Champions League quarters are here + is Yamal the best in the world?

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0:37James Horncastle: Hi, this is Mark Bittman from the podcast Food with Mark Bittman. Spring means literally to burst forth, to grow, and that's what we're talking about both in our kitchens and at Whole Foods Market. Freshness and seasonality is what's happening at Whole Foods Market right now. With the season's first new potatoes, spring onions, artichokes, favas, snap peas, radishes, spinach, and other spring greens, and more. Enjoy the fresh flavors of spring and save at Whole Foods Market. 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.

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1:43James Horncastle: The Athletic FC.

1:50Pol Ballus: Totally Football Show, European edition. Today, Champions League quarterfinals and the weekend's moments of wonder. France, Balogun's beautiful chip and Kampierski whittle on Liverpool's. Italy, the return of Martinez, leaving Roma on the rocks. What's happened to Italian mamas? Barcelona against Atletico and Real Madrid facing Bayern Munich. If the first leg doesn't go well, they can always try the other like their medical team with Mbappe. All that and more in this Totally Football Show.

2:24Pol Ballus: It's Monday the 6th of April, and we've got a brand new Euro show for you. Classic line-up. Hey, Tom Williams. Hello, James. Thanks for being here in the Totally studio. Pleasure as always. Long time no see. It's cosier these days, isn't it? It is cosy. It's been spruced up. It's had what the French call un relooking. Do they call that? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Relooking. One of the many examples of the French using an English-sounding word that doesn't actually exist in English. It's quite the skill. The Italians do this with restyling. And restyling. Restyling. Although that does very much exist in England.

2:59Pol Ballus: And indeed, in this studio, I would posit James Horncastle, who's freshly back from Copenhagen, amongst other things. Zenit, so you were there on Wednesday. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, finding meaning, conclusion. Where are the Italians so far on their post-apocalypse acceptance?

3:23James Horncastle: They've accepted it. They have accepted it. I thought Alessandro Del Piero was really good on a podcast the other day in which he said, the first time was a shock. The second time was like, oh, come on, this is a nightmare. And then the third time was, lads, this is embarrassing. We're a laughingstock of international football now. Right.

3:43Pol Ballus: The kind of cogent analysis you can only get.

3:48James Horncastle: Well, there's been a lot of emotional analysis, as you can imagine. But of course, for resignations, which did eventually come. Right. And now people projecting what they would like to see in terms of reform. Right. So not Nigel Farage. but your Paolo Maldini, your Del Piero, your Baggio has given kind of roles of power and influence however given the way the system is structured it would seem that the same cabal of grey-haired 70-year-olds are getting together to decide which one of them will oversee the future of Italian football which led to quite an interesting editorial in Corriere della Sera, the times of Italy, if you like, from Lele Adani, the ex-player pundit who is very much about Pep Guardiolismo, saying we should get Guardiola in and we shouldn't rebuild, we should destroy everything.

4:58James Horncastle: All caps. Smash it up. In a newspaper like Corriere della Sera, all caps were used.

5:04Pol Ballus: That's all drop. Gazette the next morning mentioned PEP. I said, let's get in PEP. We could make it happen with sponsors, they said. And as for the reform stuff, they said, lads, we just can't be bothered to do this again. Can't be bothered to talk about what needs to be done, etc. Anyway, that was a simple question. There'll be more of the answer, I'm sure, later on, because it's a big topic why four-time winners Italy won't be around stinking up their group in the World Cup this summer. But we can get on to that later on, because we've also got Patience, Seb Stafford-Blur and Paul Ballus waiting for us on the big screen.

5:39Pol Ballus: Hello, boys. Hello, hello. Hello, Jimbo. Hi. All right. Champions League quarterfinals, Seb, are you pumped? Really pumped. Yeah. Okay, good. Paul Ballus, similar levels of excitement. Perhaps you've got James Horncastle turning up in Barcelona. What is that for? It's for the Atletico. Barcelona Atletico. Yeah, right.

6:00James Horncastle: And to see if Pep is really coming to Italy. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I was basically buzzed because of the visit that James Horncastle is going to pay me in Barcelona rather than the football. Where are you going to eat, Paul? That's a good question. I mean, we still have to discuss it, but we have plans to go on Wednesday of the day of the game to have some snails in Barcelona in a really local place. I'm not sure if we have to disclose the name. I can do that. But yeah, it's called Can Cargoulet. Okay. Are you looking forward to the snails in Cancavoilet? Of course. I always look forward to work trips with Paul.

6:38James Horncastle: Excellent. The last one was in Gelsenkirchen. Right, yeah. Actually, it was in Berlin. It was in Berlin, actually, yeah. It was in Berlin in the final, yeah.

6:49Pol Ballus: Berlin.

6:49James Horncastle: Good times.

6:50Pol Ballus: Lovely town. Anyway, Champions League very much on the agenda, but so, of course, is a moment of the week. We haven't had a show for a fortnight, so consider your remit as broad as you like for this. James, you've certainly done some travelling. What's your highlight been? Oh, it would definitely be the streets of Sarajevo

7:08James Horncastle: in the early hours of when it was Wednesday, Thursday morning. Can't remember. And driving back from Zenit to sort of an hour way and sort of the motorways were all jammed, just going past villages where you could see people on the side of the road just waving Bosnian flags. and then um yeah upon getting back and yeah this incredible drive in Sarajevo where we tried to dodge some traffic and then just come down the mountain and you could just hear um chants and songs kind of reverberating up the up the valley um and then yeah fireworks into into the night so i mean it was it was very special to be a part of and you know over the following days seeing the ticket prices for games at the World Cup you did come away thinking maybe that's as good as it gets for a lot of Bosnians to see their team come back from behind and win on penalties twice in the space of a week doing it against Wales and then doing it against Italy at home was very special and I think actually Edin Dzeko the way he led the team throughout that week was kind of really special to witness you know to see him give that press conference before the italy game in which you know he was being asked about some of the italy players celebrating getting bosnia and he reminded all of the people at home and the people who were going to go to the game in Zenica, that in 1996, after the war, the first team to go and play in Bosnia was Italy, and they should always be thankful for that.

8:56James Horncastle: They should get on their feet and applaud the Italian national anthem. And then to see how he played during the game, it wasn't his best game, but to have that nation on his shoulders, to then seem to injure his shoulder so he couldn't be in the penalties and he was sort of walking around with this big sling-on. incredible for someone his age too you know when he was growing up he grew up during the conflict in Sarajevo stayed in Sarajevo during the conflict a lot of the kids around him in a very young team kind of part of a Bosnian diaspora grew up in Austria grew up in Germany grew up in America and for him to still be this kind of link to to that past that through line yeah I still think I think Edin Dzeko is not just one of the kind of most underrated strikers of that generation, but in terms of leadership and what he stands for in the game, I think he's a very special person that needs to be celebrated and honoured.

9:56Pol Ballus: Indeed. Indeed. Tom, you had an Edin Dzeko experience yourself, didn't you? Yeah, I mean, I'd love to give you an uplifting tale from the international break, but I went to see Wales lose on penalties to Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was utterly depressing and then despite having sworn that I would not watch the friendly of utter misery between Wales and Northern Ireland I couldn't not watch it I did watch it it was utterly miserable and that was the international break that was Okay Anything this weekend? There's so many lovely moments in Ligue 1 There were some lovely moments I'm going to go for following Balogun's exquisite winning goal for Monaco against Marseille in a pivotal clash in the context of the race for Champions League qualification, which is becoming phenomenally close in Ligue 1.

