Gab & Juls Show: Should Arsenal start Gyokeres in the UCL final?

26:46To put your faith in him, Fabio Nouris being, I thought he had a monster game. I mean, you don't want a single one individual out. But I thought he was big. And that also speaks to Luis Sendiqa putting his trust bygones being bygones. With Bayern, other than maybe not attacking as intensely as they did early on, what would you have done differently? What do you think Kompany wishes he could have done differently?

27:12Julien Laurens:For me, Davies should have started this game every day instead of Stanisic. I understand why he's there, obviously, especially in your build-up and everything. but I think you lose a lot of what Davis can bring you. And by the way, we saw when Davis came on, he gives the assist to Kane, but even before that, there was more threat. The PhD defence had to be a bit more on their toes because he's so unpredictable, because he's a winger really playing a left back. But with Stanisic on that left-hand side, it was just, there was nothing coming from him anyway. So I was disappointed that Davis didn't start and then didn't come on earlier, to be fair.

27:50Julien Laurens:And then in a team that lacks so much creativity, when Moussiala was not good enough. Not just on the shot that he had on the edge of the box that, you know, is a half chance that probably he could have done better or should have done better. But overall, it was not the 10 that you needed for a game like this. Maybe bring on Karl before. Maybe bring on Nico Jackson before. But just change something. Because like you said, PSG was so comfortable. I think Serge Gnabry, obviously, this was a game where we missed him. We don't have the real Moussiala yet. We will get the real Moussiala at some point.

28:17We're both big Vincent Kompany fans. Yeah, yeah. We love him. Vincent Kompany showing that you can be successful and intelligent without being weird. Luis Enrique doesn't have that last quality, but he is a genius. And we tolerate it with genius. Andy Warhol was unusual too. Yeah, absolutely. But he didn't blame the officiating, but he did raise a point that it's fine margins. He brought up the Alphonso Davies handball from the first leg. I think we're both in agreement. That's a penalty. You're applying the rules. It's the rules, yeah. By then, the Nuno Mendes one. Let's get the Ja Gomes one out of it.

28:54Julien Laurens:Nives, yeah. This will always get me. I hope they never become teammates.

29:02Let's just explain why that is not a punishable handball.

29:08Julien Laurens:Yeah, because the rule is very clear whether you like it or not. It's very clear if a teammate clears the ball aware from his own goal so the ball can't go in the goal as an on-goal, I mean. So it will go out anywhere else on the pitch. But it's the arm of one of his teammates. In this case, Vitinha cleared the ball on Wednesday, like towards the Bayern half, but he hit Joe Neves' arm, who were really raised because he didn't expect the ball to come his way and that quickly, then you don't give a penalty. I know it's handball in the box. We can all see it. Clearly, the Bayern players and staff didn't know the rules.

29:45Julien Laurens:Funnily enough, the people next to me who were Germans knew the rules and said straight away, it's not a pen. Those pens are not pens because it's a clearance from one teammate to or not towards another. So that's the rule. I've got no issue with this rule, to be fair. It is something where the referee still has a certain amount of discretion because there's things that you have to judge. You have to judge. Is it a clearance? Is it like a tackle attempt? Could the ball be going somewhere else? in this case obviously not because it's going straight into the air right um so there's a lot of things to evaluate but i think that one was pretty i think this one was simple for the referee to say yeah and it was really quick to be the other one was a new nomendish i think it was about half an hour in yeah um this is more complicated because duno mendes has already been booked unintentional handball is the second booking um he's sitting just inside his own half and his arm just comes out and he blocks the ball i don't know where the ball would have gone i don't know it was an instinctive gesture or or whatever so this wasn't given because um conrad limer who was running with the ball kind of into um into no menace's area he was adjudged to have handled the ball.

31:06Julien Laurens:Yeah. To get it under control. To control it, yeah. There's an angle. Because his arm is down by his side and he's kind of leaning forward, it looks as if the ball comes off his arm. There's another angle which makes it extremely obvious. The ball comes off his leg, I think his chest as well, and then never hits his arm. Now, the referee could not have seen this. There's no possible way. I know the linesman gave it to him. I think it's either the linesman or the fourth official. Yeah, I was behind the benches. He kept doing the thumbs up. And then he gave the thumbs up. There was some speculation, I think, from company afterwards saying, well, he gave the thumbs up.

31:47Somebody reminded him that Mendes had already been booked. He didn't want to send him off. No, it wasn't that. I don't think it was that. Some of the footage I saw looked like, to me, it looked like,

31:59Julien Laurens:yeah, Leimer controls the ball first with some part of his body, either the thigh or the abs. It's definitely the thigh first one. It looked like, to me, that maybe he touches his arm and without the arm he doesn't control the ball. Certainly from that one angle where you say it looks like he touches with his arm. The other angle, a bit like the Eze Hancock penalty in the Atletico Arsenal, it seems that depending on the angle that you're looking at, but what I would just say is the linesman is really well positioned. He's literally, because that happens just in front of the bench where the liner is.

