The silence was loud

0:00Phil Kitromilides:They say you can tell a lot about a person by the contents of their freezer. So, what does a bottle of Jägermeister say? It says you have standards. You don't cut corners. And you like your Jägermeister shots the way they're meant to be enjoyed. Ice cold. As for the frozen taquitos and mystery leftovers, we'll keep that between us. Drink it cold, or don't drink it at all. Jägermeister. Damn, that's cold. Drink responsibly. Jägermeister liqueur 35 % alcohol by volume. Imported by Masked Jägermeister, U.S. White Plains, New York.

0:32The road to the NBA Finals ends here, with star guards setting the tone. The Cavs eye another upset, while the Knicks carry the dreams of all of New York.

0:52Phil Kitromilides:The Eastern Conference Finals continue on ESPN and ABC.

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1:38Hello everyone and welcome to this week's edition of the Spanish Football Podcast. I'm Phil Kittramilidis. I'm joined by Sid Lowe for the final TSFP of the season. The season is over, Sidney. Try and contain that huge grin. I'm spreading across your face. We're done. We're done.

1:53Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, but we're not though, are we? Because Luis de la Fuente names his Spain squad in, what, about three hours? We're off to the USA. We've still got to wrap up the most important game in the history of Rayo Vallecano, possibly the most important game we've had all season, still the Conference League final. And so, yeah, still going. Still going, still relentlessly going. People trying to put the sphere into the rectangle all over the place. And we will be here to talk about it. The temperatures have soared in Madrid over the last week or so. It's absolutely roasting now. We're into summer. and the sound of the Madrid summer is construction work.

2:31There is some construction work. It's amazing, isn't it? Yeah, there is some going around my house somewhere. I can hear some drilling. Hopefully you guys can't hear too much, but if you can, apologies for that. There is literally nothing we can do about that apart from not live in Madrid. So lots for us to talk about. This is the final free podcast that we are putting out of the season, the final Monday podcast of the season. Remember, we are podcasting all over the summer. patreon.com forward slash TSFP. We're taking a break on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. If you want the full TSFP coverage of the World Cup, you have to join us at patreon.com forward slash TSFP.

3:07Patrons get at least one podcast a week over the summer, probably more, to be honest, but at least one. You can sign up from€4.75 a month. It's cheaper if you get annual membership. Come and join us. We're going to be doing loads of stuff around the World Cup. There's also lots going on at Real Madrid, I think, this summer as well. that's going to be busy, the transfer window, etc. So come and join us. This is what happened on the final match day of fixtures, match day 38. Alaves 1, Raya Vallecano 2. Raya coming from behind to win at Mendy-Zarroza. Betis playing a full-strength side. They had nothing to play for, but they put out a good team and beat Levante 2-1.

3:48Celta Vigo beating Sevilla by one goal to nil. It was only Celta's sixth win at home of the season. Espanyol and Real Sociedad playing out a 1-1 draw. Jetafe beating Osasuna 1-0 Mallorca beating Oviedo 3-0 Real Madrid beating Athletic Club 4-2 Valencia beating Barca 3-1 Champions Barca very much on the beach Girona 1, Elche 1 was the game that Sydney was at and an extraordinary result in the final game of the season Villarreal beating Atleti 5-1 in what was effectively a play-off for third place Villarreal finishing third So what was really to be decided was who was going to get into Europe and who was going to get seventh into the Conference League and who was going to get relegated.

4:33Getafe got seventh and got into the Conference League after beating Osasuna. And who went down? Well, Mallorca went down and Girona went down to join Rey Loviedo. You were at the playoff game, Sid, to basically stay up. Girona against Elche. and the winner stayed up. Basically, whoever won this game would stay up. Girona needed to win. Elche needed a point. Elche got the point and Girona didn't. Mallorca going down as well, despite that 3-0 win over Oviedo. We had how many teams finish on 42 points, Sid? Was it three teams? Three of them in the end, yeah. Yeah, and Mallorca it was who went down.

5:15Osasuna and Levante being saved also on 42 points. So tell us, Sydney, about being at Monte Levy, about that playoff game between Girona and Elche, winner takes all. What was it like being there and your feelings on Girona going down?

5:33Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, well, Girona did what actually Osasuna did as well, which was to get themselves in a position where they could go down because they'd got themselves in a position where they couldn't go down. And that's essentially why it went wrong. So if you go back to week 31, I think it is Drona beat Villarreal 1-0, and they don't win another game the rest of the season. At that point, they think, right, we're basically safe at that point. I think they're on 38, I think, and thinking, well, there's 38 with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 games left of the season. That's it. We're done. In fact, let's start thinking about maybe Europe.

