Barca flying, Bayern drop points again + De Zerbi stays but so do Marseille's woes

0:00The Athletic FC

0:09Totally Football Show European edition today in Pan Continental News. Bar Hamburg, FC Bayern's slump continues. Madrid's sides having a mare. Ligue 1, there's Messi in Marseille and no Jacquet required for Rennes. Karnaseki for Atalanta. And he's Vergara and he plays in Naples, so he's Vergara Donna. It's all coming up in this Totally Football Show.

0:43Monday the 2nd of February we've reached everybody as we gather together here in the Totally Football Show studios with us James Horncastle hello James hi James lovely to see you Tom Williams is back as well hello James Tom's loving your French updates thanks thank you Well, I've got good news because there's more on the way. Did you scan for sarcasm there? I was just waiting for a bunch line, just in case. Just in case. Straight up, just, yeah. Well, that starts the show. Thank you, James. So misjudged. Paul Belus is with us from Catalonia. Hi, Paul Belus. Hello, hello. How are you? Very well.

1:21Thank you so much. And also, and here in the studio, it's Seb Stafford. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Thanks, Tim. Right. Right. So just giving you a little extra sound effect on the Indian name there. Because it's very special to have you here in the building. Thanks, Jimbo. Thanks for making me feel so welcome. It's my moment of the week, which brings us on to your moments of the week. Actually, why are you here in London, first of all? Just passing through. I was doing a family thing, and then there was a transfer deadline day today. Because this is coming out tomorrow. That's right, yeah.

1:57In the office, chatting to David Ornstein, finding out what's happening in the market. You're going to be doing that, and James, you're going to be on David Ornstein's very special Transfer Deadline Day podcast straight after this one, actually. Yeah. What are you going to be talking about? By the time you listen to this podcast, that stream will have finished. Yeah, that's why we chose Monday afternoon and a couple of hours before. Why don't we get together with Deadline Day yet to conclude. Anyway, I say moment of the week. I'm looking forward to this week's selection. Tom, what have you got?

2:27I'm going to go for Lyon's late winner Great French update Yeah An upwardly mobile Lyon team who are clear of the relegation scrap and potentially looking at a European place at the end of the season they're being held 1-1 at home by a struggling Nantes team won a free kick on the edge of the area they've got this fantastic young Birkinabé left wing back Arsene Kouassi So we hear Arsene, you generally think of Arsene Wenger. This is a young... Not anymore. Step aside, Arsene Wenger. There's a new Arsene in town. Arsene Kouassi. Is he on fire? This Arsene? Yes, very much so. And yeah, he's been one of Lorient's standout players all season long.

3:17And he scored a beautiful left foot free kick, top left corner, to keep Lorient on their current winning run of three games. and they're now ninth in the table and three points off the European places. I think really. Is Arsene Kouassi so good that there are like Kouassi out banners? Not yet. No. Not yet. But I'm sure he's got all that to look forward to. If he is on the same career trajectory. Yeah, well, one could only wish that for him because Heather Arsene, one of the all-time goats, as I like to call them. Big time. Yeah. All right then. What a great moment of the week. That was Tom. Seb, what have you got?

3:57So I was at the Vox Park on Saturday night to watch. Ooh. I watched Haas Vau against FC Bayern. Yeah. And probably pick about five or six different moments. I'm going to go for Nicolas Capaldo's block on. So late in the game, Haas Vau defending a 2-2 draw. And the ball breaks to Michael Lisset around the penalty spot. And the entire stadium just thinks, oh, here it is. Here's the inevitable moment that has been promised the last hour and a half. but as clear as a elise shapes the shoot capaldo goes down to block it and never mind minus seven degrees very very cold night blocks the shot takes full-blooded set of studs right on the chest plate uh and it was the sound was like something you might hear on a like a medieval battlefield wow because the whole thing had a slightly medieval battlefield you you shared uh some pictures of the hamburg fans oh by and free game actually those are buying yes it was it was um just after half time buying fans have been on a really strong pyro run right um over the last couple of months and yeah i'll um i'll put it on my um on my it looked it looked kind of reminiscent of the unleash hell opening sequence of gladiator it was really great it was sort of bits of pyro that started gently very coordinated until the entire guest block was aflame right and so much so that i was filming it and i'll put the video out later and i kind of missed luis diaz's goal you can see the goal happening whilst i'm filming it was nothing special yeah it was fine it was i i if i had to choose between missing one or the other yeah i'd make the same decision again there'll be other luis diaz goals no doubt james your moment of the week well i mean it was like a medieval battle in cremona as well as you know sort of various missiles were being thrown one of which struck the Creminesi goalkeeper Emil Aldero.

5:46So I think a lot of people remember the Euro derby between Inter and Milan, which was abandoned when flares were thrown and one hit Dieder and you had Matirazzo and Catuza's shoulder watching this kind of burning San Siro. Well, the Zini, Aldero kind of got hit and then went down. He used to be an Inter player and was part of their squad two years ago when they won the league. and so some of his Inter teammates even though he's an opponent now ran over to see if he was okay and Aldero, credit to him David Nicola, the Creminesa coach afterwards saying he showed himself to be a real man because he just dusted off this flair and the game wasn't abandoned, no kind of 3-0 defeat handed to Inter but everyone's saying we do not want to see this in our league well there were consequences for the chap who threw the oh my god because not only apparently did he get beaten up by other fans in the in the traveling support but he also lost three fingers when another yeah you're kidding me device went off in his hand yeah i mean i shouldn't laugh but like um it seemed um judging by the reporting that he was going to throw another flare and um he was described in the reporting by Cody as a loose dog.

7:11A can of shot. At what point did he lose the three fingers? Was that before or after he got beat up? Apparently he'd thrown... I wonder if the two things were concurrent. That he had maybe prepared another one. Then his companions or those around him had said, oi chum maybe reconsider your life choices. That's a lot of fingers. I don't know. Three fingers is a lot. 30 % of your digital well if we're not including thumbs it's even more yeah I was including thumbs that's how I got anyway Inter won the game Laltaro Martinez Zieliński with a wonderful shot from outside the box so Inter keep rolling on and you know 8 points clear but I think a lot of people after this game were like, well, should that game have been allowed to go ahead?

8:08And people then got the rule book out, started looking at it. Apparently it's been talked about in Parliament today in Italy. Really? You should change the rules. This is not acceptable. There has been quite an uptick in ultraviolence in Italy over the last couple of weekends. Not at the stadium, but people going to games and clashing with ultras who are not going to the game they're going to. And so it's quite a hot topic in Italy at the moment. Meeting at motorway service stations, typically, yeah. Right, Paul, how about a moment of the week from you, sir? Yeah, basically my moment of the week has changed a bit because now possibly is when James Richardson praised my facial hair choice before this programme started recording.