32:30But he is in line, and Leimer's arm is blocking where the ball hits his body, right? I think this is one thing where if this happens at the World Cup, we will have VAR for this. Yeah, yeah. Now, yeah. And going forward, we will. If I were Bayern, I would definitely be annoyed. But I would also realize, and I would ask the question about Jean Pinando as well, the referee. He's like, if you're not, yeah, they have no problem with you getting help from the fourth official or the assistant referee, but they have to be certain of what they're actually seeing before they step in. And we'll never know.

33:07But obviously losing a guy like Nuno Mendes going down to 10 men, I think the arithmetic all changes. It becomes a lot harder if you're going to have 27 % possession in the second half of 10 men. It becomes a different game. So I get that. But, you know, those are the rubs. one guy who's kind of disappeared from Paris Saint-Germain between now and the season and I just kind of want to we talked about the title race with Lons and obviously Lons drawing at the weekend took it away Arsenal have a much more intense title race even though if you look at the gap in points it doesn't necessarily feel that way but obviously City have the game in hand yeah yeah although Lons have the head-to-head it's just that Paris Saint-Germain are a much better team than Lawns.

33:56Arsenal are not a much better team than Manchester City. And that's why I think psychologically we look at this. Do you think, given what we've seen so far, that he has to put out a real lineup and play some of his best men in the next games just to wrap up the league, get it out of the way, right? You're not going to rest people for three weeks.

34:15Julien Laurens:No, but I think if they beat Bryce this weekend, it's pretty much done. They'll be six points clear with two games to go. Even if one of them is against Lawns. You say that, six points to two points to go, but one is the head-to-head with Lund, and the one after that is the Derby, and Derby's, anything can happen in a Derby, right? The on-goal difference, which there's still a gap between PSG and Lund's on-goal difference. So unless they're beating, they are beaten like three or four nil by Lund's, which is, I guess... How big is the... I think it's plus five or six. Okay. But I think, no, I think we'll see certainly this weekend rotation, you know, for the game at the weekend, and a lot of the players who didn't play much against Bayern, for example.

34:58Julien Laurens:So a team very similar to the one that drew with Lorient. But yeah, it's always risky, I think, to balance the two competitions when you get to that stage now. Arteta, to some extent, different because he almost has to play the strongest team in the league between now and the end of the season before then thinking about the final. For Luis Enrique, I think there could be a bit of a mix this weekend and then certainly for the last game, that's the one not to lose. and then after that it'd be theirs. Final point, we're going to be asking this again and again and again, but what strikes you about this team, I believe, and you'll correct me because I'm sure I'll get this wrong, but I think Marquinhos is 31, Dembele is 28.

35:38Fabian Ruiz is 30. Everybody else has a lot of years ahead of him, right? Yeah. So when you think, obviously you start thinking succession for Marquinhos, and then again, projecting forward. He's had all season with Zabarni. He'll be forming an opinion of whether Zabarni can be Marquinhos' long-term heir. Fabian Ruiz, I think he has it in-house. I mean, Jerry Emery's a different profile. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, I agree with you. Jerry Emery has to be in the starting 11. It's so hard to keep him out, right? Adembele, you got another four or five years here, right? And you also have Bradley Barcola, Canyon Lee.

36:20whatever else. But for me, one question is the goalkeeper because he had all season long to look at Safonov last year and said, eh, you know, I better bring somebody else in, right? He didn't start Safonov in the first half of this season. No, yeah. Is, what's your take? Is Safonov a viable long-term option? Should he reopen it and say, hey, Chevalier, I know the wheels came off, but you're still young. Let's have an open competition between you and Safonov.

36:54Julien Laurens:I think Chevalier will go in the summer, I think. You're just going to write him off after, just like that? I think so, yeah. And I think you can probably recoup quite a good amount because he's still young, he's still highly rated. I think there will be a market for him somewhere. And then it depends where you want to go after that. What would you do? Do you think, I mean, do you feel good about Safonov being your goalkeeper next season? I mean, right now, so far in the semifinal quarter-final and last 16 he's been he's been perfect you know there's they think this is his level yeah but is he donnarumma no will he ever be no that's for sure on his line an italian keeper ready to step in and yeah and they've got high hopes in him although he's still very very young but so no he's not he's not he's not in the top five goalkeepers in the world but he's he has done well he has done the job that he had to do in those games what what more can you ask of him nothing really and let's see in the final but yeah no and for me again there's another question we'll be asking i'll just give you a quick preview probably says your man are better this year than they were last year i agree and because i think what some people forget a little bit you said safonov has done the job has done what was asked of him donnarumma i thought with some of those saves in the knockouts went beyond what was asked of him i mean talk five fine margins he made saves that other keepers don't make.

38:14Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Safonov hasn't been asked to do that, and Paris Saint-Germain are through. And I think that might be the difference there.