10:49Baligan, who has been flying in recent weeks and is basically sent through on goal by a characteristically disastrous attempted clearance by Benjamin Pavard, formerly of Inter and Bayern Munich, of course, who's having a really dreadful season back in Ligue 1 with OM. Balogun nods the ball forwards, gets away from former Burnley centre-back CJ Egan-Riley, who injures himself in the process, but nevertheless manages to force Balogun away from goal towards the right-hand corner of the penalty area. Doesn't really look like he's got any kind of angle for a shot. Juanimo Rulli, the Marseille goalkeeper, is kind of standing where you would expect a goalkeeper to be standing when a striker has the ball in that kind of position.

11:35and Balogun produces this pinpoint chip over the head of the goalkeeper that drops just beneath the crossbar. I've often complained on Totally Pods that you don't see enough chips in the modern game, like old school chips. Your Glenn Hoddle, your Eric Cantona style chip. This was a proper chip. Gave Monaco a 2-1 win and eight goals in eight games for Balogun and Monaco flying up the standings in Ligue 1. Boy, it is tight.

12:04Pol Ballus: race for third place has no less than four teams within two points of each other looking forward to some Ligue 1 chat later on but Seb what's been your moment of the week or there or thereabouts yeah quite a quite a quiet international break so I'm going to go straight back to the Bundesliga and the the shenanigans at the end of Stuttgart against Borussia Dortmund so uh context Stuttgart in in third ahead of this game um Dortmund looking safe in second it's very much kind of a top or clash uh awful game of football awful dreadful like eye bleedingly bad until stoppage time when karen adyemi scored in 93rd minute and then in 96th minute julian brandt scored a second beautiful second goal anyway afterwards both both dorbin goal scorers kind of celebrated in front of the canstater curve and which drew the ire of both the supporters that's kind of that's uh stuttgart's main ultras block and the the stuttgart players and after the second goal probably about i'd say 12 13 14 different players kind of jabbing fingers and shouting and doing pushing um also on the edge of the pitch just behind the advertising hoarding um some of the some of the ultras have come down right to the edge of the edge of the pitch and from nowhere a chair was chucked onto the pitch came bouncing on like you like you would see in um in wrestling in ww as if you know throw it in and then someone might crack somebody around the head with it and then, you know, carry on fighting.

13:33Absolutely ridiculous scenes. Kind of entertaining. No one got hurt, so that's kind of why we can have some fun with it. Right. But extraordinary. Yeah, DFB might have a little bit of a word over the next couple of days. They were none too happy with what they saw. Paul! Yeah, I'm going to stay at the international break because I covered both games from Spain. And yeah, my moment of the week is not an uplifting one. is quite a shocking and depressing one because I was present at the game that Spain played in Barcelona, well, in Cornell, against Egypt, a friendly game, which was marked by the anti-Muslim chants that just took place in there while Spain were facing Egypt.

14:14It was really shocking to be there, if I'm honest, because it was sort of experience to see a full stadium just chanting this. It was not just a sector, just a section. It was the whole stadium chanting this. And I don't recall any experience like that in my lifetime. It was, yeah, as I was saying, quite shocking. Not just for all the Egypt players, but also Lamin Jamal, of course, best player in Spain. And the one that was more cheered on the game also was a victim in that side of things, of course. And yeah, that's something that game that was a friendly game, that was supposed to be like a game possibly to forget in like a Spain shooter.

14:53It's going to go down as a dark day in Spain's football history and just put the cloud over the future organisation of the World Cup in 2030 because Spain is going to be among the nations that is going to be setting up this World Cup alongside the Muslim country like Morocco, basically. What's been the reaction there, Paul, to this? Yeah, so the reaction, I would say that even in Spain, it's been seen as a disgrace, as something extremely shameful. And yet, the stadium was pretty unanimous in this abuse. Yeah, absolutely. It was totally... The whole crowd just joined into those chants. I would say it's difficult to explain how it happened, but there's a degree of sociology in there.

15:42Because the game happened in Barcelona, in a place where showing desire to Spain, possibly it's not that common, because of the history of Catalonia and the sort of, I don't know if aversion is the word, but the tension that has been between Catalonia and Spain over the last few years, then really cheap tickets. You could pay like eight euros to get a ticket to see La Minjama live and to see everyone live. And the sort of, yeah, there was a sort of an aggressiveness around the stadium before the game in the build that you could sense. And when the game started, yeah, it just, everything imploded.

16:17Now it's all under investigation of the local police. So we are potentially going to see consequences because people from the political sphere in Spain has got involved as well. Like the prime minister in Spain just tweeted about the game and just said how shameful it was. And it's been a bit of a national issue and just to expose a bit of the tension that there is in the country, which in a way is very focused on immigration as well as in other countries in the world.

16:50Pol Ballus: Did Yamal also get some abuse of the go-back-to-Morocco variety in the game against Atletico on Sunday? Exactly. That happened at the Metropolitano, coming from the stands. Yeah, sad footage what we saw. I mean, in a way, and sadly, I see that and speak to people that have been in Lamine Yamal's camp. That's in a way what he's had to face during his whole life, basically, where he's coming from. So he tends to not be too much impacted by that. He has learned to get along with it. But yeah, the Spain thing was like a different story because it was 40 ,000 people just going. Yeah, there's usually the angle that you can put it down to a section of, as you say.

17:35Pol Ballus: But to hear a whole stadium doing that, a really scary reflection of some of the issues that we're all facing everywhere right now. Anyway, that's your moment of the week, Paul. It's a big one. Champions League coming up, which will feature Barcelona taking on Atletico Madrid once again for the fifth time this season. They will have a sixth shortly afterwards. Atleti haven't won the camp now in 20 years, so Simeone's never won there. Pretty extraordinary stuff. That's on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday is Paris Saint-Germain's game against Liverpool, which we saw, of course, in last year's Champions League knockout stages.

18:12Pol Ballus: We'll talk about that game, PSG's form with Tom later on. On Tuesday, though, this evening, probably for you as you listen to this, Real Madrid against Bayern Munich. And Sporting against Arsenal. Not an easy game. Not an easy game for either side, possibly. Anyway, also coming up this week, of course, we've got Europa and Conference League matches. Bologna against Villa, Porto against Nottingham Forest. Two interesting ones in the Europa League. And the Conference League, you've got Palace against Fiorentina. and all sorts of other delights as well. Anyway, let's start off with a bit of chat about that Real Madrid-Bayern Munich humdinger.

18:49This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network.

19:10It's not a league or a salvation for Mallorca.

19:13Pol Ballus: Paul Belus, what a build-up for Real Madrid as they prepare to host Bayern Munich. Go to Mallorca at the weekend and lose 2-1. Ay, ay, ay. Yep, that was not great. A bit of memories from the old Real Madrid of this season. And a bad loss. A bad loss. They didn't play great, basically. And Mallorca were fighting for their lives. And I think that you could sense that in a way that a lot of the Madrid players came back from the international break. Benitez was benched, Bellingham was benched, some rotations here and there. And just Mallorca had to win that game just to make a difference. It was the first win for Martín de Micheles, who is the new manager of Mallorca since three weeks ago, if I'm not wrong.

20:02And yeah, a timely one. I was considering mentioning this as my moment of the week as well. But like Peta Murici, who scored the winner in extra time. I don't know if you saw the goal, which is a brilliant goal. Just set up with the left foot and then just crossed the ball top bins with the right foot. But then he went to the celebrations. He'd run through the corner flag. He just started crying and just hold his tears with his hands, basically. And one of his teammates, Johan Mojica, who went with him, he basically looked at the cameras and said, This is for Kosovo. This is for Kosovo. Because Beto Morici, of course, as we all know, he missed out on the World Cup qualification, which was his dream to play with Kosovo in this international race, being one of the key men of the team.

