Can Barca stage a remontada and will Bayern finish off Real?

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1:47Pol Ballus: The Athletic FC is the Antoine Griezmann cheese man. Those stories and many more in this Totally Football Show.

2:05Pol Ballus: Monday 13th of April. Thank you so much for joining us today, listener. Totally Football Show, European edition, with James Horncastle here in the studio. Hello. Nice to see you, James. en France and live from the Canal Plus studios, the Bureau de Montage, Tom Williams. Hello, James. Greetings from Gay Paris. Oui. Seb Stafford Bloor is in Hamburg. Hello, Jimbo. And, crucially, Paul Belous is here. I mean, just got off a plane, Paul, from where? From Barcelona and landing into Madrid Airport. So I'm basically now in my hotel room here next to Gran Via here in Madrid.

2:49James Horncastle: Ah, okay. I stayed on Gran Via in Barcelona last week, Paul.

2:54Pol Ballus: Get a room, you two. Just last week, you two were hanging out and having snails. Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We had the snails, among other things. But yeah, our snails were really, really good. Excellent. Excellent, Paul. Anything else you want to touch on? How was that for you, James, your trip to Barcelona?

3:11James Horncastle: Yeah, it was great. Paul was a brilliant host. Laia was as well. We had Vermouth before we went for snails.

3:21Pol Ballus: Right.

3:21James Horncastle: Did you see any football while you were there? You know what? We did see some football whilst we were there. And it was a reminder of, after about 15 minutes of the game, Barcelona Atletico, I was like, what the hell have I been watching all season? Ooh. Because this stuff in front of me is football. Right. And everything else is a pale imitation of it. There you go, Paul. Yeah, yeah. There you go. I'm just sort of used to that, but yeah.

3:55Pol Ballus: Wow. Well, strong words. Strong words. But maybe merited. We've got another slice of Atletico Madrid versus Barcelona coming up this week. We'll be talking about that in the Champions League fixtures. Paris Saint-Germain are involved, aren't they, Tom Williams? They are indeed looked in pretty decent form over the weekend as they trained gaily in the absence of any competitive football action. So they will be a lot more rested than Liverpool and pretty much all the other teams in action in the quarterfinals this week. Can't argue with that. and of course Bayern Munich, fresh from a 5-0 win against São Paulo, will be looking to do more of the same against Real Madrid.

4:41Pol Ballus: Hey Seb. Yes indeed, Jimbo. Also record-breaking Bayern Munich now because those five goals took them to 105 goals for the Bundesliga season, the most in the competition's 63-year history. Can't argue with that either, Seb. Brilliant. How many goals will they score midweek and other questions on the way as we look at the Champions League quarterfinals second legs. First of all, though, how about a bit of moment of the week? James, beyond the snails, what have you enjoyed in the last seven days?

5:09James Horncastle: I enjoyed the blood sausage Spanish omelette that we had. That was good.

5:18James Horncastle: Well, football-wise, I mean, there was a very good game in Italy on Sunday night, which, you know, Como do play proper football against Inter. And And there was, I think, some hope on Napoli's part that Como would do them a solid and beat Inter. And it looked like Como might do that when they were 2-0 up after 45 minutes. But Inter came back to win 4-3. And in quite an Arsenal way, I would say. Because they've got Hakann Chalinole back, who's just got such a great delivery from set pieces. They've got Denzel Dumfries back, who's just such a threat from set pieces. both of them combined to score and you know again similar to Arsenal there's been a kind of quite a lot of negativity around Inter despite them always having quite a big distance between themselves and the rest of the teams in the league be it Milan be it Napoli and yeah there's often in the conversation around Inter are they bottlers because you know they lost the league on the final day last year they lost the league um on the final day three or four years ago when when Milan overtook them so it's it's it's quite in it was quite interesting to sort of listen to the conversation around Inter after that game right yeah I don't want to say it was meant to be a

6:43Pol Ballus: moment of the week but you know was there was there something in particular that no I mean to

6:47James Horncastle: be honest like my moment of the week really was um yeah Diego Simeone before the before the Barcelona game with his wonderful words for Antoine Griezmann. Oh yeah, lovely. There you go. That feels a long time ago now. Yeah. Paul? Was it a bit too cheesy? The Simeone Griezmann thing? Really? I thought it was a touching moment. Maybe I don't have feelings anymore because of the job I do. Which is an option.

7:16Pol Ballus: What did Simeone say about Antoine Griezmann? Basically, Simeone said In a nutshell, he said that he loves him and he paid the tribute to all those years that he's been working together with Antoine Griezmann because Antoine Griezmann spoke in the build-up of the first leg against Barcelona, in which was his first public appearance after announcing that he's leading in summer to Orlando, to the MLS. So basically, Simeone wanted to have a nice gesture with him, say that he loves him, that he's been great, one of the best players that he's ever had, a great person, that he's known how to handle this reckonship of being a footballer, but also a friend to Simeone.

7:57And all these sort of things that you said to a person that you love. That left Paul cold.

8:04Pol Ballus: Is it dusty in here? That's really sweet, Paul. Yeah, it is. I mean, I hope that you and I never partway professionally, partways professionally. But were that to happen, if you spoke words like that about me, I don't think you'd find my heart untouched. I will do that. Don't worry, James. All right then, Paul. Did you have a moment of the weekend amongst all that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, like, finally enough. My moment of the week was going to Atletico de Madrid because I found a nice moment on the weekend with them. Atletico basically rotated the whole team. They made 10 chances from the line-up that went to the Camp Nou, full of academy players.

8:43They lost against Sevilla, which we're happy enough because they are in the relegation battle. They lost 2-1, but the goal was scored by an academy player, by Javi Boniard, right back, right goalback, which basically you have to see the goal and like the celebration. It's not a great goal. It's a good header, but the celebration, you can tell that the player, he cannot believe that he has fulfilled the dream of his life, which is playing for Atletico, scoring a goal. His eyes are just out of orbit, just running to the corner flag. He mislides his way and he covers his face with his hands. Yeah, he just cannot believe it.

9:20And after the game, he did all the mix-on and post-match interviews and everything. And he basically explained that he's been an Atletico fan all his life. He's a huge fan. He's been at the club since he's seven. And that this is the best day of his life, despite Atletico lost. there's no better feeling for him he's in tears doing all the post-match interviews and in some of the questions that he faced he was asked, well, what do you think right now? and he said, a few years ago my uncle died and I'm thinking about him because my uncle was a massive Atletico fan and when he died, I made a promise to my cousin to his son, saying, mate I'm going to make my debut for Atletico someday and we're all going to remember him so yeah, he made his debut all the weekend he scored and he became the youngest defender to score on his debut in Atletico de Madrid's history.