38:20Julien Laurens:Yeah, I think you're right. They're better. I mean, Graz Kelly yesterday, best player in the world for me. Right now, there's nobody better than him. He was unplayable. Paco, the same against Kane. And they are better than they were at this stage last season. Even if they were very good last season at this stage, I think Dembele is better than he was last season at this stage. I think Dwey is better than... And I think you can look player by player. Dembele won the Ballon d 'Or, by the way. Yeah, yeah. So you're saying he's better this season, but he's certainly not among the favourites of the Ballon d 'Or, which is crazy.

38:47I mean, maybe he will. He is, he is. No, but I'm saying maybe he will if he wins the... Well, if he wins the Champions League, I think he is already. But just to get on, I'm just putting this in context, right? Dembele wins the Ballon d 'Or last season. Then you say he's even better this year, but then Kvarnaskeli is the best player in the world. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That tells you where they are right now. Yeah, absolutely.

39:05Julien Laurens:I think they're an incredible team.

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41:07Julien Laurens:Yeah, it has because it was really in the ends of City before. If they won't have all their games, and Arsenal did too, if they scored more goals, then they would win and goal difference. That's not the case anymore. Now they need Arsenal to at some point drop points against either West Ham, Burnley, or Crystal Palace. But if Arsenal go and win all three of those games, then City won't win the title. So I didn't see this one coming. I didn't see that collapse coming in the second half and then considering those three goals, really cheap goals to concede, mistakes everywhere. Gehi, Kusanov, all of them, like Nunes, O 'Reilly, all of them.

41:45Julien Laurens:I didn't see that coming at all. Donnarumma, it was just incredible to watch. Were you surprised at Pep's reaction afterwards when you just talked about how good they played in the first half and i kind of want to be like yeah you played really well in the first half and you scored you scored one goal in the first yeah and he was a worldie as well it was like two worldies from jenny yeah no i was agree yeah i agree with you and um i wonder too the the premier league could hinge on that second doku worldie because yeah these margins are so fine i mean and the other interesting aspect too is you mentioned the goal difference, right?

42:24So Arsenal still plus four. City have a game in hand. They can go and pump somebody six or seven nil. It's possible, right? And then that kind of wipes it out. But then Arsenal still, it kind of wipes out, it would wipe out potentially Arsenal's kind of little cushion of being able to draw a game between now and the end of the season. So I think for Arteta, the math doesn't change.

42:47Julien Laurens:We have to win all the games. And sticking with City Gap, Phil Foden's contract has been extended through 2030. What does this tell you? It tells me that Pep Guardiola will not be the city manager in 2030. And probably, possibly there's been rumors all season, not next year. As a club, you've made a decision. I'm sure it was Hugo Vianna's decision. Come what may, we cannot wait on Pep. This guy's an asset. This guy stays. And whether it's Pep or somebody else, we're going to expect him to rebuild Phil Foden into the force that we know he can be. It's the Classico this weekend. and it's another rough few days for Real Madrid, starting with Kylian Mbappe, this online petition as well.

43:30Julien Laurens:Yeah, incredible online petition to sell him by the club that has been signed by more than 18 million people around the world. Now, it could be a bunch of bots. It could be a bunch of people in their basements. It could be fans of other clubs. It feels like 18 million is a lot. And it's a lot. Can I also say, if I'm Real Madrid, I'm not going to push back on the 18 million because I can just say, look how popular we are. Yeah, true. have 18 million people signing a petition in 48 hours and the last the latest reason why or issue that some fans have uh with kilian is that he had a few days off because he you know he was recovering from an injury and on those days off he decided to go away with his girlfriend to sardinia and got obviously popped there by the photographers and the paparazzi and then came back just about on time for the game at the weekend and people didn't like that i don't understand why uh people don't like the fact that on your day off you can do what you want.

44:23Julien Laurens:Gabi, if you're off, if you want to go to Italy, to Paris, stay in your bed, play on the PlayStation or watch movies all day long, you can do whatever you want. This is your day off. He was allowed by Real Madrid to go away. He told them he was going away. I don't understand the problem. But clearly, the Mbappé family released a statement to say, hang on a minute, what is this all about? Because we did nothing wrong here. I just don't understand. I think it's, again, it's something that triggers the anger that people had maybe towards him. Yes, because the team sucks and you need to understand where you are right now.

44:53And the mistake, I think, was also from Real Madrid. They should have said, what I would have said is, listen, you need to be here and you need to be present because you are the face of this team, right? And I'm sorry, you're not going away. You're certainly not going on a boat. Then, if we lose the Clásico and Barca win the title, hey, you want to go recover and be ready for the World Cup? Fine, go to Sardinia. You can borrow my boat. But that is what Real Madrid should have done. That is what Arveloa should have thought of. That's what all these smart people at the club should have done because the PR damage of this is something that the club don't need and Mbappe doesn't need.

