Gab & Juls Show: Will Arbeloa last the season as Real Madrid manager?

21:05Control the daily operations of your business and transform your maintenance program. Go to maintainx.com slash sports. That's maintain and the letter X dot com slash sports. 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 Mourinho.

21:43How about some quick hits? Let's go, Gav. Got to get beaten up at Anfield by Liverpool 6-0. Jules, how much of a blow, though, is losing Jeremy Fringpong? And by the way, how cool is it, the Carabag advance?

21:56Julien Laurens:Very good for them. Amazing achievement. And good for the competition, too. Very good for the competition. And deserved, as well. You and Bodo Glimp, for example, that we will talk about later, deserved at least so. Great stories, great fairy tales. Perfect. For Liverpool and Fringpong, that's bad news, obviously, considering especially that Bradley is out for the season and that Joe Gomez, the other potential right back, is also out. So Endo came on, Motao Endo for most of that. Again, because Frimpon got injured quite early on and probably would play there, you would think, against Newcastle on Saturday, against City as well.

22:28Julien Laurens:Is Calvin Ramsey fit? That's a good question. I don't think he was on the bench. I mean, you still have a few more days to bring back Trent Alexander-Arnold if you're Liverpool on loan. 48 hours. make this happen guys or Stevie Nicole is available as well too if you need another fullback he can stop being a pass I don't know how quickly he gets around the pitch that's the only bad thing about what was a very good evening in the end for Liverpool Antonio Vergara scores a worldie in the house of Maradona that Maradona bill sorry but it's not enough as Chelsea come from behind and beat Napoli with two jobs Pedro goals gap the critics will hammer Antonio Conte for his European record of course again and his five wins in six now for Liam Rossini yeah so I'm gonna I have I think there's three points to make here.

23:11I will let you handle the Vergara point because that's a tecker's point. But I'm going to start with Conte. I'm sorry, he gets a pass here. He gets a pass because everybody's injured. Could they still have qualified? Should they still have qualified?

23:22Julien Laurens:Yeah, they were not injured at the start of this tournament. But that's not where they dropped the points. It was games like Copenhagen and stuff like that. I mean, in this game, they took the lead. They were beaten by, I thought the Jean-Pedro goal was phenomenal. Yeah, the first one is Bichon. Penalty, whatever. you know and they had a chance to equalize late on with Lukaku should Lukaku have come on sooner who knows right for Chelsea there was something at stake for Chelsea as well finishing in the top 10 mission accomplished I again I go back to this I have not seen this was maybe the first game against a good opponent although with the qualifiers that everybody's out that it's a must-win situation where I've seen them play well other than the Arsenal game which they lost yeah So I think the jury's still out, but there's still a lot to be said to go to these young players.

24:12When you chew one down a little from home and say, hey guys, this matters. The Vergara turn, you don't see that.

24:19Julien Laurens:No, it's bad defending for Fofana, though. Terrible defending, the way he's beaten. But it's great, it's great. He's like, who the hell is this guy? Because nobody, I mean, he was on loan at Regina. He's a no-name right now. Yeah, yeah, right now. You even mocked, I'm sure you mocked him last week or the week before. I did, yeah. Even he plays, you know. He started. He didn't just play. He started. I mean, they have Vergara and poor Elif Elmas starting behind Hoyland. Yeah. I mean, it sounds like a punchline to a joke. And it's a shame that he lost because that's one of the goals that you would want to remember forever.

24:50Julien Laurens:And you will remember it, but in a defeat, it's not exactly the same than if they'd qualified and won't. But what a turn and what a bit of a piece of magic. How hard is it to do that? I think it's the improvisation, though, that makes it even more beautiful. I don't think he's thinking about that when he turns over for Fana, for example. And the finish is great because often you could do the really complicated piece of skill and then the finishing bit is not there because you've just been on this incredible kind of run. But he did. He was so composed. It was beautiful to see. Barcelona go... No, it's me.