10:11Pol Ballus: Right, but Simeone was a bit cheesy, right? Come on, Paul. No, no, that's the only reason why I said the cheesy thing about Simeone. Oh, all right. That was beautiful, Paul. His name again, please. Javi Boñar. Tom Williams what's been your moment of the week well I'm going to stick with the cheesy theme that has been introduced to the pods against Paul's wishes there was a very touching moment in Lille's 4-0 win at Toulouse on Sunday Bruno Genesio the Lille coach lost his father last week and took a bit of time away to be with his family wasn't with the squad as they prepared for the game but then returned um Lille went ahead midway through the first half through Thomas Meunier all the players run over to the touchline to celebrate with Bruno Genesio who disappeared in this big embrace in front of the dugouts he looked very moved you could see there were tears in his eyes obviously a very profound moment for him and then he spoke about it afterwards in the press conference and it was quite a painful watch I mean he looked on the verge of tears quite frequently talking about his father Salvatore and the role that he played in his life and, you know, getting him into football, that kind of thing.

11:32So I think having that moment of communion with the players had been really special. And yeah, Lille went on to win 4-0 and are more than ever in the driving seat in the race for third place in Ligue 1. So a very touching moment for Bruno Genesio on a personal level. And his team continue to, you know, to keep flying towards the top of the table. Magnificent. Seb Stafford-Blo. i'm also going to pluck at some heartstrings actually and tell you a story about an amazing injury comeback so in 2022 kofi korea garnet international got his move fromst paulie to to freiburg which was notable because it meant that he played as soon as he made his bundesliga debut in all four top german divisions he'd gone from the regional liga tritter liga zweiter liga erster liga he also became a ghanaian international uh in 2021 started the season well with freiburg then disaster in february 2023 because he ruptured his cruciate ligament um and struck with the recovery for that had to have a second operation in the summer of 2024 and on saturday played for the first time so that was an injury absence of over 1100 days made his return for freiburg's second team in the fourth tier got an assist he came on as a i think a 77th minute substitute in front of about 800 people i've got an assist but that is a a long old journey back and he was um when i first moved to hamburg he was playing locally for simpauly brilliant player full of expression and flair and just wonderful to watch and he's 29 now so he's still got a few years hopefully left to his prime um but wonderful to see him play competitively again of course

13:14Pol Ballus: an amazing comeback story. Fantastic. Thank you so much, Seb. We've got loads to talk about, not least those Champions League quarterfinal second legs. Let's start off then with the league asides, at least one of which we'll be exiting in the next few days. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network.

13:52Pol Ballus: All right, Paul, this weekend saw more drama at the Bernabeu rail, dropping points again. Barcelona, meanwhile, bouncing back from their first-leg defeat to Atletico Madrid with a huge debut win against Espanyol. And your chum, Diego Simeone, declaring in the league ahead of Atleti's second leg with the Catalans. Let's start with Barcelona, who are now nine points clear of Real Madrid after that 4-1 thumping of Espanyol. In fact, they could win the title against Real Madrid on the 10th of May in the next Clásico. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was basically a title decided, in my opinion. Nine-point lead with seven games to go.

14:33Seven. Yeah. Seven games to go. I mean, that basically should be it. And now everyone at Barcelona is making the numbers. to see if they can win the title against Real Madrid in the Clásico they play in May. It will be the first time ever in Barcelona history to have this chance of winning a league title against Real Madrid in a Clásico at home. So yeah, that's basically a thing that excites a lot of the Barcelona fan base. What they need for this to happen is basically to keep a margin from 6 points to 12 points onto that game. Right now, there are nine. And there's, if I'm not wrong, there's three games up until that game.

15:13So they basically need to keep into that bracket. If they keep in that, a good result against Real Madrid in the Clásico could launch wild celebrations going in Barcelona.

15:26Pol Ballus: How funny. Laminia Mar, let's talk about his performance on Saturday against the neighbours. Yeah, he was outstanding another day. The best player in the pitch for Barcelona. his goal tally has increased I think he's in 40 right now if I'm not wrong and yet it has the feeling even more than ever I know that last season he was a Ballon d 'Or contender and his season was outstanding but this season with Rafinha being out of the picture for so many games I think that you get more the centre of this Barcelona being La Minha against Barcelona he's just the biggest source of everything at Barca on like on the attacking end there's just no one that can match his influence and there's no you have the feeling that there's no player that can really stop him when he starts dribbling and doing what he does he scored the third goal which basically killed the game and he delivered the assist in the two previous ones in the two first ones that were scored by by Ferran Torres so yeah La Minha Mal again with one of those days and happy days for Barca I enjoyed him celebrating his goal before he actually scored it as well, for added panache.

16:39Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that it had a lot to do, and you could see with the end of the game scenes, the fact that it was a Barcelona derby, and all the Islamadir players, they have this rivalry really installed in them. Because when they are kids, the biggest game that you have in your season is when you play against Espanol at home. So basically, all those kids, they're really not going to use the word hate, but they really want to beat Espanol, as their local rivals. In fact, past the first team, they've been 30 league games in a row without losing against Espanyol, which is the longest strike they've ever had to any other team in La Liga.

17:17Wow, dominance. Yeah, so it's just dominance and it just shows you that what all the players said after the game in their social media captions, that the city is Bograno.

17:28Pol Ballus: Indeed. Coming up, however, is an absolutely crucial second leg against Atletico Madrid. Hansi Flick saying before this next meeting, we don't need a miracle, just a good game. He's confident about Barca's ability to turn it around. James, you saw these two sides go at it last time and what a marvellous spectacle it was. What did you most enjoy about that game then?

17:49James Horncastle: Just some of the individual talent on display. I mean, Paul was just talking about La Minimale. There are a couple of moments in the first 15 minutes where Paul and I have sat together through other La Minimale performances, Spain against France, and he is one of those players who makes you turn to whoever's next to you and just say wow what have we just seen because he nutmegged uh mateo ruggieri twice in the first 15 minutes one to just go past him another to just kind of put a through ball um for for a teammate um and then griezmann i know it's cheesy um but there are just moments where barcel was so on top of but they were able to get out just because of the timing of Griezmann coming short and how good his first touch was.

