Oviedo, World Champions

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1:35Hello everyone and welcome to this week's edition of the Spanish Football Podcast. I'm Phil Kitramelidis on a wet and rainy Monday morning in Madrid. I'm with Sid Lowe. Hello, Sidney. Good morning, Philip. How are you? I'm okay. We are busy. We are harassed. We are a little bit irritable on this Monday morning. Let's try and cheer ourselves up, Sid, and everyone else listening to talk about Spanish Football.

1:55Phil Kitromilides:It's pissing down with rain outside, but the football is delightful. The weather outside is frightful, but the football is delightful. I mean, delightful is very much up for debate here. But anyway, this is what happened on Matchday 22. You be the judges whether or not it was delightful. Friday night, Alaves claim a big, big win. I think it was their first away win of the season at Espanyol. It confirmed that Espanyol's poor run, a poor start to the season after a brilliant opening half to the campaign. They are winless in 2026. Alaves winning 2-1 at Espanyol. Oviedo won a professional football match.

2:32Extraordinary scenes at the Cartieres. Sydney was there to see Oviedo beat Girona 1-0. Absolutely magnificent. Osasuna and Villarreal played out a 2-2 draw. Levante played out a goalless draw with Atletico Madrid. Atleti's away form continues to be miserable. And Barcelona racked up the highest ever expected goals in La Liga history, or since that metric has been around. They won 3-1 at Elche. If I tell you this game could have been 11-3 or 3-11, I'm not exaggerating.

3:03Phil Kitromilides:No, absolutely not. Sunday saw Real Madrid beat Rai Vallecano by two goals to one, thanks to a hundredth-minute penalty from Kylian Mbappé. Desperately do not want to talk about this game, but I'm afraid we're going to have to. Betis beat Valencia 2-1, thanks to a late goal from their best player this season, Pablo Fognal, scoring a big goal for Betis. Getafe and Celta played out a goalless draw. I commentated this game. When I say that this game sort of made me lose the will to live, you had to do this game. I did this game as well. I'm sorry, Phil. When I say it made me lose the will to live, I literally came back home from this game and went to bed at 8.45.

3:40I just couldn't deal with anything more. It had sapped. I had nothing more to give after this game.

3:48Phil Kitromilides:Do you know what? This game, I watched it on the telly, and it was so foggy, and you're just willing the fog to come down so much that you couldn't even see it. It was that bad. It was so bad. But yeah, because I had been drained emotionally, physically, mentally from trying to commentate that game, it meant I didn't see the Barre Starby, but it finished 1-1 between Athletic Club and Real Sociedad. Monday night football is Mallorca against Sevilla. Now, this is shaping up to be quite a La Liga season. Why not join us at patreon.com forward slash TSFP? Patrons get the Monday and Friday podcast without any adverts, Plus they get a weekly Q &A pod and a bonus pod and there's the newsletter and there's the TSFP diary and there's the Discord.

4:29Come and join us. You can sign up from€4.75 a month, which isn't much, and it's even cheaper if you get an annual membership. Extraordinary. Also what's extraordinary, Sid, is that Oviedo won a game of football. That's where we'll start this week because you went all the way up to Oviedo and back in a day and you were rewarded with a 1-0 victory against an improving Girona side. You sent us a message after six minutes saying Girona are absolutely spanking us here or words to that effect. And you ended up winning.

5:00Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, because they didn't get to the point of making anything of it. But their control of the game was startling even that early. And I'd even said in the message, look, it's only six or seven minutes. but this is, you know, I think I might say Bailando. They are dancing us. They are taking us apart. They were far the better side for almost the whole game and absolutely for the first half. I would argue they were for the whole game. This wasn't the best Oviedo have played in a recent run where they actually haven't been too bad, but Oviedo found the win and Santi Carthola came on. Santi, who'd played only eight minutes, I think, in the previous five games, and it looked very much like he was basically not going to play under Almada.