25:21Barcelona go down, but then storm back to demolish Copenhagen. 4-1. Jules, we can all mock the high line, but we have to take Barcelona seriously to win this competition, right?

25:31Julien Laurens:Yeah. I mean, when you've got Laminia, Mar, Rafinha and Lewandowski who combine together and score. It took them a good half an hour to get into this game and a goal behind, as we said. Dadason? Dadason, again, who scored, by the way. What a very promising young player he is. Big boy. Yes, as well. Then the second half, he was just that, you know, machine from Barcelona last time playing. And that's with the midfield of Fermin, Dani Olmo and Eric Garcia. Which I don't know you want to see too many times. Exactly. Certainly not in most games, but in this one, it worked out. It's a big win and it's third place finish or fourth place finish?

26:07Julien Laurens:Something like that. Arsenal already qualifies. Suateta mixes things up and they beat Kao Mati 2-0. 3-2 even. Gav Kajavac starts, scores, and as an assist, you must be happy for him. I'm glad you caught that. Sorry, I write this question. And sometimes they do so late at night. I am hugely happy for him. I knew you would be. I know Mikkel now knows what he's worth. Kao Mati is the best on earth, just about. he played in midfield or is one of the attacking midfielders whatever, although it really makes sense to talk about midfield when you're playing against Kairat Almaty I don't think they're the 36th worst they're the 36th best team in the competition I think they're 60 teams they're the 60th best if you see where I'm going with it they really were really overmatched even relative to other so-called minnows that said I think he should be the week-in, week-out starter.

27:02I understand the profile argument, and based on the opponent, maybe sometimes he'll pick Diocres, maybe sometimes he'll pick Gabriel Jesus, and maybe sometimes he'll pick Havertz. That's fine. He's not going to lose a lot of time at 10, not with, as a, you know, Declan Rice wasn't playing, you know, other guys weren't there. But yeah, it's good news. It's good news to anybody who loves good football and talented footballer. A game of two halves at the Parc de Prince, Jules. I love using cliches. Paris Saint-Germain dominate Newcastle in the first 45 minutes until injury time. And it's 1-1. And then they risk throwing it all away after the break.

27:36Julien Laurens:Yeah, I think they ran out of gas a little bit in that second half. So they ran out of ideas because they had the ball a lot of it against a really low block that were playing on the counter, especially after Gordon, Wissan, Barnes came on for Newcastle, who started with a back five and a B team. But he almost worked for you. But now he thanks you. He says, hello, am I on the B team? Well, apart from him. But you know what I mean? And PSG was very sideways and stale and not much rhythm and not many chances created after the break. And missed the penalty too. Yeah, very early on. So not a really good night from PSG.

28:11Barnes and Gordon, when they came on, they looked like little twin Neymars.

28:14Julien Laurens:Yeah, and to you know what, I did wonder, we would never know, obviously, but what would have happened if they had started them too and we saw ahead of Volta Madder, Elanga and Willock who were the three players playing in front for Newcastle. We will never know. Both of them missed on top eight. So in the end, you're qualified, but neither really are happy. And let's see who they play now in the playoffs. After Manchester City's Atletico Madrid's turn to fall to the mighty Bodo Glimt. Gab, they've qualified. This is a great story. You probably know about Bodo Glimt by now because they have a big PR operation, partly run by our old pal Pedro Pinto.

28:56But it is a great story. So there's nothing wrong to tell that story again and again and again. Those men in yellow from north of the Arctic Circle on their plastic pitch. And by the way, this was away to Atletico Madrid, not a plastic pitch. They played tremendous football. They played attacking football. And they also pulled off quite an incredible comeback. And I would say when we compare them, we'll just throw out the eight games.

29:25Julien Laurens:Yeah, because they didn't win any games until matchday 7. And I think the difference between them and Benfica, for example, also a tremendous comeback, of course. Boudreau-Glund played well throughout, and were unlucky. They were unlucky. Benfica were really, really bad in several of those early defeats. So, well done to them. And what a scrambly goal by Hogue. Erling Haaland scores his first goal from open play since before Christmas, and City Cruz to a 2-0 win over Galatasaray as both teams advance. Did you like Marmouche in the hole? No, I mean, I don't really like much of Marmouche anyway in the first place.