18:38James Horncastle: And then Julian Alvarez, even beyond his free kick early on in that game, he had that kind of mazy run into the penalty area. So just to see the level of individual talent and how free they are to sort of express themselves was really great. It was funny. Paul and I were in the press conference afterwards and Hansi Flick, who's always been quite measured. I remember when Barca went out of the Champions League in the semifinals last year against Inter. He was very magnanimous afterwards. He was like, the best team have gone through. Congratulations to Inter. We'll be better next year. Blah, blah, blah.

19:18James Horncastle: in this game he called out the VAR didn't he uh Paul he was like yeah yeah uh the the VAR the German VAR thank you Germany which you know I mean there was a controversial decision um not the sending off but um the handling in the right the penalty that wasn't given and indeed

19:39Pol Ballus: a resultant red card surely yeah for Atleti as it stood a 2-0 victory for Atleti now But this time around, Barca are going to be at the Civitas Metropolitana. They won their 2-1 about 10 days ago. On that occasion, it was Atletico Madrid who went down to 10 men. Barcelona, though, in February, lost 4-0 at Atletico in the Copa del Rey. So what do you think is going to happen this time around, Paul? Can Barca turn this around? I think Barca can turn this around. I still would frame the chances of maybe 70 % in favour of Atletico and 30 % Barcelona, but I think that they actually can. Turned this around last season, they won 2-4 at the Metropolitano.

20:26They showed this season in the Copa del Rey in the return that they are able to dominate Atletico. They won 3-0 in the league. They won 3-0 or 4-0 as well at the Camp Nou. So I think that Barca have the tools to dominate a team like Atletico. My biggest concern for Barca is the defensive end. They're going to have, of course, Pau Kubas is not going to be there. So let's see how they replace it. And I think that Atletico, they will have chances. And basically, if they, that's just a cliche, but if they convert them, of course. But the fact that Barca plays so open, it's something that Simeone really knows how to capitalize on.

21:07And that's something that, yeah, they will have their chances just to kill it.

21:12Pol Ballus: That game on Tuesday evening tonight as we record. And then at Let's Go, we've got another big game coming up at the weekend when they've got the Copa del Rey final against Real Sociedad. Yeah, which is, in a way, the reason why Simone rotated so heavily in La Liga because he has this Champions League tie. But then the Copa del Rey final, which is massive for them, they have not been in a final for over a decade, if I'm not wrong. I think it's 15 years. And, yeah, it's sort of a big target for Griezmann as well to live with the trophy. And, yeah, for Atletico and for Simeone to deliver this sort of silverware.

21:48That sometimes is the thing that people regret Simeone with the amount of money that the club has spent in signings, the salary he has and everything involved in him. There's not much silverware coming in return. Well, he has a big chance here with the Copa del Rey final against Real Foguera. All right.

22:07Pol Ballus: As for Real Madrid, Paul, dreadful week for them. Three games, no victories whatsoever. A 1-1 draw on Friday with Girona. Real Madrid were four points behind Barcelona when they decided to sack Xavi Alonso. How many points are they behind now? Nine. Nine, yeah. Dropped 11 points in the last seven matches under Arbelor. To what extent is that his tactical errors? What extent is that the big names coming back into the side and messing up the balance of things? What would you put it down to? I think it's a bit of both, but it's possibly having the mind more in the Champions League. I think that the Romative players, in a way, have capitulated from La Liga since last week, and they came into Giroud.

22:51I think that Arvelo, with his selection, was thinking a lot more with Bayern Munich game. He used Camarillo as the sole number six as a way to test him for the second leg against Bayern Munich, because Chouameni is not going to be there following suspension. and it didn't work out really well. And again, I think that in a way, I don't want to raise this point again because I've done that a lot in this podcast this season, but I think that when all the stars are on the pitch, Madrid are a more unbalanced team, and there's more room for opposition to try to break them down, I think that Madrid did enough possibly to win the game.

23:27But there were spells where Girona dominated the game and were really comfortable, and that's not usual for a team like Girona to be comfortable at the Santiago Bernadette. Now that you mentioned Arabelloa, when he was appointed, I have the numbers here from him at Real Madrid. He's been in charge for 20 matches. He's lost six of them and drawn one, which was last week. There's been no manager in Real Madrid's history with this amount of losses in this amount of games that has not been sacked. So he's the only one who is still in charge with those numbers. in that short a time period. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

24:05Every manager that has lost that many games in that many games played has been sacked, basically. And Nardoloa hasn't. I'm not saying that he has to be sacked, but I think that it explains the whole picture of what has been Real Madrid's season.

24:22Pol Ballus: Right, very angry mood at the Bernabeu after the draw on Friday against Rona when you're not in the best of form, when your side's not maybe got its balance right. Maybe the Allianz Arena is not the easiest place to go. Seb, how did they warm up this weekend, FC Bayern? They gave St. Palli an absolutely thumping jumbo. They won 5-0 up here in Hamburg. Played ever so well. Also able to rotate and rest all sorts of first-teamers. No Kane, no Gnabry. And in the starting line-up, no Upamecano, no Tarr. So, you know, they're in pretty good shape. Funny old mood, though, because I think the reflection on the game at the Bernabeu, out of the way the poll says Bernabeu has so much flair and kind of style exactly um there's this feeling that on the one hand had they been a bit more efficient Bayern could have this tie finished already on the other hand um there was a very very strange 20 minute period in the second half where Manon Noir became 25 again and had to repel all sorts of shots from Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius junior and and you know was quite rightly man of the match um so strange one but uh but i'm going confident but i'm going confident they feel like uh they're a better side i think and i don't think that's that's particularly controversial they're at home big advantage uh so we'll see but yeah heading down to heading down to munich this week so really looking forward to that really excited i know it's not very cool because you're supposed to go in as a journalist though you when when these games come up you're supposed to you know not smile not have a good time not profess to to being excited and looking forward to things but i actually am sorry not cool anymore they are a magnificent sight when they're in full flow you were admiring them in bergamot james

26:05James Horncastle: against atalanta yeah i've heard people sort of um pull them up on their defensive frailties and point out that at the bernabeo madrid could have scored a number of goals and mani noia had to be in excellent form that night. But you are playing away at Real Madrid against Kylian Mbappe and co. So, you know, I would give Bayern a pass for giving up some chances in that environment. I don't think it takes anything away from their quality as a collective. It's just these games against these opponents are meant to be very exacting. they remain the best team that I've seen in the flesh this season so I would be surprised if Madrid can pull this one back particularly given they have to go all the way all the way to the Allianz

27:06Pol Ballus: Paul, Real Madrid in for a real spanking this midweek I'm not going to be the person who says that but there's a chance of this happening I guess seeing how both teams how both things are but I would never take Real Madrid off in a situation like this because in a way that's why they are waiting for I think that big games and big occasions do them better right now than playing against Girona or against Getafe in La Liga because it's what feeds a bit more those big players Alright, we shall see That game is coming up on Wednesday. So is Arsenal against Sporting. The other tie which we haven't really talked about yet is of course Liverpool against Paris Saint-Germain.

