Roma take charge of Champions League chase at the expense of Juventus

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2:42Pol Ballus: In Germany, there's the season finale, and listen up Villa fans, as Seb tells us, Voss is Freiburg. There's tears in La Liga as Lewandowski takes his leave and worries for Spain with Lopez and Jamal. And a huge weekend in France too, with Monaco losing the game of the season, but still potentially sneaking into Europe and also the Paris derby. All that and more in this Totally Football show.

3:08Pol Ballus: Welcome to you, listener. Thank you for joining us. Hey, it's Monday the 18th of May as we sit here ready to lay down a brand new and indeed the penultimate Totally Football Show European edition of the season. Here in the studio, Tom. Tom Williams, fresh back from Paris. Hello, James. Hello. Nice to see you. In an airport in Italy is James Horncastle, or at least we think it's James Horncastle. It is James Horncastle. Right. James Richardson. I am in an airport. Looking like an absolute dom for the benefits of the tape. Describe the picture, Tom. Yankees baseball cap, sunglasses, white unbuttoned shirt, and a navy blue or black suit jacket slash blazer.

3:56Looking the absolute business.

3:57Pol Ballus: Yeah, it's extraordinary, isn't it? And joining us from Catalonia, Paul Ballos, also looking the absolute business, Paul, of course. Well, I'm just sorry not to add that much into the picture as James is doing right now. But yeah, at least I'm in Barcelona. I'm not going to complain too much. Exactly. Exactly. We'll have a bit of Seb later on, although he's still... Getting his... On his... Oh, sorry, because he's in Turkey. Yeah. Is that not what he's there for? Tom expecting him to come back with a new head of hair. Yeah, big time. Like the famous Alan Shearer mean. What if Seb Stafford Paul turns up one day and refuses to insist he used to be bald?

4:34That's the big reveal. speaking of striking looks for final pod, right? It's what we're all building up to.

4:40Pol Ballus: Right. Speaking of no longer clear on top, Seb Stafford-Bloor. Yeah. Anyway, he will be talking to us a little bit later on about the last day in the Bundesliga, which happened last Saturday, and also about Freiburg, who are going to be Aston Villa's dance partners Wednesday in the European Cup final. Sorry, the Europa League final. What a difference an N makes. Well, yes. which will be taking place in Istanbul. Very good. He's also sent us a moment of the week, which we'll get to very shortly. But Tom, why don't you give us yours first of all? Right. Well, I hate to start the show off on a bum note, but I'm afraid circumstances leave me no choice.

5:24So it's Nantes, the Nantes-Toulouse game. So technically speaking, the league end season hasn't actually finished. It should have wrapped up last night, But the Nantes to lose game was called off after angry Nantes supporters stormed the pitch midway through the first half, brandishing black flares. James? No, I was going to say, they had no Nantes sense. If anyone could have done with a bit of Nantes sense last night, it was the Nantes supporters. Streamed onto the pitch, about 300 fans in yellow and green balaclavas. Right. Which, in other circumstances, might have looked quite silly. But when they were all aggressively charging towards the players' tunnel, it did not look silly at all.

6:10And perhaps the saddest part of the whole thing was the sight of the Nantes coach, Vahid Halil Hodzik, who came out of retirement to try and stop Nantes being relegated, who is 73 or 74 years old, beside himself on the touchline. And everyone else, the players, the substitutes, the officiating team, as soon as they saw these fans charging across the pitch, made a beeline for the tunnel, and understandably so. And Halid Hodzik was absolutely furious. And in scenes that called to mind those famous images of Brian Clough trying to stop a pitch invasion by cuffing Nottingham Forest supporters around the head, he didn't quite go that far.

6:54He had this big burly security guy holding him back, but you could see him pleading with the Nantes supporters. And this is a man who he spent the majority of his career in France playing for Nantes. This was his second stint as head coach. He was given a guard of honour prior to kickoff because it was going to be his last game. And the club being relegated on his watch is something that has pained him very deeply. And so you could see the hurt on his face. and it was, yeah, I mean, it was a very sad way to bring to an end what has been a pretty sad season for Nantes and their supporters.

