Chelsea and City out of the Champions League and Senegal stripped of Afcon title – Football Weekly

22:27Have some dignity. Yeah, it was not a good watch, to be fair. I think I volunteered to watch it and you kind of thought if Chelsea can score, maybe we've got a game. So you probably don't want to gift them a goal after five minutes. I think that pretty much was that really, wasn't it? I don't know what there is to say about this one. Kvaira Skelly, as you were alluding to, Robin, the first goal, I thought more Kvaira Skelly brilliance, even if Saar is very, very inattentive. What I enjoy about Kvarrat Skelia, and I feel like I always say about him, is he's so technically good, but he's also strong.

23:02Like the way he takes Saar off the ball there, that's physical strength. And I think he blends those things too well and it makes you wonder. He wasn't ever in the starting 11 for that first leg as well, but he's such a game changer. And then you look across that team and think, okay, but so can be Barcola, so can be Dembele. They have such attacking talent. And that is the reason why, despite I think often in this tournament not having looked the most impressive. And let's say again, by the way, our first leg, it felt for a good chunk of it like they were going to lose to Chelsea actually until the end.

23:33But when they turn it on going forward, a bit like Real Madrid, they're just completely irresistible and terrifying. And yeah, obviously I was on a different game for my main screen, but I did think when you look up and see they've got their third goal and it's eight to on aggregate but when you see fans leaving the stadium, there's now a gone new thing. Actually, I'm impressed they lasted that long, to be honest with you, because that was the goal, as Paul was just saying, made it 8-2. But I suppose some of them wanted to stay for that Liam Rosinia moment at the end. They thought, if I just stay long enough, we'll get another.

24:06It's that Simpsons thing. Watch closely, everyone. He's about to do something stupid. Oh, dear. Poor Liam. Poor Rosinia. I feel I actually feel bad for him I'm joining in this point this pile on but I feel bad for him he's he's someone in a what was no doubt a horrible position last night trying to do something but it does look it's very easy to poke fun at a manager giving a a tactical instruction to someone in the 85th minute of a tie or losing a two I might be wrong I mean he seems to me like an

24:38Lars Sivertsen:empathetic and intelligent guy and I really really am very reluctant to make fun of him but he does make it very difficult sometimes. And I just think, broadly speaking, more about Chelsea, I think this tie, both legs, all in all, is an example of maybe the sort of fly in the Todd Boley ointment and this idea of signing players as almost a form of commodities trading and only bringing in guys who are between 18 and 22 years old. You do end up, there's a heck of a lot of good players in this team. There's a fairly good chance they'll make the Champions League again. and I'm not, like, there's every chance they will grow into a squad that could be strong enough to win the Premier League, win the Champions League, win things in a few years.

25:20Lars Sivertsen:I'm not trashing the whole project entirely. But I do think over the course of two legs here, there's a little bit of lack of experience, there's a lack of cleverness, there's a lack of nous. The game was kind of, the tie, I think, was more or less decided in the first leg, where, again, they played well for a lot of it. And then they just kind of lost their composure and let PSG counter on them towards the end, which they really didn't need to do. The tie was in a decent spot for them. They just needed to bunker down and take it back to Stamford Bridge. And then you can see two late goals instead.

25:51Lars Sivertsen:And I just wonder if they had a few more experienced guys in there. Some of this stuff maybe wouldn't be going down in quite the same way. I think that's a really good point to make. I think very, very young defence, wasn't it? And they looked sort of quite exposed. And I guess that comes with, as you say, this sort of player trading thing. And I also wonder, because when Moressa, there was all this stuff about he didn't really have any control and he was kind of told by the medical staff who could play. So you just wonder how much authority Liam Rossini actually has in this team. So it's just a very difficult job, isn't it?

26:22Lars Sivertsen:In terms of maturity and experience, you really are asking Marco Correa to be the adult in the room in that back four. And I'm just not sure that's the way you want to go with that. But again, yeah, what is the LinkedIn thing of saying here? They've learned from this and developed and things. Maybe that's the correct thing. Get up earlier, etc. From a PSG perspective, Paul, I mean, they're looking excellent. They kind of weren't looking fantastic at the start, but they're sort of coming into their own now. Yeah. Again, though, a little bit like with Real Madrid. There were enough moments where you thought this isn't the perfect performance.

