Bayern win Bundesliga, Sociedad win Copa Del Rey + is the title race back on in France?

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1:24The Athletic FC

1:32Pol Ballus: Totally Football Show, European edition. Today, Bayern seal their title against Stuttgart, but did Paris Saint-Germain stuff theirs up against Lyon? We look at the latest surprise from Ligue 1, where there's now just an earn point in it. Elsewhere, happy as La Real, as Sociedad take the Copa del Rey over Atleti, who had a night to Fulgetti. There's Champions League fallout for Real Madrid and Barcelona and news from Italy. Conte controversy and Inter going 12 points clear and after Bournemouth's Picarosa, we profile the new Cherries boss. All that and more in this Totally Football Show.

2:15Pol Ballus: Monday the 20th of April Many thanks for joining us here On another Totally Football Show European edition Here in the studio Hi James Horncastle Hello James Richardson Tom Williams is with us as well Good to see you Tom Good to see you too James On the big screen I'm delighted to say That we've got Paul Balouse out of Catalonia hello hello how are you very good Paul and staffer blue looks like he's been sleeping in a car my boiler has broken so it's chilly here it's actually it's actually warmer outside than it is inside oh that's a nice yeah it's not a good state of affairs so I haven't had a shower for two days dang I've got cold wow I'm a bit sulky but I'm going to lift my spirits for the next hour and a half yeah yeah Yeah, for sure, Seb.

3:06Pol Ballus: Sorry, James, you had a question for Paul, I think.

3:08James Horncastle: No, it was just trying to stop Paul from making an innuendo. That didn't actually come. What was the innuendo about? Well, I think the listener, having heard what Seb was saying, would have maybe got what I was going for or not going for or stopping Paul from going for. Can we rewind that back, Lucy? This is the minority report of pun policing. James is reacting to puns before they even happen. It's remarkable. Which bit? No, it was very similar to Paul's own innuendos about getting in and going back out again. Oh, I see. Right, yeah. Is that getting in, actually? Yeah. It was when Seb was saying it's warmer out than in.

3:51James Horncastle: Yes, yes. Right. And you wanted me to go back over it. Right. So you've made it quite cringe.

3:57Pol Ballus: A comedy condom, aren't you?

4:03James Horncastle: I'm here for your protection. Yeah.

4:06Pol Ballus: That is.

4:07James Horncastle: Oh, dear.

4:08Pol Ballus: And ribbing. Yes, always. Yeah. Excellent. Anyway, you were saying moment of the week, Tom. I mean, how can I possibly follow that up? I don't know. There's been loads of great things happening in France this weekend. There have, yeah. It's been a very interesting weekend in France. I'm going to go for stoppage time in the Lens-Toulouse game on Friday night. We had a brilliant Friday night fixture the weekend previously with Paris FC's surprise 4-1 win over Monaco. We had another brilliant Friday night game this weekend. Lens fell 2-0 down early doors against Toulouse, who then had a player sent off.

4:45Total Lens dominance from there on in. They had 42 shots, which I believe is a record in the five major European leagues since Opta began collecting such data. Anyway, they end up pulling one back, and then they equalise, but going into stoppage time, it's still 2-2, and then a corner comes in from the left, and Ismail Oganou, young, homegrown centre-back, powers a header into the top left corner. Scenes of delirium at Stade Bollard, and Lons run out 3-2 winners, and as a consequence, trim PSG's lead to only a point. And PSG's failure to win against Lyon last night, failure even to get a draw, means that there's a suggestion the title race might not quite be as completed and done and

5:29Pol Ballus: dusted as we thought wow wow liga love it uh james what about you cedr or beyond i think it was

5:37James Horncastle: coming in here last week james prior to our interview with gen luigi buffon finding him in a kind of anti-chamber in our offices um having lunch i never thought i would see gg buffon eating a kind of selection of sandwiches from Pret-a-Manger. Yeah. That was quite something.

5:59Pol Ballus: You're right. There was some hummus. There was kind of metze, one of those little metze selections, which he really liked. At one point in our pre-conversation conversation, he motioned to one of the other people there saying, this is really good. He did. So, Pret, take a bow. Ultimate endorsement. It was, Tom, a Buffon buffet. There it is But yeah No question I'll jump on that one For my moment of the week as well Meeting Gigi again After so many years And him being so Positive And full of life And wisdom as well Yeah Yeah Lovely stuff If you haven't heard it By all means check it out It's in Italian The conversation But there are some Well there's the option Thomas we explored yesterday On our Sunday night show There's the option of either Having subtitles which are more or less accurate, or some really spiffing American AI-generated dubbing, which lists the whole thing.

6:58Pol Ballus: I don't know if that's available for the whole podcast, our regular podcast, but I think that might be the way to go in the future. Sorry, I'm rambling. Paul, what's been your moment of the week? Yeah, so my moment of the week is focused on one game because there was only one game in the top flight of Spanish football this weekend, which was the Copa del Rey final at Real Sociedad 1 against Atlético de Madrid. But my moment of the week was seeing the Copa del Rey trophy with a shirt of Aitor Zabaleta, a Real Sociedad shirt with the name of Aitor Zabaleta, which I don't know if you're familiar with the story, but I'm going to tell it quite briefly.

7:31Aitor Zabaleta was a Real Sociedad fan who in 1998 was assassinated by a group of Atletico Ultras. I'm not even going to say fans, but Atletico Ultras that were in the surroundings of the Vicente Calderón, of the Atletico de Madrid Stadium, when this guy, Aitor Zavalleta, with his girlfriend, was about to go to the game as an away fan. He went to a bar nearby the stadium, and it happened to be a bar frequented by ultras of Atletico de Madrid. He was assassinated in there. Since then, Aitor Zavalleta has been an absolute symbol of Real Sociedad, of the love for the club, what it means for the city.

8:10And they won the final against Atletico de Madrid. Every time both teams play against each other, there's the element of Aitor Zavalleta and the memory of Aitor Zavalleta. And it was Mikel Oyarzabal, Real Societad captains, who after achieving the glory at the Copa del Rey, wanted to crown the title with a Real Societad shirt with the name of Aitor Zabaleta at the back of it and make a homage here to one of the most loved Real Societad fans in Donosti. Powerful scene, Paul.

8:38Pol Ballus: Seb, what's been your moment of the week? It's going to be Patrick Wimmer turning into Riccardo Choresna.

8:44James Horncastle: Mele, good with Wimmer. can take the pace. Patrick Wimmer with the outside wrist! Are you crazy? 11th minute! What a hill! Patrick Wimmer!

9:16but part of the reason for that was yeah the Wimmer goal which so nonchalant he's about 25 yards out outside of the right foot straight into the top corner is as good as you could ever wish to see and in context so so important because had Wolfsburg failed to win almost certainly down as it is they are breathing down next to St. Pauli in the relegation playoffs and have given themselves a real fighting chance a little word of warning Wolfsburg traveled to Hamburg to face St. Pauli on the very last day of the season, which will probably decide which one of them stays in the division, even if it is kind of the relative sanctuary of the relegation playoff.

