Real Madrid sack Alonso + what records can Bayern break?

0:00The Athletic FC

0:30Bayern, Bayern's remorse at Leverkusen, and a kiss with Kovac in the Bundesliga, and French Cup news too in this Totally Football show.

0:44Monday 12th of January. Listener, thank you so much for joining us. We've got the Euro edition currently scrambling to bring you Monday afternoon's shock news from Madrid. Of course, we've got Guillermo Rye joining us very, very shortly. Meantime, Seb Staffer-Bloor, Paul Berlus and James Horncastle Hello. Hello, everybody. Hello, back. Hello, hello. How are you? Hang on, we're remote today. What's happened? James? What's happened is I have a meeting very nearby my house. Ooh. Just transfer related. And so if I'd come to the studio, I wouldn't have been able to make it. Right. That transfer just might not have happened.

1:24With sliding doors stuff, who's the transfer? Go on, tell us. I'm sure you can. Yeah, I can't. can you can you give us a clue well it's italy related of course but uh does it relate to you just because you know with the recent issue with jewels this isn't like you discussing the option to move somewhere else or you know i want you to rule it out that's all that's what i'm asking just rule it out i would like to reassure listeners that uh i'm going nowhere never say never in football you can never tell but for now i'm very happy for the next hour on the totally football show yeah horncastle 2026 paperwork signed medical completed here we go woof here we go uh what a catchphrase that would make how are you doing seb i read that it was minus seven degrees in hamburg over the weekend uh it was worse than that it was minus 10 that is worse moments yes it was um it was chilly it was very very chilly good thing you're stocked up on knitting absolutely that yes what are you wearing today i've got a terrace triangle under my polo neck because i'm assimilating so i'm gradually i'm gradually blending polo necks into my day-to-day wardrobe okay yeah it's part of my residency which i hope to get at some point um so got to do that and yeah i've got a pair of gloves to the side for when i next go outside because it's a chilly minus three now.

2:52Has it snowed in Hamburg? It has not stopped snowing really since the second of January. I bet it looks great in the snow. Can you take the computer over to the window? It's a desktop, so no, not really. What I will do, what I will do is I will... If you turn it a little bit, angle it. At different moments in the podcast, I will send photos from Hamburg into the group chat and then the rest of you can describe what I'm sending because then that will make the audio content, right? Okay. Super. How about that? I have been really tempted to jump in with a joke when James asked, what are you wearing today?

3:28Why would you be tempted, Paul? There's absolutely no reason you should be tempted by that. All right, Paul, let's get a moment of the week instead. Come on now. Well, of course, the easy option is go to Saudi Arabia and the Spanish Super Cup and everything. But we're going to have plenty of that later, I assume. So I'm going to go to Getafe. Getafe won Real Sociedad 2. Matarazzo won his first game in charge of Real Sociedad. but I'm going to stick with Getafe because Jose Bordalas, after the game, made like a rant in the press conference, which I love quite a lot the metaphor, although it's a bit sad, but I loved a lot the metaphor.

4:03So just to put you in context, Getafe has won just one La Liga game since November and one point out of the last 15. They are just heading to the relegation zone, although they are in mid-table, but they are four points off the relegation zone. And in the post-match press conference, basically the manager said this, said, I don't deserve this. I think I have a reputation of taking the best or a lot out of my teams. I feel like I always sharpen every pencil that I'm given to work with. But this time, I feel like I cannot sharpen the pencil anymore. We have eaten up the whole pencil. There's just nothing to sharpen anymore.

4:41I'm just tired of this. And I thought it was a great metaphor. I think it is a great metaphor. I'm surprised actually no one's ever done that before. because it's a thing, isn't it? I mean, we've all had that. The pencil, favorite pencil, perhaps. You sharpened it so much that there's just nothing left. There's no lead left. Nothing. Although I tended to lose all my pencils before. Did you? Right. But yeah, I could see the point. I mean, that could work as well. Yeah. Okay, excellent. Seb has already sent us a picture of a snowbound Hamburg scene. Is that a cat? It is a cat, yeah, with whiskers and everything.

5:19Oh, right. There's a lovely snow cat, as in a model of a cat constructed out of snow, with a couple of twigs for whiskers. And it's very nice. Did you do that yourself, Seb? No, it's in the neighborhood. And to describe how cold it is, that was made probably on the 2nd or 3rd of January, and it's still there now. Still there now. How big is it? Probably two and a half feet tall. Two and a half feet. It's very, very impressive. In real life, very impressive. Keep them coming, Seb. All right, James, your moment of the week. Lazio. Lazio have just been great fun this season so you might recall they were on the transfer embargo and then that got lifted and so some Lazio fans were just thinking ah great we're going to go and buy some players and instead they've just sold player after player after player including Tati Castellanos who's gone to West Ham and in the meantime they're sort of getting all these really bad refereeing decisions going against them um so they kind of put out a statement saying yeah they wanted a meeting uh with the league and the referees association and sarri appeared after i think the fiorentina game where again a decision went against him late and he was like this is abuse me having to come down to the press conference to talk to you it's abuse and then my favorite bit that was Lazio related at weekend was in the Roma end during Roma's game against Sassuolo there was this like blue e the letter e which they'd clearly either stolen or found from a Lazio kind of banner which they'd left on Ponte Milvio which is the bridge going to the Stadio Olimpico which was the Lazio fans I don't know if you recall what happened when Brigitte Bardot passed away last week or 10 days ago.

7:13And initially, though, it was like, oh, wow, you know, siren of 70s cinema, icon of France. And then people looked into her politics. The Laziali all of a sudden just adopted Brigitte Bardot as, you know, one of their own. But they spelt au revoir wrong in this banner. and then the Romanisti must have either gone and found the E that they'd not put on Au Revoir. And yeah, so just lots of Lazio-related hijinks, very amusing to me at least. No, no, that's wonderful. That's wonderful. The Laziali have a bit of a habit of saluting, you know, deceased people with far-right connections. Yes. Park Can, the noted Serbian war criminal who's paramilitary, whose death was marked by the Curva Nord with the banner Honour to the Tiger, Arcan, to which famously...

