Mourinho's Madrid beaten - and the Champions League returns!

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2:38Today, Champions League, league phase. We pick out the juiciest week one matchups. Serie A, a big weekend for Inter and Napoli. And Grosso misconduct with our first manager fired. France called it Ligue 1 believable as Monaco beat PSG the Prisians now a point off the drop and Spain where Troy Parrott downs Real Madrid most talked about Troy's setback since Matt Damon and that horse etc and we'll be running out all of that and more in this Toby Football Show

3:13Hello it's Monday the 7th of September and on the european show today hey james horncastle hello there james has just come back from the airport from italy i have yes yeah somewhat uh troubled flight troubled journey but he's here now there were no snakes on this plane no well just angry passengers angry angry tom williams is here how's your day been tom yeah less less dramatic than james horncastle's so far anyway but i mean i'm very pleased that he shared with us pre-show the full details of the airplane-based beef that he witnessed. It's an interesting thing to witness. People are going on planes.

3:55It's a stressful thing, flying, even if you think it's not. It is a stressful thing. And people do things that they will no doubt come to regret in a court of law afterwards and stuff like that. Paul Belous is with us. Hey, Paul. Hello. How are you? Yeah, I'm well. Yeah. Nothing. Are you Jimbo? I am and I am. How could I not be? Because it's the Champions League. Yes. The Champions League is back. And across three nights this week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, woof, a smorgasbord of top continental set twos. And, I mean, we'll have a moment of the week in a second or two. But, Paul, what's the game, what's the one game you're really looking forward to this week?

4:39I'm not going to be any original. I'm sorry, guys. But I'm going to go to Real Madrid Inter Milano. which is one of the headline games of the week and especially after what happened in the weekend with Real Madrid, the first defeat how the thing is starting to kick on the atmosphere from Real Madrid they lost the game, what's going to happen? how are they going to react? and putting Inter into that mix and Mourinho and the Bernabeu it's a game that we cannot miss basically Mourinho had a very special press conference today you know yeah lovely one to see yeah yeah yeah we'll touch on all of that we'll sprinkle that into the show shall we we certainly should James would your game this week also be Inter I guess for Real Madrid Inter or have you got your eyes on something else

5:33James Horncastle: no I think it is Inter

5:39James Horncastle: what are the other games I tell you we'll run through the fixtures in a second or two and then we can all pick one out uh tom unless you've got one ready to go right now i was going for a slight hipsters pick nice i thought i'd go for liel rail bettis that is hipster top liel who are going well under david a ancelotti in liga yeah two wins and a draw a draw that was almost a win over paris saint germain uh they didn't even beat paris saint germain and you didn't even beat paris saint germain i mean what are they what are they doing with themselves and Real Betis who's obviously just beaten Real Madrid you know plenty of Premier League legends in the in the lineup and on the bench Manuel Pellegrini Hector Beirin your Antonis yeah whoever else when's that on Tom Tuesday good it's probably Tuesday for you right now listener isn't it there you go all right well I've kind of done things out of order but now let's have a moment of the week before we get on to that Champions League stuff.

6:38Paul? Yeah, so basically I'm going to Villarreal to speak about the guy that you might know him. I'm going to say the name that he's being mentioned by kids around here. It's not something I'm proud about using right now, but he's named Pierre Emerick Orameyang right now because of the sort of goals that he's scoring. Yeah, basically. Who's come up with this name, Paul? Kids in Spain and They called him Aura, like golden. Aura, like this word that the kids are using, like Aura. Oh, right. He's Aura farming. Exactly. Aura Millang. Yeah, Aura Millang, basically. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So, Aubameyang, four goals in four games.

7:23Incredible. Put into that two assists. Deportivo de la Coruña played against Villarreal on the weekend. Villarreal got up two times. Deportivo de la Coruña equalized two times, thanks to two assists from Aubameyang. and then two minutes before the end of the game, counter-attack, Deportivo basically attacking Aubameyang on his own. He beats one defender and he beats the goalkeeper with a nice, a big-dinked finish. Yeah, he basically scored the winner. He is a fan favourite. He is among the top goal scorers in La Liga, just two goals beyond Rafinha, who has six goals in four games. And everyone lost him at Deportivo de la Coruña, which, I'm going to warn it, is possibly one of the coolest teams in La Liga this season for the type of players they have, young talent that they have recruited, and then old-school legends such as Aubameyang, Ximenez, like Atletico de Madrid centre-backs, he joined them on deadline day as well.

8:23So it's a really nice mix, a really lovely team to watch, and they have this sort of look of a project that is on his way up.

8:31James Horncastle: They also have a young goalkeeper called, is it Lucas Román Riquelme? Yeah, exactly. Is he? Yeah, yeah. Leo Roman. He's not as Leo Roman, but basically, yeah, he was called Leo and Roman because of Leo Messi and because of Roman Riquelme. That's nice. Oh, but no relation. No relation. It's like the Leeds boys, formerly Leeds boys, Ronaldo Vieira. His brother was called Romario. Romario, yeah. Leo Romano. That's a decent combo, isn't it? Yeah. Although he is Spanish and he's been to Spanish call-ups in the past. But yeah, he has a background in Argentina. Okay. Deputivo La Curunia. Probably the kids are calling them in Spain.