30:04Julien Laurens:I'm not sure what Pep tried to do worked. I know they scored two goals, but that was two beautiful assists by Jeremy Doku before his injury, which looks bad and not good news at all. At least you can put Zemeno back on the left. Yes, Zemeno could not play in this game. Obviously, he was not eligible. Same for Margay. But do you agree he's better on the left? Yeah, that's probably his best. To choose, I think, between the right and the left, even if he's two-footed, I think that's probably best for him. But that's the only really bad news of the night for City, who cruised into the top eight. Well, with Gattasaray, we'll have to go through the playoffs.

30:39Julien Laurens:Inter score late, but Bepocha-Dormann in Germany 2-0 to finish one point out of the top eight gap. Okay, so great free-kick goal from Federico Di Marco. How about that? And then Juve added one in injury time. I think Dortmund treated this like a whatever game, which surprised me because they rested Brent and Adeyemi. I thought they were resting them. They didn't start at the weekend. And then he doesn't play them again in this game. And then at the back, we see my boy, Filippo Mané, who obviously I'll be supportive of him because the dude's Italian, but he's very young, had a start earlier this season and was terrible.

31:15And we didn't see him again. And now all of a sudden he starts against Inter. It just seemed kind of odd to me. It seemed like they weren't fussed. Inter can say, oh, look, we finished level with Real Madrid. Just one point out of the top eight. So onwards and upwards. It's another two-no win for the man with two first names. Jules has Tottenham Hotspur beat Eindracht on the road. They actually end up fourth in the table, if you can believe that.

31:39Julien Laurens:Yeah, it's quite incredible. If you look at the Premier League form and the Champions League form, I thought in this game, tactically, with the role of Palinja, especially making it pretty much a back three. It looked very much like Brentford. And I wonder if that's the way forward. Let's see on Sunday when they host City in the Premier League. But it looked a lot like Brentford. Solanke coming off the bench scoring a goal that Dahoud assisted him with. Frankfurt are such a bad team and still with no managers. But that's a good win for Spurs. And also, you talk about Brentford, it's ideal because Brentford just go out and attack and send people and send people and send people and if you're smart, you'll score against them.

32:19Julien Laurens:A hurricane strike six minutes from time means that PSV get boshed at home by Bayern 2-1. But Gav, how nice is it to see Jamal Moussala back starting and scoring? Oh, it's absolutely fantastic to see the little man back. And you realize how much you missed him. You were a great finish. Let's see how it works now. I thought he was going to drop Leonard Karl giving some of the difficulty he had at the weekend. He didn't. Showed faith in him. Vincent Kompany, you are the management guru What can I say? Bruges destroyed Marseille 3-0 Now much as I'd like to make this all about Mr. Champions League Hans Sranaken Jules, I feel like the story here Is Roberto de Zerbi's Marseille getting knocked out Probably the biggest disappointment Along with Napoli Yeah An embarrassing result The start of the game was horrendous this is the Zebby's failure more than anything else.

33:14Julien Laurens:I mean, the players have responsibility, obviously. Well, he rested a lot of guys at the weekend, right? They played 30 games in all competition. This is his 30th different lineup from the start. It's ridiculous. I've had enough of him. I think he's embarrassed himself with all his communication as well as what we've seen on the pitch. And on that day, they have been brilliant. And when it's not that day, like last night, they have been shockingly bad. And this club deserves better than that, deserve better than finishing 25th and not qualifying when they had 94 % chances of qualifying before kickoff last night.

33:49Julien Laurens:That's how bad it is. And yes, the Benfica goal right at the end knocked them out. Otherwise, they would have just scrapped through. This is just not good enough. Malik Tillman, U.S. national team. Malik Tillman backs two goals and by Leverkusen destroyed Villarreal 3-0. Gav, I guess now the yellow submarine can focus on the league. That's right, which is what they wanted. You saw that from what they wanted for a while. I don't think the league is over. I think they have a good shot at finishing third, maybe even a little bit more, because they still have the game in hand. Bonkers and bass country, Jules.