27:54Pol Ballus: We'll come into that very shortly but just a couple of other bits to round up from La Liga where Barcelona, as we mentioned, are now nine points clear. Then you've got, after Real Madrid, you've got a nine-point gap down to Villarreal, then Atletico Madrid and then another nine-point gap down to a cluster of teams battling for fifth place. Bet is still in fifth spot. despite the fact that they are still without a win. What is it? Seven matches now without victory for Pellegrino's side. They drew 1-1 at Osasuna, but they were lucky enough that Celta Vigo's charge has been a bit derailed of late.

28:30Pol Ballus: They had their second 3-0 defeat of the week on Sunday, a 3-0 away at home to Real Oviedo. Yes, starting for Dalvettis. I think that they are not in the best moment of the season by a distance. there's a lot of players that are like underperforming and that's the case of course of Anthony who is Pellegrini revealed a couple of weeks ago that he is having this groin injury, this puvalgia injury that basically prevents him from playing healthy for 90 minutes but it's an injury that he cannot, it's not going to be cured by resting so he has to be playing but he's playing with limitations and a lot of players have been suffering because of that Anthony is not, of course, showing his best version.

29:15But I think that Pablo Fornals or Giovanni Lothelso, who were supposed to be key players, they are not in their best form either. So let's see what happens in the Europa League. They're going to face Braga on Thursday. They drew in the first leg. I think that Betis, of course, are favourites. But they could be surprised by Braga. And then we go to Celta de Rigo. I think that the team selection was very much influenced by what happened in the Europa League. Jordan Girald have rotated a lot. And basically, yeah, I think that they are reserving the first unit for the Thursday and try to do like an outrageous remontada, which is very unlikely.

29:58Seb will know more about Freiburg. I see it very unlikely. But doesn't pay. They're still in Vigo to try to pull it off. All right.

30:07Pol Ballus: 3-0 to the Germans in the first leg. Very good. Paul, thank you so much. Next up, let's touch on matters with Paris Sajaban and Ligueur.

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33:22Pol Ballus: It's Liverpool against Paris Saint-Germain. Could be Mo Salah's last ever Champions League game. Certainly for Liverpool, they're currently trailing 2-0 from the first leg at the Parc des Princes. Any chance, Tom Williams, of Paris Saint-Germain having one of those second legs and indeed Liverpool having one of those second legs? I mean, I think if you look at the first leg and similar to what Seb was saying about Bayern's feelings after the first leg of their quarterfinal against Real Madrid, I think PSG's big regret after the first leg was that they hadn't put the tie to bed already. I mean, 2-0 winners.

34:03It could and probably should have been 3-0 or 4-0. Ousmane Dembele missed a couple of really presentable chances and hit the post late on. PSG had one penalty overturned. Probably should have had another penalty that wasn't even looked at. And so came off the pitch having demonstrated that they were a level above Liverpool, if not several levels above Liverpool, and yet only had a two-goal advantage to show for it. And as much as PSG showed last season that they are the dominant force in European football, they're still a very young team, and they wobbled at times last season. I mean, we all remember how difficult the league phase was, but even in the knockout rounds, they had a big wobble away at Aston Villa at this stage of the competition, and had it not been for Jean-Louis Di Donnarumma's heroics, could very easily have been taken to extra time and knocked out of the competition.

34:58Donnarum was similarly influential against Liverpool in the previous round and then against Arsenal in the semi-finals. The only night off he really got was against Inter in the final. And the fact that it's Anfield, I think that is liable to spook PSG a little bit because, you know, sound the cliche foghorn, but Anfield is one of those grounds where funny things happen. and if Liverpool can get an early goal and get the wind in their sails, get the crowd behind them, then there is a danger that PSG will wobble again, albeit this time around, they don't have the best goalkeeper in the world. They've got Matt Vesafanov.

35:34I suspect that PSG will look to take the sting out of the game as they did very successfully in the second leg against Chelsea by getting on the ball. I think the expectation from PSG's side is that we'll see a bit more ambition from Liverpool than we did in the first leg where they tried out that brand new 5-4-1 formation that had never previously seen the light of day with Joe Gomez making his debut as a left-sided centre-back in one of the biggest matches of his career so yeah a concern about the extent to which the whole Anfield context could potentially spook this this group of players but I think it appears to get anything like approaching their best they should they should close out victory relatively comfortably

36:17Pol Ballus: Okay, and they had the weekend off Courtesy of the French League This weekend, their game against Lens postponed Just towards the end of the season No, Tom? Yes, I think it will be the third last fixture Now for both clubs So Lens actually played a friendly Game against Roule on Saturday just to Keep things ticking over Although they would obviously prefer to be playing PSG as they have let it be known Indeed. Has there been much controversy over the fact that one club didn't want to have their fixture moved, but the league just moved it anyway? Yeah, hugely. I mean, again, even in L 'Equipe this morning, this level of incomprehension at the LFP's willingness to prioritise another competition over its own competition.

37:12You know, the reason that the LFP has given PSG and Strasbourg the weekend off is because in their eyes, the Champions League and the Europa League are more important than Ligue 1. And Ligue 1 is the competition that they manage and run. And the Champions League and the Conference League are not. But there you go. So it has been very controversial. I think particularly given the fact that Lens were opposed to it and have been very public about that. You know, I think it was a bit controversial when they did it last season. This is, I think, the first time when there has been a real sort of groundswell of opinion against it.

37:46And yeah, I mean, I've said this on previous pods, but I think it is very unfortunate that we've been denied what felt like a potential title decider, you know, purely to give the world's richest football club or one of the world's richest football clubs a few extra days to prepare for a game in which, you know, they're already halfway into the semifinals already.