9:19Jesus. Yeah, maybe. Your moment of the week, Tom. Going to go for a poignant one this week. Just like when Seb picks an injury. Which is when Seb picks a terrible career-ending injury and just totally kills the mood in the room. I thought in Seb's absence, someone should do one of those. Is this going to involve acupuncture? Because I want to get some notes, if so. Sadly not. Okay. Nice were playing Le Mans over the weekend. It's 10 years on from the terror attack in Nice. Oh, right. Okay. That left 86 people dead. And that anniversary was commemorated in a really moving ceremony prior to kickoff, about 20 minutes before the game began, they cut off all the lights in the stadium and they asked all the supporters to illuminate the ground with the lights on their phones, which they all did.

10:10Then there was a group of children and young people standing around the center circle. And one by one, the names of the victims were read out over the loudspeaker. And these kids around the center circle held up a light for each one. And then when they'd finished doing that the uh they played uh nissa la bella like beautiful niece which is kind of like the unofficial anthem of the city of nice written in the local dialect and then about halfway through they cut the music and the state the supporters just carried on singing it acapella and you know you see these these moments uh you know before football matches and i i you know i tend to think that a football stadium is uniquely well suited to those moments of commemoration and i think this is up there with the most moving things i've ever seen in in a football stadium um so yeah uh a

11:02James Horncastle: fittingly touching tribute 10 years ago there was a banner from the inter ultras um commemorating it nice always with your head held high yeah yeah because they're pals aren't they i think the into ultras than east ultra i um after the hillsborough disaster i remember sansir is singing you'll never walk alone that's always been one of my kind of all time like oh my goodness that's kind of extraordinary but uh yeah yeah very good oh james your moment of the week is it the couple fighting on the plane because i really hope so no or just in case you're curious the couple had booked business but were seated outside of business but given business treatment well which they then turned down oh did they because they wanted the moral high ground yes but there was one moment where one of the passengers um when told that the meal options for her had been limited because for example it got like to the eighth or ninth or tenth row so some of the dishes that were on the menu were no longer available um the passenger then blanked the steward basically just turned around quite childish like and just refused to engage wow tremendous um so um so yeah no that was that was not my moment of the week being being two rows behind them um but um my moment of the week was I was in Turin sort of trying to persuade someone to give me an interview.

12:43James Horncastle: So I wasn't in the press stand at the Aventus Stadium. And whilst I was having something to eat, I noticed that there was someone on the table next to mine. Right. And it was Eros Ramazov. No! No! Oh. And who was he sat with? His minder, a child. Right. His minder was a child? That's a big responsibility. But honestly, he could not sit down because the number of people coming up to Eros for... And I kept hearing his sort of classic sort of, Dampo. Dampo. But there were other people in the room. Bonucci was there. Bonucci. Chiellini was there. But everybody wanted a selfie with Errol. How's he looking now?

13:43James Horncastle: I mean, great. Sensational. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was brilliant. Sono mani situazione. Honestly, every time I looked up whilst I was having my meal, he was where, let's say, Seb would be right now. in Hamburg he might be playing he might be in Hamburg if so hamburger folk get along to see him yeah okay woof well that was a vintage edition of moments of the week something for everyone heart tugging other things

14:31anyway let's get on to the champions league so it's match day one for the champions league league phase and there's some got some great fixtures hey for this opening round of matches real madrid against inter which you mentioned poll porto against man city barcelona up against feynaud when their former defender Giovanni van Bronckhorst. Napoli-Arsenal on the Wednesday, which I think could be a tough one for the home fans.

15:02James Horncastle: I was going to say, I don't think that is going to be as intimidating a place to go for Arsenal as it would have been in the past. Yeah. Liverpool up against Atletico that same night. There's no Pep this year. Yeah. Have you seen that picture, though, which kind of illustrates the Pep legacy of the Champions League? Basically, there's four Man City defenders and they are circling a Barcelona midfielder during a Champions League clash from, I think, 2014. All four Man City players are now coaching in this season's league phase. You've got Kolarov, who's the assistant manager at Inter. Yehia Torre, who's Slovan Bratislava manager and will be debuting in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain.

15:46Paris, no wins Paris Saint-Germain.

15:49James Horncastle: Unless you count the Super Cup, which you're not. Well, okay. Yeah, yeah. Since the Super Cup, no wins. Third Man City player is Vincent Kompany, who's very much Bayern Munich manager. They've got Bodo Glimt on Thursday. And the other Man City player is Martin Di Michalis, who is now manager of RB Leipzig. And here's the thing. He is going to be managing against Como, who are run by the Barcelona player in that picture, says Fabregas. Everything is Guardiola. Everything is Guardiola. being Pep Guardiola. Yeah, excellent. So, James, a couple of other matches that are taking place I haven't mentioned.

16:26Oh, Man United, Sabah, and other ones.

16:30James Horncastle: I like the story of the Lithuanian coach who started out because he won. Well, he didn't go far in the Lithuanian version of who wants to be a millionaire, but his winnings were enough to bring him to England where he did his coaching badges. Really? Yeah. This is the Sabah manager, is it? Yes. Really? Yeah. That's a great story. All right. I'm in. Michael Carrick against a former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire winner. Bring it on. Bring it on. Excellent. Tom, you gave us a great pick of a kind of left field choice. Is there one of those games that you think is going to provide an early season upset?

17:14I mean, I'm sure one of them will. You want me to pick one? I'm just saying, is there one that you think expectations are going to be a little bit… Yeah, I mean, I'm curious to see how PSG get on against Omen Batislava. They'll probably win, but just given that their domestic form has been so underwhelming, there are a few question marks around them. Yeah. Need to show up at some point. Looking forward to a chat about PSG later on because it is beginning to get… Interesting. A little bit head-scratching there for the folks. Paul, what do you think? Are we going to see an upset? Somewhere Real Betis is going to turn over our friends Lille?