8:52I can't be the only one, Paul. Well, I'm not going to disclose this sort of data. But no, I'm just sticking to the programme. I'm going to go to the Spanish second division. I'm going to go because there was not an important game, but like an important goal in there. Real Sociedad B team played against Las Palmas and Kirian Rodriguez, the Las Palmas midfielder, scored his first goal in two years. And this one came after he announced that he had relapsed from a Hodgkin disease, from a lymphatic cancer. It's been his first goal in two years, but he has come back to action this season after a stopping last February, I think it was.

9:37And he scored his first goal, a goal that was emotional for him. It was an equaliser against Real Madrid and a pitcher that was really beautiful to see in Spanish football. Kyrgian Rodriguez is a lovely footballer, a lovely midfielder that possibly, if he would have been more lucky with injuries than the time that he spent outside of the pitch, he would still be playing in La Liga. He has the quality for it. but he has stayed at his boyhood club at Las Palmas the club has treated him really, really well he has relapsed two times now from this disease and now he's finally back into action and scoring goals which is great news for Spanish football and for him as well and I wanted to highlight this goal as the moment of the week for me well said

10:30Very nice, Paul. Best of luck to him. Excellent. Well, we've got Seb here in the building. So in your honour, Seb, we're going to begin this week with Ligue 1.

10:42This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC Podcast Network.

10:5850. Minute. Die Bayern antworteten in Hälfte 1, 8 Minuten nach dem Rückstand. Aber auch der HSV kann come back. Antwortet nach sieben Minuten.

11:28Clipped, we'll say, by Jorso Kimmich. Vincent Kompany didn't really agree with the decision afterwards. Bayern equalised Harry Kane. Then just after halftime, whilst I was filming Pyro, Luis Diaz put them back into the lead. And then 2-2, Luka Vuscovic with a brilliant back post header. Right. Both the Hamburg girls with kind of North London heritage, because Fabio Vieira and then Vuscovic Tottenham. And a third bit of North London heritage, because Sammy Lukonga, the former Arsenal midfielder who moved to Hamburg for€300 ,000, which is an absolute steal of a deal in the summer. It was excellent.

12:04Really, really good. When you watch him, I know his career hasn't quite panned out as expected, but you can absolutely see why somebody once thought, yes, you can play for Arsenal. He was excellent. Okay. So they get a draw, and they very nearly lost this at GFC Bayern because had it not been for Alphonso Davies' speed, there was a late chance from Fabio Vieira, which Davis kind of bombing in to clear off the line. Yeah, so the pattern of the game was part of our kind of counter on their own penalty box and then existing of counter-attacking opportunities. Long ball forward from Vyskovic, chased in by Ryan Philippe, hooks the ball across, away from Manuel Neu, who's left his goal unguarded.

12:44And then Vieira takes the first time and Alphonso Davies probably the only player on the pitch quick enough to get back to make that clearance. But actually, pretty much fair. If you look at the expected goals and the chance created, a fair result. company not happy company not happy he um first of all because seventh game in 20 days now um fixes are really piled up for Bayern but also like a couple of the Bayern players was pretty disparaging about the officiating during the game um wasn't happy with the award of the the penalty to Hamburg in the first half as we mentioned couple of Bayern players thought they should have had a late penalty for Handball I think no I think no and actually I think my take on it probably is even as someone who lives in Hamburg wasn't the best bit of officiating throughout but I don't necessarily think anybody was favoured.

13:27I just think it was a little bit chaotic. Still, that's two games without a win for the previously unstoppable Bayern in the league. And next weekend, they're taking on the suddenly-informed Hoffenheim, who moved up to third spot. Six wins out of seven. Really, really impressive. Is that actually going to be a bit of a test for them, or is it going to be one of those ones where we build it up and Bayern win 6-0? I'm conflicted. Anytime you see Bayern at home, you have to favour them. and clearly on a talent basis, Bayern are massively superior. What I would say, though, is Hoffenheim's progress since last year when they finished 15th has really built on the reconditioning of the side and becoming extremely physical.

14:05And one of the developments in Bayern's form, certainly the biggest improvement year to year since Vincent Kompany's first season, is they've become extremely physical themselves. Their work rate is up. And I would say Hoffenheim, the one team in the league who could run with Bayern. How much of Bayern's superiority that negates? Don't know. But it's a great story. They're third for a very, very good reason. It's one of the best, probably the best turnaround we've seen since Stuttgart under Sebastian Hörnest when he took them from the relegation playoff to second. Ooh. Yeah, yeah. Okay, if it's turnarounds you're after, you can't say fairer than Mainz down the other end of the table, Seb.

14:41What's going on there with Urs Fischer? Urs Fischer is going on. He's done Urs Fischer things. He's come in. He's made them more organised. he's made them far better as a counter-attacking threat he seems to re-energize some of those players individually who fell off at the beginning of the season and hey a great story in there so Silas who you might remember played for Stuttgart for a long time very nearly got a Premier League move winger tricky skillful direct very very talented ended up going to Red Star Belgrade for a season on loan came back it's got an absolutely wonderful goal it's his um it was his first start for Mainz and that was his first goal and it was the one that won the game in leipzig wow yeah so they won two one away in leipzig this is the main side that was kind of rock bottom of the bundesliga written off kind of kind of we'd got to the stage with meitz really um before uh bo henriksen left where it was almost like a what happens next year in this weider bundesliga how do you build a squad that's going to come back because they they looked hopeless an absolutely hopeless case alongside heidenheim but um all of a sudden within really three or four weeks just resurgent and at a time when you got other teams in trouble Gladbach we spoke about last week Werder Bremen sacked Horst Steffen on Sunday after their draw with Gladbach and yeah mine's got better at exactly the right moment.

