Magical Bodø/Glimt top Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Vinicius Jr. surpass Benfica: Big Match Breakdown 02/25/26

19:22James Horncastle:And in Bodo's case, reach the round of 16 of our lovely Champions League.

19:29Roger Bennett:It is beautiful. I mean, it really is. I just realized Chelsea, with cultures that important, should make a$100 million bid for Fat Boy Slim. And once they got him, the writing will just genuinely plummet. The great Ella Brockway tweeted, the stage is being set for sentimental value for Best Picture Shock. All that Norwegian winning. Make it happen, Oscars. I did love that film.

19:59Roger Bennett:We'll return to Italian football in a moment, but let's get to tonight's game. Starting with Real Madrid 2, Benfica 1. Madrid win 3-1 an aggregate game. It took place in the shadow, really the embers of the first leg, which saw genuine ugliness transcending football. The alleged racist abuse of Vinicius Junior by Gianluca Prestiani alleged a word I don't want to use here, but I have to until UEFA's investigation is over. I want to say Prestiani's defence, that he instead used a homophobic slur. It's not really, not the greatest. No Mbappe for this one injured. No Jose Mourinho sent off after the last game.

20:38Roger Bennett:That's avoiding the awkward return to Madrid in light of what happened in the first leg. And no Prestiani either, provisionally suspended. Bernabeu absolutely rocking before this one. Massive no al racismo banner. 4 ,000 travelling Benfica fans there to cheer on their team and also whistle whenever Vinny Jr. was on the ball. Clearly didn't speak Spanish. It was pretty predictable, but not great. The noise, cacophonous. Real Madrid's football from the off, tentative. Backline, extremely porous. And a rampant Benfica proved that on 14 minutes. Cross from Pavlidis caused panic and chaos in the area.

21:18Roger Bennett:Raul Asensio slid in to try and mop up, but only succeeded to bang the ball in off his goalkeeper. Rebounded to Raul Silva, who kneecapped it into the goal from close range. James, this was Portuguese Benny Hill fair, but suddenly it was like, wow, interesting.

21:37James Horncastle:Yeah, without Jose on the sideline, of course, because he'd been sent off. And Jose was apparently watching this on the team bus in the Bernabeu car park. Are you serious?

21:53Roger Bennett:Yeah. He's going to go all the way, but can go no further.

21:57James Horncastle:No, but it was one of those bizarre things, Rog, where I think Real Madrid, out of respect that they still seem to feel for Jose, even after what happened last week, they had put on like a radio booth maybe where he could go in and sit and listen to the game. and he was like reportedly no just gonna just gonna watch it on the bus so he was there like it's kind of like going to an NFL game and like tailgating and then just thinking yeah I'm fine I'm not gonna go in and watch the game just gonna just gonna sit in my SUV and so yeah there was one bizarre still just of the Benfica bus with its kind of blacked out windows and then just a camera pointing at them.

22:46James Horncastle:And you were just there. You had to imagine that. Jose was in there having some crisps and a Coca-Cola.

22:53Roger Bennett:Yeah. You know what they say. When the trucks are rocking, don't come a-knocking. Real Madrid, their response got to say, admirable two minutes later, work the ball down to Valverde on the right for the byline, deep pull back. The Chumain finish and the edge of the box. his body shape was just a human truth. Thundered the ball home, walked over to the corner flag and then just gave a tranquilo celebration. Noise in the Bernabeu, absolutely audible around the world. God bless, there was a Goula goal ruled offside. Benfica had their chances right before the half-time. Courtois parrying from, was it silver again with typical brilliance, beaten on the hour by a long-range slap that skimmed the crossbar.

23:42Roger Bennett:I think Benfica had 11, 12 shots on goal this evening. But a bit angsty, a whistle-filled place. But then the moment on the counter, Valverde reverse slip past. Who burnt onto it? It had to be Vinicius Junior, boring on goal. The calm finish. Everything that's been in his mind this past week to finish that sublimely, roll that ball home so stunningly. I mean, it was just a human feat of wonder, but more so ran straight to the corner, danced his dance again. James, after everything he'd been through, I can only imagine, I can't imagine what emotions must have flooded his veins, just resilience, tenacity, defiance, potency, victory.