17:51What are you looking forward to? Is it going to be an upset if Real Betis wins against Lille? Probably not. No? I mean, it could be something that could happen. I'm not sure about what to say. Because I was about to say another game that I'm waiting for is Liverpool-Atletico de Madrid. Yes. But I don't see an upset happening in there either. But I just can't wait to see Julien Alvarez starting for the team, basically. because he's expected to start and see how he does. But yeah, in terms of upsets, I'm not really sure. I think I'm quite conservative in these fixtures. What are the chances of Inter, do you think, piling on more misery for their former manager Mourinho?

18:32Inter, who are off to a brilliant start in Serie A and came from two goals down at the weekend to defeat Napoli to stay on top of the table, a fixture they will feel most keenly, you'd think,

18:45James Horncastle: uh yes i mean they uh went to the bernabao in 2010 won the treble i could say highest point of inter's history even with the the teams from the 60s um coming up against uh jose who was you know in that clinch outside the bernabao with materazzi as he um got into a car to go and see uh don Florentino. So yeah and obviously Christian Kivu the Inter coach was a member of that Inter treble winning team and Mourinho whilst he was at Inter he had loads of soundbites and one was Rumore delle Nimici which is like the noise of your enemies you know you can just always hear them sort of chatting behind your back and that sort of thing and Mourinho whilst he was at a bachelor whilst he was out of work last year he's a benfica he said something um about how these young coaches you know sort of come into the game get big jobs um too soon and this he didn't mention anyone but like this was put to kivu um and he didn't like it and he said it was the Rumore degli Amici.

20:02James Horncastle: Oh, nice. Rumore of friends. Yeah, so Jose was asked about that today. Like, have you heard from Christian? Have you been in touch with him? And Jose was like, have you been in touch with your mom today? Wow, your mother. Straight for the your mom. In a quite funny way. He was like, I shouldn't tell you who I've been on the phone with today. Are you going to tell me who you've been on the phone with today? so anyway Jose promised that he would embrace Christian I'm sure the game you're right Inter have been looking good they've sort of been trying to gradually phase in some of their three Lions Curtis Jones came on at the weekend and did quite well missed a bit of a sitter but also sort of involved in one of their comeback goals and yeah got a real sense of the belief in the Sinter team to come back from 2-0 down which napoli hadn't lost from a 2-0 lead since 1942 so okay wow 1942 yeah i mean this is the the encouraging thing if you're an arsenal fan preparing to go to naples right is that a leg what worked for allegory in the past was like we're two nil up i'm gonna go three at the back that's 15 minutes yeah but he didn't this time we put buddy a shile on he brought on right he brought on another centre-back.

21:23But they didn't shot the way you'd

21:25James Horncastle: expect a Napoli, an Allegri side to do. They shipped three goals. And so I knew as soon as that substitution happened, I was like, oh, Napoli are in trouble now. And Inter could have scored four or five. And this was, they had 29 shots on the day. Inter. Which is not something you associate with, you know, an Allegri side does not can see 29 shots. So, sort of speaks to a bit of the firepower that Inter have got, but this will be, this will be quite a test. I don't know what Paul's made of Madrid's defeat to Betis with Mbappe, what, missing a penalty. Yeah. Because they had looked good up until, up until that game.

22:11James Horncastle: They scored a lot of goals. So that's very much the Mourinho narrative that there are sometimes you lose a game and you can't really say por qué. Por qué. He does point to a couple of things, which, to be fair, I think Real Madrid were a little bit unlucky about in this game. What do you think, Paul? Yeah, no, I mean, if I'm honest, I think that Real Madrid played well enough to win the game. They missed a lot of chances in the first half. They were really on top of the game. Benicius missed basically an open goal. Mbappe missed another open goal in two attempts, basically to bet his defender saved the goal in the line, under the post.

22:51And yeah, I think that they were really on top of the game just to get the three-point back home. And then the second half, they were a bit lucky. It's true that they lost a bit the grasp of the game and that they still have the midfield problem that they sort of had last season, which is in a way why Barcelona fans celebrated that much that they signed Rodri and not Real Madrid because they just took away what they needed, basically, what their enemies needed. But they still have a problem. And then at the end of the game, they were lucky with the disallowed goal, which, of course, was offside.

23:29So there's no denial in there. But then the penalty. I don't know if you've seen the penalty that Mbappé missed, that Marc Barter basically jumps into the box. But as he's on the air while getting into the box, then Mbappé kicks like his penalty. so basically it doesn't count that he's inside the box because he's in the air so even if you enter the box aerially you're not encroaching and so you touch the turf no no so basically that's something that so this became a thing a couple of seasons ago in Spain in the promotion play of Tula Liga a game between Oviedo and Mirandes so basically a Mirandes defender did that he jumped into the box because he read the rule book before the game or beforehand.

24:14And he knew that if he was in the air, it doesn't count. And Mark Barter basically did the same. And in a post-match interview, I think it was to the zone, to the broadcasters, he basically said that he has a close friend that is a referee in the third division of Spain. And he told him that he could do that in a penalty. So he sort of timed the rune of Mbappe going to the penalty and jumped into the box. and then he was in a privileged position to basically after the selection of the keeper kick it out. Players are going to be starting their run up on the halfway line, launching themselves like a handball player.