27:02Like PSG don't look infallible by any means. I think there's a couple of times Safanov made some great saves, actually. Cole Palmer, Liam DeLapp. I'm not 100 % convinced by PSG. I think this was, you know, going forward, obviously they are fantastic. But I think as Nicky and I think Lars spoke about here, this tie just could have been such a different tie with a few tweaks and with, you know, a few things being done differently. It could have actually been a lot closer. So I don't think we should be lured into thinking, while this PSG side is invaluable, they're going to storm to the tournament here.

27:34I don't know. I don't know what we can gain from it. But they are brilliant finishers. They are full of brilliant players. But they are definitely not invincible. I think it's also worth saying in Chelsea defence, I mean, this is the team that won the Champions League final last year 5-0. I mean, they do this to teams, right? They do this, and I know everyone took that result. And I think a lot of people went, oh, well, obviously Inter just weren't good enough. Inter knocked out Bayern Munich and Barcelona. So they are capable when they are on their day of demolishing anyone. It doesn't mean they will always be on that day.

28:05But I do think, and I'm definitely feeling a bit mean now on the Liam Rossini thing, because I'm the same as Lars. I think he's a sympathetic character. I don't really like that. I piled onto him as much as I did. But I think it's worth saying that. I think that actually lots of managers could have got smashed by this team because I've seen other good managers get smashed by this team. On Liam Rossini, it's an interesting thing now that what you say and how you act is just as important now, isn't it? Especially when you're managing in the Premier League. You know, this is slightly different. But do you remember Nathan Jones's, you know, awful stint at Southampton?

28:37And it wasn't good, but Southampton were a basket case anyway. But what he said in press conferences made him a figure of fun. He's actually a very good coach and he's doing very well with Charlton at the moment. It just kind of highlights what you say and how you act because you become a meme nowadays. Yeah, I think it also speaks to the over-analysis of everything, right? Absolutely. Like when Amorim was hunkered down in the dugout, that abiding image of him hunkered down at Grimsby, he wasn't really doing anything stupid. Particularly, he was showing some tactics to his play, but it was the image of him embattled in Grimsby that he just never really shook that.

29:12And similarly, Rosinia, there's nothing actually wrong. He's still coaching his team. he's you know what's he's supposed to just go home after you know beat the traffic you know it'd be a lot worse if he just gave up on his team but it's just that everything has become so uh overanalyzed and and i do get that and i actually really like him as a boss i i'm one of the more pro rosinio voices so yeah i also feel really mean but you can't not mention it really

29:38Lars Sivertsen:can you i do think away from a senior i feel like we're set up for a really fun champions league this season because actually if you look at the great teams and PSG are one of the top teams that you're excited about watching then Bayern Munich Barcelona, maybe even Real Madrid I have sort of in my head as potentially and mostly devastating going forward but I don't quite trust them at the back it feels like almost all the best teams are in that bracket currently and that seems like a fun place to be I'm very half glass full trying to be I think this could be good. The XF, the expected fun, quite high.

30:16Oh, I love that business at the front, party at the back. I'm all for that. Oh, yeah.

30:19Lars Sivertsen:It's a mullet season. It's a mullet season. The mullet season. We've had four games so far in this round, with the round not done yet, with five goals scored by one team or more. So it's got to be unusual. I don't know. I haven't got any historical data to compare that with. That's a lot, isn't it? And so, yes, PSG will face Barcelona or Newcastle in the quarterfinals. And, yes, it has been a rollercoaster week for Chelsea. defeating Newcastle, and then this and the news on their Premier League charges. And we'll have more on that in part three. Sporting five, Bodo glimped nil after extra time.

30:50So a 5-3 aggregate defeat for Bodo, who went into this tie three goals up. Jim on Blue Sky saying, have sporting killed football? And I'll ask you the next question after this. But Lars, the Nordic dream is over. We were all on board, but take it away.