7:31Pol Ballus: When you said on a bum note, I thought you were talking about the play-out fixture, which is Nisaz. Nisaz, I mean, this is true. I mean, that could be the ultimate bum note. Well, indeed. Paul, what about your moment of the week, please? Yeah, so I'm bringing this back to the cheesy moment of the week days because my moment of the week is Robert Lewandowski saying goodbye to Barcelona, to the City and to his time at the club in tears at the Camp Nou as he was subbed off. In his last game playing at home, he confirmed this week that he's not going to extend his contract. It's been a sort of a mutual decision.

8:04Barcelona was okay with him leaving, basically. They don't want to extend him. And yet just before the game that Barca played last night against Real Betis at home, he announced it so all the Barcelona crowd could go to the Camp Nou and give him the tribute that he deserves because looking back at the last four years, I would say that Lewandowski signing, which was one that raised a lot of warning signs because he was 33 back in the day, Barca paid 50 million for him, huge salary in a moment that the club seemed to be adrift. And he's living with three league titles, Copa del Rey to Spanish Supercopas, being the pichichi of La Liga one season, if I'm not wrong.

8:45And yeah, with all the Barca fans really pleased with him and really happy for the moment that he decided to come because he said yes to Barcelona when it was difficult to say yes to Barcelona because Barca, as I was saying, they were going nowhere. He is seen as the first superstar to join after Lionel Messi, after Lionel Messi's departure. And the city is always going to remain thankful for him to bring the club back to where they believe that they belong. Okay, where's he going to go? Yeah, no, that's not the million-dollar question because it's going to be more than a million dollars, what is going to make the difference here.

9:21But his close scam points towards the Saudi League making appealing approaches to him. So if I had to guess, I would say that this is going to be a likely destination for him.

9:33Pol Ballus: Okay. There have been some talk of San Siro as a destination, but apparently nothing too firm on that front. James, what about your moment of the week then? Well, I thought Paul was going to go with the latest Antoine Griezmann kind of farewell. I was tempted to. I saw that and that was a wonderful send-off that Atleti gave. And he kind of reciprocated the lovely words that Diego Simeone had for him before the Barcelona Champions League quarterfinal. Griezmann gave to Simeone, gave them back. Yeah. And Simeone was almost blubbing. it was quite a thing to see. Anyway. He also apologised for having ever left and gone to Barcelona which I'm guessing is probably why Paul didn't mention it.

10:20No, I just mentioned the Lewandowski thing because I was in the stadium and I experienced it basically. But yeah, the Griezmann was another of the standards moment. Okay. For me, I'm going to do what Seb tends to do which is like I'm going to go to the Zweite Bundesliga or something like that. I'm going to the second division in Italy Serie B because we had the first legs of the playoff semifinals on Sunday. And there was a big shock because Catanzaro, from down in Calabria, the team that Claudio Ranieri used to play for, they beat Palermo, CFG, City Football Group owned Palermo, 3-0 in the first leg.

11:03They were 2-0 up. Catanzaro coached by Alberto Aquilani, a Liverpool legend. and Aquilani sort of establishing himself as maybe one of the young coaches to watch in Italy. But yeah, stunned Palermo. They were 2-0 up after 15 minutes, and then one of the bright young things in Italian football, of which there are not many, Mattia Liberali, who joined from Milan at the beginning of the season, scored a lovely goal to make it 3-0.

11:41Gran Palla, Liberali, controllo, sterzata, Liberali! Mancino precisissimo! Palermo didn't really create anything. So I know Paul just down the road from Barcelona with Girona, another CFG team. They're at risk of relegation from La Liga. Palermo at risk of not being promoted. And I think this will be maybe their third or fourth season of being owned by CFG.