45:29And Gabi, it's not just Kylian in the eye of the storm. No. I mean, there's reports of Alverde and Schoameni getting into it in the training ground. And then obviously the big one, Alvaro Carreras and Rudiger. I know that somebody needs to be the tough guy, the enforcer. It's obviously not going to be Carreras. So it's Tony Rudiger. He then patched things up, took everybody out for a meal. You need this, I think, in any team. So I don't think this is as big a deal. But I think Rudiger has an understanding that the fans may have written off the season, but they don't want to lose the title in the Classico.

46:05Mr. Marinakis and Nottingham Forest are one small step away from the Europa League finals. We record this on a Thursday morning, and that means that they're two small steps away from the Champions League next season. so much you're all the Mr. Marinaki's haters out there wash your mouth out with soap and on Monday they all but stayed up by coming into Stamford Bridge and destroying Chelsea 3-1 yeah I mean we can talk about

46:26Julien Laurens:Chelsea more than Forest here really because there's of course Mr. Marinaki doesn't get the credit he deserves but Vito Pellerat deserves a lot of credit Vito Pellerat is exceptional yeah with a mixed team he's shown it before yeah with a mixed team finally Marinaki is getting the right manager in I mean he had so many tries that at some point it was going to work well done to them but what about Chelsea man how bad is this like this was one of the worst I've seen in a very long time for a home team of his caliber like Calum McFarlane playing today they're doing like oh look I have no clue so I know I'll put the kid from the youth team because he's gonna get all the support and then this poor Derry guy Jesse Derry gets who's very good by the way great future but it's so cravenly no ideas yeah yeah The vibe is terrible.

47:14Julien Laurens:It's a terrible season. I mean, they can maybe turn it around, turn the vibe around by beating City in the FA Cup final. Winning the FA Cup final. They need to sing that stuff. No question. Oh, a nice goal by Joe Pedro. Yeah, lovely goal. That's true. Also on Monday, Gabi, Roma beat up Fiorentina. 4-0. What are the chances that we can see Gasparini back in the Champions League next season? So it's tight. It's tight. It's really tight. It's great. Milan on 67, but definitely trending in the wrong direction. Juventus on 65, Roma 64, Como 62. There's no head-to-heads, but there is a Rome derby in two weeks from now, which I think is going to be determinant to Roma and a Turin derby on the last day of the season, possibly a little less so.

47:58This was full-on Gasperini. I think now that he won the power struggle, he's vindicated. And Daniel Mullen is playing up a storm. Manchester City have won the Women's Super League here in England, Jules, on the sofa, as it was, as they saw I'll watch Arsenal draw with Brighton not really surprised despite all those games at hand for Rene Slagers and City can win the double too

48:18Julien Laurens:yeah they can they're in the semi-final of the FA Cup first title in 10 years they have been even if the end there was a bit tricky they lost at Brighton for example who are building up a really nice team as well as a new stadium for them but they deserve it they have the best the best team right now the one that starts they have been the best team all season long Well done to them. You know, Champions League is coming again, which they need to. And it's a disappointment, I guess, for Arsenal and Chelsea not to have been able to compete with them until the end. Huge win for Sevilla on Monday night as Alexis Sanchez pops up late to score the only goal in the win against Real Sociedad.

48:57Yeah, disappointing for my boy, Materazzo. They're not out of the woods yet. They're simply out of the bottom three. Jules, this is insane. But with four games to go, there are no fewer than nine teams that could yet go down.

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50:54Shopify.com slash network. Namad is a bundle of nerves these days. Now, it's all cleared up now because he had an apology. But he didn't enjoy it when Rubinho's son, whose dad, Rubinho Jr., his dad you might have heard of,

51:14Julien Laurens:nutmegged him in training. Yeah, he didn't like it at all. Slapped him in the face, apparently, and confronted him. I mean, I don't know what to say anymore. I think he's sad. I really think he's sad. I think this is his World Cup gun. You can't, if you're Carlo Ancelotti and the Brazilian national team, you can't bring him to the World Cup with attitude like this. Not because that means he's going to do it in your camp during the competition. It's just not the look that you want, not the questions that you want being asked. You don't want it to be all about Neymar. And what if something similar happens?

51:44Julien Laurens:Because clearly he's on, he's very nervous. He's on, he's on the edge. And I don't think you can take that risk if you're on Chelsea. And also, let's not forget, because if Neymar was amazing on the pitch right now and, you know, on fire, then okay, you could have the conversation. But he's not even that. He's not even that great. he's not bad but he's not that great and they have other options and they have many options yeah exactly so i find out a bit sad i find this season sad the argument with the fans uh the you know the injuries or is injured does he have a virus or did he not want to show up this now with robinho jr all of this is just so terrible i think for his legacy for his image for everything when you were playing for the uh u18s in the french and and you had some little kid playing up anybody ever tried to not make you would you have been okay with this famous story with the french national team of vikash doraso do you remember him of course he played for me then who was a little bit cheeky his first training with the national team and some of the boys didn't like it and we never saw him again so you are you so you're okay with that code no no no no i'm not the respect code yeah but i think also if you're doraso if you're robinho jr there's things that you know you could be doing and things that even if you want to do it if you're capable of not making Neymar or I don't know, Zidane or Deschamps or whoever was playing with Doraso at the time, be smart.