31:07Lars Sivertsen:Well, do I have to? No, but I mean, listen, it's upsetting. And I think the thing that's upsetting more so than the fact that they lost and lost badly is that they were not very good. Like, they were pretty terrible. The whole thing that's been impressive with them from my point of view is that mentally they've coped really well with these occasions in the past. Like, what can happen when you're a team from a smaller league, and I've seen this a lot watching Scandinavian teams in Europe, is that you come up against these players who, okay, maybe they're a bit famous, that's one thing, but also they're faster than you used to, they move the ball quicker than you used to, they're sharper than you used to, the defenders are a bit stronger than you used to.

31:45Lars Sivertsen:And aside from that being a sporting challenge, it becomes mentally overwhelming. Now, the impressive thing about Böder Gleimt is that in games previously, they haven't looked overwhelmed. They've been able to take on these giant teams and these big moments and just not let the occasion dominate them rather than the other way around. and all of that kind of went out the window here and I believe that's something actually the coach here to Knutson said after the game is that we played the occasion rather than the game and that sporting did everything that we wanted to do which is go out and just not be phased and just play football so they went out obviously losing a 3-0 lead is sad but if you play well and you just get done that can happen but the sad thing is that yeah they were nowhere near the level that they've shown before and that we know that they can play so that was upsetting And Paul, you were saying about the approach looked slightly different from usual, not the swashbuckling Bodo glint we've seen this season for the most part.

32:44Yeah, they looked weirdly cowed or almost like they were trying to just run this game down, which is just not the way they've approached other games throughout this competition. And also last year in the Europa League, in that run, there were games where you thought, look, you're just going to try and grind this one out. But they don't really do that. And this disappeared to be what they were trying to do. And as Lars said, it's sad because so much of what's been great about their run is that they're not skanking results against these big teams. They are beating them fair and square. And they just didn't really look at the races.

33:18With the exception that, again and again, we've talked about games being turned on just the smallest of moments. They did hit the bar twice just before halftime. I have this feeling, in fact, twice in one hit, right? It bounced twice on the bar, which is in itself worthy of a goal, I think. we'll send that we'll send it to the court of arbitration for sport they're not too busy already um but but yeah i do feel like if that goes in you know does that change things given that boost that rush and also deflate sporting has suddenly got this huge task to do but yeah i was i was sad but that doesn't take away what an amazing run it's been really so i have the i have the

33:56Lars Sivertsen:quote now it's worth uh reading uh the keith was talking to norwegian tv too he said we don't play the game, we played the occasion, and the occasion was way too big for us. It's a sporting team that go out there and they don't care about anything, and we think about consequences from the first kick of the ball. We end up being passive and we don't express ourselves well. We were four sizes too small, and that is my responsibility. It is brutal. So that's a slightly dejected head coach after the game, which is fair enough. And it's, again, you come up against these teams with huge budgets and incredibly talented individual players, and you know there is a risk that you get done in some kind of way but it is especially upsetting when you're that far away from the level and you fail in the exact way you've managed to not fail in the past i think that's something that's going to take a little while for them to process i think that like that point needs to be acknowledged loudly that the the outlier here is bordeaux being three and up from the first leg bordeaux having knocked out these teams the fact that they are able to stand toe-to-toe with teams which have just vastly bigger budgets than them is still exceptional and the fact that they go out now is not something even if the last defeat feels like such a blowout it's not suddenly making this a shameful moment I think if anything he's being too harsh on himself and his team there I think there needs to be acknowledgement that that what they've done here defies all of the normal logic that we accept about football which is that money wins right money always wins in football in the end and that's and that's um a reality that we want to cover our eyes and ears from and that we want to deny but in the end is almost always true and and so what they have done is is extraordinary and i think on the on the other side while yes we need to say sporting are supposed to win this tie they are much richer than than buddha i think it's still worth saying that they approach this second leg in a way that i feel like contrasts so sharply with the deeply underwhelming way that inter approached their um second leg of their tie when they were losing it is sporting came out three nil down and they just looked like it was almost manic it was like we are not going to go out of this we are going to find a way back into this and and when they score and they're still two nil uh two goals away from it this i'm talking about with the the body language after celebration the whole place is going crazy the goal scorer is is celebrating like he's just scored the winner in a world cup final two players have gone and got the ball out the net and it just keeps that energy in the stadium for the whole game.