15:57Wow Horst Steffen going at Werder Bremen is the seventh managerial change in the Bundesliga, only seven. I feel sorry for him because it's the reason Steffen is there so a little bit of a Werder Bremen history obviously when Nick Voldemort left the club and moved to Stuttgart and then a year later he goes to Newcastle for all that money Werder Bremen were very embarrassed by this because Voldemort was born in Bremen he was raised in their academy and he left the club as a result of a lack of cluttered pathway lack of first team opportunities and this coincides with Oli Werner who'd got them promoted in 2022 back to the Bundesliga and it stabilized them really with mid-career players it wasn't really a kind of a blooding youngsters coach at that time and did well I mean they they moved into kind of mid-table over the next three years but then Werner had this contractual situation last summer where he had a year left wasn't sure if he's going to renew wanted a little bit more security it wasn't an offer and so they parted ways the club took the the chance then to kind of pivot in strategy and say listen we're embarrassed by Volta Mardy what we need to do is make sure it doesn't happen again now Stefan had at Elversburg very nearly won promotion to the Bundesliga beaten in the playoff by Heidenheim last season he developed a reputation for developing young players among them when Elversburg were in the Tristeliga the third tier of German football Nick Volta Mardy on loan who during his season at the club was actually third division player of the year so he comes in and the squad does skew younger i think of the 12 most selected players six were 25 younger may have got that statistic wrong don't shout at me internet if i have the point being is he was doing that but was the talent there don't know they're very very brittle very very weak defensively and um it's kind of cost him his job and and i i feel sympathy but it's not without cause because they are moving the wrong wrong direction exactly the wrong moment and well best of luck to the new man in well we have some clues as to who that might be so um by henriksen the minds coach who was um who was sacked early this season who did a very very good job in taking minds to the bottom of the table well previously he'd taken them into europe before that he'd rescued them from uh coincidentally an almost identical situation took them from a hopeless case into europe within the space of a year and then back down again the other name the other the other candidate there is bosvenson another former mines coach he has a very good reputation didn't have a great time at union berlin um in his last in his last job but still a very very good coach very good uh gig impressing sort okay is seven managerial changes by the start of february a lot for the bundesliga yeah yeah it is a lot it is a lot but then i don't know i mean it's um i i think what you're seeing with some of these these changes is not necessarily big pivots in direction like stylistically um it's just there's also a kind of a very fatty middle full of full of teams who might well drop into the relegation battle and i think clubs are kind of pre-empting that okay um and we've actually got a new appointment we've got albert riera the former liverpool winger he's just been appointed by eintracht frankfurt was appointed last week but was actually he actually started work today monday oh nice um so he he can uh he was spared the uh the 3-1 defeat to Leverkusen over the weekend.

19:18So, yeah, let's see where he goes. But very, very exciting. Very interesting to see what he does. Okay. I'm quite interested to see what Timo Werner's going to do in MLS at San Jose Earthquakes. Are you excited by that? I am. So last time I was in Leipzig, I went to Timo Werner's favourite Donut bar. Donut bar? Yeah, Donut. Oh, Donut. Yeah, yeah. Is that how you say it? Donut. Donut. Donut. Like the Batman theme music. Very much so. But sing a little bit of it too. Donut. Well, no, you'd be... I think that's what Seb's after you again. I was going for the orchestral version. You were doing the Hans Zimmer.

19:59Christopher Nolan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Batman. Having taken us down this path, I feel like I should rescue us also. Yeah, why don't you just pretend that bit never happened? We'll just move on. We'll just move on. and inside the bar there are photos of all the Ebi Leipzig players who frequent it what's so special about the döner there it's very very good I'm not is it very lean the meat it's very tasty good I wouldn't say I'm a connoisseur no I'm not in a position to judge but but but but photos of all the people who go in there regularly which include most of the Ebi Leipzig first team past and present everyone's got a picture except Timo Timo there are about eight different photos of him on the wall.

20:40Oh, no, it's not his. It's not his bar. It's just he goes there a lot. And whilst Emil Forsberg and wherever else, one picture each, there's at least eight Timo's in there. Okay. I wonder where in his not always altogether happy spell at Chelsea, was he pining for the Dürner? I remember there was a place called Kebab Kid. Residents of that area of London may know if it's still there or not. That was a very good... We're talking about meat on a spit. I think there might be more than one kebab kid. This was on King's Road, but way west on King's Road. Yeah, okay. No, there definitely was a kebab kid.

21:18A döner. A döner, right. Meat on a spit. Meat on a spit. Take a lot in slices and a bit of pitter. Some salad in there. Shove some sauce in. Entirely incidental salad. I think a German would recoil at that description of it. Germans tend to be very snobbish about their döners. Is it regarded as a German dish then, Seb? I suppose if you came from Berlin, it would. Right. But yeah, Germans tend to be very particular about their dinner too. What's the name of the dinner place? If you let me look it up. The pronunciation of dinner. I'm from Hull. And it just reminds me of the Hull accent. It's called the same thing in Hull.

21:57Dinner. You call it a dinner? No, no. But in Hull, the O's are elongated. Right. so in the German pronunciation it rhymes with Werner so if he were to set up his own franchise he doesn't need to go far for an end Werner's Dörners so this is Baba Dörner and that's in Leipzig so if you walk back from the Ebbe Arena to Leipzig-Halbanhof eventually you come across it It was one big, long road which will take you all the way back into town. And it's on there. And I guess that's what Timo will be missing when he moves over to San Jose. Strange old career. It feels like, if you look at his German career, breaks into two halves, kind of the beginning, pre-Chelsea and post.

22:52Post was pretty disappointing. Sort of stopped being a footballer, really, for the last six months. And I think played about four Bundesliga minutes after he returned from his loan in Tottenham. I always feel like he was someone who was misprofiled when he went to Chelsea, because I don't think Timo Werner has ever been an orthodox centre forward. I don't think he's a natural goalscorer, very quick winger who scored a lot of goals when he was confident. But if you talk to people who knew him when he was coming up first in Stuttgart and then in Leipzig, they'll tell you confidence player, didn't do very well at all with expectation, was very sensitive to criticism.

23:28didn't like training does not like training at all also doesn't react very well to being called out and if you if you measure that against some of the things that have happened to him for instance Ange Postacogli's press conference last season where it's pretty damning of his effort I think in the FA Cup game against Tamworth yeah he he really sort of fell by the wayside but he's had a good career and he's he was for a moment in time he was kind of the perfect Ebi Leipzig player actually if you go to the stadium they um there's a a local group of artists who've been painting a mural um of historically significant ebby leipzig players which sure um it's quite a small list at the moment but you've got um you see paulsen on there emil forsberg marco rosa the pock al and timo's there as well and he's he remains to the moment he left he was one of the most popular players they had just because i think when they came up and when they were searching for stars and a little bit of legitimacy in the footballing sense, there he was.

24:28So good luck to him. Good luck to him. Ali Baba Dunn will miss him, no doubt. Does he appear on the mural eight times? Is that like just a common theme? Because he's so fast. He just ran around the back. You paint him in one position and then before you finish, he's somewhere else and you end up painting him again. Exactly. Yeah. All right then. Time for us to be somewhere else as we move on. Thank you so much, Seb, for that. You're very welcome. to how about that French Ligue 1 chat that everyone was looking forward to? Sure.

25:04This is the Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. The Athletic is the only place you can read articles by Daniel Taylor, Amy Lawrence, Phil Hay, James Pearce, Olly Kaye and the very best football writers around. Tom, Ligue 1, with Paris Saint-Germain atop and Marseille are having a bit of a mare again. So, so far, so traditional. What a rough week for the Marseilles, beating 3-0 at Club Bruges and getting knocked out altogether of the Champions League. They then let a two-goal lead slip away to Paris FC at the weekend. And amongst all of this, you had De Zerbi going AWOL.

25:41What's the story? Yeah, so there's been a lot of crisis talk at OM, which is not necessarily news because this happens roughly every couple of months. But it does feel a bit more pointed at the moment and it feels very much like they are potentially on the brink of the latest in a long line of full-grown crises. Yeah, they were away at Paris FC on Saturday. They were 2-0 up with under 10 minutes to play and ended up conceding a couple of sloppy goals. The second one, the Paris FC equaliser, deep into stoppage time after Jeronimo Rulli, Marseille goalkeeper, super reliable all through last season, who's suddenly become very error prone in recent weeks, punches one of the Paris FC forwards in the head as he comes out to claim a cross.

