Liverpool and Barcelona knocked out of Champions League – Football Weekly

23:11I wonder if you're slightly vulnerable in these Champions League quarter and semifinals because you get to the stage where you're playing the best teams you're going to come up against all year and you have a lot of games in your legs. Your midfield has been chasing and chasing and chasing and chasing all season and you get to March, April and that's when they get the hardest. I wonder if that is a flaw in playing like that every single game of the year. And I also wonder if you need a faster center half in there. you could do with a Mickey Van de Ven character who can just eat up the ground when you do occasionally get caught I think that would get them out of jail I'm not sure anyone needs that at the moment anyway Mark yeah that point there Lars makes about the fatigue factor coming into this stage of the season obviously PSG play usually at a very high tempo and I think Luis Enrique I don't want to get into the kind of Farmers League debate about Ligue 1 But I think Luis Enrique has built a team now that is able to play at peak performance for two months or three months of the season.

24:16And it coincides with the matches that are the most important. We saw it last year where PSG didn't seem that bothered about the first half of the campaign and came alive second half of the season. They've done it. Again, they're able to postpone matches at weekends to give themselves full preparation for Champions League games. which is something that just isn't afforded to other leagues. And that kind of Barcelona have been involved in quite a tight title race. They've had injuries. So there is potentially something in that, what Lars is saying, just about that freshness. I think Bayern, because they're so dominant in the Bundesliga, they're able to not risk Harry Kane at the moment.

24:58He's not always playing in the league games because he's been just carrying a slight injury. whereas if maybe he's playing in a league where the title is is much closer say playing up front for Arsenal like you would you'd have to play him because the three points are just absolutely massive I've just realized the thought of Harry Kane playing for Arsenal and it's sickened me but

25:18Mark Langdon:you know what I mean I was gonna say it's gonna get worse for Spurs in part three when we talk about the Leeds game we don't need to make it worse now Barry um there was a moment where lorence pushes danny olmo over and like the commentators i have were like well there's not enough in that and you have completely converted me to what i already believed in in your anti-shove agenda he's just pushed him over it's like a penalty it's like i don't understand why people being pushed over is not seen as a free kick more often but i mean it's a drum i've been banging for

25:49Max Rushden:quite a long time if you push someone with sufficient force to knock them over then there's enough of a push but a lot of proper football men appear to disagree i mean we'll get to the the hair pull on dominic calvert loo and a totally different kind of offense but uh that that sparked loads of debate which i don't understand at all either i wanted to ask lars actually you you referenced the uh exhaust port on the death star that was famously left unprotected due to arrogance on the part of the empire uh do you do you think it's arrogance on the part of hansie flick that he refuses to to do anything about this glaring weakness in his side i just think he believes in his methods and will point to the fact that they won la liga last year and are almost certainly going to do it again this year he i'm sure if flick was in the room with us now he would say they've been unlucky with refereeing decisions over the two legs i'm not sure i would fully agree with that i think if he was with us right now and was being very honest i think he would say i wanted another center half or two because i do think playing that way with poor old eric garcia who's not a bad player but he's not the quickest it's not entirely ideal and there was something about this tie sort of turning on eric garcia trying to chase down alex serlot also not the fastest player in the world that that was almost a little bit almost a bit

27:24Mark Langdon:of a parody i i thought in the post-match of star wars did darth vayder say look we won the empire last season so you know that will probably win in next season so you know they did build the death star again i mean that's the true thing they did build the exact same thing again still with some sort of i mean here they could fly into the exhaust port they didn't need to drop a weapon in there they could fly all the way through so maybe the key is to do the exact same thing again just with an even bigger exhaust port yeah i mean they're sending off actually and that would seem less of a push than the one on ulma but anyway i i think it probably is a red card um now arsenal sporting tonight obviously a lot of you will be listening to this after that game has happened but michael arteta spoke of fire i'm on fire that's it nothing else i'm dreaming so much i've done so much to be in this position because i know how this club was i've done so much that this is beauty.

28:13Mark Langdon:I just see beauty, opportunity. I want to get it done for all the people that have been on this journey with us because they deserve it, because they've been unbelievable. That's what has driven me every single day. I have zero fear. Fear I had when, oh, if we don't get this done, this club, I don't know where it's going. That was fear. Now there's no fear. It's just purpose, fire, direction, and conviction that we're going to do it. It sounds like one of those motivational reels that you know uh i can't stop myself from watching but what do you make of this he's got to say something mark i guess if it goes wrong um it will be one of the kind of the memes of for the for the season the kind of fire um reference he a bit like simeone where he's telling everyone else to calm down and then he's kind of not calm himself it feels like Arteta is kind of doing the same thing really where he's trying to calm everybody down but he's probably panicking them even more.