34:20Sporting come from behind to beat Athletic Club. Deep in injury time. Talk about a turnaround. That goal would send them in the top eight, coming off of a defensive corner, which is always fun to see.

34:31Julien Laurens:In the 95th minute as well, Alisson first, Luis Suarez, the other Luis Suarez, the one that doesn't bite. The other Alisson and the other Louis Storch. And the other Alisson, you're right, exactly. Pull off brand team, this. True, and both kind of stumble, and then Alisson scores to make it 3 to 95th minute to send Sporting in the top eight. That's another great story with Karabag and Bodo Glimt and all of that. Amazing for them to finish top eight. Yeah, Sporting fans, thank you for putting them in the same category. No, no, but you know what I mean. You wouldn't expect them to qualify. It's a bigger achievement.

35:02Julien Laurens:It's massive, massive. Monaco hold a must-change U of SI to a nil-nil draw which means both advance to the playoffs gap. Classic game where the result suits both. You think so? The expected goals of this game were 0.18. I think everybody knows how to read the scoreline and I think maybe they would have made adjustments if they needed to. Obviously Monaco perhaps more limited in what they can do given how they're in free fall in the league. Monaco, I thought, had the better chance. I don't know if you agree with that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Even the Balogun goal, I thought, was... But, you know, over and upwards, they're done.

35:44This is not the way Juve play. They're coming off the big win at the weekend. I think Juve can do something in this. And by saying, do something, are they going to win the competition? No. But I think in individual games, Spalletti can also be very good. So I'm excited to see them. I think there's a lot to offer here. Rich Eisen here. The tax deadline will be here before you know it. And you just want to know your taxes are actually being handled. But the old way? You hand everything off and then silence. Days pass. Weeks pass. You start wondering, should I send another follow-up email? It feels like you're chasing updates and getting nowhere.

36:20But now, taxes are different because your taxes are done for you by a TurboTax full-service expert. With Intuit TurboTax, you can match with your dedicated tax expert and hand off everything right in the app. And while your expert checks for every deduction, you'll see real-time updates on your phone so you always know exactly where things stand. Suddenly, you're not refreshing your inbox. You're going for a run, grabbing a coffee, scrolling anything other than a just-checking-in message. Because your TurboTax expert is handling it and keeping you in the loop. So this tax season, get your best possible outcome and every dollar you deserve without the guesswork.

36:59Visit TurboTax.com today to learn more. Real-time updates only in iOS mobile app. Only available with TurboTax full-service experts. Quick timeout. Some breakfast intel you want to know about. Kodiak Frozen Power Waffles and Flapjacks are built for busy mornings. Heat it, eat it, and you're out the door. No long prep, no complicated game plan. They're packed with 12 to 14 grams of protein per serving, a good source of fiber, and crafted with 100 % whole grains, not refined white flour. So you're getting something that actually fuels you. And there's depth on the roster. Butter, milk, and vanilla.

37:38Blueberry. Chocolate chip. Even gluten-free options. Breakfast that delivers. Snack that delivers. Find Kodiak frozen waffles and flapjacks in the frozen aisle at your local grocery store. They're the ones with the bear on the box. Olympia Goss win 2-1 away to Ajax in advance as Heze scores a winner 11 minutes from time. Jules, another team, maybe not that many expected in the playoffs.

38:01Julien Laurens:Yeah, I think that's fair. Great work done by Jose Luis Mendilibar, who, as we know, has got a bit of European pedigree, obviously. But very good team, very well-organized. Taremi, El Kabi, decent talent there. I don't think they go much further than the playoffs or maybe the last 16-hour push. But it's good to see them. It's good for Greek football as well, by the way. And they've got a massive game on the weekend against the second in the league, against first AK Athens in Athens. So it should be good. It could be a good week for them. Bruno St. Gilloise are going out, but they do so with a win gap, beating Atalanta 1-0.