20:51And yeah, it was a special moment for him after failing to achieve his dream and now scoring a win against Ramadid, which was quite the build-up, as you were mentioning, the Champions League fixtures.

21:03Pol Ballus: Well, it was a huge result for the Yorker because it takes them above Sevilla, two points clear of relegation. Not out of danger yet, but certainly a big boost. Real Madrid thought they'd equalised just a couple of minutes before the 90 when Trent assisted Eder Militao, who's finally back in the side. Yep, five months later, Eder Militao could play again. Trent Alexander-Arnold with a great corner and Militao with an even better header from the penalty spot. Just, yeah, a great header. Having said that, I think that Trent was a bit at fault in the second goal. I think that his marking was not on point.

21:39And he let his winger just slide and start all the counter-attack in which Mallorca scored the goal. So, yeah, I guess a bit of doubt over Real Madrid. But in a way, I think that Real Madrid season was already defined by the Champions League. They knew that the Champions League is what can turn their mood, where they have to perform. and if you've listened to Arveloa press conference before the game, basically, he said that he doesn't even entertain the thought of not winning the game. So despite the form that Ramelit has been in and the form that Bayern is in this season, Arveloa said that their mindset is, yeah, we're just going to win that game and I want the players just to think that this is the only option.

22:19Pol Ballus: Well, with Barcelona winning this weekend, Rela now seven points behind with eight games to go. No team has ever come back from that bigger margin at this point in La Liga history. What about their prospects then? against Bayern because, Seb, Bayern are in a bit of form, aren't they? Yeah, they're looking good. Most importantly, Jimbo, on Monday, Harry Kane took full part in training, having missed the 3-2 win over Freiburg at the weekend, and he's now been included in the squad for Tuesday night. It was a huge boost. Morale is high anyway at Bayern. They've got a fully fit squad. Davis, Macyana, back at the weekend too from their injuries.

22:55So only Sven Ulreich, the reserve, reserve goalkeeper, is now missing. And there's this, I mean, there was a little bit of sloppiness from Bayern at the weekend. They went till and down to Freiburg in the second half. Needed two really lovely goals from Tom Bischoff and a very, very late 99th minute Leonard Karl winner. Hey, lovely moment in there. Very nearly a moment of the week. So the assist for the Karl goal provided by Alphonso Davies. He's had such a terrible time with injury and he's broken down a couple of times since coming back from his ACL. provided the assist and then all of the Bayern coaching staff went running to him including this company in celebration because he's really been through it and the tough time obviously ahead of a World Cup year back in Canada for him as well so yeah Bayern looking pretty menacing a lot of options a lot of attacking options a few debates about who plays where in midfield Bischoff made a case for his inclusion of course but uh yeah one little cloud which I think we should highlight manon noise back from injury had a little bit of a blunder at the weekend wasn't terribly clever looked a little bit of out of step with the rhythm of the game so um of course he'll have some bad memories of the last time Bayern faced Real Madrid and last time he played in the Bernabeu so let's see how he holds up but yeah they are they're an ominous ominous force at the

24:14Pol Ballus: although they do have a pretty woeful record against the Marengues no yeah haven't won since 2012 against them um that was the the penalty shootout um before they then lost to chelsea in the home final um on penalties of course um and this has been an interesting debate so one of the kind of the the lesser heard nicknames for Bayern Munich is La Bestia Negra which is the black beast and marker over the last few days have have made a point of of uh of kind of challenging that and saying come on lads uh the record doesn't exactly support this anymore because it's kind of a historic nickname which goes back to i think the first tie between them was in 76 so it's the 50th anniversary um this time and bion certainly had the better of the first few um and then had a really good streak between 1999 and 2012 i think they won like 9 out of 14 but um yeah sky's sky deutschland have run a feature this morning saying uh surely uh surely white beast rather than black beast now um in reference to Real Madrid's kit of course so interesting but uh Bayern um Bayern and uh I'm not really I don't really buy into some of those historic records and those one-on-ones I think it's kind of look at what Bayern are putting in front of you look what they did to PSG yes they lost to Arsenal they lost to Arsenal without Monsignor without Davis um and not quite in the form that they're in now um so exciting I can't wait for this great the Canes ankle will permit him to play.

25:43Pol Ballus: What's the story with Kylian Mbappé? He hasn't scored in his last five matches with Real Madrid. How did he do over the international break, Tom? He did pretty well, yeah. He scored a lovely goal in the 2-1 win over Brazil. Started that game. There had been a doubt as to how much he was going to feature in the two matches, but he started, led the line very well and, yeah, scored a beautiful goal which left him, I think he's won behind Olivier Giroud now in the battle to become France's all-time leading scorer. And then second game, the win against Colombia, Didier Deschamps shuffled his pack. Mbappe was on the bench, came on towards the end, thought he'd scored, but it was ruled out for offside, I think.

26:22But yeah, he looked pretty good and played the central role that he usually does as attacking figurehead and captain. him. But yeah, there is an awareness in France that his Madrid form hasn't been great. Obviously, he's been out for a few weeks nursing this knee sprain, so I think they're happy to see him back. Which knee sprain is that? That was the left knee sprain, contrary to what Madrid's medical department may have

26:49Pol Ballus: had us believe. Right. Paul, what is the truth, and as much as we... What's your truth about Real Madrid doing Kylian Mbappe's wrong knee? Well, my truth is that there's a lack of communication in there and that the players are quite a bit levels above any other person in that club that it allowed basically to happen this did it actually happen i mean i mean that's what that we are told by multiple sources in both camps and that in a way what mbappe said in that press conference with france was a bit as was seen as taking the blame for like the public eye okay deep inside the doctor that was in charge of of the club has been sidelining the beat and he's not in charge of the medical operations at the club so um yeah um in this sense like the level of sourcing and of like the whole story was pretty accurate from from the athletics end is there any idea as to how they got the wrong leg i mean there's a lot of um there's a lot of questions as in because sometimes there's like doctors that even mark the wrong leg with the markers but nothing of this happened right and speaking with people with like people that has been around the Real Madrid team, they told me that basically their expectation is that the doctors didn't even communicate with Mbappe and he just went there for the test, did the scans and left with no communication of which was the harm to them.

28:13Pol Ballus: Because they scanned the wrong knee, the diagnosis was incorrect. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Seb, not to victim blame Kylian Mbappe, but doesn't he hold some responsibility? Because if you've got an injury and you're going to the clinic and you're being scanned and someone scanning your left knee rather than your right knee, don't you speak up and say, like, hang on. I think it was an MRI scan. So it was a full body thing rather than... OK, yeah. Anyway, he's walking around now and that's good. James, you see Real Madrid victories where few others do. I mean, historically speaking. What's your feeling about this game?

28:49James Horncastle: Well, the last Champions League game I saw was Atalanta against Bayern Munich. and they made quite the impression on me by him. So I think this flawed Real Madrid, which I know Paul has made the argument that certainly in those games against Man City where I think they were missing Mbappe and Bellingham for at least one of those games, it kind of simplified things for Arbeloa and allowed him to balance the team in a way that it's more difficult to when you have those two players available. I think balance is absolutely critical if Real Madrid are to get something out of this game. As much as, you know, they can raise the ghosts of Juanito and Real Madrid legends past at the Bernabeu to kind of stir them to get a performance which would make them a match for Bayern.

29:38James Horncastle: I just think Bayern are so good at the moment and have so many different ways of hurting you that you have to be at your very best. And that performance I saw in Baird Gamal, okay, it was against Atlanta, but it was an away performance. And what Vincent Kompany was super impressed with that night was how even after an hour when the game was over, they kept going. So I think… They didn't have Kane that night either. No, they didn't. And Alphonse Davies went off injured as well. So, yeah, an underpowered buy-in. Still had too much. Just to go back to the Kylian Mbappé knee fiasco story briefly. L 'Equipe reported a couple of weeks ago that the same thing happened at Madrid with Eduardo Camavinga.