26:32Ilan Kebal, who was actually from Marseille himself, just to twist the knife even further, dispatches the penalty very confidently. And all of a sudden, what felt like the beginning of the next phase of Marseille's season, a victory that would have helped them draw the line under what happened in Bruges is just another setback. And on Tuesday night, they're up against Rennes in the Coupe de France. Marseille famously haven't won the Coupe de France since 1989. PSG have been knocked out this season by Paris FC. On paper, Marseille, one of the strongest teams left in the competition. I think if they were to go out of the cup on Tuesday night, on the back of dropping these points at Paris FC, on the back of a completely calamitous Champions League exit, it would be full-on crisis time.

27:27Luckily for them, the Rennes team that they are facing are not only busy selling defender... What's his first name? Jeremy Jacquet. Jeremy Jacquet. Yes. To Liverpool. Is he related to Aimé Jacquet? Sadly, he's not. He's not. But, you know, famous surname. Has he been a sort of developing talent for a while? Because he seems to have just dropped out of the sky. Or maybe I'm just getting older and I don't have enough attention. Well, I mean, you know, he's sort of the latest talented young player off Rennes' heralded production line. And he has been very highly regarded for quite a long time. He went out on loan to Clermont in Ligue 2 at the back end of the 2023-24 season.

28:09At the end of that season, there was an awful lot of interest in him from all around Europe. and he decided he was happy to go back to Clermont because he was getting regular playing time and he felt that it was helping him to develop and particularly as a centre-back, you know, lots of rugged duels with opposition centre-forwards. And it was midway through last season when Rennes were having a really poor season in Ligue 1, a couple of managerial changes, when Habib Bey came in and took over, he recalled Jacquet from his second loan at Clermont. He went straight into the starting 11 and was a revelation and hasn't really moved since then.

28:45Under Bay, Rennes have been playing with a back three or a back five, and he can either play in the middle of the back three, he can play on the right of the back three. Very tall, very physical, very quick, good on the ball, and has looked destined for the top for quite a long time. And I think at Rennes there is satisfaction that although he's leaving, they're at least going to get a full season half out of him because they've sold another really talented young player in the last few days, Kader Meite, teenage centre forward. And again, you know, a Henn Academy graduate who looks absolutely fantastic.

29:21Where's he gone, Tom? He has gone to Saudi Arabia in a move that just kind of makes your heart sink a little bit. And I think it's a sign of the difficulty that French clubs are having repelling offers from other clubs, because we know that France is this great producer of young talent. And because of the ongoing TV rights fiasco, French clubs' primary source of income these days is selling players. And so a player like Cadet Métis, who ordinarily would have been given at least a couple of seasons of being introduced to first-team action and would then be sold, they are now getting snapped up after half a season in the first XI.

30:05and I think it's just right across Ligue 1 this is happening more and more and the fact it's happening with relatively wealthy clubs like Rennes and Marseille another club who've sold a couple of really talented young players in this transfer window I think it just shows how difficult it is for French clubs to turn down any sort of transfer offer these days because they're not making money from anywhere else This is a problem in Germany as well clubs are built to do this really that's part of their business model is to present talent to bidders who can kind of fund their transfer activity for the next two or three years.

30:40San Jose Earthquakes. San Jose Earthquakes. The Alibaba franchise. The good news for Marseille anyway is that these players won't be available for Rennes as they take on the Fénicien in the Coupe de France. Was it last? It's the quarterfinal? Last 16. Last 16? Is that where we are? Now, also in cup action, it is the last 16 Tom, you're absolutely right. That Marseille-Rennes game is coming up on Tuesday. So today, perhaps, as you hear this, listener, Strasbourg are up against Monaco on Thursday. Strasbourg, who have just lost their first game under Gary O 'Neill. That was at home to Paris Saint-Germain at the weekend.

31:19And Monaco, who've won only their second game under Pocagnoli. Sebastian Pocagnoli. Sebastian Pocagnoli. Yeah. Remarkable. Which you want to talk about first, PSG doing Strasbourg at theirs or Monaco's completely unexpected 4-0 triumph? Well, let's do Monaco because it was against Rennes, so it kind of, you know, fits in nicely off the back of that. First win in the league since the 29th of November. Yeah, I mean, there have been small signs of improvement from Monaco in the last few weeks. You're getting that 0-0 draw against Juventus that took them through to the Champions League knockout phase, albeit coming off the back of an absolute shellacking at the Bernabeu against Real Madrid.

31:59yeah and and i mean since pogginoli came in he monaco had been playing with a back four he switched to a back three that didn't work to a back four that didn't work he's gone back to a back three um and i think the chief uh novelty this time around is the uh denis zaccaria swiss international generally plays as a holding midfielder he has dropped back into the middle of the back three um and slightly unexpectedly has been excellent his form hasn't been fantastic this season. We know that Monaco have had an awful lot of injury problems, but he's brought a lot of stability to that part of the pitch.

32:36I mean, they've got so many players missing. Eric Dyer is injured. Valt Fars, who came in in January to try and help with some of the injury problems, is injured. Mohamed Salisa is out for the season. Christian Mawisa is sidelined as well, so Zachary has been moved back in this sort of emergency measure. But it's made them look a little bit more solid. Ansu Fati is fit again, started for the first time since his hamstring injury, got the opening goal. Magnes Acrius came on at half-time, got the second, and pushed forward to get back into the game, left a lot of space in behind, and Monaco scored a couple of goals towards the end of the second half.

33:12So yeah, I wouldn't say that they are back in any emphatic way, but it does look like that very long period of defeats and poor form might be behind them. Okay, Paris Ejimane, meanwhile, defeating Strasbourg 2-1 there in Strasbourg. with another penalty saved from the remarkable Safanov, who seems to have definitively claimed the goalkeeping role there now. Yeah, I mean, the starting 11 that Luis Enrique picked was quite revealing in that Safanov was between the posts again, which suggests that he is now the number one, as opposed to Luka Chevalier. And Luka Chevalier, anticipating the fact that every time Safanov did anything, the TV cameras would just zoom in on him, sat on the bench with a snood pulled up to eye level, making him look like some kind of bandit reserve goalkeeper not that it stopped the TV camera zooming in but he did what he could.