38:41Yeah, this is a weird one. It looked to me as if Palladino said, all right, we do have a chance of finishing top eight, but 99 million stars have the line. and how about I put my faith in some of the other players. So there was no De Quetelare. There was no Scamacca in the starting lineup. I still expected Atalanta to win. I think on balance, I was disappointed with the way they played. But hey, Atalanta, the knockout, always fun. Yeah, that's good. Pavos and their Champions League run with a 4-1 victory over Slavia Prague. He was a couple more goals in this game, and they would be in the playoffs too.

39:16It's a goal difference keeping them out. Not bad for a club that didn't even exist 12 years ago.

39:20Julien Laurens:Exactly. And David Luiz. Yeah, and David Luiz. Great campaign from them. I think they can be very proud. Great, obviously, for Cypriot football to see them doing so well and not being embarrassed, for example, with, I don't know, one point in eight games, for example, or something like that. Like Kaira Talmati. Yeah, yeah. Or Villarreal. Yeah. How bad is that? So well done. Well done to them. I hope they're back next season. The ownership group, fronted by Sergio Ramos, appears to be in a strong position now to acquire Sevilla. Gab, why is this important? It's important because Sevilla are a classic sleeping giant of European football, not just Spanish football.

39:58You have a tremendous stadium. You have, I think, the percentage of season ticket holders in Seville for Betis or Sevilla is higher than any other major city in Europe. So that gives you some context about kind of how well-supported they are locally. Sergio Ramos, of course, started out at Sevilla playing as a very fast attacking right back, which only old timers seem to remember, those who remember the old Sergio Ramos. It's a typical thing. It's not his money. He got rich people together and said, I'm fronting this. And it's good because the ownership, the current ownership structure is very, very split.

40:39You have the Danido family who are kind of fighting with each other. You've got two other minor groups of shareholders. you got to bring everybody together and take a controlling share. I like it when there's local ownership, local ties. Hopefully Sergio Ramos will be involved. It isn't just the face of this. Nottingham Forest have reportedly made a 35 million pound bid for Jean-Philippe Mateta-Jules. Given there's no love lost between Crystal Palace and Mr. Marinakis, I'm a bit surprised. Or could it be that Mr. Marinakis is just trolling them?

41:10Julien Laurens:Yeah, the bid has been rejected. I'd be more surprised why Mateta would want to go from Palace right now to Forest as well. I mean, unless there's a massive pair ride somewhere. Otherwise, not sure it makes that much sense. He's a free agent in the summer, isn't he? In 18 months. So he's got a year left. But in the summer, his transfer value plummets. He can name his price. Why would you go to Forest when there's other clubs that we're into? And for Forest, when you've got Awani and Igor Jesus and Lorenzo Luca, that just arrived on loan. Plus, Chris Wood is injured, I know. They really like their tall strikers, don't they?

41:46Yeah, another one? You know why. I can answer that. Yeah. He's trolling. Mr. Marinakis is getting in the head of Steve Parrish.

41:56Julien Laurens:Two new faces, but old faces as well are Aston Villa-Gab because Tammy Abraham is on his way from Besiktas, coming back to the club where he was with them in the championship. And Douglas Luiz from Juventus is also coming back to the club. Yeah, so Tammy Abraham is costing him about$20 million, but I think they're probably spreading it over like 99 years because you know the financial situation is what it is essentially you've made a bit of money off of Marlon and you're reinvesting in Tammy Abraham. Abraham was the hero. I think he was on loan from Chelsea at the time. Yeah, yeah, 25 goals in the championship he scored when they got promoted.