36:22And again, they were still two down after an hour. Yes, they were playing much better than Buda. Yes, they'd had all the ball, they'd had the chances. But I think it would be easy for a place in that moment to start falling into fatalism like we were talking about with Blazowicz and having a goalie against Arsenal who was making some good saves. You could start telling yourself a different narrative. We're not going to do this. And I think sporting, of course, you can say, well, they shouldn't have let themselves get 3-0 down in the first place. Maybe they shouldn't. The mindset of the performance and the way that they, I think, fed the crowd and had the crowd feed them in that second leg was really impressive.

37:02And I think that coming back from 3-0 against anyone in a Champions League knockout game is still worth acknowledging and praising, even if, yes, they're the richer club and they're supposed to win. Absolutely. No, we should give them a lot of credit for that because it still feels like a big mountain to climb, doesn't it? 3-0. And don't worry, everyone, Max did pop in on the group chat to voice his disdain about the handball decision to make it 3-0. So yeah, don't worry, he still stuck his head in there. To tonight's games, so Barcelona against Newcastle United, 1-0 at the moment. And Newcastle is slightly unfortunate not to go into this with a lead and it's away from home, but a good victory over Chelsea at the weekend.

37:40and, you know, how hopeful should they be? And Barcelona still play with this massive high line as well, this ludicrous high line, which could be exploited. The line that everyone... It seems like that's what everyone is always talking about, the line, isn't it, with Barcelona? It's an amazing sort of... It's almost a weird kind of gimmick that, like, everyone always talks about the line the whole time. But you can't not... Again, a bit like with Rosina, you can't not talk about the line because it's just such a... You can't watch them and not notice it. I would... I would say Newcastle have got reason to be hopeful.

38:13I'm not sure exactly how hopeful, because Newcastle seem to blow hot and cold a lot of the time. I feel like they're coming into it at the right time for them, and I certainly wouldn't rule them out. In a weird way, I feel like this Barcelona team is the kind of team that Newcastle will play well against, and I feel like this is an opportunity for them. Although I'm aware I might also look incredibly stupid that basically hours after this goes out they might get hammered, but I don't think they will. Well, that one is finely balanced, as is Liverpool and Galatasaray. Galatasaray leading by a goal to nil and they go to Anfield tonight.

38:49But Lars, not good vibes at the moment for Liverpool.

38:53Lars Sivertsen:No, and I... It's such a weird game between Liverpool and Spurs at the weekend. Everyone were kind of bad there. But like the lack of urgency, the lack of tempo, it makes me think of the thing Nicky said earlier about Declan Rice and everyone being tired. Maybe there's a bit of that. There's certainly a lack of what we in Norwegian would call Ovasgud, which technically means surplus energy. That seems to be in short supply at the moment. They're kind of one-paced. The game in Istanbul was really odd. We talked about this last week. It was one of those games where I think both teams felt they could have scored more goals based on the chances they had and the positions they got into.

39:31Lars Sivertsen:And Galatasaray, for me, are such a wild card. They really are the sort of Forrest Gumpian boxer chocolates. There's really no idea what happens. Because they have had deeply unserious performances in this tournament. But they've also had games where they've actually been kind of structured and done okay. So I really, no offense to Liverpool fans, I really hope Galtas Ray go through. Because again, the expected fun, really high with them. But I'm not sure this is a team I would ever trust to go away from home and keep it tight and behave sensibly. As Nicky can attest after the return leg against Juventus.

40:07well they blew a three goal advantage against Juventus and dragged it back at the end in extra time so they absolutely are not a team that I think knows how to sit on a lead I don't think they will sit on a lead but the scary part from Liverpool's point of view is okay but they can absolutely hurt you with Yilmaz with Ossiman with Noah Lang with Sara who's been really really impressive whenever I've been watching him in this Champions League really really has stood out to Misa in the knockout rounds. And then, hey, maybe Mauro Icardi can come off the bench as well. It's not at the level of the Real Madrid or PSG attacking options, but I don't think there are many teams in Europe who can look at Galatasaray's attacking options and go, we've got better than that.

