Real Madrid Falter Again

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0:52Hello and welcome in to the latest edition of ESPN FC. Kay Murray, Alejandro Moreno and Stevie Nichol here in the studio. A little later on, we're going to be hearing from Dan Thomas and Craig Burley from London for a big weekend in the FA Cup. But we're kicking things off tonight with the game between Real Betis and Real Madrid. Vinny Jr. opened the scoring for the Madridistas in the 17th minute. And not long after that, Madrid wanted a penalty for a handball of Ricardo Rodriguez that was not given. Late on in this game, we would see Real Betis level things out. Hector Bellerin at the death to make it 1-1.

1:32And it means it's now eight points between Barcelona and Real Madrid ahead of Barcelona's game. away to Getafe tomorrow. Real Madrid losing more ground on the leaders in La Liga's title race. Luis Garcia is joining us now and he had a feeling it was going to be a draw. What does this draw mean though, Luis? Is that it now for Real Madrid? Well, we knew that it was going to be very difficult for Real Madrid to find a way of getting closer to Barcelona, the way that Barcelona has been performing and getting the results. But now the pitcher looks even worse because one thing is that Barcelona can arrive to the end of the season and they win the trophy and they leave the trophy two leagues in a row and Real Madrid without a major trophy.

2:14Now it looks a lot worse and you asked me about if Real Madrid needed to do a good performance today at La Cartuja against Real Madrid. Real Madrid needed at least to win this game, to get the three points, if not a good performance because we saw that it wasn't a good performance, a lot less in the second half when I think that it was no reaction for Real Madrid. That's why Real Madrid was playing for more because the opportunity to be in Europe next year so that drives them to push but right now the picture for Real Madrid is that if they don't win against Espanol they might have to do the tunnel and at the cup no for Barcelona winning already the trophy of course I'm talking saying that Barcelona will win the next couple of games and if not if they manage to get a good result against Espanol that could mean that at El Clásico, Barcelona could celebrate against the biggest opponent, the biggest rival, the trophy of La Liga.

3:10So that's the situation that Real Madrid is facing right now. That's the situation that the crowd and the supporters of Real Madrid face right now. So no, really not the best performance today, not the best result. And I was feeling that it could be like this because Real Madrid intensity, the Real Madrid intention and determination of winning games, I think it passed on. I think they are looking forward to a new era, a new year, and definitely looking forward for the holidays. Now, the Real Madrid fans were already annoyed at their team for winning. And we saw the likes of Vinny and Mbappé asking, sorry, you know, asking for forgiveness.

3:45My bad, my bad. After a win, you can only imagine what the fans are thinking after tonight's display and after this result, Ale. First, let me just address the smile, the smirk that you could see on Luis Garcia's face when you were going to him, knowing full well that he had gotten perhaps not the scoreline, but the result in terms of the draw. See, there it is. There it is. He knows. He knows. He wasn't sure before the match because he did the math himself. And he said, well, at Getafe away from Barcelona, that's going to be difficult. Getafe has been playing well. They're trying to get to Europe.

4:26No, let me llamar. It could be a problem. So if Real Madrid win today and Barcelona lose tomorrow, he started doing the math and El Clásico. And it's like, oh, oh, oh, there's a scenario whereby Real Madrid could get back into this. That scenario no longer exists. Gemma in the pregame mentioned that anything less than a win would kill the chances of Real Madrid. and I had mentioned, well, if the chances weren't already dead, we are already calling the priest for the last rites. Yeah, the priest is here. It's beyond life support now. There is no return for Real Madrid. And the reason I say that is not because it's mathematically so.

5:01I say that because if this was supposed to be a make-or-break performance for Real Madrid, a make-or-break game in terms of getting three points and putting some sort of pressure on Barcelona, is that what we saw from the team on the field? was there a reaction from whatever the fans demanded from them against Alaves at home? Did we see that sort of endeavor and intent and intensity and energy from this team? No. In fact, more the opposite of that. The first 30, 35 minutes, I suppose you could say that they were better than Betis. I think that was more of a reflection on Betis than it was on Real Madrid.