42:28So he hasn't worked with Unai before but Unai can work with anyone and knows who he is. Douglas Luiz I mean when he was at Villa he was really, really good he went to Juventus, became really, really bad very very quickly there's a whole weird Alicia Lehman yeah I know which by the way that didn't go very well either or good for her on the pitch either yeah he went to forest on loan that wasn't great so you know now he has a chance to he's an extra body in midfield which they need especially with with bubacar camera out and 10 weeks out and John McGinn and I think begins gonna be back sooner so uh they're doing what they can yeah and i'm glad and i said they should go a wheel and deal try to do this exactly whether either play or move harvey elliott at this stage if you can and maybe bring somebody else in yeah um that's what you need to do the viva women's champions cup semi-finals now this is the competition pitting the champions from each confederation took place in london and we now have our finalists arsenal destroyed morocco's armed forces team Not really a surprise.

43:38No. And Corinthians beat Gotham FC 1-0, which was a surprise.

43:42Julien Laurens:That's a surprise. Yeah, big shot, Gabby, because I think everybody expected Arsenal and Gotham to play in the final, to have the WSL from the UK, a team representing the WSL against a team representing the NWSL. Especially Marta told us the NWSL is by far the best league in the world. They keep saying it, and I think this was the moment to show it, and yet the first hurdle against the Corinthians teams that defended well and Gotham were probably the team with the best chances. Overall, still lost that game. And now we will have Arsenal against Corinthians in the final at the Emirates at the weekend for what will be being the first winner of this new competition.

44:22Yeah, and look, Arsenal are going to be overwhelming favorites. But this is a big missed opportunity for NWSL to show that you are relevant outside as well. If you can go and you even perform against Arsenal in the final, I don't expect you to beat them. Arsenal champions of Europe, been doing this a long time, blah, blah, blah. Instead, they won't get that. And deservedly so. And well done, Corinthians. Let's see what they can do.

44:49Julien Laurens:And Gabi, staying with this competition proportionally, the prize money for this tournament is enormous. Yeah. You know how Michel Kang pumped money in with their canisca, whatever it is? That's why. It's going in. Come see, bro. So here's a little bit of context. The winner of this competition gets$2.3 million, right? And if it is Arsenal, as most people expect it to be, they would have played just two games to win that$2.3 million. You know how much money they got from winning the UEFA Champions League, for which they had to play 15 games last year? And was there a similar amount? 1.5 million.

45:25Wow, okay. So they got one and a half times more from playing just these two games. Now, is this FIFA really wanting to build it up at a Club World Cup, whatever else? I don't know. But again, context really, really matters. If they do get the$2.3 million, that'll be nearly 10 % of Arsenal's total revenue. That's the level at which the women's game is right now financially. So this is an enormous, enormous payday. Amazon Hub Delivery wants to partner with your business. Help your business. Help your neighbors. Discover a new stream of income for your business when you partner with Amazon Hub Delivery.

46:05You and your team will deliver Amazon packages to customers in your neighborhood on a schedule that works for you. And you'll be paid for every package you deliver. Getting started is easy. There's no delivery experience required, no long-term contracts, and you receive weekly direct deposits. Earn more. Gain exposure for your business. Apply today at Amazon.com slash Hub Delivery. That's Amazon.com slash H-U-B Delivery. Know a local business that would make a great partner? A local coffee shop owner, florist, automotive shop, dry cleaner, you name it. Refer a business today and earn$500 when they successfully join the program.

46:43Visit amazon.com slash hub delivery to learn more or refer a partner. That's amazon.com slash H-U-B delivery. Now looking for hub partners in your area. Two teams, one cup. The primetime stage is set for the TGL presented by SoFi Finals, Los Angeles Golf Club versus Tigers Jupiter Lynx. Keep up, it's playoffs. Tune in Monday, March 23rd, 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2, and Tuesday, March 24th, 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN and on the ESPN app. Karim Benzema, six months away from free agency at Al Itihad, Jules.

47:19Julien Laurens:Yeah, and he's not very happy with the contract extension that was put on the table for him, which had nothing to do with the club, by the way, because as we know, it comes from the league, obviously from the Saudi league. Our friend Michael Emmanalo, by the way, who's in charge. And the way I was told about it was that it was pretty much playing for free. If you were Karim Benzema staying at Etihad, which is obviously not happy, he's 38 years old now. You know, it's this famous 1987 generation of French players, Samia Najri and Jeremy Menez and Atem Benarfa and all of that. He's still in good form because he's got eight goals in 14 games.