6:08Phil Kitromilides:But they'd also lost Van Aert, their top scorer at this point, and they just failed to find a way through those final games. And they didn't score sufficient goals. You look at it, you go through the final games. It's 1-1 with Elche on the final days. They only score one. They don't score at Atletico Madrid. They only score one against Real Sociedad. They only score one against Rai Vallecano. They don't score against Mallorca. They only score one against Valencia. And that's where it goes wrong. And, you know, talking to you and Al, because you both commentated the game against Atletico last week, for example, they're not a terrible team at all.

6:35Phil Kitromilides:They play quite nice football and they've got some pretty good players, but they just couldn't find a way to score goals. And it felt, I'll be honest with you, on Saturday, as if it was set up for Stuani to rescue them again. And Stuani came on and they just couldn't get him the ball. They could not get him the ball. They had one chance on the ball, a Lamar chance. It's really, really nicely worked. And he smacks it against the bar with 10 minutes to go. And that shot at that point changes everything. Because as you say, the nature of the table is that three teams have finished on 42 points. One of them goes down, two of them survive.

7:07Phil Kitromilides:The team just below him is Girona, who have 41. They only go down by a solitary point. Even above those on 42, there are three teams on 43 points, all the way up to 13th. And it's been that tight all the way through. And then you have that other idiosyncrasy of the Spanish League, which is that at the end of the season, if teams are level, it's not done on goal difference. It's done on head-to-head record. And if there's more than one team involved in a tie, as they were on this occasion with four teams, it becomes a mini-league. So in other words, you've got Levante, Osasuna, Mallorca, all on 42 points.

7:38Phil Kitromilides:What do they do? They create a mini-league of the results between those teams. That led to a situation in the final day where this is going to sound very undramatic, but trust me in the stadium, it felt incredibly dramatic, where Mallorca and Girona were going down all the way through the final day. At no point did the bottom three change, at no point. But there were moments in that game where not only could the bottom three have changed, but it could have changed enormously. There was around about a 20-minute period where a goal from Girona, 1-0 down to Elche, they equalised early in the second half, there's the whole of the second half to go.

8:09Phil Kitromilides:A goal from Girona would have not just taken them out of the relegation zone. It would have taken Mallorca out of the relegation zone as well. One goal saves two teams. Then what happens is that Levante starts to lose away at Betis, which is actually bad news. This is the bizarre thing about this whole structure. It's bad news for the other teams, but Levante are losing. Because what they want is Levante safe and out of there and so that they're not in this mini league. Levante are losing, so then you're in a situation where it's one goal basically to save Girona. Elche know that a win or a draw keeps them up.

8:39Phil Kitromilides:Girona know that a defeat puts them down, a draw puts them down. They have to win. There is a moment, and it only lasts for about sort of a minute and a half or so, where Elche know they are safe because the full-time whistle has gone in the other games. And their staff are on the bench shouting, it's done, it's done, it's done. And you feel, this was the thing that really, really struck me. You feel it go around the stadium. Of everyone else in the stadium realising it's done, they're safe. and they are safe even if they lose. You've got basically a minute and a half, two minutes in which people in the stadium are thinking, might they just kind of down tools at this point?

9:18Phil Kitromilides:Now, of course, you can't risk that as a team. And, you know, I know that Elche's staff and their players were kind of looking at Girona and you've got them right in front of you and it's hard not to put yourself in their position. But you also, first of all, you can't trust that it's absolutely true that the other games have passed. And so in the end, Girona go down because really and truly, apart from the shot against the bar, they didn't create enough. The tension was extraordinary. There'd been great atmosphere pre-game, building it up. During the game, there were moments when there was no atmosphere at all.

9:48Phil Kitromilides:And I don't mean that as a criticism. This is going to sound such a stupid thing to say. The silence was loud, if you see what I mean. There was this kind of tension and a silence, and the silence was the sound of tension. You know, the sound of people who, not just the players, who kind of almost couldn't bring themselves to do anything, but just sitting there, what's going to happen? And in the end, it didn't happen for them. And now it's just a five. The silence was loud. It is a surprise, I would say, that Girona and Mallorca have both gone down as well. Both of these teams, certainly at the start of the season.