5:44Phil Kitromilides:And that was another point of conflict because there's a real sense of tension around Oviedo at the moment and not just because of the football, because of everything that's gone with it, because of this sense that after 24 years, kind of in three or four months, it's all sort of fallen apart. And the absence of Santi Cattolo was kind of another thing that annoyed people. He was put on in this game, given a decent run out, I think probably 25 minutes or so. and the truth is it took seven or eight minutes for him to even touch the ball because Girona was so dominant and then when he did I mean there is very definitely a risk of me overplaying this obviously because it's Santien because it's Oviedo and all the rest of it but when he did suddenly there was kind of a clarity couple of touches boom pass brilliant goal Oviedo score a really really good goal it is a nice goal and win it 1-0 Tiago Fernandez who's a recent signing from Villarreal on loan until the end of the season who hadn't actually played since the end of 2024 because of a terrible knee injury.

6:40Phil Kitromilides:A young kid played a big part in the goal as well. That was huge. If you allow me to make this personal just for a moment, I mean, just to tell you how huge this is, between my son and me, we've been at 14 Oviedo games this season. The reason I say between us is because there's a couple that I've been to that he couldn't and there's actually a couple that he's been to that, no, one that he's been to that I couldn't. Anyway, between us, 14 games this season, Real Oviedo, and it was the first time we saw them win. It's the first time he's ever seen them win in the first division. Lovely stuff. Forgive us for starting off with one of the more low-key games of the weekend, low profile.

7:15Phil Kitromilides:Except in a way it's not low-key, obviously, because from Oviedo's point of view, they hadn't won for 14 matches. Well, it's not low-key from Oviedo's point of view, Sid, but most of the people watching and listening aren't as invested as you are. Let me tell them how important it is. Oviedo won the World Cup. on Saturday. In this absolute epidemic of managers and players calling big games finals, even literal quarter finals at times, our manager described this game as the World Cup final. So we are now the champions of the world, everyone. Well done, Oviedo. That's how it works. Well done. World champions and still bottom of the table, six points.

7:51Yeah, still going down.

7:52Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, of course. Still six points from safety. Could be seven, depending on what happens in Monday Night Football between Mallorca and Sevilla. But there is hope there is a chance and you and your boy got to see a win together which was absolutely fantastic lovely scenes afterwards with Santi Casola joining some of the fans for for some celebrations in town so terrific terrific Oviedo winning setting up a lovely lovely afternoon we've got in store for us on Saturday Sid it's the TSFP Derby Rio hosting Oviedo we will both be there um inshallah because I've got my season tickets but it's gonna be very difficult for you to get tickets but I'm sure you You will queue up and do whatever you need to do.

8:32Yes.

8:32Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, if I have to queue overnight, actually, no, I'm not going that far. If I have to get up very early and be there at super o 'clock, then I will do. You will do. You'll make it happen, Sid. All right, let's move on and talk about Real Madrid 2, Raya Vallecano 1. Another not very good performance from Real Madrid. They started off, I thought, in this game tentatively. First five or six minutes, Raya had a really good chance for Elias Akramac. It didn't happen. There were some misplaced passes from Real Madrid. And then some lovely bit of skill from Vinicius, some poor defending from Rai Vallecano, a terrific goal for Vinny, his first in four months, a very ostentatious celebration, consistently, continuously kissing the badge, trying to get the fans on his side because they were whistling him again.

9:19And at that point it felt, OK, you know what? He silenced some of the whistles. Real Madrid can go on and play all right in this game and get something out of it. It didn't happen. They allowed Rayo back into the game in the first half and they ended 1-0, but Rayo had the initiative and they started the second half really well. They scored a really good goal from Jorge de Frutos. It was 1-1. Andre Ratti was through on goal to make it 2-1 and failed to do so. And then Pates has got himself sent off. Very clear red card for a terrible challenge on Dani Ceballos. Nine minutes of added time were given somehow.