5:40But when Betis started to push Real Madrid physically, when they started to get numbers around the ball, when they got pressure higher off the field, Real Madrid started turning the ball over, and there was a lack of just interest, overall interest from Real Madrid to actually put this game away. I don't know what the injury is to Kylian Mbappe, if that's the case, but he asked for a substitution. And I'm thinking, man, this is your superstar, right? And unless he's fully, completely injured, and then I can walk these comments back, I'm saying in a game that is 1-0, with 10 minutes to go, with 5 minutes to go, you don't just walk off the field.

6:21You are the face of the team. And it just tells me, it's like right now the priority is not whether we win this game or not. Right now I don't want to take any chances because I'm already thinking about the World Cup and I'm thinking about France. And so this right here is not quite worth it because we know it's probably over. And that, I think, is the approach that most Real Madrid players are taking. This is somewhat important. And if it were Santiago Bernabéu and the fans were pushing us and booing us, we'd probably make this sprint from here to there. But here in La Cartuja, maybe we'll get there.

6:55Maybe we won't. That sort of attitude is not going to get your results. And you saw the opposite from Betis. Anthony running to press the ball. And this guy running to press the ball. And that guy running to press the ball. It was important for them. It was not important enough for Real Madrid. Nine games without a clean sheet for Real Madrid, Stevie. They are not good figures. It's not really a surprise, though, is it? You know, I found it interesting over the last couple of weeks where I hear people talking about, well, so they're not behind you, but if they beat Barcelona in the El Clasico, then I'm thinking, hold on a second.

7:27This team doesn't look good and struggles to beat anybody. Never mind Barcelona, so how are they going to win out? So the fact that they've dropped points again today, the fact that they haven't kept a clean sheet, it's really not a surprise. This has been going on for the... Well, it's been going on all season. We've been saying the same things all season. They don't look solid at the back. You know, they're getting outplayed in the middle of the park. You know, is Mbappe going to turn up today? What are we going to get from Vinny? I mean, so, yeah. I mean, this is over. This is over. And it's not a surprise.

8:04And today's not a surprise. And they got exactly what they deserved. And I hear you, Stevie, but I think what has happened and what happens with guys like Luis, and maybe to some extent to me as well, is that there is a history of Real Madrid, that they are the boogeymen and you have to kill them and kill them over again and again and again and again because they keep coming back. They have this sort of, I guess, because of their history, there's this personality about this team that you think they're always going to come back. But that's in the history of Real Madrid. not in the history of this group of players.

8:35This group of players, they don't have a comeback in them because they don't seem to be interested in the comeback. They kill themselves. Well, yes, yes. They're the ones stabbing themselves, and that's a problem. Right. Okay, so that's how things stand right now with Real Madrid. We are going to let Luis go. Thank you so much for coming on, for getting your prediction right. Look at him. Look at him. Look at him. That's a happy guy. He's going to get a good, nice rest tonight. Nice to be right. El Clasico's watch party, Los Angeles, May 10th, 10am Pacific time. If you would like to be there, regardless of which set of fans you are, or if you're just a neutral, make sure to check out the QR code there.

9:16You can scan that and register for El Clasico's fan experience. Thrivent believes money is more than numbers. It's a way to care for the people, causes and community you love. That's why Thrivent brings together a unique combination of financial services and generosity programs, offering advice, investments and insurance to help you plan your finances while creating opportunities to give back along the way. Through generosity programs that offer resources to fund service projects or direct charitable funds, Thrivent makes it easier to turn your values into action and support what matters most to you.

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10:35Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com, or just stop by. I wonder if Dan and Craig will be setting themselves up for that once they get back from London. That's where they are right now. Dan, has he been showing you his old haunts in the capital? This is the first time we've seen each other since we landed. I'm not sure if that was on purpose on his part, but there we are. We are certainly together now and, of course, for the next 72 hours. Tomorrow, it's all about Manchester City against Southampton, Craig. But I want to talk to you about Sunday's game first, Chelsea against Leeds, because it's the first time we've been able to have a conversation since Liam Rossini, of course, sat by the club.