34:02Do you reckon if you're in that situation you'd do that or do you remember when David Raya took Aaron Ramsdale's place at Arsenal and he did that very demonstrative clapping of a Raya save what avenue do you go down and what does it say about your personality? I think it depends on your personality doesn't it? Anyway so he's Sir, Safranov saved Joaquin Panichelli's early penalty Strasbourg equalised after Senemayulu's opener with Desiree Duhé's older brother, Guéla Duhé Yeah, so Desiree Duhé and Luceman Dembele were both on the bench which I think is a sign of the fact that they're not particularly in great form at the moment and that they need to be managed quite carefully because of recent muscular injuries and so with Desiree Duhé on the bench, it was after Guéla Duhé to claim some of the spotlight for the Duhé family He scored a really nicely taken goal set up by his opposite wing-back, Ben Chilwell, with a cross from the left.

35:00And Dwayne came crashing through the centre and steered it past Safanov. They zoomed in on his brother after that, by the way. Of course. And PSG have struggled at Ertz-Tazsburg quite a lot in recent years. Ashraf Hakimi then got sent off with about 15 minutes to go for catching Panacelli with a high tackle. but PSG, despite being down to 10 men, dug it out. Warren Zayami, who has been fantastic all season long, who filled in at right back for Hakimi after he was sent off, crossing for Nuno Mendes, another full-back, setting up a full-back. Mendes heads in. And PSG get a kind of hard-earned victory to reclaim top spot because Lens had won at home to Le Havre on Friday to put the pressure on.

35:46There you go. again. Back on top of Ligue 1 and in the Champions League awaiting a playoff round against Monaco. Very good. That's the story. A quick shout out for Lyon who have now made it 10 wins in a row in all competitions under Paulo Fonseca. They had a 1-0 victory over Lille Sunday afternoon. This time Hendrik didn't score for the first time, wasn't man of the match, etc. Yes, yeah, clearly peaked and is now tailing off. Yeah, so it was another new signing. Noah Narte, a Danish midfielder, picked up from Bromby. And in a sign that, you know, everything that Lyon and Paolo Fonseca touch currently, turned into proper Narte.

36:29Can't see his name and not immediately think of legendary former Chelsea youngster, Norte Norte, owner of at one time the greatest name in football. Noah Narte, who was starting in place of Tyler Morton, ex-Liverpool, who would ordinarily be starting, but who was ill. Right. Straight into the starting XI, straight onto the score sheet, 1-0 Lyon, and they're now level on points with Marseille. With Marseille. And going great guns in the race for a top three finish and automatic Champions League qualification. Wow, fantastic. What a great Ligue 1 roundup that was. Next up, who knows where we're heading?

37:00Bet it'll be with you, I hope, listener. Somewhere sunny.

37:09James, it's a busy day on the transfer front. Mm-hmm. and all sorts is going on. So let's get the Serie A chat out of the way just in case you need to race off and sort out some deadline day doing. Let's see, Serie A. Wanted to start this week with perhaps the most exciting game of all, the nil-nil between Como and Atalanta. It was actually a good nil-nil. Extraordinary. Yeah, Atalanta went down to 10 men very early because Honest Ahanor, who is one of the most promising young players in Serie A, Atlanta signed him as a teenager from Genoa in the summer and he's been reinvented as a centre-back he gets expelled after what 10 minutes harshly I felt harshly because there was a corner kick and he's sort of tussling with Maximo Perone the former Man City player in the penalty area and they're pushing and shoving and this continues outside the box and Ahonor seems to swing for him sort of a bit of a slap and immediately gets sent off.

38:14And you think, okay, come on playing at home with Nico Paz, all of the great things about the Cesc Fabregas team. And it wasn't really just like an Alamo kind of job where Atalanta, yes, Marco Canesechi, their goalkeeper, was man of the match. He did save a penalty right at the end from Nico Paz, which provoked tears from poor Nico Paz, who's now missed three of his three penalties this season. Why is he still taking them? Because Alvaro Morata's the other option. Sorry, Paul. No, no, no. I'm just... But yeah, Atlanta had a few goes as well. Swimana, who they sound from Southampton, had a crack at goal.

39:00But Comer had 79 % of possession, 28 shots, and they had the second highest figure of XG ever accrued by Serie A side without scoring since they started tracking that kind of thing 15 years ago. 5.24. Yeah, the only other team who'd got there without scoring, I think, was Gasps Atalanta a few years ago. So, yeah, a bit of a blow for both of these teams because I think Como, there's already some buzz going into this weekend. well if they win this then they're right in the thick of it for Champions League and people were beginning to look at their stadium the Senegalian thinking would UEFA give that a license for them to play in Champions League Europa League Conference League still in course for Europa League Conference League and likewise Atalanta have started to come back at least into the conversation for European football and whilst you know escaping with a point when they were down to 10 men for the best part of 80 minutes is good.

40:02I think they need to start picking up wins against your comos in order to put themselves firmly into European contention. Their top four challenge, not aided by the fact that today it seems that Adamolo Lukman is heading to Atletico Madrid. Oh yeah, he flew out yesterday. So look, I mean, some not regret, but frustration, I think on both parts, because Atlanta didn't want to lose Luckman in the summer after selling Ritegri to the Saudi Pro League. They thought, okay, we're just going to keep Luckman. Luckman didn't want to stay, wanted a big move. He's finally got it. I think Luckman always wanted to play for Barcelona just because he could maybe go for a cheeky Nandos with Paul.

40:55Yeah, good option. instead he's gone from like having a really hard life playing under Gasparini because Gasparini drives his players hard to going to play and work under Diego Simeone so I mean he must just he loves the drill sergeant James when did it start going wrong for Luckman and Atalanta because it seemed like such a great fit for a long time he's playing the best football of his career and then suddenly well i mean you know we go back to the europa league final where he's man of the match he he scores the hat trick against uh xabi alonso's leverkusen undefeated leverkusen um and uh and really i think he extracted a promise from the club then that they would allow him to go um if um the right offer came for him um a big club quote-unquote bigger club then um than atalanta and i think psg came in that summer at least they inquired softly rather than going hard and making an offer but um the the club that came in for him after rategi had been sold was inter right and atlanta were very much like no no no no we're on a level with inter they're a domestic rival you're not going to inter and uh and so yeah relations i wouldn't say they soured there but it was like well you made me this promise you're going back on this promise atlanta saying no that wasn't the promise and you know he came back late because of all of this and so didn't have a great pre-season and it's kind of atlanta had to start preparing trying to win games without him so yeah it's it's it's a shame really um unhappy end to what has been a really good time for him in Bergamo, where I think he fulfilled his potential.

42:46Atalanta previously picked up Giacomo Raspadori, who's headed the opposite way. Of course, they lie seventh in Serie A, currently five points behind Comer, who are in the Conference League position. Up at the top of the table, you've got Inter, who, as James was mentioning earlier on, were 2-0 winners away at Cremenezi. Jamie Vardy rated by the Gazette the game's worst player. that one breakaway chance he had was, for a player who was famous for exactly that kind of goal-scoring opportunity, it was quite a, yeah, it was quite a poignant moment really. Anyway, Creminesi, who are safe at the moment from the threat of relegation, they're in 15th.