9:55and in the seventh of those nine minutes or eighth of those nine minutes a penalty is given a very clear penalty for a foul from noble mendy on brian diaz it's dispatched by killing mbappé and real madrid have a much needed win but poor performance there we go that's my assessment

10:12Phil Kitromilides:yeah yeah absolutely um me and producer al were sitting there and when the board went up with nine minutes said to each other so how do you think the winning goal is going to be scored by real Is it a Gonzalo Garcia header or is it a Kylian Mbappé penalty? Well, it turned out to be the latter of those two things. I thought Real Madrid really got away with it. I think it's, I mean, you know, again, me and Al were sitting in the press conference actually together. And I don't want to kind of go on about it too much because Al was kind of sort of, what's the word, nudging me and saying, you know, the managers just said, you've asked a really good question there.

10:45Phil Kitromilides:Because there was something that I thought was very interesting. You talking about Rayo, which is that I thought there was an emotional process. And Inigo Perez said that that's exactly what it had been. that he said, when you go to the Bernabeu, there can be a fear. And there can be this sense that you don't dare to do the things that you want to do. And in the first half, in part, it was about shaking that fear off and then playing. And I thought that once they'd scored in the second half, they were by far the better team, Ryo. They were moving the ball around and that fear had gone and they were playing.

11:10Phil Kitromilides:And there was, as I say, there was a psychological process, not just a footballing one, a kind of sense of, hey, this lot aren't that good. We can do this. and I thought they were easily the better team in a big chunk of that second half. I'd say 30 minutes or so of that second half. Madrid weren't getting to the ball. Madrid have bought Dani Fabios. And it's curious here, here comes the contradiction. They bought Dani Fabios on. Dani Fabios, ultimately, you could say, kind of played quite well. He did play well. He played really well. He's the profile. Well, here comes the contradiction. He's the profile of the player that they want and yet he never quite gets continuity.

11:42Phil Kitromilides:And yet at the same time, it's true that it's the period that he's on the pitch when Ryo take more control of the middle of the midfield. I thought he played well. So he did play well. But I thought exactly, I thought the things he did were good, but Rayo were better when he was on, bizarrely enough. Partly because Real Madrid were playing this formation when it was essentially, it was four at the back, three of whom are midfielders. They ended the game with every single forward they have on the pitch. Right, here we go. This is what I mean. So four at the back, three of whom are midfielders, Dani Fabios on his own in midfield, and five up front.

12:13So, you know. Fabios was trying to do this thing. It was literally, it was Rodrigo, Vinicius, Kylian Mbappé, Gonzalo and Brahim. All five of them were on.

12:23Phil Kitromilides:Yeah. Now, here's one of the things. We're going to talk about how Madrid play. And I apologise for doing this because I actually thought Ryo played so well that we should focus maybe a little bit more on them. So here's the thing. Ryo played really well. Okay. Abelhoa said something after the game, which I think was so telling. And I hope that over the next few days it gets picked up on a little bit. He was asked about Gonzalo García playing on the right. and he said, well, we want him in the area where he can affect the game. And he went on to say that, you know, we've got to work out what people's best positions are.

12:53He was essentially admitting that he put the players on the pitch

12:57Phil Kitromilides:and they went wherever they wanted and there was no plan. And Gonzalo García, who he wants in the area because you're chasing the game, he's on the right wing. Yeah. So it was this very strange admission that this was just go out there and whatever. and I thought Madrid were bloody awful to be honest with you. I thought they were really bad and I thought they were really lucky to get away a bit. I think there's no way it was nine minutes. It should have been nine minutes given to be perfectly honest with you. It's true that Batalla plays a game but actually you know what? The time that Batalla wasted the most time taking a goal kick is because Mbappé was standing in the area and he was saying, look, he's standing in the area.

13:34Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, I mean, it was Mbappé that wasted time. He got booked quite early on as well for that so then, you know, I don't think there was too much. It wasn't that extreme. Anyway, that's by the by. I don't want to bang on too much about the time. But I just thought the performance level for Madrid was really, really poor. Really poor. There may be a little unlucky. Mbappe hits the bar at one point. There's a header against the post, I think, from Camavinga. And a couple of sort of half chances. But this Real Madrid team... And Andre Rattu was through on goal. He ran the entire half. You could tell he wasn't in the score, though, couldn't you?

