridiculous we now find out and he took meldonium which is the same thing sharapova took uh he maintains his innocence in a very stupid way he says i didn't knowingly use anything illegal ignorance is not it's not an excuse right so let's get that out of the way but he was suspended by the club in december 2024 he was charged in june 2025 we only find this out now because it's in the things they sent the cast Why can't you tell us?

53:18Why can't you tell us that he's already suspended? What is this big secret? Honestly, these people make no sense. Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that Dominic Solanke will be out for the rest of the season. Jules, between this and the Xavi Simons news, he's also out. How much tougher does the challenge of avoiding relegation get for the Zerbi?

53:34Julien Laurens:Yeah, it's tougher obviously now because Xavi Simons is the most creative player they have. Solanke is probably the best number nine of the three that they had. So now it's for Charlison or Kolomouane. And it might be enough, it might not be enough. but it's certainly not the injuries that you wanted at this time. FIFA have increased the price fund for the World Cup. Gab, we're going from$727 million to$871 million after some FAs complained they might actually lose money this summer. Yeah, and when you look at it, I mean, it's about twice what it was in Qatar, but let's remember there's 50 % more teams.

54:06There's been this stuff called inflation. There's different tax regimes, which all of a sudden people are saying in different states in the U.S. and obviously across borders. in Doha. It was all in one place, so obviously that's a lot cheaper, less flying around and whatnot. I think it's good. The guaranteed minimum up from$10.5 to$12.5 million. It's good that FIFA are putting their hands in their pockets and making sure nobody loses out on this. 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.

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55:34Chelsea and England defender Millie Bright confirmed what many already suspected. She will retire from professional football with immediate effect. She's been out with injury, I think, since February. Yeah. This was an emotional moment. She's only 32 years old.

55:47Julien Laurens:Yeah, really emotional. Club legend, for sure. Great captain, great center back. She's won so many trophies. I think something like 20 trophies in a time. and I know the Champions League was the big one that escaped her and Chelsea in that time, but still she was an amazing servant to the team. Great player, great leader as well and it's a real shame because she's still young, but clearly the injuries and also I think, you know, more things around mental health as well over her and her England career for example, I think I've taken a toll. So it's a real shame for the game and I hope she stays within the game, whether she becomes a coach or something else i hope there's a job for her at chelsea especially if she wants to stay there because i think she's got a lot more to give yeah i was i was kind of moved by what you know she talked about how like she'd been basically playing injured for the last six and a half years it was a very long time she talked about when you mentioned mental health she talked about how shaken she was by the by the death of uh one of her former uh coaches um you have to look after yourself that's the reality and also the other unpleasant reality when it comes to women's football which some people don't like to acknowledge, which is that these women, they get paid.

56:58They have to have normal working lives afterwards. They're not like male footballers at the same level, right? They can't just retire and say, I'm going to look after myself and do nothing else the rest of my life, which a male footballer who has achieved this situation, she needs to move on and she will probably have a relatively normal life. And so it's best that she looks after herself and deals with these challenges.

57:23Julien Laurens:The Saragossa goalkeeper Esteban Andrade, I remember that story from Monday, has been banned for 13 games after throwing that punch in a match against Huesca and Saragossa in the Spanish second division. Gab, is it fair punishment? I think so. I mean, I think there comes a time, like it was a horrible incident, he's pointed out, he's only been sent off one other time in his career and that's because he filed somebody outside the box on a counter-track. He's not a violent guy. He clearly lost his head. He needs to pay for it. I hope he doesn't face criminal charges as well. You know, once it goes beyond a certain number, you know, 13, 25, 40, what's the difference?

57:59He's 35 years old. He's on loan from Monterrey and Liga MX. Obviously, he won't play again this season. Maybe he'll be eligible to play again closer to Christmas time next year. Who knows where that's going to be. I'm glad he apologized profusely and owned what was a horrible mistake. Our ESPN Argentina colleagues and others report that Pablo Dybala will return to Argentina and join Boca Juniors after the World Cup. Jules, 14 years later, La Jolla will get to go home.

58:29Julien Laurens:Yeah, I love this story. I think it's great. He never actually played in the top five in Argentina. I played only in the second division before moving to Italy and Palermo. At 16. Yeah, I think it's amazing for him and for Boca, for him to experience that, the stadium, the fans, everything, as a Boca fan too. It'd be very, very special, I think. So let's hope that injuries, you know, leave him in peace and that he can enjoy those years in Argentina back home to play with Paredes, for example, who's a big babe. Yeah, Andre Herrera as well, who's also there at Boca right now. And it'd be great. That would be after the World Cup, as you mentioned, Gabi.

59:08Julien Laurens:And I think he probably can't wait for it. You know, nothing against Roma, of course, and the career they had in Italy and in Europe. but this would feel very special I think to him. Boca by the way involved in an ugly brawl at the end of their Libertadores game against Cruzeiro. Gap, so important development in the Italian referee investigation. Virgen Luca Rocchi, the man at the center of it, remember again that story from Monday, has chosen not to speak to prosecutors. Yeah, which is his right. He's not been subpoenaed or anything. They said, do you want to come in and talk to us in a voluntary declaration?