24:51How close to the take of the penalty can you get? I mean, yeah. Mission impossible. Absolutely. Can you do this with offsides as well, Paul? Would that count if you were to jump offside? I think that it's not the case because the ball is in motion so there's a set play. Jim Ellison, who's third division referee friend, has let him down there. Jumping as he tries to make the offside, trying to draw the line. Where's he gone? Where's he gone? Where's he gone? So there you go. Anyway, the upshot was that Real Betis ran out 1-0 winners. The goal scored, as you no doubt heard, by Troy Parrott. Troy Parrott, it was his first goal for Real Betis against the manager who gave him his professional debut back in the day at Tottenham Hotspur.

25:38So, yeah, there you go. But, yeah, they perform well and had otherwise been a good start to the season. So, Real Madrid favourites, would you say, Paul? I would say so. I would be surprised if Real Madrid do not win this one. And if they don't do, I think that, I'm not going to say pressure is going to pile up, but more noise is going to pile up. I don't think that Mourinho will be questioned. But, yeah, there will be a lot of talk. There's already noise around Bini and Mbappe and the lack of defensive work. A bit of the same problems that we heard last season. Mourinho still has not taken them off in a game.

26:18So there's a bit of this feeling that they are untouchable and that if they don't have a good game, Madrid might have problems because they seem untouchable to some extent and that might not fit with the balance of the team and what the team really needs. Wow, this is an entirely new narrative for Real Madrid. Tom? Well, Mbappe in the pretty much press conference today was asked about that, about criticisms of him and Vinicius Junior not doing their fair share of defending compared to Barcelona forwards, for example. Rafinha and then Belé as well. Rafinha and, sorry, Rafinha and Anouspane and Belé.

26:54And he said something like, well, I could flip it around and say, you know, why aren't all the other players scoring as many goals as me? But I won't say that. yeah yeah he didn't mention that that's great I could say that but I won't that would be childish wow he also said that he sees himself as in a good position to win the Ballon d 'Or the he thinks that he can he is in a good year to win the Ballon d 'Or alright Vinny and Bapé they're like that couple aren't they not being sat in they'd better be sat in. Oh, yeah. Don't sit those two in business. You wouldn't hear about it. Yeah. What do you think, James, about Inter's chances?

27:38Look, I think this is a big game for Kibu

27:42James Horncastle: because Inter obviously have reached the Champions League final twice in the last four years. And in his first year, he did the double. And people thought maybe that team was the end of a cycle. So that was already seen as an achievement, but they were a big disappointment in Europe, particularly because going to the final four games of the league phase they were in a really good position in the top eight and then they got a bit unlucky in some of the big games there was that Florian Wurt's penalty against Liverpool which was never a penalty there was the um there was there were a few other Atletico they lose stoppage time but there was a sense that in the big games they would just come up short and this is a big game so um I know from a kind of ownership point of view it's really important that kivu went in to do well in europe this year and that doesn't mean win the thing but it means um not pass up opportunities i presented themselves like last year when even when they fell into the playoffs they had bodo yeah they went out to bodo if they'd beaten bodo they would have got sporting they should beat sporting and then they would play to arsene in the quarterfinal and if you go out to arsene in the quarterfinal so be it but I think it is important for him to show progress in the Champions League this year.

28:58Interesting. We mentioned Napoli's game with Arsenal. One of the reasons that that looks like a tough fixture for them is the fact that Scott McTominay is very much not available. Scott having a heart surgery, essentially, they're describing it as a minor intervento, but still it's going to keep him out for a while, but he'll be all right to come back.

29:18James Horncastle: He will be all right to come back, providing everything goes well. In Italy, they're particularly sensitive to these things. They have a different procedure for kind of signing off on a medical than we do here in the UK. It's why players who've had far worse heart problems than the one that was detected with Scott McTominay have had to leave Italy, like Christian Eriksson and Edouard de Beauvais because they've had a pacemaker fitted. I don't think that's going to be the case with McTominay. I think it's, as you said, something more minor. But this long international break, three weeks, kind of gives them an opportunity to do the operation now.

30:09James Horncastle: And he should theoretically be back in October. Okay. If everything goes well. He'll be lacking a bit of match fitness from that time because obviously I would imagine he wouldn't be able to train. But, yeah, Napoli were also talking about wanting to, you know, extend his contract as well and that sort of thing. But it means, yeah, he will not be involved. He was not involved at the weekend in the defeat to Inter. And, yeah, he's this, yeah, we've had Paul talk about aura. Scott has had, he's got a lot of aura about him. So he's a big miss. Main character energy, yeah. Well, it's a condition that he's been aware of for a long time, but there's been signs that it needed to be attended to.

30:54So it's great that it's being taken care of before anything more serious comes of it. Atletico Madrid against Liverpool. Atletico, who themselves have been off to a good start this weekend, coming a cropper in spectacular fashion. Paul, what do you feel about their chances at Anfield? Yeah, no, I mean, I still think that they are slim. Atletico yeah they got a bad result on the weekend against the Athletic Club they have a problem they don't have a nine basically and that's something that Simeone has been pleading for weeks just basically to bring him a nine because Julian Alvarez has been not really Jonathan David Paul

31:32James Horncastle: what are you talking about? Yeah but Jonathan David he was injured I think in the first game he couldn't play he was not on the match squad I don't know if he will be against Liverpool but yeah basically Atletico and Madrid had problems like salary limit-wise to bring in players. That's why they did a long last minute with Jonathan David. And this lack of balance I think that has had an impact on the performances in the start of the season. And that's why he's been practicing before that game with Kulian Alvarez in the starting line-up. Kuti Romero is also expected to make his first start as an Atletico player.

