In short
The Spanish Football Podcast: Episode Summary - "Emails in the Night"
Episode Overview
- Hosts: Phil Kitromilides & Sid Lowe
- Focus: Discussion of Matchday 7 in La Liga, primarily centered around Atletico Madrid's remarkable 5-2 victory over Real Madrid in the Madrid derby.
Key Highlights Matchday 7 Results
- Key Matches:
- Girona 0 - 0 Espanyol
- Getafe 1 - 1 Levante
- Atletico Madrid 5 - 2 Real Madrid
- Mallorca 1 - 0 Alaves
- Villarreal 1 - 0 Athletic Club
- Sevilla 1 - 0 Rayo Vallecano
- Elche 2 - 1 Celta Vigo
- Barcelona 2 - 1 Real Sociedad
- Real Betis 2 - 0 Osasuna
- Valencia vs. Oviedo (weather concerns)
Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid Derby
- Significance:
- First time Atletico scored five goals against Real Madrid in 75 years.
- Atletico displayed an intense, dominant performance.
- Real Madrid struggled to cope with Atletico’s high intensity and relentless attacking play.
- Atletico's Strategy:
- Focused on exploiting weaknesses in Real Madrid’s defense, particularly targeting the left side.
- High pressing and quick transitions characterized their approach.
- Key Moments:
- Atletico went 2-1 down but responded with determination, eventually winning 5-2.
- Julian Alvarez's performance was notably significant, scoring two goals, including a penalty that restored Atletico's lead.
- Real Madrid's Performance:
- Lacked intensity and organization throughout the match.
- Criticized for failing to respond effectively after taking a brief lead.
- Players like Fede Valverde and Dean Housen were highlighted as having particularly poor matches.
Other Match Highlights
- Barcelona vs. Real Sociedad:
- Barcelona came from behind to win 2-1.
- Lamine Yamal made an immediate impact after coming off the bench, assisting Robert Lewandowski for the winning goal.
- Despite dominating possession, Barcelona initially struggled to break down Real Sociedad's defense.
- Sevilla's Narrow Win:
- Sevilla managed a late victory against Rayo Vallecano, highlighting the need for better results at home despite a generally solid performance.
Key Takeaways
- Atletico's Resilience: The ability to come back after conceding and maintain intensity was crucial to their victory.
- Real Madrid's Vulnerabilities: Their performance raised questions about their ability to handle pressure against top teams.
- Emerging Talents: Young players like Lamine Yamal continue to make significant impacts in their matches, hinting at the future stars of Spanish football.
Future Outlook
- The podcast hints at upcoming matches, including discussions on the Champions League fixtures involving Spanish teams.
- Further previews and discussions will be included in the next episode, along with responses to patron questions.
Conclusion This episode of The Spanish Football Podcast encapsulates an eventful Matchday 7 in La Liga, focusing on the dramatic Madrid derby and other significant matches, while also discussing the implications for teams moving forward in the season.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:07Sid Lowe:Hello everyone and welcome to this week's edition of the Spanish Rural Podcast. I'm Phil Kitromilides. Sid Lowe is with me as ever. Hello Sydney.
0:15Phil Kitromilides:Good morning Philip. Good morning my friend. How are you? I'm all right thank you. I did something amazing yesterday. Commentate. I didn't wait. Well I did that that was fantastic and then and then I didn't wait for the final game of the of the round of games I thought no I'm actually going to get a decent amount of sleep for once and then it got ruined by waking up at four o 'clock in the morning anyway thinking about um how I was going to write
0:37Sid Lowe:about Atletico Madrid's destruction of Real Madrid oh okay well that's an interesting insight into behind the scenes into how Sid's mind works waking up at 4 a.m honestly trying to the amount of times
0:50Phil Kitromilides:I wake up in the morning and on the phone there's an email to myself with a line or an idea. And sometimes the following morning it doesn't make any sense to me anymore. What was I saying? What was I doing?
1:02Sid Lowe:Not even you can decipher it.
1:05Phil Kitromilides:Sometimes, sometimes, yeah.
1:06Sid Lowe:Okay, you mentioned the Madrid derby. We will talk about that extensively in just a moment because it was the big game and the big result of match day seven. Here's what else happened. On Friday we had our first 0-0 draw of the season. It finished goalless between Girona and Espanyol in a Catalan derby at Montelivi. Then on Saturday, Getafe and Levante played out a 1-1 draw. Atletico Madrid thrashed Real Madrid 5-2 at the Metropolitano. Mallorca got their first win of the season, beating Alaves 1-0. And Villarreal got their third win in a week, beating Athletic Club 1-0 also. Then on Sunday, somehow Sevilla managed to beat Rio 1-0.