30:31Beginning of December, he had an ankle injury, underwent an MRI, and they, according to L 'Equipe, scanned the wrong ankle. So they do have previous for this kind of thing. Crikey. Reportedly.

30:42Pol Ballus: All right. Rare for Real Madrid's doctors to get involved in controversy. Anyway, the other Champions League quarterfinal involving Spanish clubs. It's got two of them in it, and it is Barcelona against Atletico Madrid, meeting for the fifth time this season. Are Barcelona massive favourites for this, Paul, after their victory this weekend? I wouldn't say massive, because on the weekend, Atletico Madrid basically rested their main guys. Julien Albrecht didn't even play. There's a sense that Atletico Madrid has given up a bit in La Liga because they have no chance to win it and they are practically in the top four.

31:17So they rested everyone and the big players are going to be back fit to play at the Camp Nou. I still think that Barcelona are top favourite for this one, but I wouldn't say like massive one. I think that Barcelona learned the lesson in the Copa del Rey when they lost 4-0 at the Metropolitano. But there's like some tension going on between players throughout all these games. So I think that despite all who's favourite and who's not, These are going to be like heat games.

31:45Pol Ballus: This is a bit like in American sports, you'll get a seven-game series and the beef really builds up. This is the fifth game of six this season between the two clubs. Barcelona coming from behind to win this weekend, although Atletico down to 10 men was a key factor perhaps in that, as was the sensational form of Lamin-Yamal, who didn't score himself, but oh my word, a couple of moments that really staggeringly good pole. Just like at another level. I think he's potentially the best in the world right now. The form that he raised at the right time, at the right form. You could sense that he's hungry for this sort of success.

32:22There's a lot of all the Barca fans having their minds. Last season when Barca lost at San Siro, the next day, Lamine Jamal posted in social media, which is the form that he expresses himself. He posted the picture saying, Barca fans, I owe you this. I'm going to bring the Champions League back to this city at some point. And there's this sense that, OK, Laminja Malt said that. At some point, he's going to deliver. And you could see this sort of hunger. I think against Newcastle, he was brilliant as well, in the return leg especially. And now he's building up to this form of looking difficult to contain.

32:56It made him a favour that Dio Simone put Nico Gonzalez as a left-back in the game, which is a winger, so he's not a great defender. Matteo Ruggeri is expected to play in Barcelona, which is more a defensive-oriented player. But still, La Minja Mal is expected to create havoc in that game. And all Barcelona fans have a lot of hope in him because basically the number nines are not scoring. So it better has to be La Minja Mal having one of those days for them having the chance that they really want to.

33:26Pol Ballus: Wow. James, you're going to this game, lunch permitting. What are you most looking forward to seeing?

33:32James Horncastle: some actual football after being at Italy, Northern Ireland and Italy, Bosnia. No, and also the kind of talent that Italy is not producing. A lot of the debate around Italian football.

33:47Pol Ballus: Italian mothers, they've become the focus of the press. Italian mothers. Why are Italian mothers not producing young totties and badjos anymore? Some people say they are. Italian mothers are producing young badjos and totties.

34:02James Horncastle: they just get into formula one cars yeah play on play court yeah yeah no one of the things that has been touched upon over the last few weeks really because it also feeds into yeah italians going out of the champions league and that's why they're not part of this discussion that we're now having about um the quarterfinals is you know how you know 15 of 20 teams in italy play 3-5-2, which is not a system that encourages coaches to go and find or develop wingers. Right. The Osasuna manager made this point. Yeah. And he's an Italian working in Spain. And, you know, Ruggeri, who will be going up against La Minna Mal, is kind of a wingback brought through in the Atalanta way by Gianpiero Gasparini.

34:51James Horncastle: and certainly towards the end of the game against Bosnia when, I mean, Italy couldn't necessarily chase it because they were down to 10 men. But I think a lot of fans at home were thinking, can we just move out of this 3-5-1 or whatever it is and play with actual wingers? And obviously La Minna Mal is the greatest expression of what a winger can do at this moment in time. So having been there to witness what Laminia Mal did against France in the semifinals of the last Euros, when again, a player kind of called him out, Adjun Rabiot called him out before that game and said, I'm not sure this Laminia Mal guy is so special.

35:34James Horncastle: And then probably the best goal of Laminia Mal's career comes with him cutting inside, literally taking on Rabiot and then firing it into the top corner. So when Paul talks about a guy who makes promises and can he keep them, well, that was an example of a promise he kept. So let's see if he can keep this Champions League promise that he's made. That's what I'm looking forward to.

35:56Pol Ballus: Indeed. May see Marcus Rashford in this game as well. He's deputising for the injured Rafinha and scored in the 2-1 victory this weekend. Atletico, again, the opponents on Wednesday, Paul. Yep. he has a golden chance, basically. Marco Rashford now, because with Rafinha's injury, there's a spot up for grabs in there. And I think that he's the most attacking-oriented player that Barca can use in there. They have no other option, because you have to be playing Tolmo or Fermin or even put Gabi in there. So the best attacker to play in there is Marco Rashford. He delivered, in a way, against Atletico de Madrid because he scored.

36:34And I think that he is going to start on Wednesday, for sure, plus playing at home. And yeah, it's basically if Marcus Rashford wants Barcelona to make an effort for him in Soma, the next eight weeks are going to define it for him. He has to prove his value. And this Rafinha injury, which has been seen as a drama in Barcelona, for him is a golden chance, as I will say.

36:55Pol Ballus: OK. Paul, quick roundup of the other news from La Liga before we move on. Mallorca's victory, I mentioned it moved them past Sevilla down in the relegation race. Sevilla, who lost 1-0 at last place, Oviedo, and now only two points off the bottom three themselves. This with their new manager. What do you think, Sevilla? I think Sevilla are in a dangerous place. I think that the squad that they have, it put them at risk of fighting for relegation. But looking at the form of everyone, I still think that the three teams that are right now in the relegation zone, which are Elche, Levante and Oviedo, which are also the three teams that got promoted last season, I think that they are the biggest candidates to get relegated.

37:38Although Sevilla, given the form and the ownership problems and everything going on, they have a real chance if they don't awake at some point. There's the Sergio Ramos takeover that we're going to have some news, I think, in three weeks, if that is successful or not and if this can go through, basically. But yeah, a lot going on in Sevilla, new manager, as you said, and not a lot of improvement on the pitch. so for them the best shot for them is that the other three teams they don't improve their form significantly basically Right

38:09Pol Ballus: their neighbours are Betis while significantly higher up the table aren't doing too much better six straight games without a victory a goalless draw with Espanyol this weekend which means that Celta Vigo perhaps the story of the season of this Liga season are now only a point behind they beat Valencia 3-2 at the weekend and are now looking really good for European football Yeah yeah absolutely Licella and Davigo are a team that I will never get tired of praising. A manager that has been homemade, the team that is filled with homemade talent as well. Young players from Galicia who were playing for the second team, they are suddenly thrown in the first team.