29:12The best thing you could say at the moment is we are the Premier League title favourites. We're top of the league. We've got a decent advantage. We're in the Champions League quarterfinals. We've won away from home. If they get through, they've got Atletico in the semis. They will expect to beat Atletico. This could still be the greatest or the second great season in Arsenal's history. They're very close to achieving it. I think he needs to calm down. I would urge everyone in the stadium to calm down a bit and enjoy this moment.

29:49Mark Langdon:He should say that instead of singing, fire. Fire. Yes, Lars. There is a chance of reverse memeing this, of turning this into, like, if Arsenal do go on to win the league and or the Champions League, they should definitely make that song part of their thing. But have you guys ever played, like, computer games where you have dialogue options and if you press one button, your character says this thing. Oh, Secret of Monkey Island. Yeah, if you press a different button. So here Arteta found himself in a position where, like, option A was to say, we're in a really good position in the league. like I really believe in my boys.

30:27Option B was to say, I am on fire. I mean, I probably would have gone with option A on balance.

30:35Mark Langdon:Declan Rice might miss it because he missed training on Tuesday. Don't know. Saka or Timber could return. But, you know, these things we will find in the fullness of time and talk about tomorrow. How do you see Bayern Real Madrid, Lars? Fun. I think, I really hope, I hope Bayern go through because I think Bayern and PSG in the next round would be just absolutely hilarious. here's the thing about it they've got the lead but they're not i think capable of sitting back and protecting the lead i mean you would think having a 2-1 lead from the first leg you'd go into this playing a little bit safe trying to soak up some pressure and hitting real madrid in the counter i don't think bayern can or will do that i think they're going to go out and attack which given that real madrid has venetius jr and mbappe up front that leaving space for that I mean, this could be exciting.

31:23This should be the expected fun, Max, is sky high for this fixture.

31:27Mark Langdon:All right. Well, we will talk about it tomorrow on the pod. Archie with us. And who else do I reckon? I'm going to say Johnny Lou. It's Johnny Lou. I know it is. Okay. Anyway, that'll do for part two. Part three will begin with Leeds winner Old Trafford.

31:49Mark Langdon:Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. Manchester United won Leeds two on Monday night. Absolutely enormous win for Leeds. Now, there are three Spurs fans on this panel. An absolute disaster for them. But this is not about that, Barry. People were saying, you know, Leeds are the side to be worried about. But they're now six points clear of the relegation zone. I mean, that's two wins. And I think that might be enough. I don't know, Baz.

32:13Max Rushden:They're six points clear of the relegation zone. And they've got Wolves at home, I think, next. You would imagine, given their home form and given how poor Wolves were against West Ham, despite their little mini-revival, that they will be nine points clear of the relegation zone after that, which should be enough. I must say, I didn't see this coming, but I thought they thoroughly deserved to win. I know Michael Carrick was very upset after the game about the red card shown to Lissandra Martinez but Man U were already 2-0 down after that they pulled a goal back they did have chances to get an equaliser but I think some very resolute defending and good goalkeeping by Carl Darlow earned Leeds three points they deserved and they've drawn games they should have won this season maybe this draw might have been fair here but i think they've earned the luck or any luck they had in this game i just did a quick like count i think that's just four defeats in the last 23 in all comps for leeds now there's too many draws in there yes but the points are ticking in like i was definitely not one of the people who thought leeds were the one to look out for in the relegation battle i have to say i thought the sort of mid-season formation change that they I mean since they switched that three at the back they've been pretty solid like and they're really physically punchy and they could do with being sharper up front sometimes but they're not a bad team I don't I think they were always going to get the points maybe I didn't expect them to get three at Old Trafford but I think they're good yeah

33:51Mark Langdon:never won a Premier League game at Old Trafford until this one their last win there was 1981 apart from an FA Cup one wasn't it Jermaine Beckford if I remember correctly Michael Carrick on that red card. It's not aggressive. There's no jolt, no tug on the finer points of hair pulling. We have to be careful where the game is going. It's a shocking decision. Absolutely shocking. The red card, that is really concerning. I know he touched his hair. There's a difference to really aggressively touching it. It makes it sound like he stroked his hair in a loving way, Mark. Yeah. I mean, out of context, Carrick might become a thing after that.