8:13Who was it? Was it Livorno who put up a banner saying Honour to the Cat, Sylvester? Sylvester the Cat. I think that was the Romanisti again. It was the Romanisti again, yeah. If it's Livorno, I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure it was the Romanisti. You may well be right. Anyway, we laugh. uh good seb sent another picture james do you want to describe this one oh wow seb so this is like a christmas card scene really it's uh like finland yeah it does look even further north in europe than where where seb is um but beautiful kind of pine trees and conifers that are dusted in snow you know sort of you can't make out any roads or paths or gardens it's just white over there is a car which seems to have sunk into a ditch.

9:03And there's a man looking at the car as if to say, that's a car that has sunk into a ditch. Perhaps it's you, James. Yeah. Seb, do you have a moment of the week? I sure do. So it's related to Younis Ebner Talib, who joined Eidreig Frankfurt from Elfersburg just before the New Year. And so a little bit of backstory for him. A year ago, he was playing for Gießen, which is a regional league team. that's fourth tier in Germany and he just moved clubs for 50 ,000 euros joined Elbersburg who are a tiny tiny Zweite Bundesliga side by the end of the year so December 2025 he was actually the top scorer in the Zweite Bundesliga scored 12 goals from I think 17 appearances earned him an 8 million euro move to Eintracht Frankfurt and on Friday night the first game back since the Winterpalser ended he scored against Borussia Dortmund ran through on goal really good through ball from Arno Kalimuendo did a Eric Lamella patented roll of the ball and then finished absolutely beautifully

10:17and great finish but also when his transfer was concluded there's a little bit of chatter that Eintracht had panicked. Marcus Kroescher is recognized as one of the smartest operators in the transfer market in Europe, of course, and deserves that reputation. There was a little bit of chatter that Kroescher had been crocheted by Elfsborg and had kind of, in light of the injury to Johnny Burkhardt and to Mishi Bashoi, in search of goals had kind of lunged at this second league player who didn't really have a proven record and whose sample size was very small. hey not on this evidence he played very very well took his goal beautifully can't wait to see him play again also by the way i had a very short spell at perugia i was reading up don't think it amounted to much and i'm not i couldn't even tell you which division perugia were in now but it is there and it's factually correct so he was there for a little bit didn't stay for very long but uh he's uh yeah he's gone from the fourth year in german football to the champions league in the space of 12 months, which is pretty great.

11:15Good Lord. Wow. Perugia, probably the Italian club with the most creative approach to signing players with a woman for their men's team and a horse amongst their previous projects, of course. How did the horse work out when it joined? Well, it never quite happened, did it? Did it? No, no. But, you know, the idea was there. Groundbreaking. Frankfurt, if you're looking forward to seeing them again, they're going to be taking on Stuttgart on Tuesday, tomorrow as we record as part of that big midweek Bundesliga round. An English week, as they refer to it. It's not a German expression. I think it's kind of more of a pan-European one.

11:52But whenever you play three games in a week, English week. English fucking. Well, it is a German expression, I think. I don't think it's only used in Germany, though. I've heard it elsewhere. Paul? Yeah, I've not heard it in Spanish. I'm sorry. Not heard it there. James? I'm not going to help you. Only in a German context. The English of Bokka. Yeah. Okay, that's really interesting. They certainly don't say that in Serie A, where they do love a bit of English terminology. Super Inglese. There you go. That's a trifle. They call trifle English soup. Indeed. Well, more Snowbound fun with Seb to come.

12:30But first off, of course, it's the news from Madrid. And that's where we're heading next. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. Well, a dramatic few days at the world's most successful club Sunday night, the instrawling 3-2 defeat in the Supercoppa final.

12:59Monday then, the news out of the blue. The manager Xavi Alonso, who just last summer was regarded as probably the most highly sought-after manager in the world, was fired by the club. Joining us now to try and shed some light on it is Guillermo Rai of the Athletic. Guillermo, this came as a shock to, I think, all of us here, apparently to Real Madrid's players as well. Was it a surprise to you? Yeah, definitely. If you ask sources close to Xavi Alonso, they are going to say the same. They didn't expect him to be sacked today. it was a difficult atmosphere as we previously reported at the Athletic we all knew that he was in a tough position a difficult situation but he managed to win five games in a row before the Super Cup defeat against Barcelona and it wasn't like a big deal or it didn't have like a big impact because it wasn't like a big defeat it was 3-2 Real Madrid was close to score the 3-3 goal before the last minute.

14:04So they were there. They were, at the coaching staff, optimistic. Because of that, they didn't know for Teton. But today they have received this big news, shocking news about the second decision. And the club has said that it's by mutual agreement. But I think the general understanding is that it was very much their decision, Florentino Perez's decision. Was it something you think that he'd planned to do after the Super Cup? or did something happen on the flight back or was there an argument today or Monday? So as far as we know, it was something planned. It was something that Real Madrid had under consideration from some time.

14:45Arbeloa, who is the successor, knew about this and there were already rumors at Valdez. So Xavier Alonso's coaching staff, when, you know, it wasn't strange for them to hear about Arbeloas succeeding Xavi Alonso. I think the question is more, why now? Why not maybe before Christmas, before them or after the Man City defeat? That's the question that probably Xavi Alonso is making himself right now. But the fact is that he's now out of the club. It was by the club's decision, not his decision. as multiple sources close to Xavi have told us. And yeah, another thing that I think is interesting is that he was already considering his agreement with Real Madrid when he signed the three-year contract until 2028.