38:43They have an identity, really proactive attacking football. Just really fun to watch them. And yeah, and Real Betis, who has a team possibly more filled with the stars, now is struggling a bit. I think that Anthony has been really inconsistent over the past few weeks. he has some glimpses but he's not the player that week in week out delivers for Real Betts and let's see how they do against the Sporting Braga quite a good team I'm going to support Braga here I have a good friend working for Braga right now so yeah I'm going to keep a close eye on that OK that's coming up on Thursday

39:15Pol Ballus: in the Europa League action Next up let's hear about Paris Saint-Germain ahead of their visit from Liverpool

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42:31Pol Ballus: PSG taking on Liverpool in the Champions League. Prisidents have won their last four knockout ties against Premier League opposition. They also beat Liverpool more or less this time last season, a previous round last season. A Liverpool side who come into this game having given up, in the words of their captain, in the course of their 4-0 shellicking at the hands of Man City this weekend. How did Paris Saint-Germain get on this weekend, Tom? They won 3-1 at home to Toulouse on Friday night. I'm glad they played. Yeah, played this weekend, just gone. Will not be playing this weekend to come. To be fair, they could take a weekend off and see the points and still win the title probably at this point.

43:14If they could now. Yeah. I mean, that was in the context of the Ligue 1 title race. The main takeaway from this weekend is that Lens have probably now given up all hope of winning the title because they lost on Saturday in the Derby du Nord against Lille. And PSG had done the business against Toulouse the evening before. So they're now four points clear PSG with a game in hand against Nantes, who are dreadful. And yeah, Luis Enrique mixed up his team selection for the game against Toulouse on Friday night. clearly with one eye on the first leg against Liverpool. But Ousmane Dembele, the star of the show again.

43:52And for the third time this year, he scored a double that was made up of what?

43:58Pol Ballus: Is that what they call it? A brace in French? Un doublé? What would you call it? Le l 'air de son doublé? De son doublé? No, that sounds weird now. I'll think about it. I'm in English language mode, so it's the neurons on. Un d 'un pied. Un d 'un pied. In Spanish, doble pack. In Spanish, doble pack. Doble pack. Love that. And triangle up for the nuts. Seb said doble pack. Doble pack. Doble pack. Doble pack. The romance. Anyway. Yeah, so un doble pour Ousmane Dembele. And yeah, each of these three braces have been made up of one goal that was all right. And one goal that was absolutely sensational.

44:40And this, of all the sensational goals, is the most sensational, Tom? Dembele was asked this question and he said for him the best goal he's scored this season was still that impossibly delicate chip against Lille a few weeks back. He also scored a lovely solo goal in the 5-0 win against Marseille. This was an absolute belter. It's 0-0, pierce cheer attacking, ball goes into the box from the right, Toulouse defender clears it. Dembele's standing just outside the area, doesn't need to move his feet at all, realises the ball is landing exactly where he wants it to. He kind of leans back, hits it on the laters of his left foot, flies into the top right corner, and that was PSG up and running.

45:20It's the way, it's such a difficult goal to pull off.

45:23Pol Ballus: And he does it so nonchalantly. He's so insouciant. He literally doesn't move, watches the ball. It's a bit like sometimes you see a manager, for example, on the sidelines, high ball comes in and they just kill it. But he does that and pulls off this remarkable volley. Yeah, absolutely. Just without taking his hands out of his pockets, essentially. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kavisio Gratiskelia, who was, you know, kind of standing between Dembele and the net, kind of puts his hands on his head. You know, the trademark, you know, now approved fashion for showing approval of a teammate's exploit. Yeah, and, you know, Dembele's had a very complicated season.

46:02Huge expectation around him these days now that he's the Ballon d 'Or. Lots of injury problems, which, you know, briefly brought to mind his struggles at Barcelona. But he's shown this year that when he's fit, he is still capable of hitting the heights that he hit last season. And there is now that sense that last season wasn't just a one-off. The planet's all aligning. He is still the player. He could, you know, he could well do it again. Crikey. Dubla. Dubla.

46:30Pol Ballus: So, Launce now four points back after their defeat at the hands of Lille, who have now gone eight matches unbeaten. They've had three wins in a row. But just moving on a little bit to the Champions League race, the race for Champions League places in Ligue 1. So you have Lens in second place still, and you have Paris Saint-Germain four points clear of them. But the race for third spot has Lille and four other teams separated by just three points. So it's Lille, Marseille, Monaco, Lyon and Rennes. You've got Gary O 'Neill, Strasbourg, further four points back. was the key result in this cluster of sides, this weekend's game between Monaco and Marseille?

47:10I mean, it was. I think Lille beating Lens, and certainly in the manner that they beat them as well, has put them in the driving seat because all of a sudden they're third and they were on this terrible run of form earlier on this year. You know, questions about Bruno Ginezio's future. They just weren't scoring any goals and things have fallen into place for them. And I watched this game on Saturday night and Lens just didn't get a kick. Lille flew out of the traps. I should say that the game got off to a slightly farcical start because there was this huge Tifo that looked like it was attached to the roof of the stadium.

47:49It was one of those kind of like club, you know, kind of approved Tifos and it gets lifted up as the teams come out. Then it got stuck and they couldn't get rid of it. So all the fans sitting behind the TIFO, and there would have been, you know, a few hundred, couldn't see the game, which by now was underway. Another thing that happened was that a lot of the fans in the stadium...

48:11Pol Ballus: What did they do about the TIFO? Well, they tried to get it down for a while, but while this was happening, a lot of the fans in the ground were letting off flares. Right. You know, Derby du Nord, big fixture. And Lille had decided to close the roof on the stadium at Stade Pierre-Maurois. and as a consequence the smoke had nowhere to go so you had hundreds of fans stuck behind a TIFO and therefore unable to see what was happening on the pitch But even with that TIFO out the way they wouldn't have been able to see anything Well the players couldn't see each other because there was nowhere for the smoke to go and at one point the referee had to stop the game and allow time for the smoke to clear Did anybody know he'd stop the game?

48:48Well I'm sure there were probably some people who had no idea whatsoever They'd stop playing Yeah People following the TIFO In the end play did resume they managed to kind of you know pull the TIFO down and the Lille fans got to see their team avenging their own 3-0 defeats at Lenshans earlier in the season. Matthias Fernandes-Pardo, who we've discussed a couple of times on the pod in recent weeks, who is born in Belgium, came through the youth system at Ghent, but who has suggested that he would be quite keen on playing for Spain internationally. I think one of his parents is Spanish, but he's had call-ups from some of the Spanish youth teams that he has turned down.

49:28So he's still yet to truly commit to either Belgium or Spain. But he's been exceptional for Lille in recent weeks. He was playing through the middle. That's been quite a big factor in their return to form. They were heavily dependent on Olivier Giroud, who is, you know, not as young as he once was. Hamza Igamam, the former Rangers striker, is injured. And they're now playing Fernandes Pardo through the middle. He set up the first goal, Vahakon Haraldsson, just before half-time. Also scored the third from the penalty spot and is, you know, very much the symbol of this return to form that Lille are enjoying.

50:00So yeah, they're in the driving seat. Marseille dropping points against Monaco, having lost to Lille just before the international break. Bad weekend for them. Lyon could only draw 0-0 away at Angers. They were on a 13-game winning run, which is one short of the club record. They're now on a nine-game win-less run, which is a pretty extraordinary change of fortunes. and Rennes came out on top in a very lively game at Brest on Saturday. Four-three winners. Esteban Le Paul with a double from the penalty spot. He is now joint top scorer in Ligue 1 and they are all in the mix for Champions League qualification.

50:39Wow.

50:39Pol Ballus: Seb, who would you declare for if your international prospects were in discussion? I think I'm still a couple of years away from being able to declare for Germany. Okay. How many years do you have to have been there? uh seven i think but that's what you would do you would suit up for the man shaft would you yeah i think so i i it's based on there's no there's no real sort of footballing logic behind it other than germany's facilities when you go away on international duty for germany oh my goodness swimming pool like oh yeah yeah i know i i like i i would fancy myself in some sort of reserve goalkeeper yeah a squad player you know not really playing but just being involved and being good for morale.