24:28James Horncastle:Yeah, and still enjoying his football, even amid all of this, because you could see he deeply enjoyed that moment. And it was a classic Vinicius move, finish, everything we saw when he was the candidate, the leading candidate for the Ballon d 'Or, which Rodri then won in 2023. It was all in that move. And yeah, to see him celebrate as he would like to celebrate, as he should be able to celebrate, a truly joyous moment. It was almost like a nature's healing moment, Roch.

25:09Roger Bennett:God, I hope that is the truth, that nature is healing, because this ugliness, I fear them in the darkness. Football cannot comprehend. Football cannot grapple with. Football cannot get my handle on. You saw it at the Premier League at the weekend again, but your words, nature is healing. Please, God. Very quick word on Real Madrid. They'll be playing either Manchester City or Sporting Lisbon in the next round. For some reason, this season, struggling to find cohesion. The football can be at times incredibly difficult to watch. But maybe because it's Real Madrid, maybe it's the jerseys, maybe it's the law.

25:47Roger Bennett:I don't feel any suspense watching them. It's like the most boring excitement of all time. How do you handicap them?

25:58James Horncastle:yeah i i agree with you roger actually it is it is like going to see someone you've read about in you know the sort of new york times sunday sort of supplement like the art section go and see this incredible exhibition by the the greatest contemporary artists of of their generation you get you get to the exhibition and you're just kind of left a little bit cold by it you're like

26:22Roger Bennett:Yeah, but everyone else has said it's great. You have to be like, yeah, you've got to go. You've got to go. Yeah.

26:28James Horncastle:Oh, yeah. The event space is amazing. You're like looking around the Bernabeu. You're just like, wow, this is, yeah, this is great. That's Kylian Mbappe. Okay. He's done something special. And then you just walk away feeling a bit empty regardless. At the same time, though,

26:43Roger Bennett:we know Real Madrid are at their most dominant when they're at their most vulnerable. There's something very, I mean, just their lore is so oxymoronic, as we have found out. Whenever we write them off, they are at their most lethal dot, dot, dot. Let's see. In the next round, PSG 2. Monaco 2, PSG 3, 5 forward aggregate. You're defending champions. Brought in the 3-2 lead into the Parc des Princes. Established a dam out very quickly. Kept possession in the Monaco half. Monaco raiding on the counter. Objectively, the world's greatest striker, Flo Balogun, went very close just before the corner. Just before halftime.

27:19Roger Bennett:A couple of minutes later, Barcola snuck in, smashed one off the crossbar. It looked like Paris were halfway there at halftime, but on the brink of stoppage time, Monaco stunning goal this. I love that Koulibaly delicately caressed the ball instinctively towards Magnus Akhliyosh, who upped the ante with his own supreme feather-like, supreme technique of a finish. Monaco up at the break, but around the hour mark, they imploded. Koulibaly picked up two yellows in the space of like four or five minutes. Second one, slightly harsh. And three touches later for the ensuing free kick. Douay skipped by his marker.

27:56Roger Bennett:Fire to Marquinhos, who finished sharply. Cavaradona killed off the tie. Monaco, late rally. But it was not enough overall. We'll always have the balligan brace from the first leg. James, PSG seem like they're sleepwalking through the season. When do they wake up? When do they turn it on? or are they saving themselves for the big business end of the season?

28:19James Horncastle:I don't know if they do wake up, Rog. I think sometimes teams just catch fire. And as much as we like to sort of interpolate that, that was by design. Sometimes it's not by design. Sometimes it's, you know, as much as Luis Enrique puts things in place, sometimes it's about getting into that flow state, which they clearly did from kind of March onwards. I think this team is not as good as it was last year. I think they've got a problem in a very important position, which is the goalkeeper position. I don't think they intended to have a Russian between the posts going into their Champions League defence.