9:53Pol Ballus: That's back-to-back defeats against the bottom two, isn't it, for Union Berlin? It is. It is. It's been a very, very difficult couple of weeks. I will say they played very well. They deserve to win the game. Just one of those afternoons for Mary-Louis Etter, unfortunately. But they were vastly improved from the performance they gave against Heidenheim, which cost Stefan Baumgart his job and gave that her opportunity. Excellent. We'll hear more about the Bundesliga and all our leagues as we rump through the weekend across the continent. We're going to begin, Paul, with your one game in Spain. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network.

10:40Copa! Campeones de Copa! Campeones de Copa! Campeones de Copa!

10:48Pol Ballus: One game in Spain, but it was a big one, as you say. The Copa del Rey final. You talked about some of the touching moments there post-game. Huge celebrations as well back in San Sebastian. Amazing. Yeah, it wasn't the first title in 15 years because Real Sociedad won the Copa del Rey in the 2020 season. But it was the COVID season. It was the pandemic. so the fans couldn't celebrate. But now they won in front of the fans and it was, yeah, a touching moment. In my opinion, it's what happens in those cities that there's only one club. Like the city is so mobile and built around the club that whenever big happens, yeah, it's just a massive revolution in the city.

11:28I don't know if you saw the way that Gonzalo Guedes went to the plane after the game. he basically he struggled to make his way up to the plane stairs to get to the train allegedly because of the massive hangover that he had after the game there was a post-match interview from Take Kubo the Japanese winger saying yeah how are you going to celebrate and he said well I think that I'm going to put my faith on Gonzalo Geddes who's going to set up the party because he's one of those that likes a big party and yeah he he bowed for it, he vouched for it as he was walking up the stairs to the plane the day after.

12:08Pol Ballus: Magnificent. The game started in dramatic fashion. What was it? Just 13 seconds in? Yeah, I think it was 14 seconds. Yeah. Which was the quickest goal ever in a Copa del Rey final. Real Sociedad scored. Barrenechea, Jeda. I think a lot to blame. A lot of the blame has to go to Atletico de Madrid. They started really, really badly. They allowed the ball basically to fall into González-Guerre's feet, who put the cross, and I think that the defence was not too attentive on that situation. And I think that, in a way, this is the game in a nutshell. Atletico de Madrid didn't take the final too seriously in the past majority of the game.

12:48They only woke up when they were behind in the scoresheet, and that wasn't enough eventually to win the game because it ended up going to penalties, and the luck was in the Real Madrid side.

13:00Pol Ballus: Sociedad's backup keeper Unai Marrero with two shootout saves to earn them the cup Arsenal though if they were watching that game as they may well have been or will be before their semi-final matchup I wonder what they'll have made of Atletico as a prospective opponent I think that they I mean if they were afraid of what they saw against Barcelona I think that Atletico showed a very different face in that game they basically as I was saying you got the feeling that they wasted the first half that they weren't really on it. And yeah, there were a lot of disconnections. Of course, Atletico has been boosted by what has happened against Barcelona, but if you look at the last La Liga games, they haven't been able to win for a long time, basically because they have rotated the whole squad in La Liga, giving up in the domestic competition.

13:51And I think that for the Champions League that might play a part because Atletico had been focused a lot on how to play against Barcelona, have a plan against Barcelona, which is a really specific sort of game plan. And now Simeone will have to adapt against Arsenal because Arsenal is not going to take the risks that Barcelona tend to use. And yeah, I think Atletico will have to work out a way to change their game plan against Arsenal.

14:15James Horncastle: Paul, can I ask about the Basque clubs and the Copa del Rey this decade? Because they seem to take it in turns, either winning the competition, playing each other in finals, not playing each other finals, but pretty much always getting.

14:33Pol Ballus: And if you add in the Cataluan sides, you get a successive series of winners who won't sing the Spanish national anthem at the Copa del Rey. Yeah, because the Spanish national anthem was booed again, not in the strongest manner that it's been in the past, but it was booed by a big section of the Real Sociedad fans when it was showcased at the La Cartuja Stadium. No, but the Basque teams, they have a special affair with these competitions. In Spain, in a way, it might be the most realistic way to challenge for a title. It also grants you a way to European football. And for La Sociedad, that's massive.

15:12Because I think they've become the first Copa del Rey winners that have had three managers in the same season and in the same competition. So basically, they started the season with Sergio Francisco, who was the manager from the B team last season. He was promoted to the first team. Then he got sacked. And John Anzotegi came in as a caretaker manager. And now Materazzo is in charge of the club, Rino Materazzo, who's done a wonderful job. Everyone loves him in San Sebastian. And yeah, just the lifting that he's done to the club and the city has been one to watch and one to keep following for the future, for sure.

15:46Pol Ballus: So he's the first US-born manager to win a European title, I believe. And what a singular career he's had. A lot of it, Seb, in Germany. yeah as a player he had quite a kind of nomadic time he was sort of lower league center back over here and then when he when he transitioned into coaching he was actually um he'll end Nagelsmann's roommate when they were studying for their for their coaching qualifications in Cologne uh caught on as a youth coach at Hoffenheim when Nagelsmann was still there was briefly Nagelsmann's assistant too as a head coach here it didn't actually really work out Sven Missentat took him over to Stuttgart.

16:24That didn't work. He got sacked the season before they appointed, well, the season that ended with them appointing Sebastian Hörnes and avoiding relegation by the final playoff. Didn't really work out back at Hoffenheim as head coach either. Lasted about a year. But yeah, great to see. He's a very liked, well-liked person. Regarded as a coach, even if it didn't quite work out timing-wise at the two clubs he led over here. Julian Nagelsmann's roommate. he's getting ready for a night out and he wants your verdict on his outfit I was going to wear these checked trousers this waistcoat and this jacket

17:00Pol Ballus: can I stop you there? no do I look really cool? that accent it's my best Nagelsman it's that hair flick

17:07James Horncastle: I was focusing on sorry I'll go away and work on my generic German impersonation Seb talking about his nomadic career which I imagine Pellegrino is Pellegrinagio so pilgrim pilgrim Matarazzo but in seb um you mentioned the roommates with nagelsman um who is in the studio with us right now um hello how old was nagelsman then when was this those was nagelsman in short trousers again uh i have absolutely no idea but then there's quite a few guys have fallen to this category so dominico tedesco um i think was briefly also nagelsman's roommate at some point um A frat house, is it? This is. This is like a problem house of coaching ideas in Cologne, right?

17:52Is that like the final step before you get your German coaching diploma? You will stay two weeks with Julian Nagelsmann. And if and only if you survive, you get your badge. You're doing, with there, you're not doing your German accent, but you're doing your German cadence in an English accent, which is kind of weirder, Tom, I have to say. Yeah, I didn't even realize. It's... Yeah.