51:20A vibes guy? Yeah, yeah. Like, you can play me at darts. I'll get on the PlayStation. I don't have to play. I won't take minutes for anybody else. It's fine. Tom? The only country that I currently qualify to play for would be England via a grandparent. No, obviously, I think you meant if I was going to change allegiances. Oh, I see. Right, yeah. Obviously, you'd play for Wales. But who would you choose Wales? Okay, fine. Oh, yeah. I thought you meant if you were to switch allegiances. No, no, no. I meant who would you choose? Oh, right, yeah. No. Paul? Paul? Spain? Catalonia. Yeah, I mean, I'm only eligible for one country right now, so I don't have much to choose.

51:56Okay. That's a question that James Honkastel tends to make me. Yeah, okay. And what about James' answer to that question?

52:03James Horncastle: Ooh, interesting. Oh, for me? Yeah. I have only one nationality I can choose.

52:10Pol Ballus: No, but if your nationality with all the current... Well, I'm sure in the same way that you... to find an ancestor or whatever.

52:20James Horncastle: Yes, which you used to be able to do down in Calabria if you were sort of a South American football player in the 90s. You've at least set foot in Italy, unlike Ritegwi, who's currently up front for his series. So, yeah. No, James, you know, after the embassy very kindly honoured us, it would be very difficult not to accept the call from Italy were it to ever come.

52:42Pol Ballus: Unless England would step in with any offers themselves of honours. they want to honour us out could be that would sway our you know who we are King Charles anyway sorry Italy that's where the heart yeah oh yeah undoubtedly undoubtedly very good Tom we talked about how good Dembele was at the weekend how great he's been since the turn of the year really injury when his injuries have permitted what do you think PSG are going to do to Liverpool this time around Well it's interesting to make the comparison between this tie when it took place last season in the last 16 because that was the first time we got a glimpse of the team that PSG became last season I mean they'd kind of squeezed out of the league phase they'd beaten Brest 10-0 on aggregate in the playoff round and then in that first leg against Liverpool at the Parc des Princes they were incredible absolutely pummeled them into the ground and lost 1-0 through a Harvey Elliott goal right at the end.

53:44Then Bele levels the tie in the second leg and they win on penalties. And I think there was a feeling that this was a deserved victory. And Liverpool at the time were arguably Champions League favourites, having finished top of the league phase and flying towards the league title in the Premier League. This time around, we know that Liverpool are having a very difficult season, go into this off the back of that, that very one-sided defeat against Manchester City in the FA Cup. And PSG in the last 16 tie against Chelsea showed signs that they are beginning to move through the gears. Very open first leg, which they ended up winning 5-2.

54:20A lot of similarities with the game against Manchester City and last season's Champions League that was the launch pad for them to go on and win it. But then I thought the second leg in particular at Stamford Bridge, Piersage didn't give Chelsea a kick, you know, 2-0 up very quickly, end up winning 8-2 on aggregate. And there were kind of moments, particularly during the first half, when they were popping the ball around, The fans are O-laying. Chelsea can't get near them. And you thought, that looks a lot like last season's PSG. I guess the only concerns would be a couple of absentees. Fabian Ruiz, who hasn't played since the end of January due to a knee injury.

54:55Bradley Barkula, who's going to miss this game as well. And then the goalkeeper situation. Matt Vey-Safonov, who's generally been quite convincing, but who was really poor against Toulouse. There was a moment PSG had just gone 1-0 up and a long ball was played forward and he came running out to the edge of his box, presumably to try and head it clear, totally misjudged the bounce of the ball and it just bounced over his head. Ilya Zabani had to come in and put the ball out for a corner. From that corner, Safinov completely flaps at it and Toulouse ended up equalising. And that was one of his worst displays, I think, since he's been at PSG.

55:31And of course, Gianluigi Donnarumma was such an integral part of what PSG did last season. They would not have won the Champions League had they not had an exceptional goalkeeper. They do not have an exceptional goalkeeper at the moment, which makes you wonder whether they're going to be capable of doing the same kind of thing. So important in knockout football. Jesus Donnarumma. Indeed. Yeah.

55:49Pol Ballus: Very good. Thanks, Tom. Let's get on to City Annex.

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58:40You'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.

58:56Pol Ballus: Hey James, Lautaro Martinez is back. And is he banging?

59:01James Horncastle: He is scored after one minute in Inter's 5-2 shellacking, to use your word, of Roma. And they have really missed him. They've been going through a rough patch going into the international break. And, you know, Lautaro was already the kind of top scorer in the league this season, but he makes the players around him better. And you could see that the limitations of his strike partners or some of his other teammates really came to the fore when he wasn't there. And, yeah, this was a real statement from Inter, not only from Lautaro, but also from the Italian players who came back from, you know, what the Inter president said, particularly in relation to Alessandro Bastoni, he was against the stringing up of Bastoni.

59:47James Horncastle: He was against that. He was against it, yes. He found it shameful. And Bastoni being the player who obviously got sent off towards the end of the first half when Italy were 1-0 up in Bosnia. It came sort of six weeks after Bastoni had, in the debut d 'Italia against Juventus, duped the referee into getting Pierre Calhul, the Juventus defender, sent off and then celebrated that decision. So, right. There was a lot of feeling that karma was playing a part in this. There was a lot of feeling that karma was at play. And yeah, really interesting last few days seeing kind of Mondo Inter, you know, their inter-world kind of sort of rally round its own, particularly Bastoni, because remember before the international break, Paul was telling us about Barcelona's interest in Bastoni.

1:00:37James Horncastle: And yeah, this story, since Paul broke it, has really sort of started to roll in Italy because of what's happened subsequently with Bastogne to the point where Beppe Bergami, you know, the kind of former Intercaptain legend, now a very prominent TV pundit, was on the radio saying, you know, this boy, this boy Alessandro, you know, who's sort of such a big Inter fan. he's got San Siro tattooed on his calf with the snake of Inter. You know, we've created an environment around him where he now has to leave Italy. And this is a disgrace. This is shameful. So, you know, Bastoni was substituted when Inter were far and away ahead of Roma on Sunday night.

1:01:19James Horncastle: All of San Siro gets to its feet, you know, sort of standing ovation for Bastoni. But certainly the Inter players have been the players who've come under most attack from the media since the national team went out. A, because Federico Di Marco, one of the leaders of Inter, was seen celebrating during the penalties in Wales, Bosnia, suggesting that he wanted Bosnia over Wales. And then Francesco Pio Esposito, the big hope of Italian football, stepped up to take the first penalty in the shootout against Bosnia and missed it. So there's a lot of focus on Inter and that game against Roma on Sunday night, which they won, which means the game we won't have time to talk about today because it's tonight, Milan-Napoli, or it was last night, if you're listening to this.

1:02:10James Horncastle: Everyone thought that maybe if Roma could upset Inter, it would allow Milan or Napoli to close the gap and really make the title race even nervier than it felt like it might get in the international break.

1:02:23Pol Ballus: Yeah, Napoli taking on Milan on Monday evening, but Inter are nine points clear of them. The defeat, meanwhile, leaving Roma sixth now. Level on points with the event is behind a goal difference. Juve, though, with the game in hand, they're taking on De Rossi's Genoa on Monday. Roma also three points behind Como, who are in the top four, and played Udinese. Actually, sorry, four points now because they played Udinese earlier today, and it was a very disappointed goalless draw. After all, a lot of excitement about Como. Como, though, will be Inter's opponents next weekend at the Senegalia. So, yeah, maybe the title race could get reopened then.

1:03:00Pol Ballus: We can discuss that in a week. In a week. But a quick word on Bologna, Villa and Fiorentina, the Crystal Palace, before we perhaps finish off our Italian chat with a look at who might be taking over from Gennaro Gattuso.