29:03James Horncastle:They made that really gutsy decision to get rid of one of the best goalkeepers in the world, Gigi O'Donorouma, who was huge for them last year. And we've seen what he's been doing for Man City in the Premier League as well. And, yeah, I think a few of these teams, Rog, you can see there's still not a hangover from the Club World Cup. But that season when PSG won the treble and then didn't really have time to celebrate, we've got to go to the US. They go all the way to the final and lose that final. I think that does take a toll on the body and the mind. And so, you know, even though we're six or seven months into this new season,

29:54James Horncastle:I don't necessarily expect PSG to be what they were sort of in March, April time last year.

30:04Roger Bennett:I've got the saddest news of all for you, James. While we've been broadcasting, it's over in Turin. Juventus 3, Galatasaray 2. Juve out 5-7. Am I the bearer of terrible news for you? I mean, God bless Juventus. They dragged themselves back into this one. I mean, against all the odds. With 10 men, what were you going to say?

30:24James Horncastle:Well, Rog, you were saying the Flo Balogun, the best striker in the world. I would say, where's McKinney? You know, McKinney sent this... He sent this game to extra time. And Luciano Spalletti considers Western McKinney the perfect striker.

30:42Roger Bennett:I mean, it's an astonishing turnaround. I'm old enough to remember when, for the fifth time, Juventus were about to can him and deemed him utterly dissentable. There is something fascinating. We have a show that came out today with Tyler Adams where we discussed why is it that Weston McKinney needs to be on the edge, on the brink, on the cusp of being flung aside before he turns it on and becomes a dominant footballer. Why can't he just do that all the time, without the threats to his own existential place on the team. It is an incredible mystery. Mentally, he just needs... I mean, he's a brinksman.

31:18James Horncastle:Yeah, I mean, it's a contract year. And I think he was putting himself out there in the shop window. But his performances have been so good for Juventus since Luciano Spalletti got the job at the expense of Igor Tudor. And Spalletti's really good at understanding players reimagining players reinventing them reinvigorating them and you know McKinney has been Juventus' best player since Spalletti took over and I believe will be signing a new contract with them God bless

31:55Roger Bennett:I think he's negotiating even higher wages after the performance oh yes that's true absolutely magnificent bringing Juve back into only for Galatasaray to pop up twice in extra time Osman and ultimately sealing it. I've got to say, Juventus are tough to watch right now. You know, little redless, little leaders. It was crazy at the weekend. They had French Montana walk the team out onto the field, do a little show just four days after one of their worst defeats in Champions League history to show off their new fourth shirt. I mean, it's pretty shameless, very, I'd say, counter-contextual. It's not the Juventus of old.

32:32Roger Bennett:But looking at the Bodo Glimp result too into Milan, Looking at this Juventus result, Italian football in general, we marvel at Bodo glimps. But to what extent is it possibly that English football has commercially just hollowed out the rest of the world to such a degree that these results, you know, Serie A, the powerhouses getting clipped at the earliest knockout stage possible. Like there's something very, very rotten at the core here.

33:01James Horncastle:I think there's something very fragile at the core. And over the last five years, I mean, Italian football has overcome its own limitations without really winning anything. I mean, they've been to eight finals in the last five years, Rog. So, you know, in Inter's case, that's a Europa League final in 2020, Champions League finals in 2023 and 2025. They lost all of those. Roma with Jose, Conference League final 2022, which they won. Europa League final the following year, 2020-23, which they didn't win. Atalanta won the Europa League. Fiorentina have been to back-to-back conference league finals.

33:43James Horncastle:18 months ago, they did start the first ever Champions League with this league phase with five teams. It's amazing how quick things can change and I said, Rog, it's amazing how fragile this thing can be. you can look at all these shattered pieces of Italian football and kind of glue them together and make something that looks like it's back.