12:10Pol Ballus: Good Lord. But Trois have been promoted, just to level things up with some pro-CFG news. James, when was the last time that Catanzaro were in La Massa Masseria? That would be 1982-83, James. So, for example, when Como came up the year before last, it was their first time in two decades. we've seen some clubs come up that have never been in Serie A before in the last 10 years you know Aurelio De Laurentiis' favorite teams like Benevento and Frozionne but yeah Catanzaro were a thing in the late 70s early 80s they used to have this player called Massimo Palanca who was a cult hero because he would score from corner kicks so you know maybe in the set piece era in which we live uh it's entirely appropriate that Catanzaro come up to the uh Italian top flight let's see James let's see second leg permitting interesting all right here's Seb Staffer-Bloor with his special moment we've got to mention Alvesburg Alvesburg who play in a stadium that holds 10 ,000 people it's really a three-sided stadium which is under construction the nearby town I think the population is only 12 ,000 13 ,000 a tiny, tiny club and back in 2022 they won promotion from the original Liga Sudwest which is the fourth tier of German football and in the four years since a further two promotions and now they're going to the Osterbunds League for the first time in their history truly amazing so moment of the week This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson part of the Athletic FC podcast network James, one more round to go in Italy and what a finale in store.

13:57Pol Ballus: The race for the Champions League places as Inter and Napoli already having sewn up two spots of the four Inter, of course, as champions. Then you've got four more teams chasing the other two places, separated by only two points. Milan and Roma, who are currently level in third and fourth, and then two points behind them, Como and Juventus. Meanwhile, down the bottom, back-to-back goals from Jamie Vardy have Cremonese still in with a shout of staying up, but they're one point behind Lecce. Next weekend, Cremonese will be up against Como, who, as we've just heard, are going to be in the top four hunt, while Lecce hosts Genoa, who don't have anything to play for.

14:38Pol Ballus: Crikey, the big news in that top four picture this weekend was Roma notching up their fourth straight win and doing it in the Derby del Capodilino. Yeah, exactly, James. This was seen as a huge derby for Roma because of what was at stake. And also Lazio played in the Coppa Italia final in midweek. They lost, so they were quite demoralized. They had quite a few injuries as well, Lazio. And then this ongoing protest from the ultras against the ownership by Claudio Lottito. And the ultras did not turn up. And so once again, they boycotted a game. But this is more than a game for Romanisti, Romans and Laziali.

15:31It is the game. and so for them not to be present was you know quite an incredible gesture really and then you saw all the banners from the Roma fans one of which facing the Lazio end the Cud of a Nord which was empty said there are more of you than usual

15:55Pol Ballus: also threatening to not turn up was Lazio's manager but he did actually make it on the day Yeah, Marito Sadi, he was disgusted by the league sort of moving around the kickoff time. So he didn't want it to be played on a lunchtime, which it was. The league wanted all of the teams that were vying for those Champions League places to play at the same time. Then the league moved it to Monday night. They were in dispute with the local authority in Rome. There was threats of legal action. anyway it gets played on that uh sunday lunchtime and yeah sari the football romantic that he is was saying like i might as well just go and watch the giro d 'italia because you know the cycling race that's a sport you know football is just a game it's a business these days but yeah Roma won and once again Gianluca Mancini Roma's hard man antipatico centre back made a name for himself in this game as he did a few years ago when he ran into the Roma end and picked up a flag blue and white flag which has a rat on it so depicting the Lazio fans as rats so Mancini very much, you know, as unpopular as he is with fans of other teams, very popular on derby days for Roman Iuski for these kind of antics.

17:30Pol Ballus: Becoming the first defender in the history of the derby to score multiple goals in one of these fixtures. They were pretty identical, no? Both headers from set pieces as Roma capped off a really rough week for Lazio. It looks like Mauricio Sarri is going to be heading off possibly to take Conte's place in Naples but meanwhile as regards to top four picture mentioned Roma moving into the top four and Juve dropping down and that's as a result of the other huge result this weekend which was in the big Juve Fiorentina grudge game yeah this was a big shock because Juventus even though they've had some hiccups of late their record on the Luciano Spalletti is the second best team in Italy since he replaced Igor Tudor.

18:17And Fiorentina, as much as this is the grudge game for Florentines, Fiorentina had secured their top flight status after spending seven months fearing the worst, going down to the second division. They didn't really have anything to play for, but Juventus were listless. their former player Sharon Dur, another promising young Italian big unit in midfield he got the opening goal and then lovely winner from Rolando Mandragara again another player who was briefly on Juventus' books then moved to Udinese was one of the transfers that was subject to investigation in the scandal that brought down Andrea Agnelli and Fabio Paratici former chief football officer who returned to the Juventus stadium for the first time since becoming Fiorentina's head of football and got to celebrate a win which really does put Juventus' Champions League hopes in jeopardy.