53:04Julien Laurens:Just don't do it. I also think in a training session, it's a little different and we from the outside, we don't know the context of this. So we don't know, like during the game, you presume Neymar is engaged, right? If Neymar felt, you just did this just to make me look stupid and I wasn't even half trying, like I have a problem. If you got the guts to do this when there's something at stake, when you come on as a sub or whatever respect no but i remember when i was when i was playing with the uh the first team in my club in the fourth division in paris you could not you could not mess up with the leaders of that squad and the captains and the older players if you didn't try to not make anybody definitely not you but they would literally cut your legs off it would be like that but you knew it already you knew the codes of that do you think it you think the code is still strong today because younger players are often encouraged to play with i mean i mean at them ben arfa for example at lyon when he was starting far more than karim but hatem that's why he had so many issues with the likes of skilachi for example who had you know was the keeper of the rules as the one of the oldest player and french international and and atem just wanted to do humiliate people and not make everybody and they clashed massively and and skilachi went after him isn't there some famous video of like um like i think it's like a fly on the wall documentary about Claire Fontaine.

54:23Oh, yeah. And there's a young Ben Arfa and Diaby. Yeah, yeah. They're like eight years old. Yeah, but that's different. And like Ben Arfa was making fun of Diaby and Diaby runs after him.

54:31Julien Laurens:Yeah, that's a bit different though because they were only 12. Diaby is like five Ben Arfas. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Happy days. Happy days. It's official now, Gabi. Jakob Kuvio, one half of Francesco Farioli's Polish power title winning center back pairing with Jan Benarek, will be sticking around at Porto next season. They're making his move from Arsenal permanent for 17 million euros rising to 22. That's a good deal for Arsenal. I think it's a very good deal for Arsenal. I think the other one to watch now is Fabio Vieira who's had a good season at Hamburg. Hamburg saying, I don't know, apparently there was a 20 million euro option to make the deal permanent.

55:08Hamburg, I think rightly, options are options, right? That's all they mean. Hamburg saying, no, no, we'll give you 12 million, right? So at some point, Arsenal can think, all right, because this isn't the NFL or the NBA, the players get a say, right? So what Arsenal need to weigh up is, okay, your boy Andrea Berta needs to figure out, all right, can we put, is there somewhere else where we can get more money than this that Fabio Vieira will accept and be happy with, knowing that Fabio Vieira is not a guy who's gotten a ton of playing time at different clubs over the years? Is he settled? Can he then do the deal?

55:45So it's really complex. You can't just go and. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think the good thing is 9 million residual amortization on the Kivir deal. So that is a positive movement, the balance sheet of more than 10 million. And I think Arsenal need to get at least 14 to net out on Fabio Vieira. And that gets you a little bit forward on the way to Hincapia. Obviously, Arsenal are going to make a ton of money from reaching the Champions League final, maybe from winning it. but they did spend a ton of money this year and their wage will go up. So I think there are certain players that already we see in Arsenal are going to have to move on.

56:28So I think this really helps. Adedi Bilbao announced their manager, Jules. Are you a bit surprised that it's Aiden Kertzic?

56:37Julien Laurens:Absolutely. I won't lie. I didn't see this one coming. Not because I don't like Kertzic. The producer Freddie even put him up on the screen behind us. He's sharing space with Neymar, Jeremy Doku, and Kylian Mbappe. I know, I know. This is how highly producer Freddie thinks of Edin Terzic. Terzic, a former vice-European champion, obviously, because he took Dortmund to the Champions League final, beat my PSG team in the semifinal that season two years ago, did nothing since. Ian Mattson was a former European player. And did nothing since, although he was linked with a lot of clubs, clearly could not get those jobs that he was after, was a candidate for, I would love to know if he was really the first choice or if they tried Iraola, for example, if they tried Inigo Perez.

57:20Julien Laurens:Because I still think that with this Atletico Club, Atletico Club de Bilbao, sorry, and the strong identity and DNA, I find it really strange that they give that to one, a non-Basque, but that can happen. Right. But at least the Spaniards more than somebody who knows nothing about Spanish football. I guess he must have sold them purely on his coaching and tactics and man management. I don't know if he speaks the language. He's a smart guy. You can learn it. But also, because it's like Bill Bow, it's not even like, hey, look, you know, this is the nice thing, which kind of insulates you a little bit.

57:53I wonder if this played into it. Sometimes when you get coaches in, right, obviously at serious clubs, you've got recruitment specialists who do the recruitment, but every coach has an agent, and every coach, an agent who likes to place players, right? And he says, hey, like, you know, talk to the director of football, you know, see if we can find a home for this guy. We really like him, blah, blah, blah. That ain't going to be happening with Edin Tertzic, I would assume, because they can only sign Bass players, right?