43:26But anyway, at the top of the table, Inter now eight points clear because Milan haven't played yet. They're going to be in action on Tuesday evening away at Bologna. Monday night tonight as we record Roma currently live fifth but can move up to tie Napoli in third place let's talk about Napoli James because they did at least get a win this weekend 2-1 at home to Fiorentina but it's been a tough week for them as well yeah I mean it just gets worse I say worse they won against Fiorentina I think a lot of people, even though Fiorentina have been mired in relegation trouble, thought that that might be a difficult gain, given all the injuries that Napoli have got.

44:13But they took care of business. The one issue, though, that clouded was Giovanni Di Lorenzo, the skipper. He went down with what looked like a really bad knee injury. And Conte came out afterwards and speculated, oh, look, it's probably his crucial ligament. It looks really bad, which it's not. It's not as bad as first feared. But Conte then went on, one of Conte's, he basically railed against modern football. Like I said, you are ruining football by making these players play every three days. Our schedule since the end of December when we were at the Super Cup, we've had to play nine games in January.

44:49You're just running these players into the ground. And we need to have a long look in the mirror before we start adding games to competitions like the Champions League, which they went out of, adding tournaments like the Club World Cup. And, you know, we should never forget that this is a game, this game is about the players. So true. But they've successfully lightened their load, as you mentioned, by going out of the Champions League against Chelsea, a game which saw one of the young names who've come into the side because of all the injuries. and it does seem like almost that's a big issue about Napoli, why are they getting so many injuries.

45:32But I wanted to mention him because you talked about him ahead of the Chelsea match as Antonio Vergara, this young Neapolitan, is going to be in the side, etc. Poured off that wonderful goal against Chelsea. Was that the equaliser, I think, or was that actually the goal to put them in the lead? The equaliser. So he opened the scoring for Napoli and then got another one, a very well-taken goal this weekend against Fiorentina.

45:57He's able to pass the limit of the area. Vergara! After the Champions Joy, the first time in a green, even in Serie A. It's an extraordinary moment. 11 on the chronometer. The Napoli forward. He's still signed. Antonio Vergara 1-0. Lovely goal. I mean, in Italian terms, he's a young player, but he's 23. Right. And, you know, I mean, he has been kind of found down the back of the sofa by Antonio Conte because he was on loan over the last couple of years. But I think what's kind of, I suppose what's interesting about him is that Conte said, well, we don't have an academy here. We don't have any young players that I can basically go and lean on.

46:44Yes, we have Vergara, but it's not like I can stuff my bench full of under 23 players or let's say a Napoli B team like Juventus have got the next gen. Mila Futuro Inter have got their under-23 team. And that is, I think, as much as people say, oh, this Conte just complaining, complaining, this has been a finger that's been pointed at Napoli for a long, long time. You have a catchment area which produces extraordinary talent. I thought Tom was going to mention one of the famous exports from Castellamade di Stabia or Torre Annunziata, Ciro Immobile, who's signed for Paris FC this week. Immobile is from that area.

47:29Fabio Qualiarella is from that area. Antonio Di Natale is from that area. You look at the talent that Naples or the area around, and none of these players come through Napoli. They all go to the north. Lorenzo Insigne, did you say him? I did not say Insigne. Insigne is one, though. The Cannavaros are the others. Paolo played more there than Fabio. There are so many. But Fabio was sold because the club was going bankrupt. Naples born and bred, we often say here in the podcast. Yes, we do. So Conte is absolutely right. But it's crazy. So did Napoli not have an academy basically making use of this incredible natural resource?

48:05I mean, they don't put as much emphasis or as much money into it as the other clubs that they are competing against. and yeah that's having visited their training ground which is an old hotel with an abandoned golf course next to it I mean you see it. Is this still Castel Volturno from back in the day? Wow my word. Vergara though not saying Italy is short of goal scoring options but he's already being talked up as a potential Azuri option for Rino Gattuso Now, that defeat for Fiorentina, how did it leave them in the relegation battle that we're all following so keenly? They are third bottom. The good news for them was that the two teams beneath them both lost.

48:56That's Pisa and Verona. But that wasn't good news for the Pisa and Verona managers, both of whom have subsequently lost their jobs. Alberto Giladino, rather, at Pisa. And at Verona... Paolo Zanetti. Thank you so much. Although last time I checked, Paolo had not been sacked just yet. Oh, really? No, that was the direction of travel. Okay. But I think Pisa were looking at some very eclectic, interesting coaches. Oh, yeah? I mean, Oskar Hilyamark, I don't know if you remember. Wow, okay. Who was one of the Palermo Danes, you know, with Simon Kjer. Okay. I think he's now been coaching in Sweden. I didn't even know he was, I didn't even know he'd retired.

49:35Actually, he's Swedish because he was part of the under-21 Sweden team, that one of the Euros. But anyway, quite an eclectic mix. So, yeah, we're not quite up to seven sackings. I think we are, surely. Let's go through. Well, we've had Juve. Okay, so Inter, have they changed manager? No. Milan haven't? No. Napoli? No. Juve, yes. Roma, no. Como, no. Atalanta, yes. Lazio, no. Bologna, no. Sassuolo? No. Fabio Caroso. Udinese, yes. No. They have changed manager, haven't they? No. Costa Rui, yes. no he's been there for 18 months good lord Cagliari no Fabio Pizzacane wow Torino no Genoa yes yes Cremonese no hasn't he no David Nicola got the job all right Palmer no Carlos Cuesta resists yeah Lecce no Eusebio Di Francesco is still there Fiorentina to have yes all right pj he had takes us to five that was strangely therapeutic he's got he's got a really lovely like lilton his accent it's very well-run league yeah yeah i'm staggered yeah i love how you thought um yes they have surely of course they have who owns that club

51:04you wanted to talk Juve didn't you Juve played really well against Parma 5-1 winners 4-1 winners because the appendigo got ruled out but among those goals Gleason Bremer with a brace and the first a magnificent header how high does he jump yeah he gets kind of Michael Jordan air time incredible until his knee injury which ruled him out He suffered it in Leipzig in that incredible comeback. With that knee, you'd worry, wouldn't you, about him? Yeah, but he, on his day, is the best centre-back in the league, and they've really missed him when he's been out injured. I've got a stat, actually. Not only is he the best centre-back in the league, but he is the defender with the most goals by header in the big five European leagues.

51:50Best. Since his first season with a goal in Serie A, 2019-20, he is the defender with the most goals by header, brackets, 15, close brackets, in the big five European leagues. So, yes, that's more than your Virgil van Dijk's and more than Gabriel Magalhães, which are both on 14. So, crazy. Right, there you go. Juventus, who lie fourth, unless Roma can move past them, on Monday evening. They're also in action this midweek when the Coppa Italia quarterfinals will be getting underway. Juventus will be in Bergamo against Atalanta on Thursday. Before that, it's Inter against Torino on Wednesday. And next week, you get the other two quarterfinals, Tom, which are Napoli against Como.