19:26They were not the crisis club going into this weekend. The crisis club was very much Milan who were going to Genoa. Lots of reports over the last week of a rift between Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the senior advisor to the owners Redbird and Massimiliano Allegri. Zlatan doesn't go to the training ground anymore. Reports of big overhaul at the top of the club as well. And yet Milan won and suddenly find themselves with destiny still in their hands. And now the focus has firmly shifted to have Juventus got their structure right with Damian Comoli, Ottolini, Modesto and Luciano Spoletti who recently signed a deal to keep him at the club beyond this season.

20:19So there's everything to play for when it comes to third and fourth place and down at the bottom going into the final weekend. And Juventus played the Turin derby on the final day. Now, Torino haven't been in Juventus since 2015, but imagine if they did in this case.

20:39Pol Ballus: To deny them Champions League football. Yes, the derby at Torino for Juventus. Como, who are level with them but head on goal difference, are at Creminesi, who are battling for their survival. But if Milan and Roma win their games, all of that will be irrelevant to Como and Juve. Milan will be hosting Cagliari, who are now definitely staying up. And Roma are at Verona, who are definitely going down, but still seem to be having fun. They had that draw with Inter this weekend. They drew previously with Juventus. On both occasions, Kieran Bowie is scoring for them. So, yeah, that'll be interesting.

21:16Pol Ballus: Speaking of Scotsmen scoring goals in Serie A, Scott McTominay notched his 10th goal of the season in Napoli. 3-0 win against Pisa on Sunday. Why was that significant, James? You have to tell me, because I was at Genoa Mila. Ah, okay. Oh, right. You were actually there at Morassi for that game. Yeah. I mean, I kept telling our listeners all season to go to Morassi. Yes. Because it is the best atmosphere in Serie A at the moment. And they didn't disappoint even when the ultras decided to protest and hold the game hostage for 10 minutes, throwing flares onto the pitch in a protest against the repressive of Ligue 1 Serie A for moving kickoff times around and just messing fans around.

22:02So they thought they would mess the league around by stopping the game for 10 minutes, by throwing flares on the pitch.

22:08Pol Ballus: Can't they go on a march from a pub like all sensible people do? When was the kickoff time actually announced? It was late. I think it was like Friday, Thursday or Friday. It is mad. And you can understand why the ultras, although their methods are often wrong and commonly questionable why they do feel that they have a role in holding the authorities to some account because without somebody saying something i don't know anyway well there you go so i'm glad you got to enjoy that no the significance of scott mcdomeny is that in notching his 10th goal of the season he's become the second napoli midfielder to reach double figures in goals in two different seasons only the second in the last 90 years the other one being a guy who did it four times with a remarkable set of teeth and mohawk oh you got it tom have you well i'm sure james has got it too but marik hamsick exactly exactly so we're talking about that kind of the man who is still an absolute bona fide legend in naples with his face on billboards all over the city so yeah scott mctomedy cementing his legend down there in the shadow of vesuvius lovely stuff will he be Will he be playing on D 'Antonio Conte next season?

23:24That's the big question. What's the answer, James? Well, you know, I mean, Conte has said that the Italian Football Federation should absolutely have him on the shortlist to become the next Italy coach. But he then said, that's not me saying I want the job. I'm just saying I should be on the shortlist. And then on Sunday, he said, I have a really good relationship with Napoli's president, Ariel De Laurentiis. And he's known what I want to do for a month now, which people are beginning to be inclined to think that Antonio may well be off at the end of the season.

24:07Pol Ballus: All right. Well, you better be off to catch your flight home, James Horncastle. So many thanks for joining us today. My pleasure. We'll catch up with you again next week in our final European edition of the season. Arrivederci. Ciao, ciao.

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26:28This 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.