34:28But I don't like to have a go at referees anyway because they're pretty pointless but when the best team wins and Leeds were the better team and fully deserved to win even less kind of aggrieved at kind of controversial decisions because just well you know play better at the same time I don't think that that should be a red card I don't feel like every time you like this was stupid saying but like if you touch somebody's hair I don't think it has to be a red card if there's a slight tug on the hair because to me it looked like Lissandro Martinez was trying to grab the shirt which is a kind of natural thing that in that position when the ball goes up in the air the attacker grabs the defender the defender grabs the attacker and it just it felt like the red card was not the right outcome for sort of that collision um I can't even think of sort of a better phrase um I'm saying it um but Leeds were the better team and they deserve to win and yeah that's why I just don't get too angry about these

35:29Mark Langdon:things i'm just thinking you know can deserve to get richardison off cut celanka to grow their hair in a quick enough space of time i was funny the you know the the decision made by a completely bald referee i did i did enjoy i didn't enjoy that moment maybe this could uh cause a return of the mullet in terms of the fact because everyone wants to like an accidental hair tug red card so everyone should just get it a little bit long at the back in case that happens marginal games some of the hall of fame robert huth getting a retrospective three-game band for putting maro and fellaini's yeah of course kukurella has been on the end of many jack stevens jao neves uh christian romero although uh romero got away with it uh somehow the huth fellaini triggered another great example of man united managers talking about hair pulls because that's when louis van hal said that oh it's you're only allowed in in sex masochism and you that's yes so not once but twice you've had a tremendously confusing non-context man united manager quotes on hair pulling now that's a big fan of that i'm slightly bored of the i didn't have that on my bingo card but i certainly didn't have louis van hal talking about sex masochism on my one of the great moments of the yeah clearly there's been some directive this year to referees that any kind of hair pulling zero tolerance just get the red card out and i feel like a premier league defender should know that we had quite a high profile case uh with michael keane not that long ago and everyone talked about it and there was a whole debate and i do think if you're a premier league defender now who gets paid very well uh to do that job you should go into the game knowing i'm actually not allowed to pull someone's hair i need to make an effort to not do that and you don't need to agree with it to just like there's a bunch of things we can't say on the radio you don't always agree with all of those things but it's part of your job to know what they are uh so i don't have a lot of sympathy for martinez i have gone many weeks of my life without pulling someone's hair it's it's really easy it's you shouldn't be a difficult thing to get through the day without pulling someone's hair yeah i understand that but you're you are i presumably you're not that close to Dominic Calvert-Lewin in a sort of physical battle for most parts of your day.

37:43Mark Langdon:You know, you spend less time doing that with long-haired target men. I don't know. Maybe Ian Marshall is, you're constantly wrestling with Ian Marshall. Who knows? There have been some developments in my personal life recently, Max. I mean, we don't talk that much off the pod anymore. So, you know, there might be stuff going on that you're not aware of. The Aussie game rides very Spurs-heavy panel. Will they stay up? Yes or no? So Leeds have 36. Forest, 33. West Ham 32 Spurs 30 Baz mentioned Leeds playing Wolves Forrester home to Burnley as well what a terrible weekend it is Mark I feel like they've got a better chance than everybody that I keep hearing saying that they're down it's over you know like I spend most of my unlike Lars who spends his day sort of wrestling with Ian Marshall I spend most of my day sort of probability stats you know that is my sort of bread and butter And the chances of Tottenham going down, in layman's terms, are pretty much 50-50.

38:42And yet I don't sense that from people who are predicting the bottom three. So I feel like they've got a better chance than the kind of general vibe around the club. And this is really simplistic. They just need to win a game. Because I think if they win one game, I think you will see a different team. but it's getting that one win which hasn't happened now for well over 100 days in terms of the Premier League because they've got Wolves next week so if they were to beat Brighton you suddenly go into that Wolves game thinking completely differently but until they get the win it's really hard to see it and like the players have like there's a lot of people to blame for what's happened but ultimately now like the players just need to play better and again it is quite you know football can be quite a simple game I think it is probably about 50-50 between them and you know West Ham maybe Forrest could still get dragged into it and I did agree with Lars I Leeds were never on my kind of radar as being the ones to catch anyway it's West Ham that Tottenham need to catch they've got Crystal Palace away on Monday and have got probably harder fixtures than Tottenham over the rest of the season.