52:35Tasty. And Bologna against Lazio. Yeah. Last thing was the Lazio-Genoa game on Friday night, where I know there was some protests around the Man United game at the weekend, but if you want to see how people protest, I mean, both Lazio and Torino fans boycotted their games. They did not even show up. So the Stadio Olimpico was so empty for Genoa Lazio that Danny De Rossi the Genoa coach who used to play for Roma he owns a team now just outside of Rome called Ostia Mare and he said I think my team Ostia Mare gets bigger crowds than Lazio and then Lazio went away and beat Genoa so have that but yeah late yeah 3-2 but yeah anyway there you go there you go alright then Paul there we go next up we're off to La Liga

53:43Paul, here we are here we are, first of all quick shout for the Basque derby that we had this weekend Athletic against Real Sociedad lovely couple of goals in that in a 1-1 draw Yeah, and one of the worst send-offs I've seen in my life. I don't know if you saw Bryce Mendez seeing the red card in the final minute of the game, which in a way propelled the Athletic Club from finding the equaliser. Right. It was a horrible send-off. How did the sending-off come about, Paul? So, basically, he had a bit of an exchange of words with Athletic Club's centre-back, Aitor Paredes. and he didn't even touch his face.

54:26I mean, there wasn't even a touch and the referee wasn't even looking at it. And he turned back. Someone warned the referee, basically, from the sidelines. And he basically ejected Bryce Mendes for something that with PAR now in games and this sort of stuff, I mean, it should not have happened. And Real Sofiet had reasons to be angry at that because this defined the end of the game. because, of course, with the men, Atletic Club were in a better position and Ninho Gorrui de Galareta scored a really nice goal to equalise it in the last minute of the game. There you go. Real Sociedad remain in eighth spot with Atletic down in 11th still.

55:05I wanted to talk a little bit about what's going on in Madrid. Paul, we've talked a fair amount about the ongoing travails of the various managers at Real Madrid, but Atletico are not doing too cleverly either. They're beaten, of course, by Bode Glemt at home in the Champions League last week. And then goalless this weekend against Levante. Julian Alvarez hasn't scored in his last 11 matches. How are things there with Atleti? So basically, that was a result that was really troubling at Atletico de Madrid. Simeone wanted to send a message with his line-up because he rested Julian Alvarez. He played with Navel Molina as a right winger because he has no one else available.

55:47he rotated the centre-backs as well. Basically, there's been tensions in the background at Atletico de Madrid between Simeone and the hierarchy at the club, which is now led by Matteo Alemany, former Barcelona sporting director. Now he's been hired at Atletico de Madrid to lead the football operations, succeeding Andrea Berta, who is now at Arsenal. And yeah, basically there's been disagreements between both sides because Simeone won signings and Matteo Alemany, he didn't want to do panic buys. And beyond doing that, he had let go four players in this transfer window. So Giacomo Raspadori is out, Conor Gallagher is out, Javi Galan has left to Osasuna, and Carlos Martín, an academy player, has gone to Rayo Vallecano.

56:31So basically, Simeone had four less players and no signings came into the team in a squad that is seen as hugely unbalanced. So in a way, Simeone, who has been complaining in press conferences and everything throughout the last weeks, he wanted to send a message with this line-up. And yeah, it was pretty well received by the fan base who were really angry after a game that was quite disappointing to say the least. Angry with him or angry at the people he was sending a message to? Angry at the club, I would say mostly. Because the feeling is that the club has not done enough to provide Simeone, which of course might have all his caveats and you can argue that he's not playing the nicest football or not having the most exciting way of approaching the game.

57:17But the belief is that the club has not provided Simone with the best signings. And now that's mainly a reason why we are seeing now the Ademola-Lukmans, the Marcos Leonardo, another player from Al-Gilal who is really close to join Atletico de Madrid, another forward, and a player from the MLS, a Mexican midfielder whose name is Obed Vargas, who has also joined on loan, a midfielder, which are basically the two roles that Atletico Madrid wanted to occupy, a new midfielder because Conor Gallagher is out, and a couple more strikers because basically they have three options for two places, which are Julián Álvarez, who is in the worst form since he joined Atletico Madrid, Sorloff, who got injured in the game with a heavy concussion, and Antoine Griezmann, who is most likely in his last year at the club.

58:05So, yes, Simeone was not happy about it. And I think that Atletico made it pay the price because of it in that game against Levante. Atletico Madrid lying third right now in La Liga, 10 points off the top of the table. So title race looks over for them. They have the battle for Champions League spots and the Copa del Rey, which we'll see them this week visiting Betis, Real Betis, who they're also facing in the Liga next weekend. Funnily enough, that one's going to be in Madrid. but midweek it's away in Seville in the Cup. How are Betis doing? I see they got a 2-1 win against Valencia with Anthony doing Anthony things.

58:44Yeah, they got a 2-1 win, but they are not, I would say that they are not in the top of their game. They've had some injuries in the back line. Anthony is dealing with Pouaglia. With a groin injury, he's sort of dealing with it and playing with a bit of pain on and off the pitch. So they're having some problems in there. Kuch Hernández, the starting striker, has also been sidelined for the past three weeks. So it has had an impact on Real Betis, who are far away from their best version. But yeah, they are still in a good position in La Liga. Anthony's still able to pull off a classic Anthony rotation move.

59:20Tom, did you see this? I did see that, yeah, but with the difference that there was actually a point to it. Was there a point? I thought he could have just passed the ball. He could have done, but he did at least, you know. Do a 360 first. and then pass it. I thought, was he not doing it the reverse of how he normally does it? He would take the ball in front of him. This time he did it kind of behind him. I feel like I've seen him do that before. Oh, maybe he has. Maybe he has. Lovely to see him dust that off anyway in what proved to be a 2-1 victory for Real Betis against Valencia ahead of their, well, doubleheader essentially against Atletico Madrid.

59:51There you go. Also in the Cup, on Tuesday, Barcelona will be taking on second division Alba Sede, the team who of course knocked Real Madrid out of the Copa del Rey which brings us on to Real Madrid themselves we talked about some of the Champions League fallout of various other clubs but things don't seem to be calming down anytime soon at Real Madrid after they got beaten by Benfica last Wednesday dropping them into the playoff positions in that competition this weekend they then needed a penalty in the 10th minute of stoppage time to beat Raya Vallecano. Raya Vallecano, who were down in 17th spot in La Liga.

1:00:30Raya Vallecano, who were down to 10 men by this point. Exactly. It wasn't another eventful day at Santiago Bernabéu. Raman did 1-1 and it could have been more costly than that. But we saw another display of boos, whistles before the start of the game. A lot of them directed to the hierarchy as well, from Tino Perez to Arabelloa as well. because I think that with the ways that he's been in charge, Arbeloa right now is just seen as a man of the president right now, a man that is just taking the directions that are needed to be in charge of the club. He's had some, not clashes, but some sort of it with the Madrid media because he's appearing a bit cocky in the press conferences.