1:48Sid Lowe:They had one shot on target. It obviously went in. Rio obviously missed every bloody chance that they have. And still only one win all season for the mighty boys from the Barrio. Elche continued their absolutely extraordinary start to the season. Another win for Eda Serrabius' team. They're still unbeaten, Sid. They are still unbeaten after seven rounds of fixtures. and they're in a Champions League spot, which is really quite ridiculous. They beat Celta Vigo 2-1, which ended Celta Vigo's run of five consecutive 1-1s. I was really hoping this was going to finish 1-1. I mean, that would be his story.
2:24Sid Lowe:Me too. It's never happened before, by the way. No one's ever had six 1-1s in a row in the history of La Liga. Celta were very close. Barcelona came from behind to beat Real Sociedad 2-1 at Montjuic, an instant impact from Lamine Yamal, who came off the bench and seconds later set up Robert Lewandowski for the winner. And Real Betis beat Osasuna 2-0 at La Cartuja in the game, which Sid did not watch. We do not know if Valencia are playing Gaviedo this evening. They're supposed to, at Mestaya, but there is extremely heavy rainfall forecast for the Valencia region. All school in the city of Valencia has been cancelled today.
3:01Sid Lowe:People have been told not to leave their house unless they have to. But the game is still on at the time of recording. We will see whether or not it is called off. We will see whether or not Sid makes it down to Valencia. I've told him not to go. I've told him not to go. But if it's on, he will go. You have. Anyway. You're the sensible one in this partnership. There's no doubt about that. And you're the very, very silly one. Anyway, if you want some more Spanish football content, why not join us over at patreon.com forward slash TSFP. Patrons get the Monday and Friday pods without any adverts, plus a Q &A pod and a bonus pod every week.
3:34Sid Lowe:There's the newsletter for all patrons. There's the TSFP Diary, which has been really good, actually. It's been taking you behind the scenes in how to cover Spanish football. It's been a very good listen. Access to the Discord. And you can join us from just€4.75 a month in the UK. It's about a pound a week for loads of access to loads of content. Anyway, let's start with the derby, shall we? because Atletico Madrid scored five goals against Real Madrid for the first time in 75 years. Me and Al did the preview for this on Friday and we were predicting another slightly tense, slightly not very enjoyable aesthetically game, probably going to finish 1-1 as the last three derbies had.
4:19Sid Lowe:And we were obviously completely wrong. This was a really good game to watch.
4:23Phil Kitromilides:It was a brilliant game to watch. And, you know, not just that prediction, as you say, the 1-1, which is the way that these derbies have been going. but we were talking last week a lot. I was. I shouldn't blame you. I should only blame myself and put my hands up. And I was saying I was concerned that Real Madrid were going to become boringly good. This time around, they were fantastically, entertainingly bad, which is great. And actually, let's stop just there and say it wasn't about Real Madrid being bad, although there were flaws and we'll go on to analyse them. It was about how brilliantly I thought Atletico Madrid played and how Atletico Madrid had so very, very clearly identified the ways that they wanted to go at Real Madrid.
5:00Phil Kitromilides:Now, you think back to a couple of years ago when Atletico Madrid won the first derby of the season, 3-1, at a point at which Real Madrid had started really well. Similar, sort of similar patterns today. And it won 3-1. And after that game, it was basically the... It was the end of Fran Garcia. It started and Atletico Madrid had targeted him, the long ball to that space between the left side of centre-back and the left-back. And they were putting players in the box and they were beating them in the air and they were playing with high intensity. There was a lot of that pattern was repeated this time around.
5:31Phil Kitromilides:And when we saw Fran Garcia struggle last time, we saw Alvaro Carreras and Dean Halston struggle a little bit this time. But it was all over the pitch. Atletico Madrid pushing very, very high, getting the ball into the penalty there very, very quickly, using Solov as the player to kind of push Real Madrid right back into their six-yard box, allowing a little bit of space for Julien Alvarez to play behind them. And I thought they did it brilliantly. And I think there's so many elements to pick up on. But I think it was the relentlessness of the way that Atletico Madrid played that really struck me, how determined they were to keep on going at Real Madrid.
6:03Phil Kitromilides:And then the really big thing for me was that they kept doing it, having gone 2-1 down. And bear in mind the context of this. You've got an Atletico Madrid team that go a goal up, that keep on going, that they hit the post. They have a couple of really, really good opportunities that they don't take. You have a couple of chances for Solov, which he doesn't take. And then you get Real Madrid, bang, two shots, two goals, out of basically nowhere. And at that point, the context of an Atletico Madrid team who were conceding a goal every other shot, an Atletico Madrid team that were taking 10 shots to score, that were feeling like...
6:36Sid Lowe:They were 12 points behind Real Madrid.