58:19Julien Laurens:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, he's totally cut off from that side of things. Things remain stormy at Milan. Plenty of rumors that Rafael Leao and Christian Polisic could be moving on. Yeah, it's like Game of Thrones over there right now with the different caps. nobody kind of knows what Jerry Cardinal is going to do. Leal's been linked with a move away. Pulisic as well not having a good second half of the season. Inevitably that gets linked too. I think it's going to depend on whether Allegri stays. But I go back to this. Part of the reason Allegri got the job is he's such a wonderful man-manager and he helps players grow.

59:00These two players have not grown this season. And you know what? It's not entirely their fault. and hopefully Milan will realize that. Gerard Pique has been banned for six matches following FC Andorra's 1-0 defeat to Albacete last week. Now just for context, Gerard Pique doesn't play anymore. No, he's the owner.

59:17Julien Laurens:So it doesn't really matter that he's been banned. What does it mean you're banning an owner? Well, no, but it's not a good look for you. He's the owner of Andorra. That's the thing. They've rose up the league tables, the league, sorry, to the second division. They are in a really good position. I don't think they'll go up, but they're in a good position. this season and great but then you're the owner you go mad because you were not happy with the some of the decisions and obviously it's a terrible look for you know that he cares I think before the club as well and instead of talking positively about Andorra and their rise from you know I know I know where they are because that's where my family is from so it's tiny they've done an amazing job there he's built something quite special and you don't really know what the limit is for them and they could go probably higher but this is not a good look at all man he needs to to control his temper to control himself as well so that when they are in la liga one day maybe or in the champion one day that's what we wish for them things like that don't happen again gab remember that tom hamilton story on the website about all those dutch dual nationals that could uh could have forced more than 100 replays between that and the season while sanity has prevailed.

1:00:29Yes, it's not actually going to happen. The court case was brought by Breda. This all has to do with the fact that with the rise of Curaçao and Cape Verde and Indonesia, a lot of these guys who are Dutch but have their, they have roots in those countries, you know, those countries went to them and said, hey, like, you know, remember how grandpa was from Indonesia? Do you want an Indonesian passport? And come play for Indonesia. And a bunch of these guys said yes. The problem is Dutch law doesn't allow this. they would have had to have been re-registered get a different working visa whatever

1:01:02and technically there was a chance that they would have had to replay all these games fortunately that's not going to happen they need to find a solution I've argued for a long time if countries do not allow dual nationals FIFA should come up and have a call it a football nationality I don't understand why if you're Dutch and you are eligible to play for another country legitimately yeah you know through bloodlines or residency frankly or marriage even why you should not be allowed to do so just because the dutch government says you can maybe it's not a real passport but maybe you you have a footballing

1:01:43Julien Laurens:exemption why what's the point yeah no i'm with you although it probably would difficult to police maybe from ufa and so fifa not their job either you know to try to because then you could have a lot of national teams who say gab marco is a great player we would love to have him playing for japan because you love japan or nigeria although he's italian and you know an american what do we do here and then they find a way of trying to convince fifa to give you their nationality their football nationality when you maybe don't you should not be allowed my problem is the double standard, right? So if you're Italian or if you're French, you're allowed to hold multiple passports.

1:02:22If you're Dutch, you're not.

1:02:24Julien Laurens:In that case, yeah, definitely. To me, that's the main thing that doesn't make sense. The Times reporting that Junior Kruppi, who could break the record of Premier League goals by a teenager jointly held by Robbie Keane and Robbie Fowler, and not Michael Owen, which kind of surprised me. I guess he, because he scored 18 goals in his first full season, but I guess he must have just turned that year. I don't know. Whatever. It doesn't matter. Sorry, Michael. Great goal scorer. Anyway, he's being tracked by Barcelona, Chelsea, and Arsenal. Funny enough, it's exactly what I would say if I were Bournemouth.

1:02:56Yeah, exactly. I want your thoughts on this. And to be clear, while he is French, he's neither Paris-born nor Paris-bred.

1:03:04Julien Laurens:There's no clear evidence that he's ever been to Paris. No, I think he's been to Paris. But yeah, you're right. He's not one of ours. It's okay. We can sometimes give a bit more talent to the rest of the country. It's all good. an incredible first season. I don't think he saw it coming, really. I certainly didn't see it coming. I thought he would do well and Bournemouth was the perfect club for him, coming from their parent club in France, Lorient, where he was the star of the French second division last year at 18, 17 and 18. But still, the step up is big to the Premier League and yeah, he's gone better and bigger and stronger than anything I could have thought of.