14:05Everyone did.

14:05Phil Kitromilides:He had Gonzalo Garcia running behind him and he sort of changed directions a couple of times to try and shake him off, which is fine. but you could kind of sense that he was thinking, oh, did this have to be me? Well, it was him because he was the quickest player on the pitch and the quickest player in the league. But saved by Thibaut Courtois and Real Madrid get a win. It was an important win because Barcelona were four points clear. They're still just a point behind Barcelona, Sid. You know, this catastrophe of a Real Madrid side. Yeah, absolutely. Going to Barcelona's coattails, we'll see. Barcelona are at home to Mallorca next weekend and Real Madrid go to Valencia without Vinicius, who picked up a yellow card, which means that he's suspended for that game.

14:45Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, just very briefly on Vinicius, when he was shouting at the crowd, having scored the goal, I don't know if you've seen the footage, he's shouting, we're playing Carrillo. In other words, you know, like we're playing, that's it now, we've heard it, we know you're upset, join us. And for a while it did sort of work, but then the whistles came back all the way through the game and things aren't good. Things aren't good at all. this episode of tsfp is brought to you by our friends at nordvpn now you know we travel a lot covering spanish football whether it's following spanish teams around europe in the champions league or going to three league games in a weekend sometimes four sometimes four the best way to make sure you've got access to all your content from back home is using nordvpn which i'll be using in the summer when we head off to the us for the world cup film whether it's keeping up with football or tv shows or movies nordvpn lets you access your subscriptions back home wherever you are.

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17:45LinkedIn is the network that works for you. All right, let's talk about Barcelona, who won at Elche. As we said, it was 3-1, the highest ever XG from Barcelona in La Liga history. I think it was over 6.5. absolutely ludicrous, 30 shots, 13 opt-to-defined big chances created. Lots we could talk about in this game. I think Elche certainly allowed Barcelona to play a game where they would create lots of chances. They weren't as clinical as they should be. Ferran Torres scored, but missed a couple where it was easier to score rather than miss. I would say the headline from this game, Sid, and the big thing for Barcelona and the great thing for Barcelona is Lamine is back, fully back to his best, maybe even better than his best from last season, because I think he's doing slightly different things from last season.

18:38Phil Kitromilides:I think he's brilliant. And we knew that before, but I think one of the things that's happening, and I think we talked a little bit about this in the pod last week, is that the decision-making process is so good. So it's not the running at people, it's not the skill, it's not the getting past people, it's not just the insistence. Well, actually, I think the insistence is really interesting. And this is something that I've often said about Vinicius as well. You go and you go and you go and you go and you keep going. And the fullback might stop you the first couple of times. But by the 70th minute, the fullback's had enough of this.

19:10Phil Kitromilides:It's like, please stop it. But it's the decision making. It's how clearly he sees the game. It's how clever a player he is, as well as how much technical quality he's got. I feel like he's shooting less from that aluminium up position. He is, isn't he? I agree with you. Yeah. Because he's coming into that position where the natural thing is, okay, left foot, swing into that top right corner. And he's now going, actually, you know what, little angle inside pass and go back again. Or he's going, okay, slot it through the gap for someone running in from the other side of the area. That kind of thing I think is happening more.

19:45Phil Kitromilides:He's still doing the other thing that I think helps with Laminya Marlon. And obviously, there is a potential limitation to being on the right wing, left footed and coming inside. and the potential limitation is obviously that when the ball is delivered or when you shoot, it's one of two options. The shot curls to that corner or if you like, it's delivered and dropped in on a kind of in-swinging cross. But because he's so happy to use the outside of his foot, you actually get the other type of cross as well, even though he's not going into the position where you would use your right foot and actually he's still really quite reluctant to use his right foot.