10:31Remember, you know, Girona were playing in the Champions League last season. Mallorca this is not a squad it's not a team that was expected to be battling relegation or they had hoped to be you know moving away from that kind of relegation and aspiring to more how surprising is it that these two sides have gone down well I mean obviously look the

10:52Phil Kitromilides:first thing you have to do is put it in the context of what we were talking about with the numbers so 19th on 41 points now 40 points usually is the threshold and you think you're safe you think you're safe you think you're safe but you know we've not had a team need as many points to survive for over a decade 42, for 42 to be the threshold we've not seen that for over a decade that was when Depo went down with 43 points last year Leganes went down with 40 last year, with 40 yeah so 40 this year you're well down if you see what I mean but the thing I'm trying to say is that the gap between Girona and 19th on 41 points is only 5 to the team in 10th yeah so so when you talk about you know how do we analyze this it's quite difficult in a way because of course what you're asking teams to do is to reach their targets what you can't control is what's happening around them and some of those targets have felt a little bit false because of course you've had certain teams whose season is kind of done so slightly strange results have happened um also sooner a fascinating example of this so also sooner uh didn't win a single one of their last five games and in the they lost them all they lost them all they lost five in a row you go back to the game where they beat Sevilla 2-1 that's week 33 isn't it they beat Sevilla 2-1 and they think they're safe and they don't only think they're safe I mean they actually genuinely at that point they thought they were mathematically safe because they looked at the numbers oh this is you know this is basically safe it would take a miracle for us to go down now Now, actually, here's the thing with the argument that we're about to put in place here.

12:30Phil Kitromilides:They were right. They were able to lose the final five games and still survive. But they were this close in the end to not doing so. And that is because, of course, they then start thinking, what about Europe? And there was a kind of a decompression and a kind of a moment. And I think that's happened to a lot of teams this year. And it's created a lot of really strange results. The footage for me that sort of summed this up really nicely is that you have this pitch invasion at Getafe, where Osasuna lose. And Osasuna's players are in the middle of the Getafe pitch invasion, still looking at phones and listening to radios.

13:02Phil Kitromilides:It's surrounded by celebrating Osasuna players. Sorry, celebrating Getafe fans. And the Osasuna players are in the middle of it because they're waiting to see if the Girona game is finished yet, which it hasn't. They have about 50 seconds, a minute, a minute 10, something like that. And they're in the middle of these Getafe fans. And then they start celebrating with the Getafe fans who run on the pitch, which is amazing. So in terms of your question about, is it a surprise? So, yes, it's a surprise. I mean, I think in the case of Girona, even more so. Bear in mind that Girona had a really terrible start.

13:32Phil Kitromilides:I think I'm right. They did. Didn't win any of the first five games, but it felt like they'd sorted it. Didn't win any of the first eight or nine, I think. Hang on. Week eight. They win their first game in week eight, yeah, against Girona. So they lost four of their first five. They didn't win any until week eight. And you're thinking, oof, they're in trouble. They then lost a couple more. So they get to week 12 with only one win. And then they start winning and they don't just start winning. They start playing quite well. They have a couple of fairly heavy defeats. So they lose 3-0, I think, to Atletico and 3-0 to Elchev, if I remember rightly.

14:02Phil Kitromilides:But they start winning games and they start playing really quite well. And you start thinking, OK, they're basically all right. And they basically were all right all the way until the very end. And then they didn't win any of those last seven. Now, why did that happen? Now, there is a fundamental basic structural thing here, which is that this isn't the team that won the Champions, sorry, that reached the Champions League. After the first season when they almost won the Spanish League, well, when they competed, at least for the Spanish League, they lost, if you look at the numbers, they lost five of the seven players with the most minutes.

14:32Phil Kitromilides:They lost their top scorer, their top assist provider, their top passer. They go into the next, last season, and they have, they get themselves in a position where, where they're not as strong anymore, but they've got this Champions League campaign this season. They lose a couple more players in the summer, but they do buy a forward. He starts to score goals. It's sort of OK, but I think there's a mental thing, or at least Michel thinks there's a mental thing. And he's talked a lot this year about the intangibles of having players who think they're in the Champions League. So, no, no, no, you have to realise where you are.

15:04Phil Kitromilides:You're not at a Champions League club. And I think that took them a while to overcome, but they did eventually overcome it. And for them to go down in the end, I think it is a paucity of resources up front, given the injuries. Abel Reith, who was about the only forward they had, basically didn't ever play. Stouani is 39, couldn't ever play. And as I say, and Van Ack was injured. But it's still a huge, huge surprise. Mallorca. Yeah. They've got a centre-forward who scored 43 goals this year. That's 43. That really would be amazing. 23 goals this year. Yeah. It shouldn't have happened to them either.