11:11You called it after that midweek defeat. You said there's no way he can continue. Was any part of you surprised that the club pulled the trigger that quickly? Well, we're at that stage with this ownership that you have no idea what the hell they're going to do. And my understanding is that they have no idea what they're going to do. So trying to second guess this current Chelsea management structure ownership is very difficult. And it's kind of off the hoof, isn't it? I mean, the very appointment of Liam Rossini was strange, but they'd worked with him at Strasbourg, another club that they own, but he came into a huge situation where Chelsea were desperate to finish in the top five, they're unlikely to do that now.

11:56And from day one, as you know, the very first interview he gave, we sat in the studio and I said, there's something not right here, just the way he's trying to articulate this, I think he's out of his depth. Results will either be good or bad and he'll be proven right or wrong, but it just seemed to go from bad to worse. The initial games weren't too bad, and then the drop-off came. And I believe that's because his rhetoric became stranger and stranger and stranger. And as the weeks and days passed, the player started to pick up on this more. And obviously he became a sort of laughingstock. He certainly became somebody who was ridiculed in the media.

12:36And I'm almost 100 % sure he was ridiculed in the dressing room. And when that happens in front of highly paid athletes, you're screwed. And you've only got to look at recent results to show that basically the group of players under Liam Rossinia have been mailing it in. Now, the big question is, will they decide to get out of bed come Sunday for an interim manager that nobody's heard of? But you said anyone with a pulse, basically, to bring in head of Rossinia to lift this side. Just somebody. I mean, I don't know if this young guy who's been interim manager before is going to do it. I don't know.

13:09But if you're a player in that dressing room, are you just relieved that Rossinia's gone? If you had this kind of bad relationship with him? I think so. I think it became cringe. And I think we saw that in the field with the performances, particularly the Brighton one right at the death. But there was previous ones. And the whole Cucurella not being suspended and the suspension of Enzo Fernandes was just absolutely ridiculous. I mean, Morgan Rodgers at Aston Villa, who is a hot topic at the moment, he was interviewed and certainly he was on quoted on Talksport today in the UK has been saying well there's interest in Morgan Rogers from here in England and abroad and he's open to moving abroad and I'm always thinking what are Villa going to do is suspend him for two games because that whole scenario was ridiculous and I think Liam Rossini was out of his depth and if we're being honest Blueco who own Chelsea are currently out of their depth too Now, talk to me about the next manager, your boy, who you've said a lot of positive things about over the last couple of seasons.

14:15Areola, his favourites. Well, I think it's a bit of a poison chalice. Would you take it? I mean, the boys have just been watching Real Madrid, and that's a poison chalice. Somebody will take it because it's Real Madrid, and somebody will take it because it's Chelsea. Would I take it if I was Areola? It would depend what my other options were. But I don't want to go... You look at Xabi Alonso, he goes into Real Madrid, gets buried, gets out after six months. Somewhat unscathed, but I think happy to be out. I think this is a worry for the next Chelsea manager, whoever it is. I mean, Cesc Fabregas is doing well in Italy, Como, former Chelsea player.

14:53He could be in there, but I think a lot of these top managers are going to look at this Chelsea job and go, what about the players? What about the ownership? What about all these directors of football? Who's going to be messing in my business? Am I going to be able to be fully in charge? and I think if the answer is your strength at that club as a manager is going to be somewhat diluted with all the other factors I think that will turn a lot of people away Let's focus on the game tomorrow shall we Manchester City taking on Southampton Now you think oh god Manchester City are just going to run away with this No that was me Well that's when we heard you were coming But you look at it Southampton unbeaten in 20 games Knocked out Arsenal of course in the quarter finals Should be a good tie Well listen Man City will dominate Man City will dominate the play, but it just depends how Southampton can defend.

15:41They had to do that against Arsenal. They're in a promotion push in the championship. They still have a chance of going up automatically. They play Ipswich, one of the big rivals in midweek. So they've kind of got their eye on both. This is a huge, look, this is nothing more than a huge bonus for Southampton, isn't it? Because they want to get back to the Premier League, as you well know. So this is just a bonus for them. I expect City to win, but I expect City to beat Burnley by 4 or 5 on Monday. That never happened. They were very wasteful in the final third. And if they're wasteful in the final third like Arsenal were, Southampton will have a chance.