18:12James Horncastle: When Tom takes over Wolfsburg and does his first press conference, it will be a nice... Steve McLaren. It makes Steve McLaren look like a fluent Dutch speaker.

18:21Pol Ballus: Paul, why does everybody love Pellegrino Matarazzo so much? Basically, because he's blended really well with the city. He lives in the city centre. He likes to... He's really famous for, apparently, every morning, he takes his dog and he goes for a walk in the city centre, in the Paseo de la Concha or Miraconcha or whatever area he wants to go. And all the fans see him and they spot him. They ask him for a picture. He takes pictures every day with every fan that asks him. He's starting to learn Basque as well. So he's sort of trying to live the life in San Sebastián, which is something that the fans have really appreciated.

19:01There's videos of him taking pictures of sunsets in the Playa de la Concha. so he's yeah he's just enjoying the life as any one of us would do in san sebastian which is one of the most wonderful cities here in spain oh there you go but one day we must get your top 10

19:19Pol Ballus: spanish cities yeah when top three even you know go on what's number one we know what number one is yeah no i'm gonna say barcelona okay fair i'm like a city boy um but if we exclude barcelona i'm I'm going to go to the north of Spain, surely. I'm a big fan of the north of Spain. Okay. So I'm going to put San Sebastian 2, possibly. Number one, Bilbao, maybe. Really, yeah. You've put it ahead. I really like it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then number three, I'm going to go to Sevilla. Okay. I'm in. Solid choices. It's a world for choice, aren't you? Really inspiring. You really are. You really are. So there you go.

19:59Pol Ballus: Well, that's outstanding for La Real. as for Atletico as you mentioned their Liga campaign has been has kind of fallen by the wayside they are though along with Rayo Vallecano Spain's last hope in the European Cups they'll be taking on Arsenal as mentioned Rayo Vallecano meanwhile will be up against Strasbourg in the semi-final of the Europa Conference League this after Celta Vigo Betis Real Betis crashed out of the Europa League and of course in the Champions League poll Barcelona and Real are both messed out on the semifinals. Yeah, no, the reaction has been... So basically, in Madrid, total chaos because that was the last shot that they had in this season.

20:42It was a make or break it, win or go home even. I remember Judd Bellingham speaking before the game saying, yeah, if we don't win, it's a failure of a season. They didn't win. And yeah, the car crash has started here in Madrid. Coming from the club, a lot of complaints about the red card that Camavinga saw, harsh red card. praising a bit what Real Madrid did at the Allianz Arena that to an extent was quite impressive. But there's been a quote that I've liked a lot coming from journalists coming from Real Madrid, which is, you cannot be a Real Madrid player five days a year. You have to be a Real Madrid player 365 days a year.

21:23Right. So that's been a bit the outcome of that game, which is Madrid was good, yes, But they've been awful this whole season and they have to be accounted for that. And Madrid has to go through changes because of that. Which players are they talking about, do you think, Paul? So I'm not sure if Real Madrid are ready to address possibly the revolution or the changes that they would need. Because there's no question, I would say, about Mbappe, Bellingham, Benicio. Of course, there's always talk around the name of Benicio because he's in the situation that he has to extend his contract. or if he doesn't extend his contract, this is going to be his last year at the club.

22:05And yeah, it's a situation of a make and break. But besides them, I think that the names that are more discussed right now are more like Dani Caravajal, David Alaba, players that have not been that instrumental to the club. I think that is going to be a long summer and a lot of the debate around big figures is going to arrive later on. But Madrid have a bit of a difficult situation because it's difficult to sell one of them. without doing a bad sale. Florentino Pérez just doesn't want to sell anyone below their market value. But at the same time, you need to reshuffle a bit the structure of the team because they are unbalanced.

22:42They need more people in midfield. Kamavinga has taken a lot of the blame after that game. There's a common theme around Real Madrid that if a player does not deliver in the big stage, in big games in the Champions League, you are not Real Madrid made. And Kamavinga is going through this phase now. I'm not saying that he cannot overturn it because a lot of players have done that. But he's in the middle of a huge storm, which is not great for him. And yeah, let's see what happens. But those are names that are being put in the frame. Paul, there's been a bit of bemusement in Germany about Real's protestations towards the referee, the reactions after full time, the kind of the general behavior.

23:22What's been the reaction in Spain to some of that stuff? not in Madrid, but maybe in Barcelona and other prominent Spanish cities. Yeah, I mean, I don't think that it's taken by surprise to a lot of people. In a way, this bullish sort of approach and manners have been present in many occasions within the Spain giants. And I think, yeah, I think that it didn't surprise that much. It served a bit to, I think that the words that Kane said after the game, like as in well if you look back in history a lot of decisions have gone their way it's a bit of the feeling that a lot of spanish football fans who are not real madrid fans have been having for the last uh past weeks um and i don't think that yeah this is going to change despite of um what what real madrid does in the next weeks okay it's really interesting actually because there was a i'm sorry there's a very prominent um ex-referee who works in the german media who said he was kind of surprised by Real's response because he said if you look at the goals two of them probably shouldn't have counted the second and the third the the the non-foul for the free kick the uh the foul uh by Antonio Rudiger for the third he was like Bayern had a had a really rough time with the referee that night he was yeah he was incredulous I mean you ask about the

24:43James Horncastle: reaction in Barcelona Barcelona are too busy making their own protests and complaints to UEFA, no? Like dossiers sent after both games, just like... No, I totally agree. I just think that they are not that different. In a way, the sort of dossiers and statement battle, it's something like to show the fans that you care and show the fans that, oh, I complain about the refereeing and we're going to do something to make it change. But when you ask to the dressing room and to players, of course there's frustration over some decisions. I would say that the Marc Pouville handball of the first leg. It's the standout action that has created frustration within the dressing room.

25:24But they know that the two red cards, they can be given. Some might look harsh, but they can be given depending on the referee. And at the end, they had 180 minutes to prove a point against Atletico de Madrid, and they didn't. So I think that in the dressing room, there's not that much this vision of refereeing being an absolute drama. but when you speak to people eating the board they tell you that in a way it's what they have to do for optics ok well

25:52Pol Ballus: big clubs had perhaps too much time on their hands this weekend because there were no Liga fixtures what with the Copa del Rey final there will be games coming up midweek Real Madrid will be up against Alaves on Tuesday Barcelona who are fully nine points ahead of Real are up against Celta Vigo perhaps the biggest game midweek Levante against Sevilla down in the relegation scrap eh Paul Yeah, just a massive game. And seeing how well the relegation battling sides are, they are winning a lot of games over the past few weeks. This is going to be a big one. I think that Sevilla feels a bit like the team that could go down if one of the other ones is about to save themselves.

26:34So I think that this game is going to dictate a lot what happens at the end of the season in the relegation battle, which is going to be amazing until the very last day in the league. Okay.