26:40Pol Ballus: Hey Paul Belus, let's talk some Liga. One round to go in Spain as well and only really the relegation places to be decided. Is that fair? With five teams at risk down there and some big results this weekend as well with Elche getting that 1-0 victory over Getafe and Levante who rocketed up the table with a 2-0 win over Mallorca. Tell us all about it, Paul. No, yeah, it's basically one of the best relegation battles that we've seen in recent years in Spain. It's the main attraction of the end of the season. And yeah, it has left a final game week that is going to be quite mental because we have Real Oviedo, who, of course, they are already relegated.

27:20The dramatic game against Levante and Mallorca left Mallorca practically relegated. According to the data, they have a 96 % chance of getting relegated. despite having the second top goal scorer in La Liga, which is quite mad, which is Betad Morici with 22 goals. And then the most dramatic game of the final game, which is going to be the match between Girona and Elche. You have mentioned the fact that the CFG-owned club, Girona, have found themselves in this relegation battle and they will play against Elche. If they win, they will be safe, basically. But if they draw or lose, they are going to go to the second division.

27:59But I think that if we have to mention one case, it's the case of Levante. They've been on the relegation zone for the whole year, for the whole season. And what Luis Castro has done in there is just a miracle. When he came into the team, Levante had 11 points after 17 games. And he arrived and he's won 31 points in 20 games. Six wins out of the last nine games. They need one point just to be safe. So it's practically done. And they don't even need to win or draw. I mean, even with a defeat, they could be saved. And there's one name that I wanted to mention with this Carlos Espí. It's going to be a big name in the summer transfer window.

28:35Remember that name.

28:43He's a target man, a striker. He's scored nine goals in the last 12 games. And his name has done the rounds for Strasbourg. So I'm throwing this to you, Tom. and let's see what happens. He has a release clause of 25 million, but he has the goods of being a proper striker. He's young and let's see what happens with him. But yeah, one of the names of La Liga this season for sure.

29:12Pol Ballus: Excellent. Now, meantime, towards the other end, there is still the question of who's going to get the Conference League spot. That's between Getafe and Rayo Vallecano, who are, of course, in this year's Conference League final. Yeah, well, I still think that Valencia has a chance to go into that conference league spot, which is quite mad, given the fact that last week they were not even safe from relegation. So they won 3-4 against Real Softirad, and now they have still a slim chance to go into that conference league spot, thanks, of course, to Rayo Vallecano going to the conference final and giving this extra European spot to the Spanish league.

29:50So, yeah, all quite tight in there, and going to the conference league, would be a huge gift to any of those teams, a huge financial boost. And yeah, another one to keep an eye on in the final weekend.

30:01Pol Ballus: As regards to the top two title race, of course, settled some weeks ago in Barcelona's favour. Real Madrid getting back to winning ways at least this weekend, away at Sevilla with a 1-0 victory, which saw Kylian Mbappé, presumably amidst an injury crisis, recalled to the starting line-up by Álvaro Álvaro Lóa and marking his return by setting up Vinny Jr. to score the game's only goal. Has it been a calmer week for Real Madrid, Paul? I mean, I don't know what you take for calmer, but after what happened last weekend or last week in the exchange between Mbappe and Arabelloa, it left a bit of a heated week.

30:41I think that Mbappe played a bit as a message from Arabelloa, like, OK, now let's go to the pitch and try to do what you want to do. And yeah, there's been a lot of noise this time around Dani Carvajal, who was basically... We have mentioned that part of the club was already thinking about not offering him a contract extension, and that has been a job in the minds of those in power at Real Madrid. But now it's been confirmed this week, one of the biggest legends of the recent history of the club. He's going back, I would say, through the back door, because this season he's not had a proper good season.

31:15I don't think that he's been given a lot of confidence from Marbelloa. And yeah, that's one of the biggest news. And then, of course, Jose Mourinho and the noise around his name. He's basically, I'm not even going to say like the standout candidate because he's the candidate. He's the guy that is going to take over. And we are basically final stages of the negotiation. And the only thing Real Madrid is waiting is for the league to end, just to respect Arbeloa just a little bit, maybe, and then put the name of Jose Mourinho in there as the savior of this generation in Real Madrid.