6:38Phil Kitromilides:Exactly. At that point that you're thinking 12 points behind, it would have been so easy for them to crumble. And they did the complete opposite and they kept coming back at Real Madrid and they won 5-2 entirely deservedly. And the second half was different because once they'd gone 3-2 up with the penalty, it then became a game of control. But some of the basic ingredients of the intensity were there all the way through. And Real Madrid just could not match them at any point.
7:04Sid Lowe:Yeah, and that was something that was said after the game. Xabi Alonso said, we didn't compete. And Dani Carvajal with that old phrase, which it's funny with all the technical analysis in football, it still holds true. Flanico Madrid wanted it more. And they did want it more. And you can see it with the intensity with which they approached this game. Let's just also mention the context in the build-up to this game. Atletico Madrid didn't have 72 hours between their last game and this game. They played on Wednesday night against Raya Vallecano. Real Madrid had played on Tuesday night. Quite a bit had been made of that.
7:36Sid Lowe:Not as much had been made of it had it been the other way around and Real Madrid had less than 72 hours. But the people in the Atletico Madrid media kept mentioning it. It was an issue. It was brought up in the pre-match press conference. But you couldn't tell. You couldn't tell at all.
7:51Phil Kitromilides:No, you couldn't tell. and it's probably worth drawing a slight distinction here. I think a lot was made of it in terms of the build-up to it and the discussion of it, but not by Simeone. And Simeone avoided that. There was a couple of little sideways mentions of it in terms of, you know, after the game against Raya Vallecano, it was like, right, tomorrow morning at eight o 'clock, we're ready and we're prepared. We give ourselves a couple of days to do this. And that was a little sideways mention. And there was another one, I think, just before this game where he said something about the preparation and the time they had.
8:21Phil Kitromilides:But it was done as a subtle mention. And I think one of the reasons for that was about the message he was sending to his players, about not wanting to put in place a message that gave them a ready-made excuse, if you see what I mean. So this is, if you create, and actually, you know what, I wonder if at institutional level, this is a problem that Madrid are making for themselves. If you create, if you like, an analysis or a narrative of victimhood, you also create excuses. You see what I mean? You also create a justification for not doing it. And I think it was really important from Atletico Madrid's point of view to not do that in the build-up to this game.
8:57Phil Kitromilides:And it's not just that. It's that they came off the Raya Vallecano game having to do what they had to do to win it. You know, they didn't go into this comfortably. They went into this having to come back from 2-1 down to win 3-2 against Raya Vallecano. I was talking to one of the coaching staff of Atletico Madrid after this game, and he was saying, you know, what we came from and what we, you know, we were trying really hard to, right, you keep that momentum going rather than allow yourself to think, you know, we're exhausted already. And they did it brilliantly. There's a couple of other things, obviously, to point out.
9:27Phil Kitromilides:We're talking about the intensity and the way they played. The two wide men, I thought, were brilliant, both Nico Gonzalez and Giuliano Simeone. Giuliano Simeone is almost comic when you watch him play. You know, he's kind of gritting his teeth. You feel like the nerves, the veins on the side of his head are going to explode any minute. It's kind of almost cartoonish. but then the performance in the middle of the pitch of Koke and Barrios I thought was absolutely brilliant as well.
9:51Sid Lowe:Koke making his 43rd appearance in this fixture drawing level with Sergio Ravos as the player with the most appearances in the Madrid derby. Should we mention Julian then?
10:02Phil Kitromilides:Yes I think we should and that's the other part of the context which we've not gone to yet but yeah absolutely you know seven days earlier or correct me if I'm wrong actually six days earlier isn't it? Because they played Sunday last week. Yeah, they played Sunday last week. So six days earlier, Julian Alvarez had sat on the bench muttering, always me, having been changed, having missed a penalty for the first time in his Atletico Madrid career. Now, he said in midweek that he didn't actually say always me. He was swearing at himself because he'd had another bad performance, but he was in a position in which it wasn't quite working for him, in which he hadn't scored since the opening day of the season.
10:35Phil Kitromilides:On that opening day of the season, he scored an amazing free kick, but then hit the post with a really brilliant chance, which would have ended it. And in the end, they lost to Espanyol. It kind of wasn't happening. And you have all this tension and debate around him. And I actually think you had a very clear, how do I put this? Salvage operation, for want of a better phrase, in midweek with Simeone trying to say, no, we're very much on Julian Alavarez's side. We want him to be the player. He's our best player. Yeah, and he's our best player. And we want to look after him. We want to take care of him.