39:51Wow I feel I feel energized again

39:53Max Rushden:mark thank you i'm sorry i i now have the image of naked lars and naked ean marshall wrestling on a hearth rug was slathered up in goose grease in my head and it's going to take me a long time to shake it okay well if you can focus if you can try your best to tear yourself

40:15Mark Langdon:away from that thought and don't know iraela is going to leave bournemouth at the end of the season he's been there since 2023 after coming from raya varicano uh sid was right when we were all wrong uh when he started very badly um has played some brilliant football with bournemouth they have you know consistently sold players this season being a classic case in point they sold pretty much their entire back line he will have a lot of clubs to choose from um but you imagine lars athletic bill bow will be where he will end up it's possible i'm sure he'll manage them at some point i wonder if if the right time for that is now i mean that's always going to have a very strong appeal to him uh because it's his club really but i suspect they'll always be there for him it's one of those jobs that i think he can get further down the line at some point if he wants whereas he has put himself in a window now because there is an element of this sort of flavor of the montism to to manager appointments and he very much is it like there's going to be some vacancies this summer there's going to be some pretty high profile vacancies i i would imagine that he might be in with a shout for.

41:19I mean, we didn't have the broader Carrick discussion at Man United, but I don't think it's a done deal that he gets that job permanently. I think Irola would be a very exciting appointment for them. For instance, Newcastle have a big Eddie Howe-shaped decision to make this summer. Certainly in terms of resources, there would be more room. He wouldn't lose his best players quite so often up there. even Liverpool if that if that yeah if that becomes available and Xavi Alonso wants to do something else because when managers do well with a quote-unquote smaller club it doesn't always scale up but I think if you look at Ereola the way he plays the way he sets his team up they're so proactive they play on the front foot it's easy to imagine if you just put even better players into that system it would really work so I think he's going to be super attractive to the bigger clubs.

42:10Mark Langdon:I mean, it's interesting actually, Buzz, isn't it? The number of jobs. You could have a position where Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle are all, at Manchester United, are all open in the summer.

42:21Max Rushden:Yeah. And I think Ireola could take his pick of them probably. And Man City, actually. City as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have a feeling Pep might leave at the end of the season. Yeah, I think Ireola could walk into any of those jobs. I wouldn't be surprised if he was offered any of them. The only thing is Bournemouth, they've drawn 15 games this season but as you say, he had half his team sold out from under him last season just gone with it and I cannot imagine a fan of any of the clubs you've mentioned being annoyed if he got the job. I can't imagine him being anything other than delighted and excited.

43:05Max Rushden:He may well go to Athletic Bilbao because as Lars said, that is his club That's where his heart is.

43:11Mark Langdon:Matt says since the end of January, Southampton have won 14, drawn twice and lost zero, including FA Cup wins over Arsenal, away win at Coventry. Decent shout-out automatic promotion to the Premier League. All this on the back of a terrible start to the season. This is the biggest in-season turnaround ever, he asks. And it is extraordinary. They hammered Blackburn 3-0 on the same night that Ipswich lost at Portsmouth. So now Southampton are up to fourth, 72 points. Ipswich have 75 from 41. So it's still in their hands. But what they have managed to do is absolutely extraordinary. At the bottom of the championship, that win for Portsmouth puts them onto 48 points.

43:51Mark Langdon:So they're not out of it, but they're on the same points now as Blackburn. But Portsmouth have a game in hand. Charlton 49 could still be dragged into it. West Brom have 46. Oxford 44. Leicester 41. Sheffield Wednesday already down. Yes, Mark? Southampton have still got to play Ipswich as well. home so big chance to kind of that six pointer there and Ipswich have got Middlesbrough this weekend as well so again the opportunity potentially to drop points so it's definitely not all over for Southampton in that automatic race the fact is though they've got this semi-final to play as well it's just the amount of games they've got might be something that just catches up with them when you've just got to win every weekend and midweek but they're the deformed team in the country right now.

44:42Mark Langdon:West Brom are in a bit of trouble. They could receive a points deduction after the season has finished as they contest charges of breaching the EFL's PSR rules. Matt Hughes writing in The Guardian last night, the EFL is running out of time to hear the charges, which relate to an alleged breach of the£39 million loss limit in the three-year period culminating 24-25. The guidelines state any punishment must be applied in the campaign after it took place, which in West Brom's case means this season. And as I said, they've got 46 points, so they are 21st and two points above the relegation zone. It doesn't give a cutoff point, so it's unclear when the season ends exactly.