38:10Pol Ballus: alright well they will still play against Lens who remain four points behind them in the Ligue 1 title race beyond Paris Saint-Germain then there was a Paris inside in action this week and lo and behold they went and got a very big win against Monaco 4-1 Paris FC ending the Monogasque seven match winning run a golden assist for Tudor Immobile James Horncastle who arrived in the January window that's immobiliate scoring in back-to-back games, Tom. It was a lovely goal as well.

38:40James Horncastle: Well, if only he'd been in the playoffs for Italy. He'd be in the World Cup.

38:47Pol Ballus: Without doubt. Tom, what do you make of Paris FC under Antoine Cumbaray? Yeah, they've been much improved. And there was a little bit of eye-rolling when he got the job because, as we see in plenty of other leagues, the first sign of difficulty, rather than going for a promising up-and-coming young coach, Paris FC turned to a tried-and-tested campaigner. And Combois has done this kind of rescue mission before, notably at Nantes where he had a couple of spells in the last few years. But he's really tightened things up as people thought he might. They are six games unbeaten in Ligue 1 since he came in, three wins, three draws.

39:33and they were brilliant against Monaco. This was the first kickoff over the weekend. Five o 'clock kickoff, local time. Monaco absolutely flying. Seven wins in seven, as you said, James. Paris FC trying to distance themselves from the relegation zone. I don't think many people saw Paris FC getting anything here. And within 21 minutes, they were 3-0 up and could have been 4 or 5-0 up. Just defended reasonably well, but exploited the space in behind Monaco's backline ruthlessly. Jonathan Icone, former Lille and Fiorentina winger, heavily involved. He got a couple of goals. Martial Minetzi tees up Ciro Immobile for the second.

40:16Really well-constructed goal. Icone down the right to Minetzi, who charges to the byline, cuts it back. Immobile arrives in space on the edge of the box and sweeps it home. And then Immobile tees up Icone for the third. Monaco pull one back through Foller and Balogun. But then second half, Paris FC just shut the game down completely. Bit of a non-event, the second half, until former Burnley favourite Luka Koliashu came off the bench. Scored an absolute rip snorter of a goal with 20 minutes to go. Picks up a loose ball, edge of the box. Pings one, top right. And Paris FC run out for one winner.

40:53So they now have an 11-point gap between themselves and the relegation places. They are practically safe. And Monaco with the big losers of the weekend, because literally every other team that is in contention for Champions League qualification managed to win.

41:10Pol Ballus: Excellent. They plummet down to seventh place. They are, though, only three points off fourth spot. Lille are still third after their 4-0 victory over Toulouse, which you mentioned before. Marseille got a win. They beat bottom of the table Mets 3-1. And look at this, Lyon got their first victory in 10 matches, 2-0 against Lorient. Yeah, Lyon, who having such a peculiar season, 13 game winning run in all competitions, followed by a nine game winless run in all competitions. And that finally came to an end at home to Lorient. Slightly stodgy first half, Lyon having most of the ball. The main headline at kickoff was that Paolo Fonseca had dropped Hendrik, who obviously arrived to enormous fanfare from Real Madrid in the January transfer window, made a very impressive start, got a hat-trick against Mets, you know, very eye-catching performances, played his way back into the Brazil squad, but had gone off the boil of late for Lyon.

42:15And Paulo Fonseca gave a bit of a dressing down in his pre-match press conference, kind of spoke in a critical manner that you tend not to see coaches go in for when it comes to a player who's so young. He's basically saying, look, Hendrik is not giving us enough at the moment. He has this stature. We know what he's capable of. It is legitimate to expect more from him. And I'm disappointed by what I'm seeing from him. Sticks him on the bench for this game against Lorient. But then because Leon aren't, you know, particularly flamboyant in the first half, brings him on at half time and he immediately turns the game around, puts in a cross in, I think, the 49th minute for Romana Jeremczuk to head in his first goal for Lyon.

43:00And then it's Hendrik's effort a few minutes later that is saved, but allows Colmantin Tolisso, who also came on at half-time, to nod in Lyon's second goal. And Hendrik generally performed, I think, about as well as he has for about two months. So Lyon snapped their winless streak. Hendrik is back in the good books. and they're backing the mix for Champions League qualification one point behind fourth place Marseille and two points behind third place Lille

43:28Pol Ballus: Wow, and next weekend they're facing Paris Saint-Germain Are the competitions permitting Tom? Yes, well of course we'll have to wait and see how PSG get on in the second leg against Liverpool might they need more time off to recover from that game just clear their heads mentally I think all PSG fixtures must be considered to have an asterisk beside them from this point going forward, just in case a more important competition pops up that the league needs to give them time to prepare for. Very nice, Tom. Thank you so much for that. A quick word. Collectively, what do we think about Arsenal's now looking very, very key and crunch clash with Sporting Lisbon, whom they beat 1-0 away at the Jose Alvalade last week.

44:16Pol Ballus: given the way things are crumbling around the Gunners of late do we see this going spectacularly wrong as well the return match at the Emirates? Well I mean the first leg felt like a good news story from an Arsenal perspective in that they went into it off the back of losing to City in the League Cup final being knocked out of the FA Cup by Southampton they rode their luck a little bit against Sporting who hit the crossbar in the first half didn't play particularly good football but you thought okay if they can get out of this with a nil-nil draw, that puts them in the driving seat. And then Kai Havertz pops up with a stoppage time winner.

44:51And suddenly it's a fantastic result. They kept a clean sheet and you think, okay, great. They've stopped the rot. That allows them to then kick on, tidy up victory in the Premier League and then focus on the Champions League. And obviously since then, they've had this absolute calamity at home to Bournemouth. And as a consequence, the second leg of the sporting tie just takes on a very different level of significance because I think suddenly there's a feeling of desperation with regard to the title race. And they would already have had half an eye on this game against City coming up on Sunday.

45:23Now they're going to have, I don't know, three quarters of an eye, four fifths of an eye. I mean, not that thinking about slicing up an eye is a particularly nice mental exercise, but that game against Manchester City is going to loom so large over this second leg. And you sense that sporting will do everything they can to make the Emirates as nervous and as jumpy as it was throughout the game against Bournemouth on Saturday.

45:48Pol Ballus: Everyone, three straight in the league have Ree Borgias' sporting side. They're five points behind Porto with a game in hand. They have their own heavyweight battle with Benfica coming up next Sunday. And of course, they triumphed at the Emirates in the Europa League last 16 on a penalty shootout back in the 22-23 season. Crikey, when Kim Kardashian was there among the crowd, Will she be there this week? She must be in Coachella this week, right? Because this is happening and all these sort of influencers.