16:16But you kind of feel City are just in that groove at the moment. You talk about City hitting the straps at the right time, which they seem to do at this time of the season. It's a bonus, obviously, that Haaland's finding the back of the net once again. Yeah, I remember he had that little period where he wasn't, and City were struggling because others weren't pitching up. But Haaland's back in form. Cherokee's in form. Semenyo's in form. Obviously, Rodri's out for this game. He's not fully fit. But they've got enough bodies to come in and deal with that. But, yeah, you know, at the start of the season, he was playing great.

16:46And then he had a dip, Erling Haaland. And now he's back again at the business end of the season. So, yeah, I mean, from City's perspective, all eyes are pointing towards a cup final. Yes. But you just never know. Erling Haaland, of course, questioning if he'll start tomorrow. Will it be Mamouchi who will come into the starting XI? Interesting enough, when this game is going on elsewhere in the Premier League, of course, you've got Arsenal taking on Newcastle. And I've been speaking to some friends here, Craig, who are Arsenal supporters. No one thinks Arsenal are going to win the title. They are so miserable about the whole thing in the way in which it's happened again.

17:21Deja vu. And if I'm an Arsenal player, that's got to be a concern, isn't it? Because that's got to filter through to you. Well, they've been miserable since Christmas onwards, haven't they? And that's the way they've played. But that's a play that must get to you. That must filter through a little bit, no? Yeah, it does, but that's pressure. And if you can't handle the pressure, you're probably not going to win the title. Look, you're unlikely, maybe sometimes in some leagues, but you're unlikely that all your rivals are just going to roll out the red carpet and say, go on, Arsenal, have this title by 12 points, thanks very much.

17:52Now, it looked like it was going to go that way at some point, particularly because Liverpool have not been in the run, obviously Chelsea have been out of it so you thought well who's going to challenge Ville were there for a little bit and then Man City got their gander up and all of a sudden put a bit of a charge on and Arsenal hit the reverse gear they hit the fear factor and no matter what the manager says they did and they can sense it and you talk about Liam Ressignor and how the players react to that negative sort of rhetoric and all this sort of nonsense players can sense when a manager's really nervous players can sense when a manager has fear and even when he goes and sits at a press conference and says no, no, everything's fine the players know that what's happening on the pitch is not fine but they still have a great chance to win this league but if they continue to play in the manner in which they do and dare us say it, if they drop points against Newcastle tomorrow when this semi-finals has gone on I mean that is going to be a mountain to climb and the amount of stick that's going to come their way is incredible but that's the difference between winners and losers and Arsenal at the moment are not in that winners category.

18:56It is the best time though. You take a look at Arsenal's recent results, not great. Newcastle have really hit the wall, haven't they, recently? Yeah, I mean, you talk about, we talked about Areola going to certain clubs. Eddie Howe, and Newcastle are a big club, Eddie Howe has to be on the hot seat and people have to stop talking about, well, when Eddie took over, they were second bottom of the league. That was years ago. That was years ago. I like this music, by the way. it's a little bit a little bit too modern I think it's quite funky so I mean I think there's going to be a lot of suitors for that Newcastle role if Eddie gets the chop Eddie Howe and why wouldn't you be on the hot seat 14th currently in the Premier League I've played some good football this season don't get me wrong they've been good to watch but results have not been good enough and I don't know what way the board will go but that might be another one where Areola is in the frame for that job Arsenal win no no no guarantee no no I've got no confidence in this Arsenal team at the moment I just don't I think you can get at them I think they're not dominating the middle of the park as much and no I'm not I'm not convinced that they have got what it takes to put pressure on Man City who obviously will fall behind once again but no I'm not convinced so you think what draw tomorrow I'll give them a draw yeah Wow.