15:42It was considered that he could be sacked before that season. So probably because of that, all of that is related to the mutual agreement line in the official comunicado, the famous comunicado from Real Madrid, the traditional comunicado, which in this time, I think it has been unexpected, really unexpected and really shocking. So not so much unexpected for Álvaro Ábalo, by the sound of it, the former Real Madrid, West Ham, Liverpool and Spain right back, who's been a successful manager with the junior teams and was with Real Madrid Castilla since July. He's not hugely experienced at this level or not at all experienced at this level.

16:27Is it a strange appointment from that point of view? And how long-term a plan is he? Is there somebody else who they're looking to bring in in the summer? So right now, we don't have confirmation that he has signed anything new. He was the Castilla head coach, as you said, and he had a contract with the club. He was also an ambassador for the club, not only the head coach of the Real Madrid B. and the question now is if it's a long-term bet for the club or just an interim role. As far as we know, it is a decision that hasn't been taken. It will be a matter of games and results. Right now, obviously, he's the successor, but we don't know for Zetan if it will be for long.

17:13It will be more than one season. The atmosphere right now at Valdebebas is so gloomy that you cannot really bet on someone else, that you have just to wait and see how things evolve. But the reality is that not only in general in the institution, in the club, but also in the dressing room, things have been so messy that it will be really interesting to follow how the Arbelovas arrival impacts some players and the atmosphere. Yeah, it's really important, I guess. Yeah, not an easy dressing room to walk into for any manager. For Xavi Alonso, I said before he was only last summer regarded as about the best managerial appointment you could make.

17:57Former Real Madrid hero, wonderfully successful with Bayer Leverkusen, seemed like the dream appointment. Are you surprised at how quickly it's all gone wrong for him? Well, if you ask me in June when he was officially announced, I would say so. Like, it's incredible how fast things change because there was real optimism inside and outside of the club. Like, people said, it's the best coach we can imagine. Just four or five months ago, most of the Real Madrid fan base and inside the club thought that Xavi Alonso was the best decision possible. The general manager, Jose Ángel Sánchez, was a huge supporter of Xavi Alonso.

18:40so it's surprising really. The thing is that as sources close to Xavi say and we are reporting at The Athletic in the inside piece that we are about to publish, Real Madrid is just different. You cannot be a normal head coach. They are not working under the same rules. I know that it's like the normal saying when we talk about Real Madrid, but it's real. It's something that you should bear in mind when you talk about being head coach at Real. So there was some frustration from Sousis close to Xavi because I guess they couldn't implement some ideas that they had in mind. There were some also, I think, controversies inside the racing room because of his method.

19:30He tried to do something and then just to survive, I think he changed it a little bit, his method. and probably all of that is normal. Like, he has to do that if he wants to survive, but it has ended up being a bad decision, a bad decision-making, yeah. Yeah, remarkable. Guillermo, I'm sure you've got a busy evening ahead of you, so we'll let you get off. Thank you so much for joining us today on Tuli Football Show. Always a pleasure, James. Guillermo Rai, Paul, it's all going off in Madrid. What do they make of this in Barcelona? And by the way, meantime, we should mention Barcelona just won yet another final against Real Madrid.

20:12I mean, I think that this makes the result from the Barcelona perspective just sweeter for fans and for even Barcelona players and for the Barcelona people in the boardroom and everything. It's quite shocking. I think that after the game, the narrative was that Barcelona were the better team, but Real Madrid competed better than many people around the club expected. But yeah, Barcelona, as you were saying, played the final of the Super Cup against Real Madrid. They won 3-2. The first title of the season in Spain went to Barcelona. Yeah, and at the end of the day, it's going to go down in the history books as the game that ended with Chavarón sostener at the club.

20:48Yeah, could have ended with extra time. Real Madrid with a big chance at the end. Also saw Vinicius Junior's first goal since October and an absolutely magnificent goal too. doing Koundé with pace and then nutmegging him and then beating another defender and scoring what was I think then the equaliser and a flurry of goals at the end of the first half so as Guzmama was saying there wasn't by any means a disastrous performance but other issues going on there Barcelona though Hansi Flick eight finals he's managed teams in eight victories he's had and they returned to Spain four points ahead of a Real Madrid team who kind of heading back to the drawing board.

21:28It's all positives. Yeah, absolutely. Barcelona going through the best moment of the season so far. They haven't lost a La Liga game since they lost in the Clásico back in October at the Bernal. So that's the longest streak of games. They don't lose a game in all competitions since that Chelsea Champions League match. So they have been improving a lot from that. And that feels like a big game, like a turning point. As I said, it's a trophy. And if you look at the live five years in Spanish football, that Spanish Super Cup trophy has been a sort of a turning point, a boost of just the morale and the confidence for the team who wins it, looking to the end of the season.

22:04The last four seasons or three seasons, if I'm not wrong, or four, the team that won the Super Cup won the league title. So in a way, it tells you a lot about how things can unfold from that point. And yeah, just now that you're mentioning the stats about Hansel Flick winning the finals, there's one crazy stat which is in the last three years Barcelona have won four finals against Real Madrid right and in the previous 123 years Barcelona won five so just to give you the extent of how things have changed it and how the history of Barcelona in a way have changed it in the modern era yeah that now I would say that they have an edge on Real Madrid certainly seems and the edge indeed on Sunday night might go by the name of Rafinha.

22:49What would you say about his performance? He was the man of the match, without a shadow of a doubt. And I think that we are at the point that there's a case to make that Rafinha is the most influential player in this Barcelona site. There's a lot of spotlight and heavy praise and deserved about Lamin Jamal and the skills that he has. And of course, because of the age he has and the impact that he holds in this team, it's so, so big. But I think that it's all about Rafinha, the figure who sets the tone who gives a lot like a great output in the attacking end but also with the defensive effort with the off the ball work I don't see that you can find any Ballon d 'Or candidates sort of players that have this off the ball work rate yeah it's something that you just cannot find and that's why I make him such a precious asset for Hansi Flick and Rafinha himself he complained about being ignored in the last trophies, in the Ballon d 'Or, in the Best XI, in these sort of trophies, of not being recognized as one of the players that should be included.