46:18James Horncastle: And also it's a break in the F1 season. Oh, okay. She's not following Lewis Hamilton. Okay, okay. At the moment.

46:26Pol Ballus: Yeah, yeah. Okay.

46:27James Horncastle: Why would she be following Lewis Hamilton? Because they're together. Yeah. Are they together? Yeah. They filmed this kind of great Tokyo drift thing when Hamilton was in Japan for the Grand Prix of Suzuka. By all means, James, check it out.

46:45Pol Ballus: Right. And was that where they met and Sparks flew? No, no.

46:50James Horncastle: They've been dating, I think, now for like six months. Okay. Yeah. Magnificent. So, yeah. I mean, but her kids are big into football, which is why she was at the Emirates. Yeah.

47:04Pol Ballus: Excellent. All right, James. Not sure where to go after that, but how about we hit the Bundesliga?

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49:31You'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.

49:44Pol Ballus: It's a groundbreaking weekend in the Bundesliga. Union Berlin after a defeat this Saturday, replacing the manager Stefan Baumgart with the under-19s manager Marie-Louise Etter. Marie-Louise Etter making history too. She's the first woman to take charge of a Bundesliga club in the history of the division. Also in the history of all five top European divisions. Slight asterisk here because we have seen this before. So when Ust Fischer was dismissed she was a co-head coach not kind of hard to know where their responsibilities were with Marco Grota um he did most of the press conferences and sort of was the public face of things she did a lot of coaching so she was involved she also stood in um when uh Ustfischer's replacement was banned for three games so she sort of took his place on the touchline but this is an appointment to the rest to the season and she's really highly regarded a lot of the players who were there in 23 and 24 they're still there now so she'll have a lot of support from the dressing room and on the training ground these are veterans with a lot of a lot of power and authority in the squad and actually if you speak to anyone at Indian Berlin about her as a person as a coach the references are glowing so everyone has faith and this has been presented as just this is a logical thing to do rather than a deliberate attempt from union berlin to uh to make make noise and it'd be really unfair to characterize it that way because she's an extremely capable coach um and uh yeah it's a wonderful opportunity for her and uh as far as we know at the moment so she was the under 19s coach and she was announced a few weeks ago as the future women's coach for union berlin's frauensliga side and as far as i know that remains the plan so at the end of the season she will go and take that opportunity and move on.

51:40But yeah, a great moment for her. And yeah, fantastic. Best of luck to her. They're going to place Wolfsburg at home at the Elfforster Rai next Saturday. Wolfsburg, who absolutely have to start a winner. So that's a big stakes game straight off the bat. Okay.

51:57Pol Ballus: Union are currently lying 11th in the Bundesliga, seven points above the relegation playoffs. She'll have five games in charge before the season ends. How did her three games when she was interim boss before, How did they go, Seb? Not badly. I mean, it wasn't any great shakes. And there was still a kind of, I mean, she wasn't really in charge, Jimbo. So it wouldn't really be fair to kind of pin those on her. She was still carrying out somebody else's direction. So this is really a fresh start. She's been there before, yes. But this is a kind of, this is a new beginning. And also, I can't remember, most importantly.

52:30So I've dodged the question.

52:33Pol Ballus: Very nice. All right. Well, Union, as we mentioned, with that defeat this weekend, which also featured the second youngest player in Bundesliga history taking the field in Linus Goethe. Is that right? Goethe? Goethe. That's correct. The young Goethe. Yeah, that's correct. Behind Yusufa Mikoku, who, of course, was a Brissett Dortmund player. Difficulty there is, of course, there have always been these conversations about Mikoku's age, a lot of unpleasantness directed at him. there was a documentary shown on German TV about 18 months ago which was would have been very very difficult for him to cope with but yeah that's um there's a there's a tricky thing to order at the moment um but yeah great day for Union Berlin and for that sort of their their academy production and there's also um it's a good moment because there's a lot of work going on off-site around the Alta Forsterai um based around improving the facility so that's a really important moment for the club as a whole as an enterprise to have a kind of a symbol of what they're able to create from within.

53:30Great moment for them.

53:31Pol Ballus: OK, 16 years and three days of age. Remarkable. And he was only two days older than Yusuf Mokoko, who you mentioned before. Anyway, in broader terms in the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich 12 points clear now after their victory this weekend at St. Pauli, who remain in the relegation playoff position. They could be champions next week, Vincent Kompany's side, because Dortmund this weekend and got beaten at home to Leverkusen. Leverkusen moving up into fifth spot, four behind the pair of Stuttgart and RB Leipzig. They focus increasingly now on that desperate battle for the Champions League places, which could be, Seb, as many as five.

54:15Could be, could be. We need things to fall correctly in the Europa League and the Conference League for that to happen. But it really is interesting. We've kind of lost Hoffenheim from that mix, Jimbo. um they drew two all with augsburg on friday night and they've just run out of gas i think um that that start of play is so physical that it was possibly inevitable by april that they'd be in this situation but uh lebecusen yeah pretty unremarkable game against prissy dormann but lovely goal from robert andrisch to win it dormann jimbo interesting situation happening at the top of the pitch there where syria giracy continues to enjoy an excellent champions league reputation and his reputation as a fine, talented goalscorer.

54:53There's a little friction now because a lot of people, a lot of locals, think that Fabio Silva, the former Wolves centre-forward, should be playing instead. And Gursi had an absolutely rotten performance at the weekend and some suggestion now that he might be leaving the club at the end of the season. Perhaps he's in his late 20s now, so if Dortmund want to make a return on their investment, €17.5 million a few years ago, then now would be the time to do it. But hey, before we leave Bayern Munich completely, did you see the Barat Ndoi story? Have you heard of this? No. So over the last couple of years, Bayern have been building this collective enterprise with LAFC called the Red and Gold Network, which is basically kind of a loose affiliation of clubs around the world.