26:43Pol Ballus: Paul, many, many thanks for that. No Real Madrid or Barcelona in the Champions League semifinals, but Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich are there and facing each other. We'll get on to how their weekends were next.

27:00OK, I have to tell you, I was just looking on eBay, where I go for all kinds of things I love, and there it was. That hologram trading card. One of the rarest, the last one I needed for my set.

27:10James Horncastle: Shiny like the designer handbag of my dreams. One of a kind. eBay had it. And now everyone's asking, ooh, where'd you get your windshield wipers? eBay has all the parts that fit my car. No more annoying. Just beautiful. Millions of finds, each with a story. eBay. Things people love. Support for this podcast is brought to you by Walden University. Ever catch yourself thinking, what if I could go after what I actually want and really make a difference? You're not alone. And that's exactly why I want to tell you about Walden University. For over 50 years, Walden has helped working adults like you get the W with the knowledge and skills to build the future you want and make a difference where it matters most.

27:53If you've been waiting for the right moment, this is it. Head to waldenu.edu and take the first step. Walden University, set a course for change. Certified to operate by Shev. Pros, just because something on the job runs out doesn't mean you have to. Order it on the Lowe's app. My Lowe's Pro Rewards members get free same-day delivery on eligible orders over$25. Get the fasteners, hardware, or tools you need to keep the job moving. Order by 2 p.m. and get eligible in-stock items delivered right to your job site by 8 p.m. Members get more at Lowe's. Loyalty programs subject to terms and conditions.

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28:40This 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.

28:54Pol Ballus: What a weekend for Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. Bayern Munich sealing their latest Bundesliga title, Seb, while Paris Saint-Germain went and blew their title race apart. Tom Williams losing against Lyon, as you mentioned, straight after. Lons had gone on one at Toulouse. Crikey. Shall we begin with Bayern Munich?

29:27Pol Ballus: Seb, tell us about Bayern. Yeah, Jimbo. So obviously on Saturday, Borussia Dortmund lost to Hoffenheim, which meant that Bayern only needed to better their result to confirm their title. If they did, they won one down to Stuttgart. Chris Virick gave Stuttgart the lead at Allianz Arena. Then Bayern rolled back three goals for a half-time, a fourth in the second half from Harry Kane, 40 winners overall. No trophy lift, no trophy lift. That's going to happen against Cologne. So no beer showers or anything like that. But yeah, Bayern are champions and deservedly so. So I think one of the problems you get with this is, well it's kind of by default isn't it really and it takes the gloss off what Bayern have accomplished I would push back at that a little bit this year because I think Bayern have been absolutely terrific even if the competition hasn't been that strong they've evolved the side players individually have progressed they've been far far too strong.

30:19Pol Ballus: The numbers suggest they're historically good 15 points ahead of second place Dortmund what's the record margin Seb and will they be going for that as well in the remaining four games? Yeah well it's not so much the record margin they're aiming for it's the record total which would be 91 points and that was under Jupp Heynckes in 2013 so 13 years ago they've already exceeded the record goal tally which was previously 101 goals um at the moment they're tracking for about 120 which threatens to be a record that would stand for you know far longer than half a century um until next season probably well maybe but the original record was set in 1972 so that's a lot of very very good Bayern teams that failed to reach the 101 goal mark and yeah let's see what happens a lot of things came together this season truly historic side absolutely excellent okay one of the reasons that they weren't doing the beer showers and that at the weekend is they've still got plenty of business to do this season not just those records they're chasing but also the treble they've got semi-finals against Dubai Leverkusen in the DFB Pokal and of course the Paris Saint-Germain clash in the Champions League.

31:28Pol Ballus: Woof. A treble is potentially on for the Bavarians. It is. So they'll go to the Bayern Arena this week on Wednesday. And great. But they're going to have to be without Serge Gnabry. So Gnabry was injured in a training session late last week. And at the moment, we're being given quite a broad, vague timescale. Just long term. They're going to be conservative with the treatment. It's generally accepted he's probably going to miss the rest of the club season don't know about the world cup yet in better news leonard karl is approaching full fitness again obviously not a like-for-like replacement and in any case bayern can bring jamal messiala off the bench um it's going to involve a bit of a tweaking um but you're not going to lose very much with messiala coming coming into the into the side so let's see but it's a it's another little obstacle that the company is going to have to find his way around if they are to complete that treble i think they'll get past leverkusen they would face either Freiburg or Stuttgart in the final should beat either of those teams.

32:27They have the better of both of them, far too strong for Stuttgart this season. And PSG is, God, I can't wait. I mean, there were times during the Real Madrid game at Allianz Arena where I was sat there thinking, I can't believe someone's begged me to do this. This is brilliant. And PSG on another level. So I'm looking forward to going to Paris and can't wait to watch 180 minutes of that.

32:46Pol Ballus: Yeah, it was an extraordinary match that. As was Paris Saint-Germain's performance at Anfield against Liverpool. Tom, though, this weekend they were on another level in a rather different sense. They managed to lose at home to Lyon. What happened? Well, their first Ligue 1 fixture in a little while because, of course, they were given the weekend off somewhat controversially between the two legs of the quarterfinal against Liverpool. And Luis Enrique made six changes. It was quite an unfamiliar-looking PSG team. Ousmane Dembele was on the bench. Kvichov Alessi was on the bench. Marquinhos as well, Joao Neves.

33:24Slightly experimental midfield three of Lucas Baraldo, this kind of mono-paced left-sided centre-back who Luis Enrique is trying to turn into a mono-paced holding midfielder. Vitinha, who went off injured, and Senny Mayulu. And they were just caught cold. Lyon scored twice in the first 18 minutes. Hendrick, now officially back in the good books, surprised the last weekend's game against Lorient, which he began on the bench. Paolo Fonseca gave him a bit of a public dressing down and said that he needed to raise his game. He came off the bench in that game against Lorient, had a hand in both Lyon goals in a 2-0 win, started as one of two split strikers alongside Afonso Moreira, who's this really exciting 21-year-old Portuguese winger who Lyon signed for 2 million euros last summer, which is the kind of transfer fee that you don't hear about much these days.

34:15He'd only made two league appearances for Sporting. came into the team in the first half of the season after Malik Fofana got injured. And it's just been brilliant. He made the opener for Hendrik, cutting in from the left, completely scuffing his attempted shot. But Hendrik runs on, beats Matvej Safanov at his near post. And then the rolls are reversed for the second goal. Hendrik sends Moreira through. And he basically outpaces the entire PSG defence, including Ashraf Hakimi, rolls it past Safanov.

34:51of.