34:09Roger Bennett:You've just described my physical state at the moment. I love it. I relate to that more than I can tell you. I mean, you're really nudging us towards Atalanta. I mean, ultimately, we always laugh that, you know, fandom is knee-jerk, media is knee-jerk. They're a crisis and they're back, free fall and, you know, back. But my God, earlier today in Northern Italy, Atalanta 4, Dortmund 1. We talked about Italian disaster at the top of the show. Atalanta a miracle in their own right to be candid. Bergamo wonders, perpetually overachieved in their own right, dragged themselves out of a 2-0 hole with three goals inside 57 minutes.

34:50Roger Bennett:Dortmund forced their way back to even things overall through Adémi, Adémi, and then utter mayhem. Pasalik charged down the left wing, looped a delicious arcing cross across the keeper onto the head of his teammate, Kristevic, who prepared to deliver the coup de grace, only for the defender, Ben Zabaney, to turn the wrong way, attempt to almost backflip the ball clear. It's kind of like a donkey kick, I think, and he did, but he kicked the striker in the head and the face is, I think the blood pouring down the face, James, maybe meant that they didn't need VAR for this one, but they did use far.

35:28Roger Bennett:They sent pretty well everybody off in the wake of it. A huge credit to Leza Samadzivic who under conditions of incredible pressure whipped the penalty into the roof of the net with the last kick of the ball. I mean, what can you say? Because I was saying fandom is knee-jerk. The reactions are like so tinily, minutely separated. But this was actually football. This was real. This was factual. Italian football was crap. That was Tuesday's lesson. On Wednesday, we're like, Italian football's back from the dead. It was like resurrection, baby.

36:00James Horncastle:It was indeed. And you mentioned Atalanta being this sort of small miracle of Italian football. I mean, even amid the ruins of Italian football over the last eight years, yeah, Atalanta have been the one constant throughout all of this, you know, in terms of reaching three cup finals domestically, reaching Europa League final, which they won. Remember, they beat that by Leverkusen side, coached by Xabi Onso, which were unbeaten going into that game. Adam Ola-Lukman had that very memorable night, scored a hat-trick. And they've established themselves in the Champions League, really. It would be a surprise if Atlanta weren't in the Champions League now.

36:44James Horncastle:And so that comeback tonight, which I mean, you touched upon that Samadzic penalty at stoppage time. It's one of the best penalties you'll ever see. If our viewers have not seen it, go and search it out. Because it's one of the most aesthetically pleasing penalties that I've seen since Kevin Pressman, the goalkeeper in the early Premier League years just launches a penalty into the top corner, just leathers it.

37:17Roger Bennett:That's so funny. Jürgen Clinton once told me that the best way to take a penalty is to not to know what you're doing because if you don't know what you're doing, how will the goalkeeper ever know? Which I've thought about a lot and it both makes sense to me and it doesn't make sense. But also, when you watch that penalty live, I thought he'd blasted it so far over the ball. It both went in and in my mind went way over the bar. And I understood both of them of equal measure.

37:44James Horncastle:Yeah, when the ball came down, I don't know whether it was hit so powerfully that the netting just sort of was like pushed so far back that it felt like the ball had gone out of the goal. But no, I mean, the velocity.

38:03Roger Bennett:You know what? I also felt so happy for you. I felt so happy he didn't have to spend the week post-morteming the entirety of Italian football. Man, genuinely, I'm just like genuinely so happy for you. We're going to take a couple of questions very quickly. I do need to acknowledge again yesterday. Congratulations, Newcastle United beating Carabag 3-2, 1-9-3 on aggregate. And now your top scorers in this season's Champions League 26 goals in six games. By the way, huge turnaround in fortunes over the past 17 days. Again, Eddie Howe. Was it Brentford that beat them? And it felt like, woof, things were deeply, deeply rocky, ripped off four wins in five games, really found that competitive edge.