11:11Phil Kitromilides:We want him to be here for a long time. And I think there you felt a little bit of that fear. Hang on, we've got a really good player here. And there's a risk that either he doesn't become that really good player because he had a really good season last year. I think it was 18 league goals, 20-something in total across all competitions. There was a risk that what happens if he doesn't feel happy? What happens if he doesn't feel backed up? What happens if at some point he wants to move on? They're aware that there'd be an interest from Barcelona. And I think there was a little bit of concern there.
11:40Phil Kitromilides:Obviously, the immediate concern, his performance level, and making him part of a team that works. But a long-term one of, I can't believe it, we're going to have this really great player who comes to us, and at some point we're going to lose him. And then in midweek, you get him play brilliantly, score a hat-trick to win against Raya Vallecano, then play brilliantly again in the derby. Two more goals of penalty, which is, I think, significant because the last penalty he took against Real Madrid was that one that he scored, but supposedly touched twice, and it was taken off them. And, of course, the last penalty taken at all was the miss against Mallorca.
12:11Phil Kitromilides:And he was brilliant, again. And I think that was very, very significant emotionally for everybody, but obviously above all for Julian Alvarez himself.
12:21Sid Lowe:A tremendous performance from Atletico Madrid. It's been difficult to try and recall a performance just as dominant against Real Madrid and kind of against what we were expecting as well. Remember, you know, the worst start ever under Diego Simeone up against the Real Madrid sideward one. Six out of six. It's the first manita, and don't underestimate the importance, the cultural importance, of scoring that fifth goal, la manita, the little hand, one goal for each finger on the hand, which is a big thing here in Spain. It was on the front pages of the papers the next day, that word, la manita. It's been repeated often hysterically on the radio and TV in the last 48 hours or so.
13:06Sid Lowe:It's a big deal to put five past your eternal rivals. It is.
13:11Phil Kitromilides:Just a very quick thing. I don't know about you, but I've been really struck. I mean, maybe I'm just an old man or have a long memory by how in all this talk of this, and this is huge, and this is the first time they've scored five in 75 years. I've been struck how nobody's talked about the 4-0 at the Calderon. I think people have. I've heard people
13:32Sid Lowe:mention it. I've not heard it.
13:33Phil Kitromilides:Okay, I'm glad you have
13:34Sid Lowe:because I've not heard it even mentioned
13:37Phil Kitromilides:and I find it quite baffling.
13:39Sid Lowe:But anyway, there you go. I've heard it mentioned. But like I said, that wasn't a manita. It wasn't a five.
13:43Phil Kitromilides:No, it wasn't. It wasn't, but it was huge at the time. And I think, you know, what I remember about the game, I really love that. I remember coming down the stairs at the old Calderon and there being this kind of bottleneck on the corner. Why is everyone stopped on the way out? And it was because they were all stopped taking photographs with the scoreboard.
13:58Sid Lowe:Did you do the same at the Metropolitana?
Read the full transcript
14:01Phil Kitromilides:I did this time round, yeah. But by then the stadium was empty. I didn't have any, and I was on the pitch. It was kind of different. I wasn't having the difficulties of escaping. I didn't see those crowds this time round of people taking pitch to the scoreboards,
14:11Sid Lowe:but I'm pretty sure people were. Let's talk about Real Madrid and obviously this monumentally disappointing performance from them. All over the pitch, I can't think of anyone who played particularly well, with the exception maybe of Ardegula in the first half with a goal and an assist and in that position kind of consolidating himself as being someone who can be in that first XI. but there was really no reaction from Real Madrid and that's what I was really, really struck by. No reaction from Real Madrid in the second half. Of course, they only had two shots on target. Those were the two goals.
14:43Sid Lowe:There was nothing when Atletico Madrid took Sorlot off in the 66th minute and basically kind of invited the pressure on from Real Madrid. You know, we've got 25 minutes to go. We're taking Sorlot off. We're leaving Julian up. We're going to sit back and defend. Come and get us. Come and try and break us down. And absolutely couldn't. Of course, Dean Housen didn't play well. Alvaro Carreras didn't play well. Fede Valverde has been sort of borderline anonymous all season. There were two bits of brilliance in the two goals. One of them was handed to Real Madrid by some poor defending from Robin Lenormand.
15:19Sid Lowe:But Kylian Mbappé's finish for the first goal is excellent. Vinicius' assist for the second goal is fantastic as well. But that was kind of it, you know. There was none of the organisation, none of the solidity, none of the energy, none of the high press,
15:32Phil Kitromilides:none of that there was nothing no absolutely and there are lots of elements to pick up on um and one of them i you know just to pick up on you were saying there from from the the change of sawloff and the the invitations around you to you know come and get us it's not just i thought what
15:46Sid Lowe:are you doing why are you doing this this is too early you need so a lot on there well i i thought
15:51Phil Kitromilides:so as well but actually it was managed brilliantly and i think i think i'd i'd um pick up your phrase and use it, which I think is a really, really good way of expressing this. He's saying this idea of come and get us. It's not just that Madrid didn't get them. Madrid didn't even really come to them. Madrid had the ball and moved it around in front of them, but didn't do anything with it. Didn't get anywhere. Didn't go for them in the slightest. Atletico Madrid managed that, I thought, brilliantly, although in part because I thought Real Madrid was so blunt. There was nothing there. And throughout this game, there was very, very little.