23:54I don't think that after a second season that is looking like it's looking right now, I don't think that they will dare to ignore Rafinha now. Okay. Four points the gap between Barcelona and Real Madrid right now. Four points behind Real Madrid, meanwhile, with a game in hand on the Madrid lineals, are Villarreal, who, as we mentioned before, having their best season ever in La Liga. What are the odds that, with the confusion in Madrid, they might actually pip them to second place? If I'm honest, I struggle to see that. If I can be completely honest, because I think that Villarreal, I mean, they are playing well in terms of counterattacking really well, being a compact team and knowing how to take their chances.

24:34If we look at this past weekend, I don't think that they were outstanding against Alaves. In the first half, they could have been losing. But then in the second half, they sort of established themselves a bit more into the game. They were really clinical up front, and that's what has defined their season. They've been really clinical, really well-organized. It's what has costed them in the Champions League, because they've not been good enough in there. But in La Liga, they have so much firepower up front with the likes of Alberto Molero, who's in the form of his life, a really talented winger, with Mikael Tadze, with Ayosef Pérez, with a lot of players up front that can make the difference.

25:10And that's given them this edge in La Liga that, yeah, right now they are third place. But if you ask me if they can compete for the title race, I'm not that optimistic about that. OK, we shall see. We shall see. Certainly four points behind Real, eight points off the lead, but four to Real with that game in hand. They beat Alaves 3-1 this weekend with Molero, contributing a gorgeous opening goal. One other thing to mention, Atletico Madrid, who were absent this weekend from La Liga's fixtures because they were in the Super Cup, beaten by Real with an absolutely extraordinary Fede Valverde goal kicking things off in that match.

25:48Conor Gallagher heading to Tottenham Hotspur on this Monday, the 12th of January. Yeah, that's what it looks like, at least because as we are speaking right now, it's Monday, and as we know, is David Thornstein's report on The Athletic saying that he's closing in at, deal to Tottenham. Apparently he's going to leave for a fee around 40 million euros, which is a fee that Atletico de Madrid will be really pleased for, because they are basically going to recover all the money that they invested for him. I think it's a departure that from the Atletico perspective they lose a body, but it makes sense, because he was not a guaranteed starter, he was not a crucial part of Dio Simeone's plans and they might have other players who can step in.

26:33They have Johnny Cardoso the American international, the US. He's going to be part of the World Cup squad who has been an important signing this season and he can step up into this role. And if a good offer arrives and the player wants to leave, Atletico Madrid is not going to close any door. So this looks like it's what's going to happen. And yeah, let's see. A lot of movement in this general transfer window. Two big men leaving Madrid football on this Monday. Crikey. Paul, thank you so much for all of that. No, it's been a pleasure. we'll have more much more Liga news in next week's show but next up we're off to the calmer waters of Syria this is the Totally Football Show part of the Athletic FC podcast network the Athletic is the only place you can read articles by Daniel Taylor Amy Lawrence Phil Hay James Pearce Oli Kay and the very best football writers around oh Seb should send us another picture everybody and it's my favorite kind of winter scene you've got snow on the ground and you've got a clean crisp blue sky overhead and a lamppost with a free Vuscovich 44 sticker on it magnificent uh that relates to you know the the story that you've told us many a time before but it does relate to the story i've told many times before it is about uh Mario Vuscovich Luca's older brother and his drug ban which the locals reject and have been protesting against for just over three years now now james is going first with city air james as i mentioned we had a midweek round and then we've had the weekend's action and the big game is sunday night as two of the title chasing trio came face to face at sancero 2-2 between inter and napoli with the mctomeney brace and that second goal how big could that prove

28:43Very big, James. Great finish as well. I don't know what you made of it, but it was like kind of a taekwondo style kind of... He just kicked it down. Great coordination from Black Belt McTominay, because the ball is hooked back in, again, really artfully by Noah Lang, and it requires some close control from McTominay, and he just pounces on it expertly. His opening goal was tasty too. It was a genuine striker's goal, I think, because the way he runs across Manuel Akanji to the near post, but you know what in the end is a very good finish I mean it's made by the run and just goes to show the confidence that McTominay has in front of goal and he ended the game with a point which was important I think Napoli went into that game having drawn in midweek against Verona at home where they were 2-0 down and they felt that everyone was against them in that game Yeah, a penalty was given to Verona, which was, you know, sort of a handball where you're looking at it and thinking, what does the Napoli defender, what can he do in that situation?

29:58They had a goal disallowed again for a handball. So they really fought back in that game, got a point against Verona. But Inter went into this game, as you say, top of the table clash on a run of six consecutive wins and could have gone six points clear of Milan if they'd won on Sunday night. But even though Inter went in front once, went in front twice, Napoli kept coming back. McTominay was decisive. And I thought he was great afterwards, James, who's speaking to De Zon, the principal broadcaster in Italy. and he said, you know, we're still without Lukaku, De Bruyne, Rachmanino got injured at the start of the season, David Neres has been out.

30:42And it's a little bit like if Inter didn't have Marcus Turam, Lautaro Martinez, Barella, Bastoni tonight, and, you know, we've still shown that we can come here, perform really well, which they did in the second half, get a point and stay in this title race where, as I mentioned at the top of this answer, Inter could have gone sixth clear, and instead it feels like just as someone was about to sort of start running away with the league the title race has got smaller narrower again because you could make a case that Roma are back in it as we'll get to Juventus if they win tonight we're recording on Monday Juventus might even be in it so it's got very close again at the top of Serie A it is so close Napoli with two straight two-two draws because that's how it finished with Verona as well midweek and once again on Sunday feeling that everyone was against them.