20:18You sound surprised. Yeah, I think so. Given how bad Newcastle are. Well, they've got to play for nothing. Arsenal should be able to. And sometimes you're OK when that happens, when you're playing for nothing. So, yeah, I'm not convinced by Arsenal. OK, meanwhile, let's focus on what's going on at the bottom of the table. A huge result today at the Stadium of Light. Sunderland in action against Nottingham Forest, who have found goals and then some at exactly the right time of the season. and it would be an own goal that would see Nottingham Forest open the scoring early on in this. It was quite incredible because Sunderland started the game pretty well, having a great season.

20:53Has fallen away a little bit and they get a little bit of luck here, a lot of luck with the on-goal off Hulme. And you thought, OK, that's... and then they just fell apart. The goalkeeper, terrible back pass out, fell to Gibbs-White, into the fit again, Chris Wood. And this is just a classic case of overplaying. we see it almost in every league we see it goalkeepers trying to play out make a mistake and all of a sudden Forrester 2-0 up. And talk about opening the floodgates because then we'd see two more goals in a matter of five minutes. Yeah it came from us a well-worked set piece that Igor Jesus got around the back nobody marked him and he scored the hat-trick last week against Burnley Gibbs-White he's the man in form and he does exactly what he needed to do hit the target keep it low.

21:35So the happy Forrest fans would even have more to smile about here on the edge of the box, the flex around, the pinball in the end finds the goal. Yes, Aina with the strike initially and it falls to Jesus. Keeper gets an arm on it, but all of a sudden it's 4-0. It's quite incredible. And then the icing on the cake would come in injury time. Elliot Anderson, who is going to be playing for England in the North America in the summer, I was talking about bids from Man City and others at$80 million, but that takes Forrest a point behind Leeds and it's over to you, Tottenham and West Ham. It's two-horse race now, isn't it?

22:11Forrest and Leeds are fine. That's not an issue. It's going to be between West Ham and Spurs. Spurs, of course, in action against Wolves this weekend. Wow. Well, I've said it all along. Regardless of the Forrest result, if Spurs cannot win at the worst team in the Premier League and some in their moment of need, they probably don't deserve to stay up. So it's a huge, huge game for them. do I expect them to win? yeah I do because Wolves are just dreadful but Spurs have been pretty horrendous for the bulk of the season they did look they looked terrible at Sunderland in De Zerbi's first game they did look a lot better against Brighton last time out although they gave up that late goal but they need to put a marker down and if Wolves somehow beat them tomorrow I don't think there's going to be any way back mentally for this Spurs side for these players of course it was devastating in which they dropped points in the last game.

23:09It's just a week of just consoling and trying to put it together, obviously. Just a normal week for Spurs. Yeah, that's true. Just a normal week, feeling sorry for themselves, not mentally strong enough. You look at that squad and it's too good to go down, but they're down there and they need to perform at Wolves. And even if it's not a good performance, if it's a roll your sleeves up and a 1-0, it doesn't really matter at this stage of the season. but they have fell short on their decision making. It was Danso last week who took a touch in the box late on in injury time and it's typical modern day football, I think Stevie said it, the players are programmed to sort of take that touch in the box and try and play out rather than going, there's three minutes left, put it in the stand.

23:55So if you make the wrong decisions, you get punished and if Tottenham do that at Wolves at the weekend, they will get punished and they'll probably go down. It really is a huge weekend of soccer right across the board. Of course, our focus very much on what's going to happen behind us over Saturday and Sunday. Manchester City taking on Southampton. That game live on ESPN+. 11.45 Eastern, our coverage starts. And then it's Chelsea against Leeds. Leeds, that game live on ESPN+. And ESPN2. That is it, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much. We will hand back to you in the Bristol studio. Kay Murray.

24:31Thank you very much guys. I love the thumbs up as well. Craig make sure you spend more time with Dan. He needs to be able to see all your old places in London alright? Well now that he's had his surgery and he's off the pop, he's not much company. That's nice isn't it? That's exactly right. What a shame for me. Hey Craig you got a driver? Don't worry about it.

24:57he's taking him everywhere with him he suddenly he's taking him everywhere with him guys thanks so much thank you so much big weekend ahead for you guys looking forward to hearing a lot more from you make sure to check out our youtube channel for the latest edition of extra time where the panel answer your questions the latest will be available this evening Quick time out. 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.

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