16:25Phil Kitromilides:I just don't want to labour this point, but to go back to what I was saying before about Real Madrid get those two goals with their only two shots. And the emotional impact for Atleti at that point must have been huge. And actually, Solov was saying post-game, that's the hardest part, in a way, the psychological part of it, of feeling like you've dominated. And then thinking, I don't believe it, it's happening again. And it didn't stop Atletico Madrid this time around. And it didn't project Real Madrid either. And I think some of those things that you're talking about are really interesting. First of all, we've been talking about how much we like Dean Halson as a defender that brings the ball out, but we haven't seen him put under pressure in the air and he didn't respond very well.
17:06Phil Kitromilides:I wonder if maybe with Rudiger that's slightly different, but Halson certainly didn't deal with it well. We've been talking about how low-key excellent Alvaro Carreras is and his decision-making has been good, his positioning has been good. And this time he was put under a huge amount of pressure on the right by a combination of Giuliano Simeone and then one other. Sometimes Barrios going to that side, sometimes, of course, Marco Cirente overlapping on that side. And he couldn't really deal with them. Wasn't given a huge amount of help either. I thought he had a very difficult game. Then you look at the centre of the pitch and a lot of the focus has been on putting Bellingham back in.
17:41Phil Kitromilides:And I think it's justified, actually, for some of the focus to be on putting Bellingham back in. Is it a bit too soon? He'd played, I think, 28 minutes until this game or maybe even less than that, I'm not sure now, since he'd come back from the shoulder operation, didn't look quite right. But it's more that it meant a restructuring of that midfield. And I felt like, I don't want to overplay this. And I'm conscious that it's really easy to kind of go down this route and really dig at this idea. And so I don't want to overplay it, but I don't want to mention it. It felt a little bit like what Xavi Alonso had done was accommodate with his team rather than be convinced by his team, if you see what I mean, bringing Bellingham back in and repositioning some of the pieces.
18:18Phil Kitromilides:and Arda Gula, who he'd been trying to turn into this central midfielder or part of the midfield three at least, now is up on the right-hand side, which means no Manstantano. No, I'm not saying that if Manstantano plays on that right-hand side and Gula plays inside, the Real Madrid necessarily play better. Who knows? But I felt a little bit like there was an accommodation there that didn't entirely work. I thought we were confronted by something that we've been talking about a lot this season, and you've just mentioned it there, which is that a Real Madrid team that wants to press high that wants to squeeze the play and narrow those gaps is in part a victim of its success in doing that because it doesn't have the space to run.
18:58Phil Kitromilides:And that has been, I think, a problem for Valverde and I think it's been a problem for Vinicius. There are two players who run through space really well, but when there isn't much space, they don't do it. And I think with Valverde, there's this contradiction there, which I find difficult to get my head around. And I suspect actually Xabi Alonso is finding it a little bit difficult to fit, which is that if you want to press high and pressure the deep midfielder of the other team and have the energy to press high, you want Valverde to do that, to lead some of that press. But Valverde then is left without the space to run into, which is what makes him a good player.
19:29Phil Kitromilides:He's not a central midfielder in the Xabi Alonso mould or in the Pedri mould or in the Tony Cruz mould or in the Luka Modric mould. That kind of close stuff he just doesn't do. And I think he's had a really difficult season because I think systemically, this structure doesn't benefit him, doesn't help him. He can help it and he can help everyone in the team do their things. But I don't think he plays particularly well. And I think we've seen some of the flaws in his game. And just all the way through the team, you know, the best player was, in my opinion, in the Real Madrid team, as you've mentioned, was Ardegula.
20:01Phil Kitromilides:And that was with him up on the right-hand side. And I thought Madrid were poor all the way through. And I thought some of it was a one-off and different to what they've done so far this season. Some of it maybe was a product of what they're trying to do and a kind of a bump in the road, yes, but also, as I say, a consequence of how they're trying to play. I also think, and again, I don't want to labour this point, but I think it's worth mentioning. I actually haven't got the numbers in front of me now, but I won't be far wrong because it was roughly this. Real Madrid so far had played against the teams in 19th, 18th, 17th, 16th and 14th.