40:51I think it is a genuinely one of the better attacks in terms of its depth and threat in Europe. And I think that's a dangerous place for Liverpool to be, even if I would be astonished if Galatasaray keep a clean sheet. I would be astonished. So I think Liverpool will score, but can they keep it tight to the other end is my question. This could be the really fun game to watch, couldn't it? Contrastly, Spurs 2, Atletico 5 are going into the second leg at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. I mean, depending on your persuasion, this could be entertaining as well. Spurs have Christian Romero back and Udogi and Bergwijn fitting off of the bench.

41:26Spurs have won all four Champions League home games without conceding this season. It's in the bag, Lars, surely?

41:31Lars Sivertsen:Yes, yes, it is in the bag. Listen, at least there was something at Anfield in terms of fight. When a team underperforms and underperforms badly, the tendency for us in the media as well as fans is to immediately accuse them of not caring and not trying because that's kind of our go-to source of annoyance. I don't think the Spurs team are not trying. I've never looked at Spurs this season and said this looks like a team that's not trying. I think it's a team that's disorganized, have most of their good players injured and are very low on confidence. I think that's what's been going on. At Anfield, at least they looked slightly better organized, and maybe that point won them some confidence.

42:11Lars Sivertsen:I don't see them overturning this at all, but I think, again, in the sense that you went to Anfield not expecting points, but you want some sort of vaguely positive experience, it would be good if you can come out of this game at least feeling slightly better about yourself than you go into it, even if you're not expecting to overturn that deficit. and maybe you can build on the sort of of positivity from the weekend. And then for Spurs, it's all about this run of games. And I've been saying this for a couple of weeks, but it's still true. The run of games coming up when they play Forest, Sundle and Brighton and Wolves, like that's right there.

42:46Lars Sivertsen:That's where you need to find a win from somewhere. And that's what they're all building towards, I think. So kind of interesting to see how it goes tonight from that perspective. And Bayern have a 6-1 lead, as mentioned. ahead of Atalanta. Paul, the interesting thing about this, Bayern might have to play a 16-year-old in goal. A guy called Leonard Prescott, a fine German name. It's a youth international. So they've had three keepers go down with injury. I really enjoyed this quote from Vincent Kompany saying, he's very calm. Overall, we as staff are also calm. If he plays tomorrow, we'll have our full backing.

43:19I just think if you have to say we're calm that many times, it doesn't sound very calm. But this could be interesting. Can't stress how calm we are. Yeah. We're so absolutely calm about this. I imagine Prescott himself is probably a lot less nervy than everyone around him. I mean, it's a crazy situation that's happened, isn't it? He even has to get clearance because of German labour laws. He's too young to work in the evening. So, you know, maybe he'll have to come off at a certain point and go to bed. I don't know. Make him do his homework. It is amazing. The interest is, so they've lost, what, the three keepers.

43:55They've also lost another keeper who's in the youth team or the reserve team. So the 19-year-old academy keeper is also injured. But they've not gone for the reserve team keeper, right? They do have like Bayern Munich too have a goalkeeper who they've opted not to go for. So I feel like he's the one, Janis Bartel. He's probably the one who's sitting there thinking, well, come on. Like, surely this is, I'm the next in line here. But no, I mean, I will be very fascinated to see what happens. I think they're going to try and He's never getting a game is he that guy No He feels so

44:26Lars Sivertsen:He feels like the last sausage on the buffet that nobody wants to Imagine the ball going we have no goalkeepers and he's just going but I pick his hand up please please shush we've got no goalkeepers Oh yeah I think we've all been there haven't we Well we'll wrap that up there That's it for part two and part three we'll do Brentford Wolves some EFL and talk about the Chelsea fine and suspended transfer ban and the delayed overturning of the AFCON final result.