38:44Roger Bennett:But by the way, again, the storyline to follow in this one, the revenue gap between the Premier League, the rest of the teams in continental Europe, put another way, even bloody Tottenham Hotspur are a European force. We will take your questions very, very, very quickly. Let's dive into a couple of these beauties. Don't worry, you won't appear on screen. Click the link if you want to join us. But Anthony, tell us where you're from, you beautiful human being. What's your question for the great James Horncastle? Oh, Raj, James Horncastle, what a beautiful moment. Anthony from Columbia, Missouri, which incredibly has more than twice as many people as Buddha in Norway.

39:26Roger Bennett:I'm here, James, to ask you on a Champions League night

39:29James Horncastle:a Premier League question. as we kind of look towards the next round. And it has to do with my beloved, which is a complicated relationship, Chelsea,

39:40Roger Bennett:and Liam Ressinger. Now, you know, his results have been middling. I don't know that it's been his fault for draws to Burnley, but the discussions have gotten so off course that we're discussing whether he has aura drinking a beer post-match. but James can Liam get respect on his name with the result against Arsenal is there anything that can put respect on the name of a Chelsea manager these days please give me something

40:12James Horncastle:yeah I think I really feel for Resenia because he has got this job at a time where social media in particular can just completely undermine someone so that they just don't get really a fair chance. Regardless of what you think about Rossini getting promoted from Strasbourg to Chelsea, people have just been quick to mock him. And yeah, players pick up on that stuff. Players are on their phones more than ever. They will be seeing what people are saying, the memes that people are making of their coach. Judging him purely on his coaching performances so far, I was in Naples when they came back and beat Antonio Conte's Napoli.

41:00James Horncastle:And what struck me in that game was in the first half, he kind of got it quite badly wrong. The way he set up the lineup, it just didn't work. And the great blessing for every Chelsea coach is that you've got so many players, so many good players, that Antonio Conte was like, wow, I wish I could bring on a 70 million player here and a 70 million player there. And you can get yourself out of trouble that way. Can he establish himself as a good coach for Chelsea? I thought Maresca was kind of doing that already. Whatever you thought about Maresca ball, did deliver a couple of trophies last year.

41:49James Horncastle:Chelsea are the quote-unquote world champions. And everyone thought that he would get a very long life cycle as coach. And instead, we saw what the owners did there in making the change. So, you know, I'm not entirely sure Liam Rossino will get that. What is it? A 25-year contract? How long is this contract I signed? That was short.

42:16Roger Bennett:There's more, for God's sake. They've got to renegotiate that, baby. It's still six years. I think it was six or seven years he got. That was quite a base of confidence. Look, I mean, the core of the thing is the Strasbourg to Chelsea jump made no sense. And then, you know, in that vacuum of doubt, the hilarious videos, which he didn't do in the present day, they're like old, it's like an old audition tape, almost haunting an actor, filled the kind of gap. And so you have narrative and counter narrative, like the results have actually been bloody good. Like the only losses to Arsenal, been a couple of draws that have been disappointing.

42:50Roger Bennett:but he's got this team the results of winning ultimately that's all that matters I actually only think we'll know whether he has a chance I think the toll on him in this social media age must be enormous and I think we'll only know whether he's going to be able to actually become battle hardened what happens actually when he loses we've said every game is a must win because any loss he's going to get battered times 100 by this press pack every manager loses how he handles that how he deals with being battered how he emerges from that will determine ultimately as long as I wish him well I mean it's very hard he's a great communicator he's a man of value I think it's incredibly hard to I mean you saw Graham Potter also you know Brighton a really wonderful man I think Chelsea was a voyage out of his you know depth and his comfort level but the toll it took on him psychologically mentally was just utterly savage.

43:52Roger Bennett:I wouldn't wish that upon anybody. But God said, I did enjoy today John Terry briefing the press. He can't believe he didn't get a shot at his job. He does two days a week consulting with the academy. How did he not get there? I mean, like genuinely.

44:07James Horncastle:Also, he didn't understand why, was it Brandon McFarlane, who briefly took over from Maresca whilst they were sourcing or sorting out Liam Resenia's contract. And McFarlane had done really good work, I believe, in the academy. And Terry was like, I don't understand why this guy got... I got passed over. And McFarlane won his game, didn't he? He had one game in charge.