20:35Phil Kitromilides:And we were looking at this and saying, you know, we can see a structure. And we could. We absolutely could. We absolutely can. But they hadn't played really good teams yet. And this is the first really good team. And they've been walloped, which isn't to mean necessarily that they'll go and play another good team and get walloped again. It doesn't necessarily work like that, but it is a warning sign.
20:53Sid Lowe:And Espanyol, who are seventh.
20:55Phil Kitromilides:Yes, and Espanyol, who are seventh, yeah.
20:58Sid Lowe:Well, you talk about getting walloped against good teams. The previous big, big game against a big team that was in the Club World Cup and they got walloped 4-0 by PSG.
21:06Phil Kitromilides:Against a very, very good team, in fairness, yeah. A very, very good team. And obviously that was early. and Xabi Alonso was very, very keen after that game to say this belongs to last season. This isn't about the new, you know. Alonso was effectively saying this is what I've inherited, but we're going to move in a different direction. I think we have to give Alonso the benefit of the doubt because I think there definitely are structural things that we've seen that are better. And actually, I would say attitudinal things that we've seen that are better this season. But in this game, those were undone.
21:34Sid Lowe:A big, big win for Atletico Madrid. 5-2 against Real Madrid. Real Madrid are already in eastern Kazakhstan to play I was thinking about this
21:44Phil Kitromilides:In fact, I think this might have been one of the emails I sent myself in the middle of the night I was thinking this is a kind of result for Real Madrid where you just want to get as far away from it as you possibly can which is lucky because they've gone 6 ,500 kilometres away Sending emails to yourself in the middle of the night There we go, fantastic I think that's a pod title, is it? Emails in the middle of the night I think so When you want your spring break to feel like and your kids pool day to feel like and your hotel bed to feel like and room service to feel like because at Hilton hospitality feels like
22:26Sid Lowe:your cabana's ready. Would you like fresh towels?
22:28Phil Kitromilides:It matters where you stay.
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23:34Sid Lowe:Let's move on and talk about Barcelona and their 2-1 win against Real Sociedad. They were actually 1-0 down massively against the run of play. I think they were up a sort of 85-86 % possession against Real Sociedad. But La Real took the lead through an emotional Álvaro Odriozola, who wasn't supposed to be in the starting 11, but John Aramburu dropped out at the last minute. In came Odriozola for his first league start since the 16th of May 2024. and he scored the opener for Real Sociedad. Then Barcelona got back on level terms. Jules Koundé powering home a header, an assist from Marcus Rashford.
24:11Sid Lowe:Jules Koundé becoming the 10th different scorer for Barcelona in the league already. And then Lamin-Yemal came off the bench and haven't counted the number of seconds, but it might be 50 or 60 seconds later he was setting up Robert Lewandowski. Brilliant assist, massive, powerful header from Lewandowski. and Barcelona 2-1. They should have scored more, although La Real also had a few chances as well. The impact from Lamin, Sid, it was instant. It was extraordinary. And it was almost expected by the crowd because the level of expectation as soon as they saw him warming up was immense.
24:49Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, it was slightly comic in a way, wasn't it? It was like, you know, here he comes. He's going to resolve it. He's like, come on, leave him alone. He's like, no, don't leave him alone. There he is. And actually that's one of the things that's been so striking about Laminio Marle is all this pressure. And, you know, me in responsible adult mode or old man mode, calm down, let's not put the pressure on the kid. The person putting the pressure on the kid is the kid. You know, him celebrating putting the crown on his hand.
25:12Sid Lowe:He's 18 now, Sid. He's not a kid. Okay, sorry, he's not a kid anymore. He's an illegal adult.
25:16Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, he's still a kid. You know, he's the one that embraces it. And he comes on and immediately starts going at people, makes things happen, takes pressure away from some of the other players. the assist was brilliant he did two or three other really really good things as well I still think that Barcelona actually tried a pretty fine line and me and you were commentating this and we're saying you know towards the end they were that that high line they play and you know let's not go down this route again and again and again because that high line is part of why they're so good but in the last 20 minutes you think you I felt at least and we were talking about this in commentary I felt that they are offering Real Sociedad the chance to go into a huge amount that space really quite easily.
25:54And actually, I was quite pleased post-game
25:58Phil Kitromilides:that Jules Koundé kind of reinforced that analysis. He said, I didn't like our last 20 minutes at all. And I think he's right. And I think they did tread a fine line, but they had found a way through by then. I agreed as well with what you'd said in commentary is that throughout that period before Barcelona got the equaliser and in particular before Lamin-Yamal set up the second goal, There was a lot of them having the ball, carrying it to the edge of the Real Sociedad area, saying, oh, there's a big wall, turning around and coming back again. So although they were dominating possession, there was a little bit of a lack of kind of imagination, creativity, incision.