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45:38Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. So we'll whiz through this. Brentford 2, Wolves 2. Brentford 2-0 up. A bit of a missed opportunity to make it 3. Igor Thiago with another goal and he's been called up to the Brazil squad for the first time, which is great news for him. And I guess the main takeaway still from this is that Wolves showing a lot of fight, you know, that they're down, but not out. This bodes well, I feel, for next season, Nikki. Next season feels like a long way off. I don't know. It's got to be, feels a bit clutching at straws, doesn't it? Don't worry, next season things be better.

46:14I just feel like a lot of these teams sink without a trace and they just lose and lose and lose and lose and they're not doing that. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know where Wolves' heads would be at right now because you're right, they absolutely aren't giving up and they absolutely are getting some surprising results. And I mean, I was looking at it just the other day and thinking, well, I mean, could they still? Could they still with how the teams that are just above the relegation zone are wobbling, but the camp is just, it's just so little wiggle room to drop any points to close that now. So of course you'd rather end on a higher note.

46:47I suppose it's just like an extension of the conversations we were having before about showing some fighting games. And certainly for individual players, it feels encouraging to see that. But also a little bit too late. I don't know.

47:00Lars Sivertsen:Also, taking it back to Luton from the point of view of Rob Edwards, when you come in as part of a sinking ship and you're definitely going to go down, you do wonder how that's going to set you up for the next season. but I actually do think with the amount of fight they've shown, you probably do go into next season with him thinking he's laid some groundwork there. He's learned some things about the guys in the squad. He's probably by now figured out who's interested in staying and who's not because there's a way of going down and a way of not going down, I guess. Brentford, though, seventh? I saw the advert for this game, and the voiceover said something about who will show their true colors, and I was like, yeah, it's tough advertising Brentford Wolves, isn't it?

47:38Lars Sivertsen:trying to find the strap line that people will go for. But then I'd shake the table. Brentford are three points behind Chelsea. This has snuck up on me a little bit. I knew they were doing well, but actually, are they 100 % out of the fight for a fifth place there, Brentford? I mean, dropping a point here was actually a little bit bad. It is, although it seems like everyone else is as well, I think. Yeah, but also, you know, Brentford's had a super impressive season. They seem to just pick up these number nines just incredibly well. The recruitment is incredible. Quick EFL update. Wrexham lost 3-1 at Vicarage Road to Watford.

48:14So a real dent in Wrexham's playoff hopes. Southampton, Derby and Watford themselves are now breathing down Wrexham's necks for that sixth spot in League One. The top two both dropped points. Wickham beating Cardiff 2-0. Cardiff had a player sent off and leaders Lincoln drawing at Huddersfield. We did divvy up the games to watch last night. Max said he had Cambridge-Walsall covered and he'll be back on tomorrow to break down that goalless draw in full. Right, so the big news that broke pretty late last night, this overturning of the AFCOM result. Cathy on Blue Sky saying, should England fans be worried about Germany appealing the 1966 World Cup result?

48:51And Scott on Blue Sky saying, is this just another example of VAR ruining football? Can't even celebrate a tournament win, never mind a goal. Extraordinary, absolutely extraordinary. And Paul, do you want to give the kind of historical context to this? because this all goes back to the final, doesn't it? Yeah, so this goes back to that moment where Senegal walked off the pitch before the last minute penalty for Morocco and then obviously came back onto the pitch. Brahim Diaz took that appalling penalty that will haunt him for the rest of his life or not, according to this new ruling. And yeah, it's basically an appeal that has overturned the decision to allow that game to have continued from that point.

49:32The decision that's been made, which actually would have been the correct decision at the time by the letter of the law, is that Senegal have defaulted the game by leaving the field in that way. Now, had that been made by the referee at the time, that would have been a very hard and difficult decision to make. I don't think anyone wanted that decision to be made at the time, but it would have been technically the correct decision. Now, is it the correct decision? That's very hard to say because actually it seems like this has now opened a whole world of appeals and there's going to be a court of arbitration for sports appeal.

50:05It's basically opened a can of worms that has never, I don't believe, previously been opened. And it's a crazy situation we're in now. CAF released a statement last night saying the CAF Appeal Board decided today that in application of Article 84 of the regulations of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations, the Senegal national team is declared to have forfeited the final with the result of the match being recorded as 3-0 in favour of Morocco. The Senegalese Football Federation said it would appeal against CAF's decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, calling it an unfair, unprecedented and unacceptable decision which brings discredit to African football.