32:08So these are the two main tweaks that Simeone is just planning for this game. But yeah, they certainly need a a bigger president up front, because it was Ademola Lukman who was playing as a number nine. He was not happy about it, and like Simeone, basically he apologized to Lukman for using him in there, because he knew that he was making him a favor. But yeah, let's see how it works for them. Kangin Lee, the PSG player, is right now one of the biggest threats that Atletico de Madrid have, playing as a sort of number 10. And yeah, a bit of a team in the process of being built. In what can be a critical year for Simeone because he's on his last year of contract at the club and let's see what happens in there very interesting that game coming up i think on is that on wednesday that game this midweek yeah this midweek very nice all right wednesday at 8 pm very good we'll talk more about la liga and what's going on there and of course league very very shortly but let's start with europe's most open top division syria

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36:26All sorts of teams could be bidding for the title in Serie A, the Scudetto, this season. Two of them faced off this weekend, Inter against Napoli. We've touched a little bit on Inter's performance, and I guess on Napoli as well, but to what extent are they, the amount they've already fallen off defeated at home by Como, this defeat here as well. Do you still see them in that title picture this season?

36:54James Horncastle: I think it's a very interesting mix, Max Allegri and Napoli, because Napoli have been built over the last few years to play very attacking football, make what you will of Conte style. but he this time last year was trying to change and they were playing 4-2-4 Spalletti very attacking coach likes to usually have wingers and tens this isn't who Max Allegri has been the last few years he's played with the back three he's been someone who likes to play in a low block play on the counter attack and I think that's actually quite hard for these players They're not used to playing that way. They're used to having more of the ball.

37:40James Horncastle: They're used to having rehearsed attacking patterns. And at the moment, they don't really have that. And Kevin De Bruyne has not started a single game so far this season. Some feeling that that's because he came back from the World Cup, as others did. He didn't have a full preseason, blah, blah, blah. blah um but um i can't imagine he would enjoy playing in in a in a team that is practicing style of football um at the moment and they did very little business in the summer as well because um they spent a lot last summer and then conte looked at the players that they signed last summer and was like don't like any of these guys um so noah lang lorenzo luca you know please go it's Galatasaray and Forest um and in the meantime buy me some new players in January and then Luca and Lang returned in the summer and they've got all the players that they bought in January as well like Giovanni and so so Allegri has got like nine attacking players and he's not an especially attacking coach so it's a strange mix at the moment and um certainly Hayes got he's got a lot of work to do because you could say it's been a tough start playing como playing into and now playing arsenal um but at the same time this is napoli's centenary year they want to win something right currently down in 12th place yeah centenary year for fiorentina they commemorated that you mentioned a week ago by losing at home to newly promoted frozen only three nil they They'd previously been beaten 4-0 by Roma.

39:28This weekend, they went ahead against Torino, but still ended up losing, as a result of which Fabio Grosso has become the first managerial casualty of the season. Courtesy of your friend...

39:42James Horncastle: Giuseppe Bicomiso. There you go. I was watching him. You're right. Extraordinary. Just extraordinary. Had you not prepped me for this, I would have assumed it was, I don't know, Antonio Albanese doing his latest personage. but just a magnificent, compelling protagonist. Yeah. But basically, Fabio Grosso already out after three games. Yeah, and there were some great photos of Giuseppe Picamiz, like Commodus, kind of, in the stands, looking on, disgusted. Sort of not waving his tongue out and that sort of thing, but clearly disapproving on the showing that Fiorentina were giving. But I have great sympathy for Fabio Grosso.

40:27James Horncastle: because they've signed, I think, at least 13 or 14 players this summer. Four of whom arrived on deadline day. Willy Nyonto, Pedro Gonsalves, NG, there was another one. And yeah, that is a really difficult situation to be in because it's like you walk into that football club and you think, well, where is my core? You know, who are the people? in this dressing room who understand what Fiorentina is, what Florence is, what it means to represent this club and that sort of thing. And it feels like there's none of that. And so Grosso's quote last week about sort of having lots of nice pictures to hang, the walls on which to hang them, I think was absolutely right.

41:17James Horncastle: And they brought back Paolo Vignoli, who kept the club up last year after Paolo Vinoli went on a podcast last week and was like I don't know why I got fired I should have been given another chance and here he is he's got his chance that's great I should mention from Torino's point of view another great goal from Che Adams Che Adams and how about that Mandraga on a strike woof yeah Mandraga who left Fiorentina on the final day of the transfer window joined Torino first game is back bang in Florence and scores one of the goals of the weekend. Extraordinary strike. Yeah. Very, very nice. You also went along to Juve and their 1-1 draw with Milan, or at least you were in town for that, but I think in the restaurant with Erizz, but Amazotti at the same time.

42:06I was at the stadium. Oh, you were at the stadium?

42:07James Horncastle: No, we were in the stadium together. Oh, right. He was a guest. Oh, right. Okay. Yannick Sinner was there as well. I'm trying to think of, there were quite a lot of, I mean, it attracted a lot of big Italian names. Nice. Big game. Well, it used to be. Used to be. And it saw Milan take the lead through their remarkable 19-year-old. Pronounce this name for me. Alfadji Cissé. I think that's right. Alfadji Cissé. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Who's been the great news of their start of the season, huh? Scored in two of their first three games. Plays on the left wing. loves to cut inside takes chances takes players on takes risks had a great year last year in Serie B with Catanzaro the tutelage of St.