31:31Conte getting sent off for getting up in the fourth official's grill over Inter's second goal. A questionable, but by today's rules, probably technically correct penalty award. Inter, meanwhile, probably unsatisfied by their point because it continues this extraordinary run of not being able to beat the big three by the other two clubs from the big three, Milan and Napoli. Yeah, and this goes back also to last season, you know where they were in a very close title race with the same rival Napoli and then ended up coming just short on on the final day yeah it's strange because Inter in nearly all of these games have shown themselves to be superior for spells of those games 20 minute spells and yet they seem to have this kind of glass jaw where I think Inter get accused of arrogance a little bit because I don't know if you were sure you're watching the game yesterday James but when Inter got the penalty which as you say you look at it and think oh come on that's a bit soft but with a VAR you understand why they're given you then saw Alessandro Bastoni one of Inter's kind of senior players sort of geeing up the crowd and kind of smiling like you know yes look at this we've got this penalty i wouldn't say rubbing it in to napoli but it felt a little bit much and again um they have thrown away three points uh late or two at least yeah two but they you know They have had a draw snatched from the jaws of victory again.

33:14But I think the big difference between Inter and Napoli is that Inter still have this strength in depth and have fewer injuries. In fact, before the game, Inter's president, Beppe Marotta, he didn't hide the fact. He was like, we've got a very deep squad. The only injury that we've got at the moment is our right wing back, Denzel Dumfries. It's why they tried to sign João Cancelo, only for him to decide to go to Pol's Nando's La Liga instead. Whereas, as McTominay said, Napoli have this long list of injuries. And so do Roma. So do Milan, who were without Luka Modric at the weekend. So, yeah, Inter, regardless of them dropping points in these big games, still are seen to have more depth and be probably the best equipped to still win the league.

34:07Big difference between Inter and Milan, meanwhile, is that while Inter can't beat the big teams, Milan just can't beat the small ones. The last two rounds, they've gone all Max Allegri getting back-to-back 1-1 draws with Genoa only just. and then Fiorentina, which they also very nearly lost, but 1-1 that finished as well, at the weekend. Yeah, it's, I mean, both Inter and Milan started this year by kind of giving the impression that they were changing these tendencies. Yeah, Inter beat Atalanta, which I consider is sort of one of the big clubs. Milan started winning against teams in the bottom half of the table and now they've just reverted to the type of the beginning of the season.

34:50And, you know, I mean, Milan, you know, particularly in the first half against Fiorentina, yeah, they played well enough and created enough chances to win that game. In fact, Milan have been ruthless so far this season in basically scoring often with their first shot on target. Now, that first shot on target might not come for half an hour or an hour, but they've been very clinical. and in this game in Florence Christian Pulisic was put through one-on-one a couple of times and either David de Gea was up to it or Pulisic missed and it was a shame because in that first half the partnership between him and Fulcrook looked really prominent but as you say Fiorentina could have won this game late as much as it was 1-1 going to stoppage time Fiorentina hit the bar with almost the last kick of the game.

35:43I think it was Brescianini, another one of their January signings. And I think if there are any Viola fans amongst our listeners, I mean, things have certainly looked up over the last five games. They've won a couple. They were unlucky not to beat Lazio, I suppose, in midweek. And as I just said, could have won this game late on. So signs of life from the Viola who I think are only two points from safety now. Two points behind Genoa, who were the other team that Milan drew with over the past seven days. There you go, at the top of the table. Oh, hello, Seb. I was just going to ask James, actually.

36:16If Fiorentina do go down, obviously the trend is upwards. What are the consequences of that for the club? Well, I mean, it won't be good. I would be very surprised if they've negotiated into these contracts sort of relegation clauses which reduce salaries because it's just so unexpected. and the owner has has put in in a half a billion um when you also consider sort of some of the infrastructure projects that fioranzino have been running um their training ground is the best training ground in italy by a long distance perhaps you know one of the best bits of sporting infrastructure in all of italian sport yeah for an owner who is very wealthy but in his late 70s and hasn't been able to travel to Italy because of health problems, it would put the club in a difficult spot.

37:10Having said that, they are now very close to pulling themselves out of the relegation mire. I imagine they will do more business in this transfer window. And as we well know, they are trying to put in place a new executive team involving Fabio Padateci, the Tottenham co-sporting director, who, as we reported over the weekend, will be joining Fiorentina or is expected to join Fiorentina at the end of this window. So things are looking up for the Viola. Is that kind of an official version that he's joining at the end of the transfer window, James? Well, look, I mean, with Padatici, you know, he obviously signed, you know, his contract to return to Spurs only in October, I think it was, wasn't it, Seb?

37:56and sort of put out this joint interview with the guy he's job sharing with, Johan Langer. So he was pleased to be back at Spurs, even though he'd been working as a consultant during his ban. So Spurs, I think, are fully in their rights to say, hang on a minute, we've got our own transfer window here. and so you know we would like you to you know be a part of our team and see that out we think that's fair so for example he's been too busy moving mano solomon out of the squad to deal with fiorentina's look i mean um but atici is is an extraordinarily connected man um you know particularly in italy um you know a lot of his people who worked under him are now sporting directors at other clubs you know it's not beyond the realm of possibility that he could you know he could also advise i suppose you know i mean uh but he would also probably say that fiorentino signed mario breccianini from atalanta who hit the bar in stoppage time so yeah it's it's not the full picture but i'm sure fiorentino called him and said yeah fabio during those negotiations about you becoming head of football what what's that manos solomon like um you know I'm sure Fabio perhaps gave him a good reference, let's say.