1:03:14James Horncastle: Yeah, Bologna seems to be coming good at the right time. You know, Vincenzo Italiano, very much a cup manager. and that extra time 4-3 win against Roma in the last round of the Europa League has kind of really sort of invigorated their season and Fiorentina are making sort of baby steps to get out of the relegation Maya. They played Verona which was very much seen as a relegation six-pointer on Saturday and Niccolò Fagioli, who was left out of the national team set up for these playoffs, he scored a very late goal, the only goal of the game. And it came quite against the run of play. Verona had had like 30 shots.

1:04:02James Horncastle: Fiorentina had had like six. But for Fiorentina to win late, I think particularly when teams were in that very tense relegation battle, to win late against a team that is also fighting against the drop. It always leads to this big release of tension afterwards and you kind of saw that. So yeah, Fiorentina Palace should be great, really.

1:04:28Pol Ballus: Okay, Bologna Villa too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. A choice of viewing on Thursday evening. And a rare example of a game between two teams where you can make the colour of one team's kit by blending the colours of the other team. It's Fiorentina every time they play Genoa and Cagliari, I guess. But then that's Fiorentina. I like it though, Tom.

1:04:53James Horncastle: You're thinking of other examples. They're rare, you see.

1:04:59Pol Ballus: Gattuso's gone. The man who picked him, Gigi Buffon, is gone. The head of the Efficici, the Italian FA, will be going. Gravina in the summer when they elect his replacement from the coterie of young pretenders kind of be lining up for the role. Who do you think the new manager is going to be? And of the changes, so this is the third time around, as we detailed at the start. This time, do you see changes are happening?

1:05:29James Horncastle: Well, I think the reason why Gravina, who is the Italian Football Federation president and has been since 2018, I think the reason why he was hanging on to power and didn't want to resign, even though this is the second time Italy failed to qualify for a World Cup under his direction, is he was saying, well, judge me on all of the work that I've done here. Because this time last year, I was voted back in for a third term with 98 % of the vote. Felt quite North Korea.

1:06:05And...

1:06:07James Horncastle: He believed he got that approval because in 2024, Italy had won the Euros at under-17 level. They won the Euros at under-19 level. UEFA gave them this special award that nobody's ever heard of called the Maurice Berlaz Award.

1:06:24Pol Ballus: Oh, yeah.

1:06:24James Horncastle: For the federations that do the best work with youth development. Really? Yeah. And then last year as well, the women's team came within seconds of reaching the European Championship final for the first time ever. They conceded a 96-minute equaliser and then conceded with the last kick of the game in extra time. And so Gravina was very much like, judge me on what I've done up and down the pyramid, not just at the top of the pyramid. And so he also felt that he was at the beginning of this four-year reform plan. So he got re-elected in 2025. And this four-year reform plan that he put in place, which was called something like Full Sail or Full Speed Ahead or something.

1:07:09James Horncastle: Calcio is back. Calcio is back. But there's a lot of kind of quite sensible reform plans in there. Sort of like, can we lobby the government to give us tax breaks that make it cheaper to develop players and encourage investment in academies? Can we get a percentage of the revenue made from betting on football every year to then reinvest that in our academies and infrastructure? Can we get rid of this ban that Italy has led on and the Premier League is only going to do next year? The ban on betting sponsors on shirts and stuff like that, which, again, is just like a bit of desperation there. It's like morally, yeah, let's compromise that if it means we get more money to invest in our academies.

1:07:59James Horncastle: And then sort of a stadium reform law, which, you know, already over the last couple of years, we have seen small progress. Right. In terms of San Siro finally getting the green light, the work at the Artemio Franci. Right. So that's why he was, if you're wondering why did this shameless guy not immediately resign? It was all because of that.

1:08:23Pol Ballus: Which is all fair enough. The stadiums are a separate issue, but a very important one with Italy due to be co-hosting the Euros in six years' time with Turkey. And I think currently only one stadium in Italy is Edoneo or Edoneo, however you say it. It's eligible. Eligible. But the one specifically about the Italian national side, there has been great success for the junior teams. Do you think then, ironically, that the changes that needed to be made to bring through to ensure better generations of Italian players were already in place but just hadn't arrived soon enough? Or was this just a question of, because we've seen great Italian youth teams before over the years, countless times, and they've never quite arrived at senior level or matched that success to senior level.

1:09:09Pol Ballus: And a lot of people put that down to the lack of game time and the tactical inhibitions that they're placed under when they do, if they do get a place in the top flight. Where do you stand on that? Do you think that there is actually better times already around the future or does there need to be big reform?

1:09:26James Horncastle: I think it's incontrovertible that players under the age of 21 or lower do not play enough in Serie A. yeah i think that remains a concern it's something that clubs and coaches have to work on but to your point james about young players coming through it just feels like they take longer to come through in italy for example the team that reached the under 21 european championship final in 2013 was the the team which had marco verati lorenzo insigne and and Turi Immobile in. And, you know, sort of in 2021, those players were really kind of, well, particularly Verratti and Insigne, were kind of integral to Italy winning the European Championships.

1:10:14James Horncastle: So I think the frustration is, is that obviously in other countries, players who were part of that, the team that Italy lost to in that under-21 final in 2013, a lot of great Spain players, like I was going to name Morata, but like a lot of those players went away and immediately made that switch right from under 21 to first team whereas it felt like it took a lot longer for for those italy players so you know i think it's it is encouraging that there are a collection of very good under 17 and under 19 players you know maybe not as good as the under 17 and under 19 players that played for italy in the 80s and 90s but but that's almost like an impossible bar to write these guys with it's the italian mothers isn't it it's the italian mothers yes marito sarri um the the lazio coach um he was asked would you consider taking over the national team job he's like i've never really thought about it to be honest and he's like well what do you think needs to be done we need to invest more in academies and he was like no i don't think i don't i think academies produce okay players but you know sort of, it's the mums.

1:11:24James Horncastle: It's the mothers. It's the mums that produce talent. And then Luciano Spoletti, the Juventus coach, he named Roberto Baggio's mum, Francesco Totti's mum, Fabio Cannavaro's mum. And he was very much like, I'm sure there are still mums like these out there. We need a sentiment-y mum, don't we? Yeah. Yeah.

1:11:49James Horncastle: So, yeah, just put faith in mother nature.

1:11:53Pol Ballus: Yeah, for sure. All right. And Conte is currently the front runner for the Italy job, but there's a ways to go.

1:11:59James Horncastle: There's a ways to go because there isn't a president who's been elected yet. But, you know, what I find slightly baffling, but at the same time quintessentially Italian, is that, you know, one of the front runners is a guy called Giancarlo Abete. Who already resigned after Italy failed to get out of the group stage of the 2014 World Cup. And Abete, who was in his 70s, is now one of the frontrunners to sort of come back and become president.

1:12:29Pol Ballus: Yeah.

1:12:31James Horncastle: You know. So, yeah. So, that's why you have some people writing editorials on the front pages of broadsheet newspapers in Italy saying,

1:12:45Pol Ballus: destroy everything destroy everything alright well very good sure we'll have lots of chance to talk about Italy and their struggles down the line but let's move on because we've still got Germany to talk about and also quick word on sporting against Arsenal This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson part of the Athletic FC podcast network PSV Eindhoven are Dutch champions for the third season in a row. Their 27th national title. They sealed it with five matches left of the season this weekend. They beat Utrecht 4-3, while second place Feyenoord could only manage a 0-0 draw with Wurlandam, which means they're 17 points clear, PSV, and are thus champions.