1:03:39Julien Laurens:And the same for him and I think the same at the club too. I think it's far too early to leave bournemouth it doesn't need to those clubs will still be there in a year time but i don't hear all of them true but then then you know marco rosa could be very good for for ellie's development so i i think unless boomer say listen you know we bought you for 35 and that was cheap because he was loyal selling to the parent club and we can't turn down 70 and making twice the money that we made on you sorry but you have to go if it's if the choice is in his hands then i think he should and said, you know what, keep me here for another season in the Premier League where I can start every game through the season.

1:04:19Julien Laurens:Whereas this year he didn't really start the first half of the season. I was going to say, what's really impressed me, it's either impressive about him or about Irola, is I've seen Bournemouth play live maybe three times this year. And at the start of the season, he wasn't playing. And he gets into the first team. and every time I've watched him, I was so impressed with their organization, their pressing movements. And I thought, this is Antonio Raola. And then he gets into the first team. I thought, all right, this guy, I can tell. He's come on as a sub a few times. He's a technically gifted player, but he's going to screw everything up because so much of the press is based on coordination and movement.

1:05:00And he took to it like a duck to water.

1:05:03Julien Laurens:Yeah. And this tells me that either he's super, super smart, tactically as well, which you don't always associate with such a young player, or Ira Ola is simply the greatest teacher in the world. Oh, the structure works better and you can put a lot of good players in that structure and it still works, you know. Maybe as well. A bit of everything, you know. That part really impressed me. His dad was a really good player. We said that before, I think, on the show. He's a Vorian, no? Yeah. And he was a really good Ligue 1, the player. The football IQ that he transmitted to his son is clearly of the chance.

1:05:38Julien Laurens:So I'm not surprised either by all that success. Gab, I don't like this story, but it won't go away, so we have to talk about it again. Donald Trump's special envoy, Paolo Zampoli, is talking about Italy replacing Iran to the World Cup again. Yeah, and I promised you, remember last time we didn't want to do this story? Why no, because I don't like it. Because you don't like it? Okay. But he leaves us no choice. I know, I know. Now, at this point, you've come out, and again, for those who don't know, he's the guy you introduced, Donald Trump, to his wife. Other than that, he's his friend, so I guess he has to be special envoy.

1:06:13Apparently, he's for business and for sports matters. Okay, whatever. He says the stupid thing. Everybody in Italy comes out and says, oh, that's ridiculous. It's impossible. We don't want to even. We don't want to. We would be embarrassed to do this, right? Everybody at FIFA says, no, no, it's a no-go because it's going to be another team from Asia that replaces Iran if they can't go. Okay, fine. You look like a total fool. You've made things even worse because now people Google you and find out things about your background that maybe you don't want them to talk about. And what does he do? He starts talking again.

1:06:51And he says, well, he says, the FIFA rules are unclear on this. We don't know. The clock is ticking. It's still a possibility. And when they said, oh, but, you know, Johnny said no. He's like, well, you know, I was able to get Johnny to, He took credit for moving the World Cup draw for Las Vegas, for convincing Johnny to move it to Washington, D.C., to the Trump-Kennedy Center, as some people might call it. I'm like, really? This is really a time for self-promotion? Just shut up. It's going to be an all-Mexican final in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, Jules. Tigres beat Nashville 1-0, advancing 2-0 on aggregate, and Toluca destroyed LAFC 4-0, turning around their first leg, one-two defeat.

1:07:36Julien Laurens:Yeah, great performance from Toluca against Hugo Lloris and Hermin Son in that second leg. Outstanding atmosphere, if you watch the highlights as well. All-Mexican affair. I was very happy for Tigres and Andre Pierre-Gignac, although we know this is his last season. He didn't come on in their win 1-0. But I'm hoping that he can be there, maybe take a little part in this final. I think it would be Tigres' fifth one or sixth one since he joined the club. They've only won one, so they haven't done that well. And that one was in 2020 or 2021, if I remember well. So massive, massive game, especially between two Mexican teams.

1:08:20Julien Laurens:It would be fun. I think it'd be a really fun game to watch. How old do we think Gignac is? Really, I promise you, like 55. Does he know? How old are you? But you know there's players, Gabi, that you meet when they are at the peak of their career, through their career, and you think, okay, yeah, him I can see, I mean, Cristiano being the prime example, obviously, but even others where you think, okay, him you can see because of the lifestyle and just everything. For Giniac, I never thought, I never thought that he would still be playing at 40, going on 41. I never thought that he could last that long and still keep scoring and performing.

1:08:54Julien Laurens:I never thought he'd do well in Mexico because I thought, that I thought. I thought the heat, the humidity, you want to run around. He's from south of France. You know, he loves that. But also, he doesn't run around. So it doesn't really matter that he's so big. Yeah, yeah. And he's so one-footed and he's so big and you get him the ball. He's just a phenomenal finisher. You know, he's great. And Miro one gap. Speaking of Mexico, it's a standoff between the federation and the clubs after the national team coach Javier Aguirre said that any Mexico-based player who doesn't turn up for his rainy camp would be excluded from the World Cup.