31:49Pol Ballus: Jose Mourinho, who's just completed a league campaign unbeaten in Portugal with Benfica, which sounds good until he realised that he saw them finish third and thus miss out on the Champions League places. But not his problem because he's off to Madrid, even though he's still saying there's a 99 % chance he'll stay in Portugal. I'm not sure mathematics is necessarily his forte. Well, we'll wait to see what happens on that. Meantime, Barcelona had their final home game and they beat Real Betis 3-1 with a lovely free kick from Rafinha. Joao Cancelo also scored. Who got the other goal, Paul? Rafinha.

32:27Rafinha scored two goals. He scored two. Yeah, two goals from Rafinha and another one from Joao Cancelo.

32:32Pol Ballus: Lovely stuff. And as you mentioned, Robert Lewandowski announcing his departure with that game. Yeah, let me mention as well from the Barcelona game that Femi Lopez was souped off at halftime. and he is basically going to miss the World Cup. He's broken his foot. He's going to have to undergo surgery and he's not going to be in the Spain squad, which he was practically like an undisputed name. He's had the best season of his life. I think it's 13 goals and 17 assists. Outstanding numbers. He's not an integral part of the Spain lineup, I would say, but he had a chance to start because Nico Williams, he's going to go to the World Cup but he's going to be off at the start of it, most likely.

33:13so he could have had a chance well he will not have it and then we can mention as well Lamin Yamal who as we just reported he's going to miss the Spain opener against Caip Verde in the World Cup and he's likely or he's probable to miss the second game as well against Saudi Arabia yeah there's a big doubt around him Spain doctors they still maintain that they want to see him when he gets to the Spain camp and assess him and see how he improves but people around the player and the club here, Barcelona, say that it is likely still that he misses the second game. Everyone wants to be cautious with him, not rush him too much.

33:52But there, of course, still hopes that he can make an impact in the World Cup. And he's going to be in the list, no matter what, because he's that important of a player for Luis de la Fuente. Fractured metatarsal for Firmin Lopez, which will cause England fans of a certain age a shudder recognition. Okay, Yuri Geller on the phone. Well, there we go. A sure sign that a World Cup is looming, given that we're losing players to Matatarsal injuries. Indeed. Paul, thank you so much. Anything else from Spain? I think that's it. No, I think that's it. We've covered all the flanks I wanted to.

34:23Pol Ballus: Excellent. All right. Well, we'll speak to you again next week. Thank you, Paul. Hasta luego. Hasta luego. I'll speak next week.

34:37This is the Totally Football Show, Part of the Athletic FC Podcast Network.

34:42Pol Ballus: The Eredivisie Tom, PSV Einhoeven have won it. It was close, though, just 19 points. There, Lee, just 19 points. While at the other end of the table, things were quite tight in the relegation battle. Many thanks to Sasha Guryanov, who flagged up the dramatic scenes in the relegation head-to-head between Telstar and Volendam, which had the scoreline 1-1 in the 89th minute. when the Telstar goalkeeper, in very probably his last game for the club, ahead of a move to Singapore, Singapore, stepped up to take a penalty. That's the first one that he's ever taken in his professional career. This to keep Telstar up.

35:26Pol Ballus: And he absolutely smashed it. The first goal of his professional career, keeps Telstar in the area of easy. Who is that Telstar goalkeeper, Tom Williams? Ronald Koeman Jr. Wow.

35:55The first time he'd ever attempted a penalty. Right. And it was a must-score penalty in a must-win game. That's almost more Ronald Koeman than anything his father ever did. Right.

36:05Pol Ballus: Thank goodness it wasn't a free kick, eh? Well, yeah. Anyway, there you go. That's what happened in the Eredivisie. We previously mentioned that Porto won the Liga in Portugal with Sporting second and Benfica third. One thing we should talk about, though, now before we get on to France, Tom, is this Wednesday's Europa League final. It is in Istanbul. It does feature Aston Villa, but it also involves German side Freiburg. So to give us a briefing on Freiburg, here's Seb Stafford-Bloor. I've been trying to think about who an English equivalent of Freiburg would be because that would be helpful. And I think it's probably someone like Brentford.