1:13:34Pol Ballus: In Portugal, title race still on. Porto are ahead by five points. Sporting in second place have a game in hand Sporting in a good run of form they've won three straight games now in all competitions scoring five goals then four goals and then four goals in those three matches you will note that Sporting's next opponent for a team called Arsenal will be visiting them at the Jose Alvalade do Sporting have a good record at the Jose Alvalade? Tom? Yes they do how many games is it now that they've won in a row there? Quite a lot. Quite a lot. Let me just check. They have won each of their last 17 matches there.

1:14:15Pol Ballus: Oh, good thing Arsenal haven't just lost two key games in a row. Oh. Tom, you've seen Sporting a couple of times this season, I'm guessing, because among the many sides that they beat in their Champions League league phase were Paris Saint-Germain and also Marseille, both of whom were defeated at the Alvalade. What do you make of Sporting? Yeah, very dangerous team. you know we saw that in the round of 16 obviously lost 3-0 away at Bodo Glimt and you know came flying back in the return leg levelled it up took it to extra time ended up running out 5-0 winners on the night they have won all of their Champions League home games this season you know beaten some decent teams from what I've seen they're a team who are quite happy not to have the ball but then counter-attacked very quickly and yeah I think particularly at home ordinarily a team would prefer to be at home for the return leg but I think knowing that the Arsenal are as fragile as they currently seem Sporting will look at this first leg as an opportunity to you know get get a win and and really put Arsenal under pressure under the away leg so yeah it's a pretty uh pretty daunting assignment these days an away game at Sporting.

1:15:28Very much so that game coming

1:15:30Pol Ballus: up probably later this evening listener of course it's the Victor Gorker age derby almost forgot to mention that's where Victor used to play and scored lots of goals remarkable 97 in 102 performances Seb you were just just gesticulating a classic Jokeres goal celebration felt funny at the time it was instinctive yeah wonder if he'll be he'll be the one celebrating come Tuesday night we just don't know Bundesliga Seb we mentioned before Bayern's mighty nine-point lead they got the goals even without Harry Kane away at Freiburg this weekend. Dortmund keeping pace, if you can call it that, from a safe distance, with their 2-0 win at Stuttgart behind Dortmund.

1:16:11Pol Ballus: You've got another nine-point gap down to a cluster of teams who are battling over the other two Champions League places. Leipzig here leapfrogging Stuttgart into third spot with their 2-1 win at Werder Bremen. But the big winners were our friends Leverkusen, who thumped Wolfsburg, relegation stricken Wolfsburg, 6-3. Poco gegen Lindström.

1:16:35James Horncastle: Kommt vorbei, Poco. Das ist überragend. Und Timmen setzt den Schlusspunkt. Yeah, and if you looked at the pictures of that Wolfsburg bench at full time, that kind of screamed relegation. They'd taken the lead twice in this game. They were one up. There were three one up. And then Leibnizka scored five straight goals, 6-3. and because of the point that St. Pauli got on Sunday they're now four points off even the relegation playoff with an inferior goal difference, Jimbo and they are running out of time and this would be, we've mentioned it before but a ridiculous underperformance from that group of players unfortunately and they brought in Dieter Hecking seems like it's too late it seems like it's too late they have improved in certain areas but this is going to require a very long very painful inquest i think uh it's been an absolutely dreadful season full of questions about individual players coaching uh sporting directors strategy and not just concerning this season this has been coming i'm afraid so um bad news for them yeah but you mentioned good news for leverkusen there was also other good news because hoffenheim um who really have been one of the stories of the lindsliga have physically overpowered so many teams and have been so so improved uh this season they lost at home to Mainz um really really disappointing performance good moment for Mainz though two goals from Philippe Tietz and there's a fun little story from that so before before this game his daughter had charmingly said hey daddy uh scoring goals is easy and had drawn a little picture of a bee um on a piece of paper that he put inside his uh his shin pads he'd scored twice and uh showed the uh showed the little picture to the tv cameras after i can't remember which one of his goals it was but after one of them which is kind of fun that's nice um yeah so uh levke is moving the right direction they're one point now behind hoffenheim um hoffenheim whose momentum is gone their energy is gone i think their confidence might have gone unfortunately because that was a great story they deserve of Champions League football for everything they did between August and probably I'd say the second week of March and now not so much so let's see where that goes Eintracht Frankfurt uh interesting situation we've mentioned Albert Riera a couple of times as someone who you know a coach who should be no should be watched and paid attention to very bombastic very charismatic really interesting press conferences and that's quite affronting for for some members of the puntocracy Germans are a bit more conservative and so when you have someone that talks themselves up and who is is pretty you know comfortable talking about strategy and and pretty dead set on their belief system there will be a people there'll be people who say right i kind of want this guy to fall in his face and we're not at that stage with rary yet because this squad needs an overhaul it needs major surgery in the summer they need uh new signings and additions in central defense probably goalkeeper possibly in central midfield depending upon who gets sold in the summer but really they need to add to that area anyway but it's it's just at that stage where is it going well the novelty is kind of worn off the honeymoon period is over let's see how this goes but let's let's get some let's get some positive results going because it's um yeah the season threatens to end um without much momentum i'm afraid so let's see where that goes yeah a whopping 10 points behind

1:20:06Pol Ballus: Leverkusen in sixth spot and European football. Crikey. Seb, we've left not too much time for you in the Bundesliga round. Any one other thing that we should know before we wrap up today's show? No, I think let's just encourage listeners to find time to watch two things. Firstly, Matthias Pereira-Lage volley against Union Berlin on Sunday. Pretty violent. As pure a contact as you can find. And then the own goal that Augsburg very very very nearly scored uh at the Volkspark stadion against as well on Saturday where you might remember a very old and lineagant own goal from I want to say like 92 93 um Fender loops it back towards his goalkeeper in goal for Augsburg Finn Dahman who realized is just about in time that he's getting lobbed from about 40 yards by his own Lee Dix center back uh and but then manages to kind of just about get a shoulder onto the ball and deflect it onto the crossbar brilliant goalkeeping under terrible circumstances but he was um yeah he was about six inches away from finding himself on uh whatever today's version of nick hancock's football nightmares would be i think it was lee dixon rather than andy linigan who lobbed his own goalkeeper andy linigan scored a famous headed own goal at some point but lee dixon first day of the season where he just he drops over his hair over his shoulder and he just volleys it over david seaman is that the one Arno doesn't know he's about 40 yards out and there's about a minute on the clock and he tries to play a back pass and just slightly overcooks it maybe it's not that one okay okay it's a classic of the genre Tom either way or it very nearly was but for Darwin's goalkeeping so go and find time for that please between this week and next week's show and watching all the amazing Champions League actions Seb thank you so very much so that's where we'll leave it for now loads of football coming up what's that Tom?

1:21:59I'm just going to definitely crowbar in oh yeah a mention for the fact that Vavavoom, One History of French Football

1:22:06Pol Ballus: You mean the book that's been sat in the bookshop over my shoulder? It's been very subtly positioned over your left shoulder, James. It goes on sale in paperback this Thursday. And we're going to have some kind of launch event at some point. Are we? Details TBC. With canapes? Canapes, also TBC. All right. But I will let our listeners know about that once I actually know about it myself. Have something snail-based. I mean, that would be ideal. In honour, you know. Very good The legs that we're all looking forward to right now Oh those are frogs aren't they I should have said frogs I mean snails are kind of just one giant leg Are they?

1:22:39They are really aren't they Science suggests Very good

1:22:43Pol Ballus: Thanks Tom Many thanks to James Horncastle To Seb To Paul To producer Lucy And you Listener We'll be back On Wednesday morning With our reaction to The Tuesday night Champions League action And then of course The Euro show rolls around again Next Tuesday for now from all of us here it's goodbye

1:23:06you'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

1:23:33James Horncastle: The Athletic FC.

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