59:41and he said no. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. The investigators have let us know that they're not planning to investigate any team, so they're really only just investigating the referees here. According to leaked information, several refs confirmed that on April 2nd of last season, Rocky, as they recall, there was a meeting where they confirmed what the referee assignments would have been for the final week of the season, for the final weeks of the season. Is this a breach of protocol? Should Rocky, who decides on his own, have thought the whole thing out by himself and not told anybody?

1:00:20Maybe, but is there any kind of serious malfeasance? I don't see it. Like I told you, the allegation that the pro-inter referee that he supposedly appointed the Bologna game is the same guy who allowed the throwing to be taken 15 yards up the pitch, which cost Inter the title. The referee that, you know, the other referee that Inter orchestrated to get for the Milan game, Doveri is a guy who, you know, officiated a game which Inter lost 3-0 and went out of the Copa Italia semi-final, blowing their chances of a trap. In fact, I blame this, in fact, for them not beating Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final.

1:00:57Oh, I see. Because it hurt them so much inside. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sure. So I just don't, I don't see what the conspiracy is. If you have more information, let's wait for that to come out. But yeah, for now, it is what it is. FIFA Council approved a consultation process over a new rule that would require all senior club teams to field at least one homegrown player from the under 20 or under 21 category at all times. Jules, does this make sense to you? No, please.

1:01:25Julien Laurens:Let's understand the need of, you know, academies that work well, teams that use their young players, you know, the good ones, instead of going splashing money to buy players all around and things like that. I understand that. I understand it's good for your own country because you will get those young players being really good and it's good for your national teams and everything like that. I get it. Don't force teams to play players if they're not good enough, for example, because that would devalue your own sport. I think it would make the football weaker in general. There would be some teams where they've got great under-21s, one, two, three, four of them that would anywhere make it to the first team because they're just that good.

1:02:05Julien Laurens:others would not be good enough for your first team and what you'll have to force playing them in the squad you can have maybe it's a bit different but it's you know starting them filling them having you know having that rule in that you have to I think is wrong yeah so just to be clear in this FIFA have approved something in FIFA want to do this but they've approved the consultation where they'll go around they'll get opinions from leagues and stuff like that and and then they'll decide whether to vote on it next year. I'm with you. 99.9 % people will not want to do this. There's other ways to incentivize youth development.

1:02:41Julien Laurens:Gab, our colleague Tom Hamilton and... And? And? And? Pierre Schoutanisch. Him? Have a wild story from Dutch football on our website. Yeah, look, by the way, I'm normally proud of... I've got a lot of Dutch friends. I was in Amsterdam just last month. And I'm proud of the fact that I think I can speak Dutch. I don't speak Dutch, but I can say Routemolge and I can say Srebro and Popadise and, you know, a lot of these things. Right. I have a lot of issues with this guy's name. So that's why I had him send a voice note. But yes, we'll call him Pierre for now. So he and Tom teamed up on this story.

1:03:20This is pretty incredible. So as you know, we praise Cape Verde for qualifying for the World Cup, Curaçao. Um, so a lot of these guys are of Dutch descent, a number of them. And essentially they did what a lot of countries do, like England, like, like Italy. Yeah. France is more like in reverse to be fair, but, um, other countries can say, Hey, I know you're Dutch and you grew up there and stuff like that. And you eat Fabo and whatever else, but, uh, and Fla, but guess what? Um, grandpa came from Curaçao. do you want to play for couraçao since you're never getting close to the dutch national team yeah and so they say oh yeah great let me have a passport problem they can get the couraçao passport and under from fifa's perspective that's fine the problem is from the dutch national team's perspective from the dutch government's perspective you are not allowed to get a second passport if you get that second passport as an adult so in other words after you turn 18 naturalization whatever and so effectively once you do that it invalidates your dutch nationality so you're not you're not dutch anymore i know you have to give up your dutch citizenship uh and what this means is that because there's a lot of players in the situation there's at least 25 now there's there's a court case all these games that these guys played in now they were ineligible because they were registered as dutch nationals which right but instead they needed to have a work permit to play there.

1:04:53So in theory, they need to replay all these games. It would be 133 games in total, which I think would be kind of hard to fit in between now and the end of the season. I assume they're going to have some sort of solution here. I don't know if it's something FIFA need to look at too. Obviously, the Dutch government can do what they like. They're not the only country, by the way, which does not allow dual nationals. However, there's got to be a better way to resolve this without punishing these players, frankly. And by the way, if you're wondering about Sergino Dest, I looked him up. Sergino Dest isn't, because like we said, Sergino Dest got both his, whose mother is.