26:34Phil Kitromilides:And I thought they had a slightly harder time of it than I think they would have anticipated. But they did eventually get through. I think it's worth pointing this out as well, just because, you know, why not? Marcus Rashford's on a good run. I think I'm right in saying that six games in a row in which he's scored or assisted. He, in the first half, in which they were struggling a little bit, Barcelona, was the one person really opening things up, going beyond people, making things happen. Occasionally, the last touch wouldn't be great. Occasionally, it didn't quite come off. But he is the guy that provides the assist for the first goal, albeit it's a corner.
27:06Phil Kitromilides:I'm always a little bit reluctant to call them assists when they're from corners, but someone's got to do the delivery and the delivery's got to be good. And it was. Exactly what an assist is. Yeah, I know. But I always feel like with corners, it's different from the player that takes responsibility on the pitch, carries the game forward, provides the final pass. I always feel from dead balls, it's a little bit different. Of course, it's an assist. Absolutely it is. But I just always sort of read them a little bit differently, those ones. But it's a very, very good delivery. And it's really, really well taken as well by Koundé.
27:35Sid Lowe:A Barcelona side, of course, missing some key players. No Rafinha for this game. He's going to be out for a while. Joan Garcia is going to be out for at least six weeks. So we had Wojtek Szczesny in goal because Ter Stegen is also out. Gavi is out. Ferebine Lopez is out. Alejandro Baudet still isn't back as well. So this was a team that were missing, you know, there'd be five starters there.
27:56Phil Kitromilides:Well, we said it yesterday, didn't we? And I went through the list of the substitutes and I was going through, and apologies because I haven't got the list in front of me, but I think I'm right in saying it was one 17-year-old, five 18-year-olds, one 19-year-old, one 22-year-old, if I remember rightly. And every single one of them was a Barcelona youth team product, I think on the bench. Or was Ferran on the bench? Maybe Ferran was the one that wasn't.
28:16Sid Lowe:He was.
28:17Phil Kitromilides:Ferran started, didn't he? No, he was on the bench. He was the one that wasn't, yeah. And, you know, the good news for Barcelona is they do keep producing players that can do that for them. But they are in a slightly stretched position at the moment in terms of personnel.
28:31Sid Lowe:We saw a debut for Dro Fernandes in the sort of number 10 position, the 17-year-old. People are very excited about him. You've picked him as one of your next-gen one to watch for the Guardian as well. Julie got his first 45 minutes of La Liga football. some nice touches I mean he is literally a child so maybe we should go a little bit, go easy on him some nice touches, he was dispossessed quite easily though a couple of times as well
28:56Phil Kitromilides:Yeah and he was, that thing you were saying of carrying the ball to the defence and then being forced to come back, it was him a few times and the difference was that when he came back with pressure behind him, he tended to lose the ball rather than recirculate it because he had people on him and as you say, you can see the size of him is still very very different to the players around him he's a number 10 at the moment but certainly in the Spanish Football Federation, they think he'll end up being a number eight, playing a little bit deeper with the game in front of him rather than the game behind him.
29:23Phil Kitromilides:And I think that changes things enormously. So yeah, there's not a huge amount to write home about him from this game, but he is another one of those players coming through. Perhaps a little bit less excitement about him than there is about Tony Nguia, who are, of course, the cousins who are coming through as well.
29:39Sid Lowe:Okay, that was Barcelona against Real Sociedad. You went to Ray Baikano against Sevilla as well and saw Sevilla win thanks to a late goal from Eko Adams. Sevilla's only shot on target. It ended up in the back of the net. Rayo, their only win all season, came on match day one away to Girona. They've played well, but they have only got five points from a possible 21. Don't want to make this just about Rayo. Obviously, give me your assessment on Sevilla as well.
30:08Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, well, I mean, look, I'll give you Matias Almeida's answer. the Sevilla manager postgame was asked about, he said, you know, given what's happened to Raya this year and you've been analysing them and you've been watching them, what would you think if you were Inigo Pedeth, the Raya Vallecano manager? And he said, I'm not going to put myself in Inigo Pedeth's shoes. I'm going to put myself in the shoes of the Raya Vallecano president. And I, as president of Raya Vallecano, would think I've got a great manager here. He said, they're doing really good things. They're a really good side. They're really well-organised.