43:00James Horncastle: Alberto Aquilani and you know as a promising young Italian player the expectation is that he will be in Roberto Mancini's first Italy squad back good which is yeah it's very very encouraging A lot of interesting things in Serie A, the debate at the moment is games like we had, for example, the Inter-Napoli game or even Como-Geno on Friday night where Como, Daniel De Rossi said, was the best team he's ever coached against in Serie A. Geno went a goal up, Como came back and beat them 4-1. Yeah. And people in Italy are saying this is because the referees have been told to take a lighter touch and let it flow.

43:46James Horncastle: And so fewer fouls are being whistled. We saw in the Inter-Napoli game on one of Inter's comeback goals, Rachmani, Inter-Napoli centre-back, sort of down in the penalty area for like 30 seconds and they play on score. and it's this kind of relaxation of the rules to mean that games are played at sort of higher tempo, more football is played. And yeah, on Sky Italia last night, they had the effective time, so ball in play time. And it's like up five minutes on last year. Good Lord. But that's good. So there's a feeling that we're getting these exciting endings as we had in Roma Atalanta as well.

44:26James Horncastle: And thank you for mentioning that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Roma-Atalanta followed into Napoli and it was almost as good. So Roma were a goal down in the 87th minute and ended up winning 2-1 with yet more late strikes. It's been their way so far this season. Dybala's now up to four assists. Is he the difference, the fact that he's fit? Yeah, and there was panic last week because he'd started the season really well. hat-trick of assists in his first game. And then there were reports of muscle fatigue during last week. And they're like, oh no, here we go again. He's not going to be available. And he started.

45:09James Horncastle: And as Jose used to say when Paolo Dybales starts, un 'altra musica. It's different music when Paolo Dybales plays. Indeed. Come, we'll be hearing the Champions League music for the first time when they take on RB Leipzig this midweek. yeah i am i hadn't clocked the fact that robert sanchez had joined yeah have you seen the photo of him he moved on deadline day right and um everyone always seems really happy to join como because you know you might get to live by the lake yeah um and his photo shoot is just like seems to be a very angry man oh holding a very old ball uh in a vintage como shirt almost like he didn't expect Chelsea to sign right Emi Martinez and then bundle him off to Como hmm there you go all right well Como I'll be like to say one of the treats from the Champions League we're gonna have a extra Tony Football Show on Wednesday morning to round up Tuesday night's action and then of course on Thursday we'll be doing our regular show featuring the Wednesday games for now unless there's anything else from City Air let's move on Tom, should we go to Liga next?

46:29Friday, it was the big PSG Monaco game. PSG off this terrible start to the season, Monaco top of the table. But here was the chance for PSG to put things back in order. You went along to see what happened. What happened? Yeah, I mean, it's the kind of performance that we have got used to seeing from PSG in the early stages of the season in recent times in that they completely dominate, they create a hat full of chances and yet somehow manage not to win. And on this occasion, they actually ended up losing. And it should have been a glorious night for PSG. It was their first home game of the season because their first game against Rennes, which should have been played at the Parc des Princes, had to be relocated because of the problems with the pitch.

47:17And just before kick-off, they announced not only Luis Enrique, But a whole bunch of first-team players, Jean Neves, Fabian Ruiz, William Pacho, a couple of others, had extended their contracts. They're all, you know, kind of celebrated pre-kick-off. Marquinhos is showing off the UEFA Super Cup. And PSG have got a very strong team out, you know, dominate the opening exchanges, go ahead through Marquinhos after about half an hour. Early in the second half, they hit the crossbar through Magnes Aklius, playing against his former teammates at Monaco. And you thought, OK, well, this is a matter of time.

47:54PSG are just going to get this sorted, get this done. And then as they sometimes do, because they'd not taken their chances, they kind of eased up ever so slightly. Monaco punished them, equalised to a young Portuguese left-back called Flavio Nazinho. And then with about 20 minutes to go, Monaco break again. and Stanisya Dumbo takes the ball past Marquinhos, bludgeons a shot towards Matvei Safanov's near post and Safanov can't keep it out. And this is becoming a bit of a theme when we were talking about him on last week's pod or the pod before. You know, it's slightly peculiar that PSG have decided they are happy to go through an entire season with Safanov as their starting goalkeeper because, you know, he obviously is a little bit erratic.

48:39We saw in the Champions League final, the Kai Havertz goal, He has a weakness at his near post. He conceded a goal against Monaco in a very similar fashion. And so, you know, fingers are starting to be pointed. And as a consequence of losing, PSG now find themselves seven points off the pace, down in 12th or 13th position. 13th spot, I think. And they are one point off the relegation place. Yeah. Yeah. It's got to be a concern. You'd think they could go down. I mean, can you imagine? Can you imagine? Can you imagine? Can you imagine if Monaco would have stayed on top? How for real are they with their exciting Felipe Luiz in charge?

49:18Yeah, I mean, they rode their luck, as you have to do if you want to get a result against PSG. They only had two shots on target and they scored with both of them. But the last kind of 20 minutes, it wasn't, you know, PSG were pushing, but it wasn't, you know, a complete siege. There was one fantastic save by Lukasz Radecki, the Monaco goalkeeper, deep into stoppage time. Ousmane Dembele, who'd started on the bench and come on, picks the ball up on the right-hand side, cuts inside and curls a shot with his left foot that's curling into the top left corner. And Radetzky dives across and kind of saves it with his top hand.