36:45It's not a like for like, but it's similar because Freiburg are an overachiever. I think they're really well admired for their processes and their stability. They certainly achieve beyond their budget. Their budget is probably towards their kind of lower middle class in budgetary terms and yet consistently now kind of been challenging for europe in recent seasons a couple years ago christian strike retired there wasn't a more like person in german football than christian strike um he'd been there for an awfully long time and he was succeeded when he retired by julian schuster who i think when that happened a lot of people thought freiburg will drop off because the continuity was a secret weapon strike was loved by his players at least locally a kind of cultural icon but that hasn't been the case and what we've seen is a kind of a new Freiburg emerging and um you know there's some tenants of of Strikes team but I think we've seen the development of a new set of players so a brief run through I guess uh Nurt Atabalu the the goalkeeper he's really well regarded uh he will probably move in the summer I think he the last two or three years has emerged as a kind of a great German hope in the next generation he's eliminated a lot of errors from his game which really helps but he's a fantastic shot stopper good physical presence just a really good goalkeeper a couple of other players to be aware of i think one of my favorites this season joan manzambi who will play for switzerland at the world cup central midfielder skillful goal threat talented technical uh works really hard again probably someone who might be of interest to some major clubs or at least clubs further up the food chain this summer um so watch out for him he'll be a problem for Villa definitely uh two wide players because Fyberg will probably play a 4-2-3-1 type shape uh against Villa I'd imagine on the left uh Vince Grifo kind of wide rangy winger who will take penalties could set peace taker but a very good player and open by two he'll be a problem on the right side Jan-Nikki Beshta who um actually came up as part of that Heidenheim team a couple of years ago he performed that sort of that final day miracle to get the promotion.

38:55He had a bit of time in Benfica. Didn't really work for him. Moved back to Germany. But he's a really problematic, counter-attacking threat. Good left foot, really skilled foot player, makes good decisions. He's got an incredible bit of facial hair. He looks almost Amish in a way. But yeah, best beard in the whole of German football. Maybe challenging for the whole of Europe too. Excellent player. And that friend, a guy I really like, Igor Matanovic. So Matanovic, he's one of these players who he was a prospect for a very long time then for different reasons stumbled and hesitated in his career didn't evolve and develop as he might have done but this season he's hasn't quite caught fire i think that would be overdoing it but he's shown signs of just what a rounded center forward he can be links play very well good goal scorer physical big threat in the air he's a problem he's not to be afforded too much space i think the expectation is realistic.

39:51Look, Villa are favorites for good reason. Financially, they operate in a completely different world to a club like Freiburg. But Freiburg are talented, and I think this modern era, if you look back over the last five or six years, I think Freiburg, Freiburg's reputation is that of someone who upsets the odds. So they'll be perfectly comfortable in this situation. Absolutely delighted to be an underdog. This is not going to be a 5-0. This is not going to be a 5-0. Villa are favorites, they deserve to be favorites, but Freiburg are dangerous and they certainly carry a threat.

40:19Pol Ballus: All right, more from Seb Staffer-Bloor very shortly, but next up, we're off to France.

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43:29This is the Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network.

43:35Pol Ballus: Tom, what a weekend in France, the final weekend of the season. It featured everything. It featured PFC beating PSG in the Paris Derby, Lyon blowing up, must say, getting a win, and the game of the season, perhaps. Yeah, there was a lot going on on Sunday night. and in actual fact the battle for champions league qualification which was supposed to be the main focus of attention ended up being a bit of a damp squib because Lille who were trying to hold on to third place lost at home to Oserre but that was okay because Lyon who were trying to hold on to fourth place and could have potentially overtaken Lille also lost 4-0 at home to what was basically the Lens reserves.

44:23Lens had already nailed down second place in the table behind PSG, gearing up for the Coupe de France on Friday against Nice, a competition that Lens have never won. Pierre Sage, Lens manager, going back to Lyon, the club that sacked him in January last year, gives some of his second string players a run out. And they absolutely tore Lyon to pieces. And so the big winners in terms of the European picture were Marseille, who, on the back of this extremely difficult period of weeks slash months slash seasons, managed to win at home to Rennes and consequently overtook Rennes. So that's Lille, who remained third, automatic Champions League place.