1:01:14He had a good quote after the last game saying to all the journalists that you are lucky because you have in front of you a manager to whom you don't have to tell what Real Madrid is because I already know. So you can sort of grasp the attitude that Álvaro Árvelo is just performing at the club. So it's difficult to come into any club midway through a season and clearly there were issues there otherwise Xavi Alonso would still be the manager but his team selection does seem to be very, very curious. Against Raio this weekend, did he staff the entire defence with midfielders just so he could cram all the big names up front?

1:01:51Basically, yeah. He is still yet to substitute. Well, he substituted Jude Bellingham in this game because Jude got injured. But he is still yet to take off any one of the big guns, any one of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius. And yeah, in defense, it was Raul Asensio, Fede Valverde as a sort of fake right back. Álvaro Carreras didn't even play. Kamavinga played as a left back. So yeah, the squad selection was a bit shambles. And I think that the drama this game was really poor, really, really poor. at the stages of the game, they were outplayed by Rayo Vallecano, who are not going through the best moment of their season.

1:02:24I would say that they were lucky of individual glimpses. Benitez scored a world-class goal in the first half, an outstanding goal, just top of the corner, top bins. But then in the second half, Rayo Vallecano were really on top of the game. They deserved an equaliser. Probably if it wasn't for Courtois, again, just as it was against Benfica, Rayo Vallecano would have been ahead just way before. And yeah, then Patetis did a reckless tackle on Dani Ceballos in the last minute of the game. Ryo down to 10 men and Ramzi pushed all over the way and they finally got a penalty. Kylian Mbappe transformed it.

1:02:59He didn't do a panenka this time, thankfully for Brahim Diaz.

1:03:13It didn't stop the fans from booing the team. I think it's for everyone to see that Madrid are just not ticking. They are not playing like they should play. And that is, it is a bit of a disaster when they are on the pitch and there doesn't seem to be a proper organisation in there. What's the feeling about the games coming up against Benfica in a couple of weeks' time? So basically the feeling is that Madrid are not going to have an easy job in there. Plus Jude Bellingham is most likely going to miss those games. He's going to be out for what I saw in local media for at least a month. So yeah, it's unlikely that Jude Bellingham is available.

1:03:49And the feeling is that they are going to struggle. There's still the confidence that having the second leg, the return leg at the Bernal is going to prove a difference maker for Real Madrid. But everyone is a bit sceptical about this team, about how it's being handled and how they operate on the football pitch. Because we have spoken a lot about what happens outside of it and in the board and in the stands and everything. But I actually think that they have a football problem. They don't seem to function. They don't find a structure. And that goes beyond what happens with the power at the presidential box.

1:04:22OK. Critical moment of the season then for Real Madrid. They have a trip to Valencia coming up this weekend. They are, for all their many problems, only one point off the top of the table in La Liga. Barcelona, though, in top spot. Barcelona are in action tonight for you, perhaps, as you listen, Tuesday in the Copa. but this weekend with a 3-1 win away at Elche with Lamin-Yamal opening the score and continuing his excellent form of late pole. Yeah, no, absolutely. He's in the best moment of the season. Like personally, Lamin-Yamal going through the best phase of form. And Barcelona, I think that they are reaching the peak of their powers right now.

1:05:02There's a crazy stat about the game. When James was speaking about Como and the five-punch-something XG. So basically, I have a stat here from Opta, which is a Kengelche. Barca missed 10 big chances in that game, their most on record in a La Liga match since 2010-2011 season. And their expected goals figure was 6.16. And it was the highest La Liga tally since Opta improved its model at the start of the 2021-2022 season. Wow. So with 6.16 XG, they scored three goals only. After the game, Melche manager Eder Sarabia said that, they had no chance, that Barca were simply the better team and that he believes that they are going through the best moment of the season which again is handy for Hans-Filippe because now the critical time of the season comes.

1:05:51Rafinha picked up a small injury. He's going to miss the next week at least so he's not going to be able to feature in Albacete and Jules Koundé also got injured but he's not going to be anything serious. Possibly he's not going to play in the cup tomorrow but he's going to be okay for the forthcoming game. By the way I'm going to Albacete can't wait to watch that game in a place that I've never been and a good city to eat and to be in excellent Paul where is Albacete Albacete is in La Mancha I don't know if you recall Don Quixote so basically the area which is close to I'm flying to Alicante and then driving a car from Alicante to Albacete so it's in the south east of Spain just to very nice indicate something that's an envio envio Paul there you go Barcelona with their 15th win in their last 16 matches so as you say very much at the height of their powers Excellent Paul Anything else we should talk about from La Liga?

1:06:51Yeah let me point out one thing which is Marc-Andre Terestegen he got injured in the second game that he played for Girona and it's going to be a big injury that's going to be as we speak the clubs are in talks and potentially today on Monday they are going to release a statement but there's a big chance that his chances to be in the World Cup are at stake with the injury because it's going to be several months in there. It's good news for Oliver Baumann, the Hoffenheim goalkeeper, who's been sort of the first choice with post-Noyer's retirement and with Ter Stegen's injury. I happen to think it's maybe bad news for Ter Stegen, good news for Germany, but a stability rather than this kind of perennial question of whether Ter Stegen's coming back in.

1:07:29We've also had rumours that Manuel Neuer might come back out of retirement ahead of the World Cup, so it can't hurt just to have a little bit of certainty, as tough a news as that is for him. for Tej Degen. Yeah, bad news for him. Paul, one other thing. Was there much comment in Spain about the fact that Barcelona aside, everybody else of the five Spanish sides in the Champions League had a pretty miserable time of it? Yeah, absolutely. And I think that, well, Hansi Flick was the first of it after the qualification. He basically said after the game, like, well, the Premier League is the best league in the world.

1:07:59I think that we can see that. And we did quite an effort qualifying for the top eight. But if you watch at the Premier League, the teams, the signings, they do. There's no discussion that they are the top league. And I think that the consensus, well, the consensus in Spain and all media is that the Premier League is just at another level and that they have struggled to compete with that. I think that possibly, well, I mean, I agree with that opinion, but at the same time, there's no English club that has revenues of over 1 billion and both Real Madrid and Barcelona have. So in a way, it's also like a purpose of spending the money in a better way, maybe.

1:08:33But that's a debate for another day. Possibly so. Paul, thank you so much. No pleasure. And many, many thanks to everybody who's been involved today. James Horncastle, Seb, thank you so much for being with us. Lovely to have you here in the studio. I've had a really nice time. It's always great to have you here, Tom, as well. Thank you, James. Producer Lucy and you, listener, will be back next Tuesday with another Euro Roundup. And, of course, there's loads of totally between now and then. Hope you have a great time. In the meanwhile, and from all of us here, it's goodbye. You've been listening to The Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network.

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