1:09:30Julien Laurens:Yeah. And clubs have promised to release the players too for that camp. Well, first of all, this is outside of FIFA Day, so you can't do that, right? You can ask, but you can't make these rules. It's not a bad idea, to be fair. No, but except for the fact that they have playoffs in Mexico and the Champions Cup. And some Toluca players, they released them and so on. Others are saying, well, what does Liga de Mequis? What about our guys here? Yeah. Also, I think he invited 20 players. obviously there's a bunch of mexican players who are still playing in europe you're not getting those guys back what you want to have a closer look at them like i i don't know why do you have to be so categorical and so aggressive when you speak right why do you have to go out and say ah you're not coming and you're not going to the world cup i mean what i know did you know what i mean like yeah i think it's silly this is a silly argument to have uh yeah the old notion about like sort of the spoonful of honey versus the barrel of vinegar and the world cup is in like a month or so you know we're leaving soon and then this is what's happening with mexico instead of focusing on their home world cup to do the best with that with a squad and everything this is what's happening what they're talking about it's ridiculous jules as of today may 7th with the world cup what 34 days away something like that two and a half billion people worldwide to the combined population of China and India, two of the biggest markets worldwide, will not get to see the World Cup as FIFA have not yet sold the rights in those territories.

1:11:04So much of growing the game, huh?

1:11:06Julien Laurens:Yeah, I mean, FIFA not happy with the offers that they go on the table? Yeah, so basically, well, with China, this is always a thing, right? China drive a really high bargain. You can go and try to sell to China and it's like CCTV, China Central Television, just say, no, we'll give you this. and then just don't move. You think it or not. Yeah. No, it was like, I mean, the Premier League got peanuts from China for many, many years because they're just like, no, well, Premier League's really popular here. We're China. We don't have to, you know, you have to adapt to us. Yeah. India is slightly different.

1:11:34India, according, these are numbers from Reuters and we are talking about our parent company here. Okay. Reliance, which is, you know, Ambani's company and Disney got together. They wanted to do a joint, a joint bid working together. they've offered$20 million, according to Reuters. FIFA wanted$100 million. Okay. Now, they got really high numbers for the World Cup in Qatar in India. And I think this is part of FIFA's thinking, so we should get that. But I think the big difference is that that World Cup wasn't clashing with cricket season. Yeah. And time-wise, that's the big one, right? Exactly.

1:12:15Same thing with China. so as of right now zero is better than something else I talked to somebody who says well FIFA making most of their money from the US and stuff like that they could just give the rights away in that part of the world maybe they will I refuse to believe that people in China and India will not get to see the World Cup

1:12:38Julien Laurens:at some point they'll have to find an agreement it would be a real shame for them they love football over there even if the times are not perfect perfect a lot of games in nighttime and things like that. But still, it would be a real shame. But I do want to make the point. If FIFA's mission statement includes developing the game around the world and you have the first 48 team World Cup, I know China and India obviously haven't qualified, but these are two markets where supposedly you should be developing the game. So I'm not saying take a discount, but yeah, you're going to have to take a discount, bro.

1:13:09Sorry, Johnny.

1:13:10Julien Laurens:And staying with Johnny, Gabby, the FIFA president is attracting attention again for the wrong reasons. Yeah, like we know that he doesn't always listen to his advisors. And he's a very smart guy. But even very smart people, they don't know everything. So he was out there at the Milken Institute Global Conference. Greg Milken, of course, the former junk bond king. And went to college with his son, Mike. Okay. Fun fact. I mean, he's out there and he's talking about college prices. And he says, you cannot go to watch in the United States a college game. I'm not even speaking about a top professional game, but a college game for less than$300.

1:13:47And this is the World Cup. So first of all, he's completely wrong. There's lots of college football, certainly college basketball that you can go watch. Women's game as well. Like cheapest tickets are not going to be$300. But there's also professional sports. You can baseball. And I know obviously baseball plays 162 games and most of them are relevant, but they are cheap seats. It's like they sell out every game. So yeah, it's another occasion where I think needlessly or maybe because you're overworked or maybe because you're unprepared, you go out and you say things that make you and FIFA look stupid and will resonate in a U.S.

1:14:30market. Because it's one thing if I'm out there and I'm talking about stuff the average Joe in the U.S. knows nothing about, right? But if you're talking about prices to go watch sports in the U.S., random fans or not football fans in the US, they'll know about this. So if you want to make a comparison just to the NFL, where, yeah, I would assume in the NFL, it's really hard to go watch a game for less than$300. But just about any other sport, there are ways to do it. So, anyway, Jules, this brings us to an end. Thank you for not mentioning that your New York Knicks are destroying my Sixers in the playoffs.

1:15:04I'm off on Monday. Enjoy your day off. I'll leave you in the capable hands of one Don Hutchinson. That's right. So until then, love the game. Love your neighbor. Love yourself.

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