39:25All right. And he certainly lived up to it in the course of the draw with Milan at the weekend. Anyway, situation at the top of the table now. Inter on 43 points, Milan on 40. One point behind them, you've got Napoli and Roma. Roma, though, have played a game more. And Juve can join those two teams if they beat Jamie Vardy's Creminesi on Monday night. Roma, James, you're willing to believe again, you're willing to tout them as potential title contenders, are you? On the back of their victory over Sassuolo this weekend? Well, I mean, I just, I enjoyed the reaction to the win. Because there's like a, there's a very famous kind of Roman influencer, I suppose, called Ed Faina.

40:08And yeah, he's a big Lazio fan. He's famous for doing these sort of pieces to camera where it's very dramatic. You know, usually on a football thing. He's on a podcast with Mario Balotelli and Emiliano Di Diano. It's a good watch. But he's a Lazio fan and he was like, come on, Gasparini, you and me, we have to come to some sort of arrangement. We have to make peace because you can't keep doing this. You've got all these players who are out injured. You've got all these players who are at AFCON. You've got strikers who don't score or when they do score, soon get injured. Please, stop doing this.

40:45how are you making this team into a title contender? So it was fun to watch the Laziali kind of like tear their hair out at the fact that Roma are still not done in not only the race for the top four, but with, you could say, Inter-Napoli and Milan kind of stuttering. You know, they've gained ground, they're back in it. And, you know, Roma, by the time we finish recording this, they may have signed Giacomo Raspidori. if he hasn't gone to napoli if he hasn't gone to napoli or if he's decided to stay at atletico madrid um they may have signed robinho vaz who i don't claim to know anything about but he plays for marseille and is apparently quite good sounds like a good player doesn't yeah yeah really good name yeah yeah wasn't there wasn't there a guy at bolton was it ricardo vaz ricardo vazte ricardo vazte yeah you know and then they'll get players back from afcon like evan and dicker they might make some other signs i think they're looking at getting a center back maybe for example radu drag us in from tottenham um so you know to go back to your question about piratachi james drag us in is not going to fiorentina i know a certain sporting director who can help with that i guess just when you think they're out of the title race they drag us in yeah there you go uh what a quick shout out for metaz soulet who is once again so influential in the victory over Sassuolo.

42:11Yeah, lovely cross for the equaliser from Manu Kone. Manu Kone for me is, you know, with Edison and kind of Luka Modric, maybe Kefren Turam, although Kefren Turam's not a great season, but like, you know, I think Manu Kone, best midfield player in the league. And also, shout out to Stephen Elshuari, the pharaoh, because the pharaoh came on in this game after Evan Ferguson sort of had to go off in the first half again, as had happened against Parma. And El Suaro is fantastic. I mean, like, you know, the pharaoh has not lived up to the hype that his sort of curious hairstyle and sort of eyebrows made everyone so excited 15 years ago.

42:58And his prodigious early form in his career. Yeah, when there was the Mohawk trident of him, M. Bai Niang and Balotelli at Milan. but he's a he's a good player al shawari like um he's just a a dependable professional quick still incisive and you know i mean when ferguson went off and dovbick is now injured as well like i'm kind of quite pleased that if he gets a run of games i think he's just a good player steven al shawari so he did well then yes i'm back on the roma bus i'm back i'm back on the We'll see each other in Circo Massimo at the end of May, James, for the first title celebration since 2001.

43:37Excellent. With Sabrina Farrelly taking off, you know, basically... For our listeners who aren't aware, this is someone who's an actress, very popular within Roman cinema, who when Roma last won the league, going into that season, she promised to strip. She did a Gary Lineker. Yes. But when she did, she did it in a kind of nude dress, didn't she? so it wasn't an actual strip. But, you know, I mean, you know. Yeah, she kept her word. Yeah. So moving quickly on, Roma have got Coppa Italia midweek and you've also got proper league fixtures midweek involving the teams that were off in the Super Cup recently in Saudi.

44:20So there's Napoli, Parma and Inter Lecce on Tuesday. Bologna are up against Verona and you've got Como Milan. oh that'll be an exciting one on Wednesday very good very good and then loads of games coming up next weekend as well including Bologna-Furentina it'll be interesting to see if Furentina's new unbeaten streak can survive that and well other games too very good next up ooh a little bit of Coupe de France and then yes Bundesliga talk

44:54you're listening to the totally football show with james richardson now we do four times a week keep up to date with us on insta and enjoy us in glorious technicolor on youtube at the totally show coupe de france everybody it was the last 32 this weekend in france league leaders lance we're on the road at third tier sechaud would they slip up don't be sechaud etc they had a comfortable 3-0 win, which makes it nine victories in a row in all competitions for Longs. That's the longest winning run in their competition. Should I say the Longs' winning run? No. Strasbourg, who are now Gary O 'Neill's Strasbourg, were at fourth tier Avranches and his first game in charge saw them win 6-0, a veritable landslide of goals.

45:38Big clash dominating the round of 32 between Lille and Lyon Sunday evening, which Paul you probably saw featured a Real Madrid lonely Hendrik making his debut for Lyon and lo and behold he went and scored the winner as Lyon picked up a 2-1 victory

46:12Nice goal Did you see that shot that Like he hit the post. Yeah. Mental. Just how on earth do you think that it's a good idea to shot from there? But most impressively, he just hit the post. Incredible. Monday night, we've got PSG against Paris FC again in the Coupe de France. And on Tuesday, Marseille go to sixth tier FC Bio. Not of Louisiana, but Normandy. The tapestry people. The tapestry people. That's Tuesday evening. Yes. All right. Very good. PSG, of course, trailing Lens at the top of the Ligue 1 standings when league football returns next weekend. PSG host Lille. Lens, meanwhile, will host Ozer.