44:34Roger Bennett:I have no idea whether John Terry's a good manager or not. I did get the joy of watching him coach Aston Villa when he was an assistant coach there, coaching the defenders. I've told this to him in the pub before, which consisted of him just blasting the ball at the defenders from very close range while shouting at Tyrone Mengs, we take the ball in the face! We take the ball in the... Just like blasting it at these poor centre-backs and it was amazing to watch. I don't know if it was effective or not. I couldn't take my eyes off it.

45:07Roger Bennett:Two more very quickly. Oh, it's the mighty Alex. Come on up. Tell us what your question is for the mighty James Horncastle.

45:13James Horncastle:Hello, Raj. Cholo, James. How are you guys doing? I hope you guys are doing great. I want to take us back into the Champions League. I would love to know what matches you guys are looking at as a possibility for this next round. I think there's some pretty incredible storylines popping up as a possibility.

45:29Roger Bennett:We have the Chelsea-PSG rematch, which could ruin the only aura that Chelsea has left, realistically. We have the possible Cristiano Clasico of Real Madrid in Sporting. We have a Newcastle-Chelsea possibility as well. There's just so many exciting things. Also notably, Boto Glimp versus City could be fun for a rematch potential there. We'd love to hear what you guys are looking forward to. And yeah, thanks, guys. Godspeed. Horny.

45:58James Horncastle:Yeah, I would like to see Chelsea-PSG because on the one hand, as we've mentioned, Chelsea have changed coach since they beat PSG. And everyone made out what a great tactical masterclass that was from Maresca. in the Meadowlands, didn't they? And then Piers Dutra is not really the same. They haven't really hit the same groove that they did last year. I mentioned the goalkeeper problem. You've had even Ousmane Dembele, the kind of reigning Ballon d 'Or winner, sort of calling out some of his teammates. And Dembele used to be the teammate that people called out. It's an incredible role reversal.

46:38James Horncastle:So I think that would be a really, not to fall into cliche, intriguing tie.

46:44Roger Bennett:I mean, the honest truth is all of these teams are so flawed. It's not unlike the Premier League title race. I mean, every massive team is shown a vulnerability. And that's what I do think makes this so utterly, unbelievably magnificent. I mean, genuinely, I've got to Google on Polymarket what chance Tottenham Hotspur have to win the whole thing, which is genuinely, genuinely, I will never watch a football match again if that happens. It will just be an utter sheer, unbelievable ecstasy taking the last call from the mighty Zach. Oh, come on up, baby.

47:16James Horncastle:Hey, Raj and James. This is Zach from Lawrence, Kansas. How are you guys doing tonight? Great. All the better for you. My question for you is specifically about Weston McKinney. And I want to talk a little bit about how you alluded to earlier tonight. It seemed like he was playing striker at one point. He was deployed at left back to start the game. He's maybe been driving the bus home after the match. I think for me, I just want to talk about how important he's going to be to the U.S. national team this summer in the World Cup. Obviously, you know, he scored the goal tonight. There's been all the speculation about his future.

47:58James Horncastle:It looks as if he's about to sign a new contract for Juventus. So I really just want to give a little bit of love here and talk about West. up.

48:09Roger Bennett:It's incredible watching him, James. It really is. I mean, what a question. He is an enigma. I mean, he's so talent-soaked. In the 2018 World Cup, we were doing live shows and we had Brad Friedel join us in Boston. I think Brad was then involved in the American youth setup. I can't really remember. And he talked on stage at the time about the most talented young player coming through. And Christian Pulisic was already the face of the team. You know, the young, very young face of the team. But he said the most talented player is Weston McKinney. And he said the two things have to happen. Weston needs to mentally ensure he has consistent focus.