1:05:34Before he was 18, no? Yes, because he got them before he was 18. He has an American parent, a Dutch parent. And so that's why he's okay. Yeah. These other guys naturalized. Don't work that way. Scott Parker is no longer the coach of Burnley Burnley of course relegated Now he stuck with clubs before after being relegated But it's not this time

1:05:56Julien Laurens:Yeah I find it to be weird this timing There's four games to go in the season And I know you're down already But you've got you know you part ways with your manager now You've got your interim coach which was Mike Jackson The former assistant to Scott Parker Who's been at the club for many many years so not taking charge of the last four games. I don't really understand why. Even from the players' point of view, you've been working for a guy for two seasons, you got promoted to the Premier League, great. Okay, this season hasn't worked out. They've only won four games so far. But still, you've been working with him and then suddenly the guy leaves the building and then you don't see him again.

1:06:31Julien Laurens:With four games to go, I don't know, even some of the fans, maybe some of them still like Scott Parker. Maybe they wanted to, I don't know, to pay. pay to say goodbye to him at least probably and just say like thank you for having us back in the promenade for him even if we're going down again and being a bit of you like some of his cardigans perhaps yeah stuff like that you know i don't know i find it a bit weird but and it's quite unusual we don't really see no you know like any managers like that i think there's something that we don't know i mean that's that's kind of what my instinct says unless unless maybe he said guys i'm burned out i'm tired yeah yeah maybe which is also possible right yeah yeah i guess so i guess so gab we've got a new players union what's the story so david aganzo former real madrid starlet david aganzo is very much a union man evidently he he was involved with the spanish players union before the main one um and then he was involved with fifpro which is the organization that represents players unions from countries around the world and he decided to then he left and now he's decided to form a new international players union.

1:07:40This is some controversy because, all right, so FIFA had already met with, they said, player union representatives in the past to discuss player welfare, mandatory rest periods, and stuff like that, and that annoyed FIFA Pro. FIFA Pro said, like, guys, we represent the most players. If we're going to negotiate this stuff, you need to come and talk to us. Instead, they spoke to, David Aganzo was part of a group of these current and former union officials from minor unions in minor countries that weren't affiliated with FIFPRO at the time. FIFPRO saw that as very disrespectful from FIFPRO's part, and you can see why.

1:08:18And now David Aganzo's gone further. He's formed another union. Now, I don't have a problem with organized labor, but I do think a union is stronger when there is one union that represents all players. and the fact that David Alonso has already been part of these talks with FIFA, it also makes you think, are they going to be viewed as kind of in management's pocket, so to speak, in FIFA's pocket? Like, can they fairly represent? This is going to be part of the conversation. This feels like some kind of weird power play. I don't know who's going to join them. We're going to find out. But I think if I were a professional footballer, I would not be happy.

1:08:57This is not a good development because when there's multiple unions, of course, you can divide and conquer. Jules, remember Gianluca Pristiani from Benfica holding the shirt over his mouth so he could abuse Vinicius Jr. in the Benfica-Real Madrid game? IFAP have made it illegal to do this, just as we suggested on the show. Thank you, IFAP, for listening to us. So from now on, if you confront an opponent and cover your mouth, the referee has the option of giving you a red card.

1:09:26Julien Laurens:Yeah, I mean, I'm always in favor of things that can erase abuse from my game, you know, whether it's racial abuse or discriminatory stuff, everything like that. I'm all for it. I don't know if this will work. I don't know if this will be efficient. I'm glad the referees will have that tool now if they feel like they should use it. I just don't think, I think people have been abused players have been abused without the shirt over the mouth of the abuser or what what happens if it's not the shirt based the hands that that's covered too okay it's basically yeah good um let's see let's see if we see a decrease let's see if we see those reds happening to stars i'm always a bit worried about that uh let's see and then let's see if that reduces the amount of abuse that we have in the game yeah i think it's definitely a step forward because at these top games there's so many cameras obviously further down there won't be but i think you have to think twice in this case pristiani admitted to homophobic abuse many people are skeptical and think his abuse may might have been homophobic but possibly racist as well but obviously that's not what he was found guilty of but um a the act it shows that you are don't want people to hear what you're saying and there is no context in a confrontational situation where where that's okay the FIFA Congress is on the way in Vancouver Canada but Gab Gianni Infantino did not get the security arrangement that he wanted so this is one of those things where honestly FIFA right now you have a situation where you're getting a lot of bad publicity right you don't need and some of it is because you have to make tough decisions and tough choices I get that but then there's stupid things that you do on your own so reportedly according to Canadian media for the FIFA Congress in Vancouver.

1:11:15He asked for what's known as a level 4 security. Level 4 security is reserved for the President of the United States. It's a motor gate. It's all this. It's one level below the highest level which apparently is reserved only for the Pope. It's higher than the level that Canada's own Prime Minister, Mark Carney, gets when he travels around. So what would make you think it's a good idea? A, that it's necessary. I mean, I'm sorry, you're going to Vancouver. You're not going to Raqqa or whatever, right? And B, why would you get this out there? For what? How does this help you? Yeah, I just think it's a stupid thing to do.

1:11:53Yeah, I agree. And they hurt themselves when they do this. Jules, this brings us to an end, but shall we come back on Monday? Yeah. Because there's a full weekend of fixtures coming up. Arsenal out there again. We have a title race in the Premier League, although, as we said, City not playing again until May 4th for some reason. until then love the game love your neighbor love yourself

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