49:54But yeah, Monaco were looking good and had a very complicated week. In the transfer deadline day on Tuesday, you had the whole following Balogun, La Mean Camera saga. Balogun wasn't present. he is officially still working his way back to fitness after the World Cup. But probably working his way towards Al-Hilal or similar. Quite possibly. I mean, he's been left out of their Conference League squad, generally not a sign that the club are, you know, planning to use you all that heavily. But Lumine Kamara started, had a bit of a shaky first half, but then really grew into the game. It's difficult to imagine Monaco staying the distance, unfortunately, because they are under a load of salary restrictions that the DNCG, French football's financial watchdog, announced at the end of last season, hence the desperate need to get players out of the door during the window and hence the slightly desperate scenes that we saw at the end of the transfer window last Tuesday.

50:53So they have a fairly thin squad, but yeah, so far three wins out of three and sitting pretty at the top of the table. PSG, by the way, the last time they failed to win any of their opening three league matches, was the 2012-13 season when they went on to win the league by 12 points. Yeah, Carlo Ancelotti's first season. Carlo Ancelotti's first season. Anyway, Monaco are top of the table. Behind them, four teams are level on points. Lyon, Lille, Rennes and Liam Resenia's Paris FC. Yeah. Who went to the velodrome this weekend and beat Marseille 3-2. They did. The Sunday night fixture. And yeah, came out on top.

51:37Opened the scoring inside 24 seconds or something like that. Lassine Sinioko, who's one of the players they brought in over the summer, scored a hat-trick. Marley international centre-forward previously with Ozer. Scored a couple of goals. Amin Gawiri cancelled out each of them. But then right at the end of the game, CJ Egan-Riley, English centre-back formerly of Burnley, was penalised for a handball, slightly unfortunately. Sineyoko tucked away the penalty. And yeah, Paris FC riding high. And most clubs in Ligue 1 are really struggling financially, even the bigger clubs. Marseille haven't signed a single player over the summer transfer window.

52:21Lyon not qualifying for the Champions League has meant that they've not really been able to spend that much money either. other traditional heavyweights like Monaco, they're not spending much. But Paris FC have got these super wealthy owners, and they have been able to spend in a way that some of the other kind of mid-table and European aspiring clubs have not been able to. La Cincinioco is one example of that. They also brought in a guy from Lorient called Pablo Pagis, and they signed a couple of really exciting young central midfielders. Rudy Matondo who came in from Oseer in January and a guy called Patrick Zabby Ivorian sent him who came in from Reims this summer and it looks like you know one thing that Paris Saint-Germain have been criticised for quite a lot is their inability to bring through young players I think Paris FC see that as a way that they can assert a kind of you know a new identity for themselves and yeah you know so far under Lionel Signe it's all going pretty well Brilliant.

53:23They're currently level with Lyon, as I say, behind Monaco. And it is Lyon who they will be facing next Saturday in that Ligue 1. Tom, you've got to head off now. Patrick Beachwatch. Oh, yeah. Be remiss not to mention our buddy Patrick Plage. Not so good this week. Oh. They lost 6-2 at home to Strasbourg. He was... Too early to be on the beach. Yeah. Actually, it is weather. Too early to be on the beach. I mean, if anything, it is beach weather, albeit sadly not for him. Yeah, he was directly at fault for the fifth goal, kind of bowled the ball out to Samuel Amellor, English winger, Plyne-Australia Strasbourg, who cuts in and scores.

54:03And he got a three out of ten from the keep. Oh! He was the flop of the match. Le flop de la... Le flop de la journée. Journey. Was Patrick Beach, so... Oh, yeah. Yeah. Crikey. Well, better luck next time to Patrick. Tom, thank you so much for being with us. Hope whatever it is you're about to head off and do goes very well, we, Paul, are going to be heading towards Spain.

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57:36quick check on events elsewhere in europe psv went to ajax and beat them 3-1 this weekend in the ero divisi look like they're making a big challenge and they're not the only ones because they're ruben van bommel if that name sounds familiar yes mark's son the marksman the marksman and yeah, similar playing style, absolutely incredible challenge that he puts in, described as like an assassination on Dutch commentary. Which one? Ruben. Yeah, Ruben. Only picks up a yellow, but Paul, have you seen this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was about to comment on our theme later. Oh, yeah. No, go for it. No, I mean, I was going to...

58:25Yeah, I know. I was just going to buy a bird from it and mention Ronald Koomansson. Have you seen that? Ah, Ronald Koomansson. Yeah, yeah. Two goals, no? Yeah, yeah. Being a goalkeeper is the penalty taker of his team in the second division of the Netherlands. Could you give us a little bit more detail just for anyone who's not seen this story, Paul? Yeah, so basically Ronald Koomansson, he's the goalkeeper of Telstar, a team in the second division of the Netherlands. and Telstra, basically, they draw 2-2 their game against Kambur. And the two goals that his team scored were from the penalty spot.

59:03And it was revealed in the game that the number one penalty taker of the team this season is the goalkeeper, Ronald Koeman Son, who basically took the two penalties and scored. Well, I mean, his dad was pretty good at penalties. I mean, he's one of my dad's heroes as a Barca fan growing up. And he was really, really good at penalties. Yeah. Could have free kicks as well, of course. Very nice. Extraordinary stuff. In the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich are in sixth place. What? Yeah. They played Schalke, who are back up, of course, this season. And they drew nil-nil with Loris Karius pulling off a worldie of a world.

59:43One save in particular on Harry Kane right at the death. But keeping a clean sheet against Bayern Munich. And, yeah. Well done, Paul. And yes, there they sit in sixth place. Remarkable. Also remarkable, Elversburg, who we talked about last week, who also just come up and come from a tiny little burg of 13 ,000 people. You remember last time out, they'd beaten Bayer Leverkusen. And this time, they played Borussia Mönchengladbach and beat them 4-3. They were 3-1 down in the game. Who are these kids? These elves. Yeah. Yeah. Incredible. Anyway, that's all well and good. But what about La Liga? Paul, you told us about the misadventures of the two Madrid sides.