46:56Seb? I was going to make a terrible gag. Oh, go on. Well, I was going to say, if you were from Bayou and you met new people and you explained to them where you were from, do you think it would get awfully boring to hear people go, oh, oh, tell me about the tapestry? I'm not following. Where's the joke? well it's it's i did tell you it was bad i i gave you prior warning uh i just said no i genuinely but well no because it would be the only thing because in in a small talk world yes you know anytime you introduce yourself or where are you from i'm from bayou inevitably you're going to end up having to talk about the tapestry no yeah does that not get boring yeah but that's not a joke that's just an observation isn't it yeah i thought there was going to be some kind of louisiana no no okay okay well it was it was a it was a crap observation then all right just a bad joke i think i think they would have immense civic pride yes we have that incredible tapestry which people talk about and people study as part of their you know kind of curriculum at various schools my son went there to see it as part of a school trip do you think you'd be able to to kind of retain that level of enthusiasm every time you know yeah i mean you could be you'd be prideful but you would still have a bit of a kind of yeah you know let's get in the bundesliga chat before james orcastle does one seb it's time now for your bundesliga chat woohoo yay bundesliga returned on friday from its winter pals am i saying that right winter pauser right 20 days away and they came back with a bang with a whopping 3-3 draw between Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt.

48:34You mentioned this game at the start with a goal from Younes Ebn Talib, if I've said that right. And it was lovely to hear about that. But it did mean, them dropping points in that game, that they are now 11 points behind Bayern. Because Bayern, when they came and played, went and beat Wolfsburg 8-1. Seb. Where would you like to start? well Kane scored that's now his 20th in the league and it was a bit of a stunner as well lovely girl post and bar Jimbo top corner post and bar bouncing down without hitting the back of the netting don't get to see that very often hey also a couple of other statistics to jump out of this so Michaelise scored twice got an assist Luis Diaz scored one's got two assists which means that between them I've got them up at 35 goal involvements collectively just in the league this season and i'm sure if raffle were here he would punch me for saying this but or slap me i don't know but it's very robin and rebery right just that that kind of level of impact from out wide and also if you if you see michael lise's i think it was a lise second goal you couldn't wish to see a more aaron robin goal really uh he's playing beautifully might be as dangerous a one-on-one winger as there is in europe at the moment he's playing really really well and uh yeah i have all spoke not good not good at all but a real show of power from from byner who obviously still have jamal masiala to come back alphonso davis to get fully fit again kind of terrifying kind of terrifying 11 points we're only midway through the season what's the record number of points that they've ever won the title by i don't know i'm gonna look it up i can tell you producer lucy told me earlier that it is 25 points in the 2012-13 season i'd forgotten on this they finished 25 points clear of second place Dortmund that is remarkable it's also so you mentioned that Friday night game it was it's a really good game really really great way to bring the league back but it was a very um atypical performance from Rizio Dortmund actually because prior to the Winterpazer they'd only conceded 12 goals in 15 games and then three all-in-one go against Frankfurt and it was very loose it was a very very loose game Dortmund played pretty well scored a lovely first through Maxi Baia really really well taken goal but one of the issues is that Sarah Garcia has not been playing well for a long time he gave away a penalty in this in this game allowed allowed Frankfurt to equalize in the first half but I think one of the discussions that's going to come up and it's going to create a lot of tension over the coming weeks is this Garcia versus should Fabio Silva be playing Fabio Silva the former former Wolves player who probably hasn't done enough to kind of claim that starting role up front outright but has had a few nice touches so there's going to be that debate and Gerasi getting older and is he regressing to the mean and it's very very difficult times there but yeah Dortmund are playing pretty well I think I was having a conversation with my Dortmund supporting friends during this match and we're talking about kind of talent versus style and actually the more time goes on you think But Niko Kovac is doing a pretty good job to get a tune out of this group of players, really, because it's quite limited in different parts of that side.

51:46You had a sit down with Niko Kovac before the football returned for a fascinating article which you put up on The Athletic in which he discusses his belief in the KISS principle, keep it simple, stupid. keep it simple stupid yeah he was talking like we spoke the day after the Mönchengladbach game the last game before Christmas and he was talking about what it was like to come into that club back in February 2025 when they're in 11th place and how you manage that situation of imparting your own views and changing the way a team is playing but then not overloading them within the middle of a season when in Dortmund's case they often had three games a week they're playing Bundesliga weekends and then the Champions League during the week and so your time on the training pitches is pretty limited but he's talking also about sort of how important physicality is to his training and also what happens next because they've become more stable the Heintrake game aside but then at some point you need to develop a little bit more personality within that system and that's really the next step for him and for some of those players and I also think there needs to be a little bit of investment a little bit of squad improvement in certain positions wouldn't wouldn't harm anyone really but we'll see if they're able to do that with three weeks left of window didn't he come across as a likable fellow yeah i've met i've met kovac before i've got a lot of time for him as a person very forthright it's very interesting to speak to him about his career because obviously he went as a head coach he was a head coach of the croatian national team took eintracht frankfurt to a pokal final and won the pokal final against Bayern Munich then went to Bayern Munich a little bit of a run-in with Thomas Müller was a little bit difficult for him and he's very interesting when he talks about how he's adapted his thinking over time and how he's learned a few lessons from from the different clubs that he spent time at which is great because also he's got some different experiences there like you know forgetting where he played and what he was as a player like a really really hard-edged defensive midfielder but he's coached Wolfsburg, Eintracht Frankfurt we've mentioned, Monaco, Bayern Munich now brissi adormand so it's um there's a really real wealth of experiences there but uh yeah a very forthright guy um very likable going well with him i think i was disappointed kiss meant keep it simple stupid did you not know that one well i just thought in germany given they love like hasselhoff i just thought if there was some kind of glam rock element to this where you know he was he was showing the players kind of kiss concerts and getting them to paint their faces and stick their tongues out.