35:04And PSG just dominated from that point on. They won a penalty that Gonzalo Ramos squandered. And Kvart Schellier, Dembele come off the bench. Kvart Schellier reduces the arrears in stoppage time with a really nice curl death that is the bottom right corner. But final score 2-1. And all of a sudden, they've got Lanz right on their shoulders. They've got their game in hand in midweek. And the good news is it is against Nantes, who are dreadful and who were winning at home to Brest over the weekend and conceded a stoppage time equaliser and who now basically look done for. So you would have thought PSG will win that, but, you know, I'd have unexpected suspense all the same.

35:50Pol Ballus: As they now deal with this catastrophic fixture pileup, given that Longs and PSG still have to face each other on the penultimate round weekend of the season, not cut and dried yet, is it? No, I mean, obviously the Longs-PSG game should have taken place last weekend and it would have been great if it had because there would have been some suspense. But the fact that PSG are dropping points, that's two defeats in the last four for them in the league, makes you think, well, maybe there still will be something riding on that game. And I suspect Lens will go into it with an awful lot of goodwill because of the circumstances of the postponement.

36:21Pol Ballus: Well, if Paris Saint-Germain are in the final by that point, that may well affect Luis Enrique's squad selection for the Lens game. As it stands anyway, as you mentioned, just a point between those top two, Lyon moving back into third place. But what a cluster of sides there are chasing the Champions League places. Five teams within four points of each other. You've got Lyon with Lille on 54 points, a point behind them. Rennes, then Marseille and then Monaco. Hey, Marseille dropping down to sixth this weekend. What's happened? Yeah, bad week for Marseille and just generally a bad sequence of results.

37:00Three defeats in four now. and they were away at Lorient, who, as we know, are having this fantastic season, very strong at home. But Lorient were missing quite a lot of key players. Both of their flying wing-backs, Theo Lebris on the right and Arsene Kouassi on the left, were both out. And so this wasn't a full-strength Lorient team, but Marseille were dreadful, lost 2-0. Bombardien, former OM striker, scoring somewhat inevitably. possibly um and after the game Mehdi Benassia outgoing Marseille sporting director walked into the mix zone and said to some of the journalists who are waiting there look I don't want to talk about this game and then proceeded to talk about the game for roughly four minutes solidly tore several strips off his players in the very kind of macho way that he tends to do and I thought one perhaps the most amusing observation he made was that he just left the changing room and no one had pushed over any tables all the water bottles that had been lined up before kickoff were there no one had thrown them against a wall and a club like Marseille that is not acceptable and if you remember the beginning of the season Marseille's opening league fixture when they lost away at Rennes coincided with Adrien Rabiot chinning Jonathan Rowe and both of them constantly consequently being forced out of the club right so start the season too much aggro in the changing room end of the season not enough aggro welcome to the world we had a wonderful world of olympique

38:34Pol Ballus: if they're outgoing and not in the extrovert sense or possibly also ds medi benatia is kicking off what are the fans doing about all this they haven't gone completely nuclear yet um but as we know you know that the next eruption of discontent tends not to be very far away i mean marseille have gone back into commando mode okay so they went on another training camp to marbella last week their second training camp to marbella of the last few weeks since abibe became head coach and benacius said after the game that they are not going to be allowed to leave the training ground between now and the end of the season.

39:17Pol Ballus: Wow. They're going to be bunkering, you know, hunkering down. In Marbella? Not in Marbella, sadly. In Marseille, although there are worse places to find yourself, you know, stuck. And just to make matters even worse, while Habib Bey's current team plummet down the standings, his old club are flying. They were miles off the Champions League places when he left to go to Marseille. But as of this weekend's results, They're now a point above Marseille in the standings. Franckes has won six and drawn one of his eight games since taking over. The most successful start by a coach in the history of the club.

39:58So, complete turnaround. They won 3-0 at Strasbourg yesterday. Strasbourg, who basically, Gary O 'Neill, Strasbourg coach, put out a completely weakened team because this came a few days after their Conference League second leg comeback win against Mainz and a few days before their Coupe de France semi-final against Nice. So it was basically Strasbourg reserves and Rennes beat them 3-0 and now looking down on their former coach from the lofty position of fifth in the table. Marcel over the last few years

40:30James Horncastle: have gone through lots and lots of players. There's been a lot of churn. So they're not going to be in Champions League. How many of those players will have to go? And also like the structure of the club, you mentioned that Medi Benati will be off. Pablo Longoria is already gone. It feels like a complete reset is going to have to take place at Marseille in the summer. And, you know, we were told by people at the club on multiple occasions over the last few months that this, the pre-existing structure was there for the long term. Longoria's president, Medi Benati, who we had picked as sporting director, and Roberto De Zerbi as head coach.

41:10They were all in lockstep. And here we are. Longoria's gone. De Zerbi's gone. Banassio's on his way out. They're still going to Marbella. They're still going to Marbella. Well, De Zerbi took them to Rome. So Bay's at least kind of changed the venue for the Retiro. They've appointed a new president, a guy called Stéphane Richard, who previously worked at Orange, the phone telecom company, and is a much less explosive character than Longoria. And I think the idea there is he's going to bring a bit more kind of, you know, peace and quiet. Good communication. To proceedings. But it was like, we've tried picking three really fiery individuals.

41:47Now we're going to pick three individuals who aren't very fiery. It's very much kind of all or nothing for OM. But yeah, if they miss out on Champions League qualification, there's probably going to be loads of players who will leave the club, who will have to leave the club because, you know, Marseille do not have a huge amount of money. Frank McCourt has put an awful lot of his own money into the club since he took over in 2016. Hasn't always got much of a return on that investment. So the kind of Champions League level players, people like Mason Greenwood, Igor Parchal will be looking at an exit plan, you would have thought.

42:17People like Benjamin Pavard, who's had a very poor season, Leonardo Beledi, the captain, whose form has been pretty dreadful, likely to be on the move as well. So as ever at Marseille, just constant shifting sands trying to build on tectonic plates as they kind of whirl around. And they are hoping to achieve what they did this time last year when everyone kind of got into this bunker mentality. Last year it was Rome, it's Marbella slash Marseille. And they're going to try and get over the line and get back into the Champions League spots. But it will be tricky.

42:50Pol Ballus: Well, they're only two points off, only two points behind third place Lyon as it stands with what? Four matches to go. Very good, Tom. Fascinating world of French football as ever. As ever. As ever. Next up, let's touch base with events in Italy.

43:10Pol Ballus: Mom, can you tell me a story? Sure. Once upon a time, a mom needed a new car. Was she brave? She was tired, mostly. But she went to Corvana.com and found a great car at a great price. No secret treasure map required. Did she have to find a dragon? Nope, she bought it 100 % online. From her bed, actually. Was it scary? Honey, it was as unscary as car buying could be. Did the car have a sunroof? It did, actually. Okay, good story. Car buying you'll want to tell stories about. Buy your car today on... Carvana! Delivery fees may apply. If you've got spring fever, Lowe's has the cure. During Spring Fest, make your landscape stand out with three free bags of Miracle-Gro 3-quarter cubic foot garden soil when you buy three.