1:00:31But you this weekend went to see Barcelona as they put five goals past yet another hapless victim. Third time already this season that they've scored five. This time it was against Valencia who looked like they are in a world of trouble. Tell us more. Yeah, so basically, the Barcelona who failed to sign a number nine and lost Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres in the summer transfer window, a combined figure of 47 goals. So basically, they can't have enough goals, basically, which is difficult to explain. They have scored 17 goals in four games. They're playing with Rafinha as a sort of number nine.

1:01:08He's thriving on it. He's really good. The sort of movement that he does. He dips in as a midfielder. He Plays as a quarterback, then runs into the box, crashes into the box and scores goals for fans. Basically, Anthony Gordon on the left wing being really good as well. La Minyamal with back-to-back braces, scoring four goals in the last two games. So yeah, they are doing pretty well. This sort of thing of playing with a false nine is doing wonders for Flick. And you wonder if they really need the number nine, if they really need to send Julian Alvarez, which is something that they will try to do again in January.

1:01:46I'm letting you know that. But yeah, and then, like watching the game, you felt sorry for the Valencia players. I know that we've spoken a lot about all the problems that they have in the club, the fan base, against the property, against the ownership, against their own manager, against the players. But what I saw at Mestalla on the weekend, for me, it was like a new low. Just seeing the fans going against their players against asking for Carlos Corberan, the manager, just to resign and just to leave the club. The current club owner, he went to the game, Kiat Lim, went to the game for the first time in two years.

1:02:34And, well, he will remember the game because basically they sank every sort of thing against him. And you could sense that the players played with fear. with fear just to lose a ball, just to make a pass, something. And they were just battered by Barcelona from the first minute. And yeah, Jamal scored after three minutes in. He got the diesel-out goal eight minutes in. So you could see from the very start that it was going to be a one-sided game and it ended up being that. But yeah, Barcelona, it's difficult to see another team right now with a Liga so well-assembled as them. They play by heart.

1:03:09It's the third year underhand of Ligue 1. all the players have processed the idea of playing and what they want to do really well. Plus, Rodri made his debut as a starter as well, which is pretty handy just to have a player like Rodri in the other team. 17 goals they've scored in four La Liga matches. The only team that looks close to matching them is Alaves. Alaves, who put five past Osasuna themselves and is second in the league. Just amazing. If you would have asked me three weeks ago, I would have put Alaves as one of the biggest candidates to get relegated this season. And what they are doing is just, yeah, they deserve this praise.

1:03:48They have a team, which is quite fun to see as well. A lot of like shiny names, like Mariano Diaz. Do you remember him? Like former Real Madrid player. He played at Olympique Lyonnais. He scored 25 goals in like Lican. How old is he now? Yeah, I mean, he might be below 30, I think. Wow. Lucas Boyer? Lucas Boyer as well he's a player that really loved I mean he's really good center forward I mean he he doesn't tend to be prolific at like scoring goals but this weekend he really was because he scored a hard trick if you can see I think it was the second one he scored a corner like from 30 yards just yeah a stunning goal and yeah Alaba is doing doing really really well with Kiki Sanchez-Flores as a manager which again is a bit of a throwback to the Barclays days, maybe.

1:04:41And yeah, a lot of legends in this team and a good thing for Alaves, which in my opinion, one of the best stadiums if you want to visit in La Liga, one of the best atmospheres, a really tiny stadium, a lovely city where you're going to eat really well. So one of my favorite away trips in La Liga. Is that right? What kind of things do you eat in Alaves? You have to go for the pinchers. you have to go for either steak or fish are really good. The Basque cuisine is one of my favourites, to be honest. If you go there, go and do a chuletone. Go and do a chuletone and you will never miss. Perfect. Paul, that's magnificent.

1:05:20A brief roundup there of La Liga. Anything else you want to add? I would possibly highlight as well Athletic Club. Yes. Because they deserve some praise. I know that I mentioned that they beat Athletic Club 3-0, But it's an Edin Terzic side, which I don't know if we are really aware of. It's quite weird to have Edin Terzic managing the athletic club. But I think that they are doing really well. But they had... The first two results weren't particularly good, I thought, no? Yeah, but they were unlucky, I think. Because in the first game, they got the players sent off 10 minutes into the game in an unlucky situation.

1:05:52And then they went to the Camp Nou, which you're always going to lose. But after that, yeah, I think that they've played really well. he's been able to revive players that are really good. Nico Williams is looking a bit sharper. Ollensan said, an amazing footballer. If he had some of the off-the-page issues a bit more settled, he would play anywhere where he wanted to because he's really good and he's doing really well. So, yeah, praise for them because they scored three goals past Atletico de Madrid and they look on their way up. Perfect. Paul, I hope you enjoyed the midweek Champions League action.

1:06:26We're going to be seeing you in Wednesday's show, actually, I believe, alongside Duncan Alexander and Julien Laurent will be joining us for that. Oh, can't wait for that. Watch out for a totally Champions League extra on Wednesday afternoon. That will be with you, I would think, listener. For now, though, I think that wraps it up for today's show. So many, many thanks, as I say, to Paul, Tom, obviously, to James. My pleasure. For his harrowing journey. Producer Xavi. And you, of course, for turning up and listening to us do all of that. We'll be back with more as the week progresses. Hope you'll join us for it.

1:07:03For now, it's goodbye.

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