50:40The Moroccan Football Federation said the federation wishes to recall that its approach has never been intended to challenge the sporting performance of the teams participating in this competition, but solely to request the application of the competition's regulations. The Federation reaffirms its commitment to respecting the rules, ensuring clarity in the competitive framework, and maintaining stability with African competitions. Article 84, Lars. I mean, perhaps they should have known this at the time.

51:06Lars Sivertsen:Yeah, listen, I'm kind of slightly torn by this because let's get it out of the way first. Taking away someone's trophy after 57 days is kind of stupid and makes everyone look bad, and it's not a good outcome. I don't think that's a controversial take. But I just remember thinking, you shouldn't be allowed to just walk off for 15 minutes because you don't like the referee. You can't set a precedent where that's fine. And if you do set a precedent where if you're sufficiently grumpy with the ref, you can just take the team off for a while and then come back when you feel like it, that's not good.

51:36Lars Sivertsen:That will be very chaotic. And especially the fact that you make an opponent wait for that long before taking an absolutely crucial penalty, also not cool. so I do kind of think without, I mean this is my sort of Nordic rule based sort of thing coming to the fore here, kind of think the referee should have called it in favor of Morocco at the moment, like when the team goes off and stays off for quite a while and at the time when they were convinced to come back out and fulfill the fixture it made me think a lot about, okay maybe this is the kind of compromise that is healthy and good for everyone, but in hindsight like you can't condone that sort of behavior understand that there was a lot of provocation i just had to really think you look back at how like you had ball boys trying to steal the goalkeeper's towel and all this ridiculous behavior from the moroccan sort of side on the hosting side of things but i still don't think you can have a team walk off for 10 minutes and just come back when they feel like it and for that not to have consequences so it's a weird one for me where i kind of agree and disagree with everyone all at the same time i mean lars is saying you can't take a title off to someone after 50 days let me raise you one calciopoli scandal doing it a full a full year after i mean listen if calciopoli and and the mess that caused in italian football taught me anything is that these sorts of decisions is uh is ultimately going to be completely not respected by both sides and you're going to have split versions of history at this point if it doesn't uh get appealed where where one team will forever insist it one and and so might the other.

53:10It's a horrible, horrible mess. There's all sorts of politicking that's gone into it as well. This is just reporting what someone said, but the South African sports minister basically implied that he thought that Morocco were using the women's African couple nations, which has now been postponed, as a way to apply pressure on this decision. And by not hosting that when they said they were going to go on, then we're going to bully you into giving us this this trophy so there's all sorts that's gone into this that's really unpleasant and not good for the game it's a mess i understand perfectly what what ball and lars have said that um the decision should have been made differently at the time but i don't think that this sort of legal battle to award a trophy ever ends well for anyone at this point i think at this point it's going to end up feeling

53:54Lars Sivertsen:like nobody won this year's trophy can i self-edit a little bit and say that i do think you can take trophies off of people for sustained and well-documented instances of cheating yes let's just have that not at all related to anything else we might be talking about in this episode oh that's that's a beautiful segue Lars yes let's move on to um yeah as you're gonna say like we're not throwing stones here we don't really have our own house in order to in in the Premier League so Yes, Chelsea have been fined£10.75 million and a suspended transfer ban that may never be imposed. This comes from the Premier League's judgment against Chelsea for breaking football's rules.

54:34An eight-year trophy spree under Abramovich concluded the club engaged in deception and concealment. More than 30 breaches, including at least£47 million in off-book payments linked to landmark deals for star players, including Edin Hazard, Willian, David Luiz and Nemanja Matic paid through Abramovich's offshore accounts as uncovered by the Guardian. The Premier League board initially concluded Chelsea should be fined£20 million with a transfer ban for two complete and consecutive windows but decided to soften the blow due to Chelsea's cooperation. Bluco, which brought Chelsea out of Abramovich's ownership, self-reported the breaches once it had looked through the club's books.