43:54Plus, get up to 40 % off select major appliances to keep clothes, food, and dishes fresh all season long. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's. Valid through 422, while supplies last. Selection varies by location. See Lowe's.com for details. The soil offer excludes Alaska and Hawaii. Okay, I have to tell you. I was just looking on eBay, where I go for all kinds of things I love, and there it was. That hologram trading card. One of the rarest. The last one I needed for my set. Shiny like the...

44:22James Horncastle: Designer handbag of my dreams. One of a kind. eBay had it. And now everyone's asking, ooh, where'd you get your windshield wipers? eBay has all the parts that fit my car. No more annoying. Just beautiful. Millions of finds, each with a story. eBay. Things people love. Hi, this is Kim Holderness from the Laugh Lines podcast. Let's talk about spring break. You might be thinking, oh no, Kim, nothing good happens on spring break. Well, I'm here to tell you, it's time to redefine our vacation time. We all deserve a getaway that is meaningful but doesn't require a ton of planning. Spring break isn't what it used to be.

44:59James Horncastle: It's better. This spring, stay three nights and get a$50 Best Western gift card. Life's a trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions.

45:18You're listening to The Totally Football Show with James Richardson. Now with you four times a week. Keep up to date with us on Insta and enjoy us in glorious Technicolor on YouTube at The Totally Show.

45:31Pol Ballus: Watching the Juve Bologna game Sunday night, there was a really touching tribute page before the game to former Juve goalkeeper Alex Manninger, who'd been at Arsenal famously, was at Siena, Fiorentina, Torino, a bunch of clubs. Seb, I know you wrote about the terrible accident which saw him lose his life, Alex, at the age of just 48. An absolutely lovely chap. I had occasion to talk with him a couple of times in the course of his time in Italy. He was an absolutely splendid fellow. So really, really sad news there. So City had this weekend. James, following that, the Juve Bologna game, saw Juve with the 2-0 victory which has put them very much in the driving seat for the top four spot that they and a bunch of other sides have been chasing what with Roma only drawing and Como in fact losing again this weekend five points now Juve's margin yeah five points ahead of fifth

46:31James Horncastle: place with five games to go they seem to be on a roll at the moment I think they've won five of last six games juve and even though bologna lost to villa um on thursday night bologna had been the form team um in city out over the last six weeks um this was one of the event's best performances i would say under luciano spalletti it feels like they really understand what he wants from them. Now they're really fluid. They were able to exploit Bologna's weaknesses. Everyone knows that they love to play with a high line and they just kept releasing Francisco Concey South behind that line. And Paul was talking earlier about the early goal in the Copa del Way.

47:23James Horncastle: Well, there was a goal 90 seconds into this game from Jonathan David, who's had, I wouldn't even see it, an up and down time at Juventus. It just hasn't really happened for him. It looked like it might soon after Luciano Spalletti got the job. But even within Spalletti's time at the club, there have been some hiccups. But yeah, Juventus looking good going into this final stretch of the campaign. just as Roma have become their own worst enemy with this kind of battle going on between their coach and Piero Gasparini and his predecessor who is now the senior football advisor Claudio Ranieri and Comar who as you mentioned surprising defeat in Reggio Emilia against Sassuolo a lot of credit to Fabio Grosso for the job that he's done there, people forget I think that Sassuolo came up last year you know they had that one year blip where they're out of the league but they've sort of established themselves as a Serie A team over the last decade but still survival has been very comfortable for them and you know Como have this Coppa Italia semi-final second leg coming up on Tuesday night against Inter at San Siro and Fabregas was kind of keen to say look that wasn't in our minds going into this game against Sassuolo but That defeat has kind of clearly hurt their chances of qualifying for the Champions League.

49:01Pol Ballus: Five points behind Juve. Now, Roma, meanwhile, a 1-1 draw for them against Atalanta, who, of course, were the side where Gasparini had his greatest successes until last season. Prior to the match, he had a press conference where he ended up in tears talking about how his life used to be in Bergamo. and it did feel rather as though the current tension that he's experiencing with Ranieri was behind that he had to kind of basically leave the press conference

49:30James Horncastle: yeah I think Gasparini has found the last week quite hard a lot of kind of scrutiny about how he goes about his business in coaching who he takes advice from in the transfer market and and so I think it's a lot of people say that Rome is a very difficult place to be a coach because of all the radio stations newspapers it's very intense and yeah I think that was brought to bear and then to have faced all of these questions from the media he was he was then sort of I suppose asked about his character or he was like look i'm not a bad guy you know i i was at genoa for eight years i was at atlanta for nine years um you know my wife doesn't think i'm a bad guy um and he then sort of was asked about the differences between rome and atlanta he just reminisced about his near decade uh with atlanta and um and by the end of it i think was so kind of overcome with emotion that he had to sort of get up from his desk and like dash out of the press conference so as not to be seen in tears which for you know we all encourage men to to express their feelings but it was quite surprising given how hard um Gasparini has come across um over the last year

51:02Pol Ballus: right well currently Claudio Ranieri and he remained at loggerheads is that right both appear to have issued him or me ultimatums to the club in the last week or so. Where are we at and how does this finish?

51:15James Horncastle: Well, the Freakins want there to be a reconciliation. I think even Gasparini said it was husbands and wives have tiffs and a few days go by and it's all OK again. but certainly I think it came as a big surprise not only to Gasparini but I think to everyone with how forthright he was in his public criticism of Gasparini and how he undermined him by saying you know I had a list of five names you know three guys turned us down and the club then chose Gasparini not an endorsement and I don't know whether there is a real point of pride from Ranieri who last year took over in really difficult circumstances they then went on this remarkable run in the new year where they finished only a point outside the Champions League places and I don't think he's looking at this and thinking I can do a better job than this guy but certainly you would have thought guys in their 60s early 70s um they they would have mellowed um and instead maybe that competitive edge is is still there the draw doesn't help Roma um it was a real kind of missed opportunity given um Como lost and um you know whilst there were kind of banners before the game saying look AS Roma is a serious matter guys just sort of grow up it felt like the fans were coalescing around Gasparini rather than one of their own, Ranieri when his name was read out before the game there was a big cheer but at full time the players were booed and whistled off the pitch because it looks like Roma will miss out on Champions League football again as they have done every year under the free kids Good lord

53:14Pol Ballus: They are level with come 1.5 behind Juventus Up top there's a 12 point gap now 12 points between Inter and the team in second place, who are now Milan. They managed to get a win against penultimate place Verona this weekend, while Napoli, James lost at home to Lazio. This is extraordinary. Lazio have now beaten Napoli. They are the first team ever to win away to Napoli four consecutive City-Hour matches. Never happened in City-Hour as a trip before.