54:16That's the kind of motivational stuff that I respond to. I'll bear that in mind, James. Yeah. So the KISS thing is, yeah, he came from a few English guys on his coaching staff that are responsible for that. But it was a very interesting guy, and I don't think he's done a very good job. I think to be second with that Borussia Dortmund team, given where they were 12 months ago, is pretty impressive. And yeah, really interested to see what happens next there. Indeed so. if he's operated by the KISS principle, perhaps at Bayer Leverkusen, they might dust off the 6P principle. Do you know the 6P principle?

54:51I don't know. No. Proper planning prevents piss-poor performance. Yeah. Ah! Yes, I would adopt that ASAP, Jimbo, because this was absolutely dismal against Stuttgart. So they lost 4-1 at home Saturday team time. Well, they were 4-0 down at half-time, Jimbo. Wow! And not unreasonably so. This was dreadful. This was kind of all of Leverkusen's worst traits in one half of football, which is they can play, but there are, for as long as the season's been going on, there've been individual mistakes, defensive lapses, drops in intensity. And Schuttgart played very, very well. Jamie levelling had a really, really excellent game.

55:31But even so, you don't want to take away anything from Schuttgart, but it's just unacceptable from Leverkusen. It's just a really, really poor standard and yes there are a few absentees patrick schick wasn't playing they were missing look bade as well that's an important um absentee at the base of their defense but still not good enough not good enough and they will play hamburg on tuesday night which um the moment so we're recording some monday not quite sure if that's going to go ahead yet a lot of snow up here and getting to the volkspark stadion will be a little bit tricky i guess so we'll see but um that's where they're scheduled to be next judging from the pictures i'm seeing on my phone the idea of that game going ahead is science fiction this this latest one i've got seb slaffer bloor has sent through is is perhaps the most chocolate boxy of of all you've got a you've got what appears to once been someone's driveway but it's now a kind of ice age scene it was once my driveway was that you where you live so that is that is actually my mailbox in that photo because it shows you how much snow there and that that was taken about five or six ago so we are probably eight more inches of snow since then really even deeper now do you shovel this out sep is that what you spend the morning doing yeah so there's there's a rule in germany you have to so you're responsible for the spaces in front of your front door and your driveway of course if pedestrians go past they don't slip and if someone does and you haven't cleared your your driveway legal trouble james wow yeah but anyway so the volkspark to get there you have to new Vox Park is, you know, People's Park.

57:05It's quite a long walk up from the station. And I imagine those pathways are pretty hazardous unless they've been gritted and cleared by the council. But I don't know. So I'm supposed to go to the game. So let's see. I hope it's on. And like, there's even more snow now. Eight inches is a lot. Yeah. I mean, for some. Oh, of course. So in the Stuttgart winner, I'm moving on. I'm moving on. into that joke for one winners as we say over by lever because a brace for jamie leveling in there and interesting that he used his post-match comments to kind of shut down talk of him moving to bournemouth to replace antoine semenio said yeah so this is the story's been around for about a week and then after the game on saturday night which was on sky deutschland leveling was asked about the rumors and he said no listen we've got a lot to achieve still as a team i've got a lot to achieve as a player i'm happy and really flattered to receive the offers but i'm i want to stay where i am and with good cause because when he joined stuttgart for five million euros from unonny berlin having spent a loan spell there already it wasn't really on the radar of the national team and i don't think people would have considered jamie leveling to be a kind of a national team level player but under spastin hannes he's been leveling up he has leveled up he has indeed and he has a very good chance of going to the world cup i've been called up by hulian nagelsmann didn't play very well and um these kind of performances will do him no harm at all and so i think two issues maybe but predominantly would you make a big change in a world cup year when you're in the squad already probably not i think um so he's he's being smart and there's no reason why he can't play for germany and play for stuttgart there's no necessity and moving yet.

58:49So, and he's doing very, very well with Hoonis. Very, very nice. Any transfers that you think might be happening featuring your clubs, James, Seb and Pohl over the next week, just to finish off? Well, I've written about this, how it's problematic that, you know, United sacked Ruben Amorim because it means that the prospects of Roma signing Zergze and Napoli signing Kobi Mainu have been dramatically reduced because United don't want to do anything until they've decided on their new interim interim coach. So, yeah. Indeed. Paul, anything from you? Yeah, no, from Barcelona, of course. The Joao Cancelo announcement is potentially going to come today, as we speak on Monday.

59:37And then the biggest name around is Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, the goalkeeper, who Barca would like to offload. It's still yet to see if he's really keen on leaving. There's a Coupe game midweek this week. Barca are playing against Racing de Santander. And let's see if he plays, if he starts. If he doesn't, possibly it's going to be a message of, yeah, better get out of here. And the main contenders of the most interested team are Girona, quite surprisingly. But for family reasons, Teres Stegen would prefer to stay in Catalonia as well. So Girona are nearby. Barcelona would be willing to let him go and pay the biggest part of his salary.

1:00:14as long as he goes there. So that's one that is on the cards. Excellent. And Seb? No, nothing close, Jimbo. I mean, there's a story around about Oscar Bob and Borussia Dortmund, but I don't think there's much to that at the moment. Nothing beyond what we've already reported at Athletic. So I think it'll be a quiet one. All right. Stay across theathletic.com for all the latest transfer, news and analysis, of course, as ever, and we'll return with another European edition of the Totally Football Show next. Tuesday. It'll be an early one, I think, as well, because it's Champions League next week, is it not?

1:00:48The return thereof. Yeah, it is. Exciting. So we'll be European Correspondents assembling on Monday to bring you that extra early. For now, though, it's many, many thanks to Guillermo for joining us earlier, to Paul, Seb and James, and of course, producer Lucy and you, listener. We'll be back in a week's time and we've got the regular show on Thursday too. So do hope you join us soon. And from all of us here, it's goodbye.

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