55:12The Premier League said that Bluco made voluntary disclosures and showed exceptional cooperation. and we saw the fine half to£10 million and the two window transfer ban suspended. Now that's all very well, you know, to self-report. You know, we can pat them on the back for that. But there's been a lot of chat on this, Paul, especially, you know, they've won trophies. Again, this sort of calls into question all of those accolades they won. A big thing that seems to have happened here is this thing about self-reporting. So it's effectively the new regime coming in and going, God, the old lot, look at what they did.

55:46we didn't do this but we want to get this all out in the open and i think that's why they've been given such leniency is they've kept saying you know it's because they self-reported it's a lot easier to do that if you're a new you know they're not tiring themselves personally they're saying look these these people did this um but the the response again it's very difficult when you get into financial and how that should be applied on the field it's it's a minefield but the fine is neither here nor there really like it looks a lot it'd be a lot if I had to pay that I'd suffer but you know it's nothing and then you're left with this suspended sentence which you know it's nothing is it really so so it was all worth it this is the thing it was won't clubs feel like this is well fine we can we can do this we can get away with it yeah I do think so and there's there's a slight mafia thing of like if you if you report yourself But if you're like basically saying, look, we did this, but also go take a look at someone else, then you get off lightly.

56:45But maybe the other people get hit harder. I don't know. The whole thing is a complete mess. But we've never found a way to balance this. The modern business football, we've never made a way that that has been kind of like neatly, punishments can neatly be given that apply on the pitch as well. Have we? We've never really cracked this code. And with Man City, this all just hanging out there, how can we possibly feel like football has a grip on this stuff at all when that's just still out in the ether?

57:17Lars Sivertsen:Lars. So the thing about Chelsea, Kieran Maguire, he said that under Abramovich, Chelsea lost over£900 ,000 a week, every week for 19 years. So for 19 years, they were funded to the tune of almost a million a week by a man who was later put on the sanctions list. for having a close relationship with Vladimir Putin and that he obtained financial benefit and preferential treatment from that relationship. I think those are all facts that are not in dispute at this point. When that kind of caught up with them and the assets were frozen, what were the consequences for Chelsea from having benefited from this relationship?

57:55Lars Sivertsen:None, really. Like, I mean, they were even allowed to play out the season even though they became a frozen asset. The government decided, no, it would be very sad for Chelsea if they had to forfeit their games and stuff. So they were kind of protected against any potential consequences from this very, very beneficial business relationship they had with Abramovich. And I just think, if you're any club that lost a final, lost a semi-final, finished just behind them in the league in this period, got relegated on the back of points you dropped against this team, how do you feel about the fact that the end of this saga is that Chelsea are fined less than what it cost them to fire Graham Potter?

58:32Lars Sivertsen:like that's the sum total of all the consequences this has for them while the trophies are still in the cabinet you can say that this was the former owners yes but the current owners are still benefiting from their elevated status in the game from their place in the league system they didn't start at the bottom of the pyramid when they changed hands ownership wise maybe they should have i don't buy this thing of the new owner self-reported so everything is fine now they're still benefiting from the the results achieved under this regime and if you are their rivals, you look like an absolute idiot for even having considered following the rules.

59:06Lars Sivertsen:Like, why would anyone follow the rules in this board? There are no consequences for breaking them, except, I guess, if you're Nottingham Forrester Everton. So it's a really unsatisfying outcome, I think, for everyone. There's also a second component to this, which is the FA may also impose its own separate punishment. And that was acknowledged in the FA decision, which does feel like a slightly odd process, not knowing when that verdict could drop as well. Needs a certain ambiguity of hanging over it all. I really didn't want to end on that, really, because I feel a bit down now. Let's just hope Liam Resilio does something funny over the weekend, shall we?

59:36And we can all get back on board with that. But yes, a lot of ground covered again. Thank you so much for your time. Lars, have a great day. Thank you. Thank you, Nikki. Thanks, Robin. Paul, thank you as ever. Thank you. Football Weekly is produced by Tayo Papula and Jesse Howard. And our executive producer is Daniel Stephens. Max will be back tomorrow. right.

59:58This is The Guardian.

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