53:44James Horncastle: No, Maurizio Sarri, who is from Naples, he's Tuscan, but he was born in Bagnoli because his father was working there. And, you know, probably the unluckiest coach, you know, because he should have been the guy who ended that long wait for Napoli to win a league title. I think as good as the football Napoli played under Luciano Spalletti when they won the league after 33 years, I think a lot of people remember very fondly the Napoli of Lorenzo Insigne, Dries Mertens, Marik Hamsik, which he put together. So, yeah, I don't think he took any delight in going to Naples and upstaging them. But for Antonio Conte, very similar what's happened in Naples with what's happened with Milan.

54:36James Horncastle: In that when Napoli beat Milan two weeks ago, Milan immediately lost the next game. Tudinese 3-0. And the explanation they gave at the time was they realized after that defeat to napoli like our title ambition is gone our dreams are in tatters now um and it took them like a week to get over it um and it feels like the same has happened with napoli last week they drew with palma and there was a real feeling within the group that this uh fiamella they were talking about this little flame that they kind of kept alive had been snuffed out by that draw to palma and they hadn't been able to get over it and that's why they were listless against Lazio.

55:21Pol Ballus: Conte has never finished outside the top two when he's been in charge of a big side. Siena is una storia da parte. So this is the seventh season at either Juve or Inter or Napoli, and he's always been champion once he came runner-up. It's remarkable. But this time he's set to have his essentially worst campaign. He did reference stories about his future because part of the backdrop of this is the increasing... stories linking him to the Italy job.

55:49James Horncastle: He would be very angry with you for misinterpreting his words and offering, you know, sort of a different take on what he said.

55:57Pol Ballus: I mean, De Laurentiis has said he can go to the Italy job.

56:00James Horncastle: Well, De Laurentiis, you know, sort of wakes up in the morning and thinks one thing and by evening thinks another thing, you know, so he did say that. And then, you know, he gave an interview to my colleague Adam Crafton, in which he said that Conte leaving would be like killing his own baby, which was quite the quote, the baby being the team that he has birthed and sort of, you know, nurtured. And so Conte was addressing these comments and his own comments, actually, which were, he did a kind of Tom impression, where Tom had sort of Arnold Julian Nagelsmann, Conte in a press conference 10 days ago, pretended to be the future head of the Italian Football Federation.

56:51James Horncastle: Oh, nice. Oh, if I'm the head of the Italian Football Federation. Did he do a voice? Did he do it? He did an Italian accent. Did he? He is Italian. And he said, look, if I were the next president of the Italian Football Federation, I would put Antonio Conte's name on a shortlist. It would be irresponsible not to because he's one of the best coaches in the world. certainly in Italy. And a lot of people took that to mean that Conte was endorsing his own candidacy to be the next coach of Italy.

57:22Pol Ballus: Don't know where they got that from.

57:24James Horncastle: He's since said, you've all got the wrong idea. I will sit down with the president at the end of the season, as I did last year, when all of you were writing that I was going to Juventus. And guess what? I didn't go to Juventus. So I'm just going to shut up for the rest of the season. But you mentioned Conte. Allegri is the other one who's been linked with the job. You know, one of the candidates to become Italian Football Federation president is seen to be an admirer of Allegri. So he had to basically come out and say, no, not had any phone calls about that. And, you know, I'm going to commit myself to Milan, which, you know, I think any Milan fan who watched Milan play Verona would be like, God, how many years have we got to keep watching this kind of football?

58:21James Horncastle: Because it looked certainly for an hour, if an alien came down and was sat at the Marc Antonio Bentigotti. Right. That would be the story. And was told which of these teams is in a relegation battle.

58:39Pol Ballus: Ah, right, yeah.

58:40James Horncastle: The alien would be like, ah, the one's in white. Right.

58:44Pol Ballus: Yeah, instead they're in second place. And the form team in Italy, Bologna, got absolutely battered by Aston Villa last weekend and prompted a fresh round of hand-wringing about the current state of Italian football. Do you know, we were talking about Mommas the other day. the Gazetta published this report, which supposedly is titled, The Italian Job Has Got Harder. I can't believe that's right, but that's what it said in the Gazetta. In English? Yeah. Yeah. I think it's an international consultancy that's presented this report. And not to go on about this topic, which is kind of, we've been through.

59:22Pol Ballus: Italian months. Yeah. They come up again. They come up again because they say that amongst the other things, The number of under-18s playing, etc., same more or less in Italy as it is in Spain. For example, Spain are wildly ahead of the other leagues in terms of the number of domestic players used. But in other regards, Serie A is more or less on the same levels as the other leagues. But one thing that they do point out is that the population decline in Italy means that there were roughly half the number of babies born 20-odd years ago that there were prior to the generation that gave us Maldini and Baggio et al.

1:00:00James Horncastle: Yeah, but the context that they often don't include is that that is true across Western Europe. It's true here in the UK. I think the only country that bucks that trend is actually France. Right. Really? The French out there? No surprise, is it, that the French are procreating at exactly the same pace that they always have? It's why Tom's book's called Vavavum. Woof.

1:00:27Pol Ballus: It's a very sexual place, what can I say? Cobb Italia semifinals of midweek. Inter, who this weekend were 3-0 winners against Cagliari. Yeah.

1:00:38James Horncastle: And, oh, Paul will like this. Yeah, Paul. Christian Kivu was asked, yeah, did the players have the look of champions in the dressing room afterwards? And Kivu said, well, I couldn't really tell because they all had their heads down because that's what players do these days. They're just always on their phones. And he was like, I'm going to call them the one hand generation. What? Study on Christian. Because in one hand, they've got their phones and then they're doing other things with their other hand. He said this. Oh, wow. Christian Kibu, the intercoach. Yeah. There was no follow-up question.

1:01:15James Horncastle: So yeah, the one hand generation. Wow. This requires further inquiry, I think. There'd be a piece in this. Un-Christian behaviour

1:01:24Pol Ballus: Inter have a second leg Against Como 0-0 from the first one In the Coppa Italia Semi-Fiders midweek The other semi will be Atalanta taking on Lazio That one was 2-2 The first time around Thanks James Thanks Serie A To finish Let's get the rest of the weekend's Bundesliga news From Seb Stafford-Bloor This is the Totally Football Show With James Richardson Part of the Athletic FC Podcast Network Seb, a little bit more Bundesliga news, if you will. We mentioned Bayern Munich are champions. What is that there? 13th title in the last 14 seasons. 35th overall. Crazy. Meanwhile, the race for a top four finish is still very much on.

1:02:09Pol Ballus: Dortmund secure in second spot. Beneath them, you've got seven points between Leipzig, who won their fourth game in a row this weekend. Seven points between them in third place and Leverkusen in sixth. So how's it looking? Yeah, let's start with Leipzig. Really, really good win against Eintracht Frankfurt. If you haven't seen Yandy and Mande's goal, go find it immediately. Just there. It's very Dimitri Payet. Do you remember that goal he scored at London Stadium all those years ago before he left? Very much like that. Just kind of different angles. Their 3-1 win. Antonio Nusa also played extremely well.