55:41And among them is a kind of a confederacy of African academies under the Gambino's umbrella. Now on Saturday, in the, I think the 84th minute, Baran Dui made his debut for the club. And Baran Dui came through from Gambino's Senegal. And he's kind of the first player to reach the summit of this red and gold organization. and if you can find it there's a lovely video of all the boys back at the academy uh watching him making his debut on tv and they go absolutely crazy they're jumping on tables on chairs they're throwing stuff and they're obviously so so happy for him it's a really lovely moment um and yeah he's um he's actually on loan from gambinos to barn for the rest of the season um he's been having trials around europe i think he was a zurich uh uh acid grasshoppers i think um a year ago he's now on loan to the end of the season so we'll see what happens to him in the future but a great moment for him um he's a senegalese midfielder and very very talented too and uh clearly all his friends are a delight of him but one of my favorite that we're on a kind of like heartstring sentimental vibe in today's podcast and and as we're recording this like you know pole won't even crack a smile it's not not even for the 18 year old boy he's living a dream he just hates it hates it takes a lot to move pole balouse but then he's spoiled by the rare

57:05Pol Ballus: delights served up every week in catalonia what else from the bundesliga then seb difficult to say uh hamburg got hammered by stuttgart um who you know looked like they're in really really good form uh they're moving along very very nicely uh glad back lost to leipzig they're back in trouble uh bremen were absolutely insipid against karl um uh yesterday losing 3-1 and um bremen dropped down into trouble and that's significant because Bremen are six days away from the second Nord derby of the season against Haas Vahel which is next Saturday and they're only three points ahead of St Pauli who are in the relegation playoff at the moment so that is a hell of a game up in the north next weekend something to really really look forward to it's a brilliant occasion and people get the chance to watch that do it's a wonderful advert for the Bundesliga brilliant thank you so much Seb next up we're off to City This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network.

58:20Pol Ballus: James, big clubs racing away with their title runs across Europe and Inter now very much in that category. Nine points clear after that remarkable game against Como this Sunday night.

58:32James Horncastle: yeah it was good fun i mean first half como lived up to expectations um they've been unbeaten in seven games they've been beating the teams around them they've caused a lot of panic in the top four because the likes of AC Milan Napoli for a bit Roma Juventus have all of a sudden realized that oh wow como for real they're coming for our fourth place and Nico Paz in the first half was was excellent um kind of responsible for both goals and you could see that Fabregas I wouldn't say he'd worked into out tactically but he certainly knew where to cause them problems um just having sort of Paz occupy this space that drew out Alessandro Bastoni and getting someone to run in behind Bastoni they did that time and time again um but credit to Inter for showing real guts and character because they were outplayed in the first half but no sooner did they go 2-0 down than Marcus Charam basically got a goal back on the stroke of halftime he then scored again at the beginning of the second half and Inter just upped the intensity and were able to play to their strengths which they haven't always had this season which is Hakan Chalanolu who's been out injured a lot.

59:51James Horncastle: Chala, irrespective of his ability as a playmaker, just immense set-piece delivery. And Denzel Dumfries, who spent the best part of four months out. Remember, it was around this time last year that the rest of Europe was kind of sitting up and taking notice about Dumfries, particularly in those semi-final games against Barcelona, and how he's almost like a second striker he always gets into the box he always gets great hang time out jumps his opponent at the far post on on set pieces and ultimately that was the difference and certainly quietened a lot of inter's critics of which there have been many over the last few months right from 2-0 down to

1:00:35Pol Ballus: four three winners at the senegal and what was also impressive about this was that they did it without Lattaro Martinez. It came after a weekend that had seen other title contenders like Napoli draw 1-1 at Parma. Scott McTominay with his 20th Serie A goal since joining the club at the start of last season. Milan, meanwhile, losing 3-0 at home to Udinese. That's a remarkable result.

1:01:00James Horncastle: It really is. It's the biggest defeat Max Allegri has ever suffered over his two spells at AC Milan. Credit to Udinese though, because as much as their Austrian-born German coach, Kosta Runyajic, said, look, we got a bit of luck in this game. They have beaten Inter at San Siro this season, Milan at San Siro, they've beaten Atalanta, they've beaten Roma, and that's not luck. If you're doing it over and over again, it shows that this team is one of the better Udinese sides that we've seen over the last few years. Got a really good midfield player called Arta Atta. Nicolo Zaniolo, there was a lot of clamour for Zaniolo to be in the Italy squad going into the World Cup playoffs.

1:01:49James Horncastle: He's struck up this really good kind of connection with Jürgen Ekelenberg. Basically, they keep scoring the same goal. But for Milan, Allegri was talking afterwards how their defeat to Napoli last week kind of really shattered once and for all there. hopes and aspirations of challenging Inter for the title. And now that that objective has gone, they seem to be drifting without purpose when their purpose should be, guys, you cannot slip out the Champions League places. And so, you know, when Como were 2-0 up against Inter and Juventus had beaten Atlanta, I think everyone at Milan were beginning to get the jitters about possibly falling out and they've got some tough games coming up including I think in a fortnight against Juventus.

1:02:42James Horncastle: Wow. At San Siro.

1:02:44Pol Ballus: Juve who are as you mentioned fourth and only three points behind Milan Como in fifth spot five points back but in a much richer vein of form. Juve that 1-0 win away to Atalanta a fine way to Marc Luciano Spalletti signing on long term with La Signora?

1:03:02James Horncastle: Yeah, I think this has been the direction of travel relatively soon after Spalletti got the job. I know when results haven't gone Juventus' way, people have speculated whether they would take up this option to extend this contract until 2028. But within the club, they've seen such an exponential improvement in the team's performances that I think it was a fait accompli. this was always going to happen. And, you know, I mean, they were outplayed, really, against Atalanta. Atalanta had, yeah, I think 20-odd shots, the most of the ball. Juventus scored with their only shot on target. And it was a cross from a former Atalanta player for a former Atalanta player, Emil Holm for Jeremy Boger.

1:03:54James Horncastle: Boger, who's been a really good signing for them in January, will join on a permanent basis from Nice in the summer. but Juve hitting form at the right time. And even if it looks like the title race is done or close to being done, certainly top four is super competitive. And, you know, we've spoken about the state of Italian football and the national team level and how they've struggled in Europe this year. But you look at what happened this weekend in the league and you see how internally, at least, it's very competitive because Parma have taken points off Napoli in both games this season. Udinese, as I mentioned, have taken points off all those teams that I was talking about.