47:56Julien Laurens:Now that Aliti Al look like they can win the title again because I think it looks like Alil Al running away with it. But I thought they would want to keep him, maybe not at all costs because he's on a massive money right now, but still probably not giving him hardly nothing to stay at the club. It's a bit weird. I think it is weird in some ways. And the other way I said from the start, man wasn't the only one. This is completely unsustainable. Are you sure? Public Investment Fund in Saudi Arabia are running a business, or they want to turn it into a business. You can only sustain losses for so long.

48:29You have benchmarks. You have KPIs. I know, but they also... Is it as big a waste of money as Neymar? No.

48:35Julien Laurens:No, no, but they're also planning a massive summer where they want Bruno Fernandes, and they want Salah, and all the PIF-owned club. It's funny. Well, let's see. I wouldn't be surprised if they sign a couple of big, big names. Let's go out and see. I think what they might be seeing, though, is that if the crowds don't show up, because they're still right around, certainly last season, their crowds actually went down. If you're around the 10 ,000 person mark in a country of, it's a big country. It's 45 million people. It's a country that loves football, passionate about football. That's the same population as Spain, right?

49:08Spain, without all those people, without all those superstars, well, different superstars, obviously, they draw 35 ,000 a game.

49:15Julien Laurens:Yeah, yeah. So I think they need to have a bit of a rethink here in the business model. And I can understand why, okay, having him play for free is insulting, if that's really the case. Equally, I'd be curious to see what he does next. By the way, you mentioned the 1987 generation, and along with Benzema, you mentioned Ben Arfa, Samuel Nasri, and Jeremy Menez. I think it's fair to say Benzema ended up having the greatest career out of all of them. But three of those, and I don't know who else was part of that generation, but three of those four, is it fair to say that they all kind of went off the boil and then somehow came back and some didn't yes very interesting and strange careers really for all the other three to be fair certainly nazi and ben artha yeah but i think all of them had so much talent uh that they probably i think would look back and okay maybe they don't have any regrets but suddenly look back and think it could have been better if you speak french or even if you don't, you need to go look online.

50:18The French FA made a documentary about Claire for the Claire Fontaine Academy. I don't know, it would have been I'm guessing in the late 90s or early 2000s. You know where I'm going with this?

50:29Julien Laurens:Yeah, yeah. It was not the Federation, but yeah, it's kind of based there. It's there for people to watch. But is it Claire Fontaine? Yeah. And you see this, there's this wonderful scene where it's Samir Nasri. Who was it? Somebody else really famous. Ben-Arfan, I think you mean Ben-Arfan Diaby? Benarfa and Diaby, yes. Where Benarfa's bullying Diaby, is that right? Yeah, they're kind of like, yeah. But he's making fun of Diaby, and Diaby's like big and tall even back then. And he decides, I've had enough. It's an amazing viewing. It's so sweet, because they're what, like 13? 12 and 13, yeah, that's when you get into the Closet of the Macan.

51:00And you realize that we talk about these footballers, they're professionals, they're men, old men now. But they were kids once, and it's just fascinating viewing.

51:10Julien Laurens:It is a great watch, yeah. Spanish FA president Rafael Luzan Said that his country will host the final Of the 2030 World Cup Which Spain is hosting alongside Portugal and Morocco The decision hasn't been Made yet, so how does he know? He doesn't know, he's Posturing, he's pretending He's lobbying He has to be a little bit careful when he comes out And he says, oh it'll happen because Morocco has a lot of sway I don't think it's a good idea To anger Morocco right now given, especially after what happened in the AFCON final. Just shut up. Just shut your mouth. I think we all know it's highly likely it will either be at the Nubinabeu or at the Nou Camp Nou, both of which are in Spain.