30:36Phil Kitromilides:So we had to absolutely, I love this price, we had to break, we had to bust our heads to win this game today you know he said that and and and then this was put to and you go and and you was like well it's pleasing that people think we're playing well and and we are doing lots of things well and we can't ignore that but the results are what they are and and he talks about this kind of double reality which is that they are doing lots of things well as a reality that they have only won one game is also a reality and those things kind of contradict each other and he has to find a way if you like of fixing the results part of it without losing the identity and the and the conviction and the faith in the way they're playing because actually
31:15Sid Lowe:they're not doing a huge amount wrong what about Sevilla well Sevilla I thought were interesting
31:22Phil Kitromilides:actually because I thought what we saw with Sevilla is something that we that we had we didn't see last year and I thought what we saw with Sevilla is we're starting to see a group so we're not seeing a brilliant team, I don't think, but I think we're starting to see a group. I think we're starting to see a collective, I wouldn't call it a collective identity. Did the barbecue help? Well, I love that comment from Alexis Sanchez.
31:44Sid Lowe:The CSL made a organised a barbecue for the sport.
31:46Phil Kitromilides:And last week, Alexis Sanchez said, what I loved about it was he said, yeah, the barbecue really helps, even if it's not that good. And I thought that's such a pointed remark at whoever's in charge of cooking the meat brilliant um nice to get together yeah meat was a little bit ropey but you know it was yeah um and and i think there is an element of that and you know i i think there's sometimes a risk of seeing things that aren't there because people talk about them but but but almeida at least is talking about the group and i think he's talking about and i think you can see bits of it on the pitch there is a sense of a shared responsibility i wouldn't say necessarily a clear identity in footballing terms, but a sense of responsibility is there.
32:29Phil Kitromilides:And I would admit this is partly my fault. And so I don't want to, I don't want to kind of, what would I call it, deepen my original crime by now banging on about it. But I've always kind of really admired Thessarath Billy Guetta. So I asked Almeida about Thessarath Billy Guetta because of this idea that I was watching the game thinking there's a kind of a collective responsibility there. and I wonder about the quiet leadership of someone like Afili Cueta. And Almeida went off on this fantastic answer about what a, you know, he's a proper leader and the leaders that don't say it are the best leaders because they're not trying to sell something.
33:01Phil Kitromilides:They're truly about this. And he expanded it into Alexis Sanchez. And he talked about these two players who've won everything. They have had amazing careers. And there was a kind of a disbelief about it. He said, and here they are at Sevilla trying to help us out. And I thought that was quite a nice way of putting it.
33:17Sid Lowe:Yeah. I mean, they are getting paid as well. you know they're not helping they're getting paid they're not volunteers yeah exactly but i mean it
33:25Phil Kitromilides:is true that i think severe last year you know and we thought this year as well that they were three or four bad results away yeah from a massive massive fire you know and the whole thing whole thing going really really badly wrong and i think they've managed to to prevent that so far it is true though that they're still not winning at home i think i think all of their victories have been so far this season. They probably need that in front of their own fans. I think I'm right in saying
33:50Sid Lowe:it's only one win this year at home, this calendar year, something like that. Something ridiculous. I didn't know it was that bad. I haven't actually checked it, but it's pretty bad. I think it was against Las Palmas. Anyway, we'll see. They take on Barcelona next weekend. So big game for Sevilla. That's just about all we've got time for before we go. This is what happened in the Segunda. Depor and Cadiz are both on 15 points after Depor drew 1-1 at Eibard and Cadiz drew 0-0 with Ceuta. Elsewhere, Andorra a third after winning 2-1 at Rating. And Albacete were 3-0 down at Sporting and came back to win 4-3 with a 99th-minute winner.
34:28Sid Lowe:Drama. Tremendous. This Champions League this week, obviously, Barcelona against PSG is the pick of the Spanish-involved ties, I would say, but some interesting ones as well, as we said, Real Madrid are in Kazakhstan. Atletico Madrid hosting Frankfurt. Athletic Club traveling to Dortmund and Villarreal against Juventus. So some good games coming up in the Champions League. We'll discuss them on the Thursday bonus pod tomorrow. We'll be taking your questions for patrons, so come and join us, patreon.com forward slash TSFP. There's lots we didn't get through on the pod, but if you've got a question, ask us and we'll answer it tomorrow.
35:07Sid Lowe:And if you don't want to do any of that, you don't want to part with€4.75 a month for extra content's fine it's all right we'll be back on Friday with a preview pod looking ahead to match day eight so make sure you join us then amigos adios cheerio
35:49Phil Kitromilides:It's a season two playoff race with TGL presented by SoFi. Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern, Jupiter Lynx versus Boston Common Golf. Monday at 7 p.m. Eastern, Los Angeles Golf Club versus New York Golf Club. Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern, the Bay Golf Club versus Jupiter Lynx. Keep up, it's golf. Watch on ESPN, ESPN2, and the ESPN app.
From the publisher
Join Phil Kitromilides & Sid Lowe in Spain for discussion of Matchday 7 in LALIGA, with a focus on Atletico Madrid's stunning 5-2 win over Real Madrid in the derby.
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