48:51Roger Bennett:And he also said, you know, Weston needs to find his position, the dominant position at which he can really thrive. I mean, Zach's framed this beautifully. We are seeing him thrive all over the field. You know, we talk about the utility player. They are always undermined. Gary Neville has talked about how Phil at times was the more talented player, but he had a position. Phil didn't. And the utility players went to almost become just vanilla, blend into it. Weston is, wherever he plays, he's playing blinders right now. So we haven't yet seen the consistent focus. We haven't yet seen that. By consistent, I mean season long.

49:31Roger Bennett:He can do it when he wants, when there's a contractual challenge. But how do you see him? How is he seen in Juventus, James? How is he seen by Italian football minds where they demand like a tactical focus, a tactical excellence? What's that lens like? Because we love him here. By the way, I don't know, Pochettino has had his problems with him. Pochettino at times was briefing, yeah, this guy mentally may not be the right fit for me. I think he's made himself impossible to ignore and it's been magical to witness.

50:02James Horncastle:Well, I remember, I mean, he's been at Juventus for a long time now. I think it's six years. not many players last that long at Juve. And look, as you alluded to earlier, Rog, they have tried to move him on. I mean, he was part of the Leeds United side who's there on loan. Leeds United side that went down. And Leeds weren't going to take up the option to sign him on a permanent basis. The fans didn't want him. And then when he came back to Juventus, his locker had been cleared out and his parking space had been taken away.

50:36James Horncastle:but I remember Weston's first season at Juve the first six months it was when Andrea Pirlo had got the job and Wes was magnificent I mean I remember him scoring away at the Camp Nou against Barcelona and he would come up with big goals that season and Pirlo was playing quite a modern brand of football Look, Pirlo's coaching career has not worked out since he left Juventus. You know, he was the first Juventus coach in a decade not to win the league. That's not to say he didn't have a good season there, but he then went to work in Turkey, then went to second division with Sampdoria. He's now playing in, he's working in Dubai, I think.

51:20James Horncastle:But he had this modern brand of football, which had Wes playing like a hybrid position, really. And Spalletti's brought that back since he got the job in November. Sputti is like a genius when it comes to his outlook on football. Everything is very, very fluid. As I said earlier, he can see positions in players that they didn't know that they could play. And all of a sudden, that position becomes the position that that player plays for the rest of his career. With McKinney, he's still playing nominally as a wingback or winger. but it's in the situations where they're attacking and he comes inside and he plays off a striker as he plays as a center forward and Spalletti says he's got all the instincts to be the perfect center forward you know he's there where the ball falls he's just got that natural instinct for it he's got aerial prowess he's fantastic in the air he showed that again tonight and he's got real determination in those situations, he can smell out a goal-scoring chance and make it happen for himself.

52:28James Horncastle:And so my concern going into the World Cup is in a national team, can you replicate the same dynamics that you see in club football that you get to work on every day? because, you know, if Pochettino doesn't have a very clear idea of what to do with Weston McKinney, I think he can still be effective for the US men and national team, but maybe not as effective as he's been over the last four months for Juve.

53:04Roger Bennett:Oh, for a team of 10 Weston McKinney's, Richo Pochettino. Oh, for a team of 10 James Horncastles. That is it for tonight. incredible beautiful piece of content is dropping this Friday I want to tell you about on the Men and Blazers YouTube channel it's my conversation with Marcus Mumford here of Mumford and Sons it's an interview we shot today it's really really soulful he's on incredible form it's his third visit to the show and it drops here 11 a.m eastern time on Friday don't miss it until then reminder I think there's seven tickets left for our show in Houston next Wednesday with JJ Watt. Who else is coming on that show?

53:47Roger Bennett:I can tell you. I'm not allowed to tell you. There's a great rocket is all I will tell you whose name rhymes with Rakeem Baljaban. The link to buy those is all over our social. Get one before we start. I can't wait to be with you, Texas. James Horncott. Have you ever been to Texas, James?

54:04James Horncastle:No. I wanted to go for this World Cup but I'm on the East Coast for the entire thing

54:10Roger Bennett:we're going to get you to Texas James James Holmcast in Texas my life will be complete huge huge thank you to you, big big love I'm so glad Italian football is back Coraggio