1:02:44So that's a little early World Cup alert for Norwegian fans. They're going to be dangerous. He looks like he's in rhythm. Neusser sometimes is one of those guys who maybe tries to do a little bit too much on the big occasions, takes on the difficult chance, takes on one too many defenders. Feels like he's kind of sorted some of those issues. He's playing really, really well. Leipzig starting to look like a shoe-in for the Champions League next season, which would be a great first season for Ole Werner with a rebuilt team, a young team, and the start really of what they believe internally is a little bit of a new era.

1:03:17Excellent news for them. Not such good news for Leverkusen, Jimbo. They are really profligate. They took the lead against Augsburg and then threw it away at home. They lost to a 97th minute Fabian-Rida penalty. Montreal Colbraith, who is a really, really talented young winger, actually eligible to play for the United States as well as Germany. He's going to be a super player, but he just got done on the edge of his own box. Really rash tackle to throw the game away. and to leave Leverkusen facing a little bit of an uphill battle to qualify for the Champions League because Hoffenheim beat Dortmund.

1:03:54Hoffenheim beat Dortmund. Poor game. Also, you mentioned that Dortmund's season has been over for quite some time. They're so far ahead of their Champions League rivals that it's a certainty that they'll be in the top four. They'll finish second. And a lot of their intensity has dropped away, which is a shame. But not quite sure what to read into this game as a result. good performance good moment for halfenheim who needed a needed a win they've really fallen off their physical standard has dropped which you'd expect because it's a small squad um christine isa using many of the same players across the season so a little bit of a lull was was probably probably inevitable uh stuttgart are in the mix as well they will be kind of tussling with with leipzig for for third place they got hammered really by byan um on sunday but uh let's see what happens with them.

1:04:45They've got European ambitions as well. So let's see how they balance that out before the end of the season.

1:04:52Pol Ballus: All right then, Seb. Why don't we finish off then with a quick word for any Bournemouth fans who may be listening. On Marco Rosa, how likely do you think is it that he will be taking over from Iriola? And were that to be the case, what kind of football will he have the Cherries playing next season? It's a really interesting appointment. I think stylistically, it's a match so high pressing coach uh looks to play direct accurate uh attack with as few touches as possible he's very much someone that's come out of the red bull system so he has all those traits i think if you look at his career trajectory it's going to be interesting to see what happens next did very very good things at gladback um until announced he was leaving halfway towards his halfway through his final year at which point every bit everything kind of fell all the rhythm fell out of his uh out of the project didn't have a great time at Dortmund was only there for a year before being before being sacked i mean i'm still of the belief that he wasn't really given enough time and a project really wasn't assembled around him when he was at Dortmund i think they're a little bit premature leipzig it's been remembered as a little bit of a failure and i think unjustly because in his first year he did good things with what again was a young squad um which was i mean the attack was built around danny ulmo javi simons uh luis tupenda um benjamin shushka was part of that too um there was some injury absences there there was also the natural difficulty that you face as leipzig head coach which is you're dealing with young developing careers volatile form um and certainly in the second season i felt like he was probably the victim of some of the kind of the growing pains associated with that certainly if you talk to leipzig now there was a reason why they there was so much change last summer where essentially kind of built an entirely new squad um where they tried to rewire their dressing room try to rebalance some of the kind of the personal attributes within it um moved a lot of players on and whilst Rosa left early uh at the beginning of last year at the beginning of 2025 he was under pressure from really before the winter pausa um and I don't know where his responsibility for that ends and the players begins but he is a very good coach a lot of people speak very fondly of him good kind of man-to-man manager.

1:07:09So let's see. The players that he'll inherit certainly suit the way he'll want to play. There'll be a few, I'm sure there'll be a few sales at the end of the season. I think Marcus Nessie is going to leave, so he'll have to do a little bit of defensive reconfiguration there. But yeah, very interesting appointment. Certainly one to watch. And a nice guy too. A lot of people have a lot of time for him on a personal level. Paul. Yeah, I'm going to change a bit of team, but I wanted to ask you, Seb about Freiburg because people in Spain have been a bit in awe after what they did against Celta de Vigo in the Europa League quarterfinals.

1:07:44They scored six goals past Celta de Vigo. They just didn't give them a chance while Celta de Vigo has been one of the best of the rest in the Spanish League. So yeah, I wanted to ask you that and it's also a bit of a cheeky question because they are facing Braga, who I am really close with. So I wanted to ask you what can bragg expect from them yeah it's very interesting they're a side to be wary of i mean a little bit of the the backstory poll um they were managed for a very long time by christian strike who i don't really know what the spanish equivalent would be i don't think there probably is one and then um he retired and huelen schuster um was kind of promoted from within i think a lot of people thought yeah that's not going to go well once you changed what has been in such a long-term rhythm there's going to be a a decline in the team which historically certainly by um within the context of their budget has long overperformed that hasn't happened i'd also say new generation of players so whereas like under christian strike you saw guys like vince grifo emerges as talisman um very very important player then um she still has kind of um developed a new younger crop of guys matanovic up front is a really good player he's been one of those people that but he's been around for quite a long time.

1:09:01He's at Eintracht Frankfurt. He was here in Hamburg with St. Pauli. He was sort of about five years assuming to be kind of developing into a future international. He's really hit his stride this season. Another guy, Jan Manzambi, he is, I don't want to put a ceiling on him and I don't want to put a label on him. Just treat him as he is. He's really, really exciting and someone to be super, super wary of. He's going to be a very, very fine player. Noah Atabolo, the goalkeeper. um again another player who has been sort of bracketed in that bright young thing category for a really long time but who despite making despite being very spectacular very capable goalkeeper previously felt like he was had a little bit of a mistake in him which is is a really unfair criticism because i think that's probably true of any young goalkeeper that's just the that's just the learning curve i think he's taken a real step forward this season um towards I really expect him to become a proper like first choice German international within the next five years he's an excellent excellent goalkeeper I think he'll probably also leave Freiburg this summer um I think there's certainly some Premier League interest and that doesn't surprise me at all he certainly merits it so this is a yeah it's a little bit of a trap hole because on the one hand like an unfashionable German team that not a lot of people know about with players that aren't really household names, a lot of those players are really, really good.

1:10:20So they're not to be taken lightly at all.

1:10:23Pol Ballus: Very nice, Seb. Magnificent. Look forward to seeing them in action in the semifinals right now. That's it for today's Totally Football Show. We'll be back in a week's time. Look ahead to all the midweek games and rounding up all the latest news. Probably another title or two. May well have been won by then. That's it for now, though. So many thanks to Paul Ballou, Seb Stafford-Blaw, Tom Williams, James Horncastle and producer Lucy and most of all you listener have a great week enjoy yourselves and we'll catch up in a week's time

1:11:16The Totally Football Show is an Athletic Media Company production.

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