1:04:40James Horncastle: Como have really shown themselves to be a top side with the name of a small team. And the only game, I suppose, which conformed to some kind of type this weekend was Roma against Pisa, which was a 3-0 win. Daniel Marlon scored a hat-trick

1:05:01Pol Ballus: This is remarkable The first hat-trick that anyone has scored in Serie A For over a year

1:05:07James Horncastle: Yeah, which, you know, I mean You look at the guy who's top scorer in the league Lautaro Martinez Lautaro spent much of 2026 on the sidelines And the only guy who's come close to challenging Was the Como striker, Duvicas But now, Marlon, who's been there you know for not even two months really is already hot on their heels i think only kane has scored more goals in europe's top five leagues since he moved to roma um but it wasn't a win that

1:05:39Pol Ballus: roma could enjoy well well yeah this is possibly the biggest story in italy over the last seven days the guerra civile down in the capital after cuddly uncle claudio ranieri went in absolutely two-footed on the man that he brought in to take over as Roma manager when he himself stepped down, saying that, first of all, he was only his fourth choice. Three men had turned the job down before Gasperini had come in. And secondly,

1:06:14Pol Ballus: basically accusing him of whining a lot, of complaining about transfers and saying he'd always been involved in all the transfer decisions. But You explain better, what was it that led Mr. Dilly Dong to savage his manager at a time when Romer are fighting for top four?

1:06:32James Horncastle: Well, Gasparini has been very tough on a number of different people at the club since he got the job. So he's been tough on their sporting director, Ricky Massara, complaining about how he didn't get deals done quick enough and he didn't get the deals done that he wanted to be done. So another thing that Claudio Ranieri said on the weekend was, hang on a minute, you knew every player that we were bringing in. You approved them all. So they're as much of your signings as they are our signings. And okay, we weren't able to sign Jadon Sancho, but that's got nothing to do with Ricky Massaro. It was Jadon Sancho basically turning Roma down, saying he didn't want to come to Italy.

1:07:13James Horncastle: So enough with that. Very tough on Evan Ferguson. you know was quite candidly slamming ferguson um no i know what you mean james he missed some early chances and it didn't really happen for ferguson um but i think there was a feeling within the club that hang on a minute you wanted um to bring this guy in as much as we did and you don't seem to want to make it work you you know you should be encouraging this player and instead in every press conference you are slating him and then Ferguson's had to have surgery kind of seasons over and then again sort of medical staff as well have come in for criticism for not getting players back quickly enough you know there's obviously been quite an injury crisis at Roma which is yeah I mentioned Ferguson's injury but Dybala's been out injured again plus a change and that sort of thing um so claudio who is a remarkably kind of measured man who is sat in the stands all season and usually it's the sporting director massara who goes out and speaks before game and instead it was very clear no ricky i've got your back on this one and he went and did it.

1:08:35James Horncastle: Now, within the club, they basically said, no, no, it's fine. These are just two guys who, yeah, they're not rowing like the Roman press are making out. But for Ranieri to say, what you said, James, at the beginning of this segment, that there were three guys that I put forward and they all didn't come. And so the club went with Gasparini. Even if he subsequently comes out and says, I misspoke, it's incredibly revealing. And Gasparini afterwards was asked about Ranieri's comments and was complimented by the DAZN reporter for his dribbling skills. He kept avoiding the question.

1:09:30Pol Ballus: It is curious because you can see a lot of logic to what Ranieri was saying, assuming what he says is true. But why do it publicly in this fashion at a delicate time of the campaign? And what the Freakins, the Roma's owners, make of all this, we're not entirely sure. There are peace talks today apparently happening at Trigoria, the training ground between Gasparini and Ranieri, with a big game coming up next weekend. Roma currently lying sixth in the table, only a point behind Como and only three points off the top four, but they are facing Gasparini's old club, Atalanta, who are one place below them.

1:10:08Pol Ballus: Woof. Anything else from Serie A this weekend, James?

1:10:14James Horncastle: Only that. Today, as we're recording, the candidates for the next president of the Italian Football Federation have been decided. No real surprises. One is Massimo Malagor, who was the head of the Italian Olympic Committee and sort of delivered the Winter Olympics. And then the other is Giancarlo Abete, who was the president of the Italian Football Federation back in 2014. He's in his mid-70s. Hardly, I would say, reform candidate. But they will be vying for election on June 22nd. In the meantime, the under-21 coach, Silvio Baldini, will be taking charge of Italy's humiliation friendlies in June.

1:10:50James Horncastle: Who are they facing in June, James? I did do a story on this, but it already feels so long ago that I can't remember. I think they're Greece. Greece is definitely one. Right. And then another one. I don't know why I've got Costa Rica in my head. I mean, why wouldn't you? Luxembourg. So I don't know why I had Costa Rica in my head. It's Luxembourg and Greece.

1:11:13Pol Ballus: Luxembourg and Greece. Yeah. Can Italy beat Luxembourg and Greece? Find out in June. James, I had a quick question. You remember the story that focused on Vicario and his teammates celebrating not having to play Wales? Has that gone away yet? Or is it still part of the media cycle?

1:11:31James Horncastle: It was part of the media cycle going into the Bosnia game and then after the Bosnia game. Federico Di Martko, who was one of the players with Vicario, appearing to celebrate during the penalty shootout between Wales and Bosnia. He gave a press conference, the first press conference after that incident to basically clarify and explain. He said, look, I'm not arrogant enough to think we're so much better than Bosnia that this is a good draw. um people close to the place have told me that they were just playing a game and that they were guessing who was going to score and who was going to miss rather than um celebrating getting one of the teams and they had they had the other game which now escapes me there was another game that went to penalties at night almost simultaneously republic of arland yes the republican czech republic yeah check it against the republic of ireland yeah and they had that on simultaneously as well and they were doing the same thing with that so um that's what i've been told um and um but that clarification has not really been i put it in my piece after the elimination it's not really been put out there because it doesn't suit the um you know damn these players mood overall narrative yeah

1:12:49Pol Ballus: well that wraps it up then for today's edition of the Totally Football Show many many thanks to Tom Williams and Paul Belouz to you Seb Stafford-Blore to James Horncastle and producer Javi in the booth we'll be back with shows on Wednesday and Thursday morning with the Totally Football Show do hope you'll join us for those for now from all of us here it's goodbye

1:13:12you've been listening to the Totally Football Show part of the Athletic FC podcast network. For more great podcasts just like this one, including The Athletic FC and our dedicated club podcasts, search for The Athletic on Apple, Spotify and all the usual places. We're also at The Totally Football Show on Insta and at The Totally Show on YouTube. The Totally Football Show is an Athletic Media Company production.

1:13:38The Athletic FC.

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