45:21Mark Langdon:So anyway, it's a bit of a shambles, but they might be in trouble. In League One, Bolton beat Stevenage 5-1, so there cements their playoff spot. Stevenage is in a pretty good spot because they are in sixth on 67 points. Cardiff drew, and so they have to wait a little bit longer before getting promoted, but they're pretty much there. Rotherham relegated. Somebody sent a stat. They get promoted or relegated almost every season, Rotherham, right? So at least it's fun. They lost 3-0 to Wigan. Wigan, eight points clear of the relegation zone. Port Vale drew 0-0, which means they're off the foot of the table, but they're already relegated.

45:59Mark Langdon:And in League Two, Ryan Boot saved a stoppage time penalty for Chesterfield, so they held on to a 2-1 win over Grimsby. and keeps him in the final playoff place. And a big win for Barrow at the bottom, who beat Oldham. They're in the relegation zone, but just a point behind Newport and Colchester 1-2 on home to Accrington. John Terry was in attendance amid reports that he might be involved with a consortium planning to take over the club. Manager Danny Cowley refused to talk about John Terry, saying, I will talk about Frankie, that's John Terry's nephew, because he was great tonight and he would have done the family proud.

46:34Mark Langdon:I presume he plays for Colchester. Otherwise, it'd be an odd thing to say, wouldn't it? England's Lions has beat Spain, which is a massive win in their World Cup qualifier at Wembley. Lauren Hemp scoring after three minutes. Bit of sort of dribbling on the line from the Spanish defender. Sort of Gordon Strachan in the charity shield, but not quite as bad. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly for full reports on that. And Thomas writes, Hi, Max and the gang. I wanted to share my joy at just spotting Roy Hodgson in Bedminster Asda in Bristol. I was walking down the main aisle and double took the older, refined-looking gent walking towards me.

47:07Mark Langdon:It was him. He had the wondering what aisle something was in look on his face. I walked onto the bread aisle and briefly saw him again before he darted down an aisle on the phone. I was paying for my shopping at the self-service tills, half regretting my mix of politeness and lack of confidence for not saying hello. When I saw him again, this time paying for his shopping at a self-service till, this time with a woman, who I would assume was his wife. For info, the only product I saw them scanning was one of those big six-pack, two-litre bottles of mineral water. What a legend. All the best, Tom.

47:38Mark Langdon:Thank you, Tom. We will continue to take Roy Hodgson spottings in the West Country and in Bristol, of course. Chris says, it has to be asked, what did Mark have for Easter dinner? Mark? I was very sick at Easter, Max. Oh, dear. Easter day was probably the darkest of the kind of Easter period. So I had, I think, one slice of toast with very little. Oh, dear. With a criminally low amount of butter as well. I was told to have it without butter, and I couldn't do that. But it was marginal scraping. Was this both ends ill, Mark? It was, yes, it was. Okay, yeah. Such a tough time. That's an unedifying position.

48:29Yeah, it was, you know, we might have to have another Easter at another time. I always find it an underrated time of the year, in many ways better than Christmas, but not this year. Apologies for bringing the low brownness there.

48:46Mark Langdon:Don't worry, don't worry. It's what everybody wants. Finally, Zetan says, The Irish humanitarian holy trinity of St. Bob, St. Bono and St. Barry. This is why I listen to the Guardian Football Weekly. The only thing that could have made it any better would have been Barry also getting a vasectomy whilst running the half marathon. That's my Guardian Football Weekly. Thank you, Zetan.

49:05Max Rushden:Of all the men in the world who need to get vasectomies, I'm really very low on the list. I can assure you that.

49:16Mark Langdon:You're living your very own vasectomy life, but that's fine.

49:19Max Rushden:My life is one big fucking vasectomy.

49:27Mark Langdon:That'll do for today. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Lars. Thank you, Max. Thanks, Mark. Thanks, Max. Thanks, Barry. Fire! Football Weekly is produced by Tyra Papula. Our executive producer is Ian. That probably explains at the moment why you're living the life you are. Our executive producer is Ian Chambers. We'll be back tomorrow.

49:56Max Rushden:This is The Guardian.