15:37Phil Kitromilides:That team does have enough good players. I think there was, internally, it was a problem. Internally, they had a manager who I think possibly reached a point where his closeness with the players became a little bit problematic. Which manager are we talking about? Hago Baras. Aras, I think. So they bring in Demichelis, and Demichelis' job, in a way, really, is to impose upon them. And actually, if you look at their final sort of 10 games of the season, the results aren't bad. I think they win five of their final 10 games, which is really not too bad. They are another team that thought they were safe.

16:12Phil Kitromilides:The day that they beat Girona 1-0, you think it's done. There's only four games to go. You think it's done. And again, this comes back to the points thing. And I think there is a very significant component of mindsets and runs and slightly strange results which change things, which help to explain why they're down. I think you also have to say then the response of Alaves was very good, but then Alaves also played Barcelona, who just won the league. And bear in mind that Alaves have only survived by one point. Elche, who had a really good start, then wobbled, then recovered again. And Levante's miracle, and it is a miracle.

16:50Talk about La Mante's miracle then, Sydney We spoke a little bit about it last week Actually, maybe we don't need to talk too much

16:58Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, I mean We would just say that They had only 10 points without Luis Castro Who took over At the beginning of 2026 And they've had 31 points With him And it's just incredible This week's newsletter is going to be out very soon It is extends exclusively about who's the manager of the season. I've been writing about that. I've been giving my opinion. Sid thinks it's Luis Castro. No, I agree with you. I agree with you. I think it's Inigo Pérez. Yeah, I agree with you. But I think Luis Castro has done something absolutely extraordinary. You know, and it's Bordelas as well. If you're looking at candidates, I mean, I don't want to pre-empt your thing because I assume you've talked about all the candidates.

17:43Phil Kitromilides:But I agree with you. It's Inigo Pérez. I think possibly, this is such a terrible thing to say, Does he need to take the final step for it to be him? No. No, good. Okay. He got one point fewer than Catafé and they got to a European final. But anyway, more on that and some other suggestions as well in the newsletter, which is out for patrons today. So good, so good, so good. Everything you want for summer is at Nordstrom Rack stores now and up to 60 % off. Stock up and save on the brands you love like Vince, Sam Edelman, Frame, and Free People. Join the Nordiclub to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more.

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19:35All right, so that was the relegation battle. Congratulations to the sides that stayed up and commiserations to fans of Mallorca, Girona and, of course, the mighty Ray Loviedo. Other things that happened on the final day of the season. Well, I suppose we should reflect on Getafe qualifying for Europe, shouldn't we, Sid? I mean, it's just so improbable, so unlikely, so ridiculous. The way that they started the season with barely any professional players on their playing staff and ending it in Europe, the most profound version of Harambol you can ever imagine. It's just getting more and more egregious, but at the same time, more and more effective.

20:16They are just awful to watch, but just incredibly effective at what they do. It's in a way very impressive, in a way, very, very impressive.

20:28Phil Kitromilides:No, it is very impressive. It absolutely is very impressive. And what they've done since the turn of the year is amazing. it reinforces on one level you've just been asking about the manager of the season and on one level you could say well it's not about Bordelass is it? Because the players that came in saved them. The impact that was had by, I'm just going to bring up the statistics here. Adriano scores six goals. Vasquez scores three which doesn't sound like many but makes a big difference. Romero at the back made a massive difference. That completely changed things. Now, it's true that Birdmansevic basically didn't play.

21:06Phil Kitromilides:But those three, and those three went straight into the side. Now, under normal circumstances, you might say, well, this means it's not about the manager because, you know, they needed to sign. But the manager had spent basically three weeks or four or even five weeks before the window saying, we need to sign someone. We need to sign someone. This cannot work. And we talked about this earlier at that point in the season, that this felt like the end. The board last was so annoyed. He was increasingly public about it, increasingly critical, increasingly saying you have to do it. And I, there's a bit of many things.

21:35Phil Kitromilides:He forced this. And then they, and it's almost like he would say, let's not win. Let's not win. Let's not win. Right. We've got them now. Let's go for it. And what they've done is extraordinary. You're right. They are not a great team to watch, but it is enormously impressive. They are not quite as bad a team as it sometimes appears either. I think that probably should, should be added to this. I think in Luis Mir, they have a player who is, shall I make a really? Not going to be there next season. Yeah, I was going to make a really over-the-top statement then. But do you know what? I'm going to make it knowing that it's over-the-top.