51:56And that's it. And just shut up. And don't go and troll them. You know, you don't want this. And the same thing with Portugal, by the way. Hey, they're co-hosts too, right? They have great stadiums too. So just be quiet and just let this play out. It's time. It's time. It's Texter time. Jules, our hero, John Texter, the man of the people, attended to take back control. We've never heard that before. Yeah. Of Olympique Lione, the club he built from scratch, the club that had achieved nothing in the men's or women's game before he arrived, the club he made great again, in what RMC, the French broadcaster, described as a coup d 'etat.

52:36Julien Laurens:Yeah. Did I pronounce it correctly? Yeah, trying to force his way in. As you said, it's a club where everybody loves him still, including the fans who, by the way, because he still has shares, obviously, in Lyon. Still has a lot of shares. Yeah, a lot of shares. The Ultras have requested him not to attend the board committee that is coming up, the Assemblée Générale. It's not board committee, but when they have all the shareholders together and some of the fans and stuff. Yeah, a time where it's difficult for our friend JT, right? Because even at Eagles Group, they're trying to get him out. At Botafogo, they're trying to get him out.

53:16Julien Laurens:So maybe he thought, hang on a minute, let me try to have a last ditch effort to try to come back to Lyon. But they're never going to have him back. Yeah, I think there were two of the directors who were nominated by Ares, which is a large fund that has loaned money to him. and he tried to get them removed and replaced, I guess, with his own stooges. Some people, yeah. And then he says, what the hell, you can't do this. It's no shame, is it? It's pretty extraordinary. It's pretty extraordinary how many people have gone into business with him and how this situation continues. And JT, look, if you think we're being unfair, you know where to find us.

53:56Julien Laurens:Exactly. Former FIFA president, Seb Blatter has said that he supports fans boycotting the 2026 World Cup. Gab, will anybody listen to him? I mean, I don't think anybody will base their opinion on what Sepp Blatter says. Ooh, I have Sepp's permission. He's got enough crap to deal with. What's happened is Johnny has alienated so many people in the FIFA sphere and in Switzerland that some people are going so far as saying, well, wasn't it better when Sepp Blatter was in charge? Let me tell you, no, it wasn't. Go and find out about past World Cups. Go and find out what happened. Google Jack Warner, and you will find that, no, it was not better.

54:38However, the genesis of this was there's a guy named Mark Peace who's like a good governance expert. Blatter hired him, I think, in 2010 to go and say like, oh, FIFA's dysfunctional. How can I fix it? Because this guy's all about ethics and good governance and whatever. And the guy lasted like two years, then left. but he came out and he basically, and Peace had really strong words, and he came out and he said, for fans, just one piece of advice, avoid the United States, you'll get a better view on television anyway. Upon arrival, fans should expect that if they don't behave properly with the authorities, they will be immediately sent home, if they're lucky.

55:17I think this all needs to be viewed within the context of, you know, the polarization, what happened last week, the shootings in Minneapolis, the way that the Greenland story especially and the way that was received in Europe which is ultimately who Mark Peeth is is talking to I don't think anybody else cares what Mark Peeth has to say I don't think we've even talking about Mark Peeth it's not for the fact that Blatter said oh I think Mark Peeth is right to question this World Cup but it's not like Blatter's telling fans not to go just like question it yeah which is fair enough yeah absolutely does anybody care what Blatter says is he relevant I mean unless he reveals where more dead bodies are buried.

55:54I don't need to listen to that man anymore. That's right. I've had enough. This brings us to an end, but we've got to come back on Monday. Yes. Big, big weekend of league football ahead. Until then, love the game. Love your neighbor. Love yourself.

56:15Monster Energy. Everybody knows White Monster, Zero Ultra. That's the OG. It kicked off this whole zero sugar energy drink thing. But Ultra is a whole lineup now. You've got Strawberry Dreams, Blue Hawaiian, Sunrise, and Vice Guava. And they all bring the monster energy punch. So if you've been living in the white can, branch out. Ultra's got a flavor for every vibe. And every single one is zero sugar. Tap the banner to learn more.