45:10Lyon, fourth, go into the Champions League qualifying rounds. Marseille go into the Europa League. Rennes will go into the Conference League as things stand. but if Lens win the Coupe de France final, and they are strong favourites to do so, then the Europa League place for that will be passed down to Rennes in sixth, and consequently Monaco will go into the Conference League, having finished seventh, and in spite of having given up a 4-1 lead away at Hasburg to lose 5-4 in pretty remarkable circumstances.

45:45Pol Ballus: So this was the game of the season that I was mentioning, absolutely remarkable, 4-1 up, Away to Strasbourg. And then what happened? Yeah, I mean, they just caved. And, you know, as much as a 5-4 scoreline looks spectacular, and this game was spectacular, I think it really spoke to the fact that these are two clubs that have basically messed up their seasons. Monaco should have been vying for Champions League qualification. Strasbourg should have been vying for European qualification of some description. You know, Strasbourg have had the twin recent disappointments of going out in both the Coupe de France semifinals and the Conference League semifinals.

46:26Monaco had this great rally in the league, but their form has now tailed away. And so it felt like a bit of a silly football match. Had some incredible goals. Lamine Kamaha scored an absolute beauty for Monaco, as did Ansu Fati, who took his tally of Monaco goals to 11 for the campaign in Ligue 1. looking increasingly likely that he's going to stay put at Stade Louis Deux for next season. That's one of the few bits of good news for Monaco. But yeah, Strasbourg just came flying back. A couple of goals for Martial Godot, formerly briefly of Fulham, who's become one of Gary O 'Neill's key men. Sebastian Nenassi, Swedish attacking midfielder, got a couple of goals.

47:05And Julio Enciso got three assists. So yeah, a decent way to bow out for Strasbourg. But I think both they and Monaco will look back at this campaign with probably more regrets than satisfactions. I see.

47:21Pol Ballus: Both as it stands out of Europe. Although you say if Lens win the Coupe de France final on Friday. Monaco will squeeze into the Conference League. Into the Conference League. All right. And Lens will be up against Nice in Friday's Cup final, which is going to be interesting because Nice have got other things to worry about. Yeah, so Nice went into their final game of the season at home to rock bottom and long relegated Mets needing to better Oseer's result away at Lille. Big expectation that Nice would win and that Oseer would not, but Oseer did win 2-0 away from home against Champions League chasing Lille.

48:03Two goals for Lassin Sinioko, their Mali international striker, 12 for him in Ligue 1 this season. He's been carrying them on his shoulders all season long. And as a consequence, that put Ose in 15th and therefore safe. And even if Nice had won, they wouldn't have been able to avoid finishing 16th, which puts them into the relegation playoff. And they couldn't even beat Mets at home on the last day of the season. There was also a pitch invasion towards the end of this game. Nice, ultras running on, throwing flares, yada, yada, yada. and Nice now find themselves in an almost identical situation to the one that Ahance found themselves in at the end of last season in that Ahance also qualified for the Coupe de France final also had to prepare for the relegation playoff and ended up just not being able to focus on the Coupe de France final at all lost I think it was 3-0 to PSG and then ended up losing the relegation playoff as well and Nice will be up against the might of Saint-Etienne you know this historic name in French football who've had to go through the playoffs in Ligue 2 and Jean-Pierre Hiver the outgoing Nice co-president has already said look we need to kind of not forget about the Coupe de France final but the clear priority has got to be Ligue 1 survival so yeah very far from optimal conditions to be preparing a major final and again I think just points to the catastrophic abandonment of Nice by their owners, Ineos, who've just made it very clear over the last couple of years, particularly since they got involved at Majesty United, that they just can't really be bothered looking after the other football team that they own.

49:48As a consequence, Nice are sliding towards Ligue 2 at a rate of knots.

49:53Pol Ballus: Crikey. Tom, we should also mention since our last show, Paris Saint-Germain won the title. Yes they did yeah with a midweek victory away at Lens in what should have been the you know the the title decider but which was moved back at PSG's request to help them prepare for a Champions League victory was it the Liverpool game it was the semi-finaling against Bayern whatever it was and Lens didn't want to move it back no one in French football wanted it to be moved back but it was moved back and so by the time it came around there was nothing riding on it really I mean you know PSG hadn't yet secured the title but they were all but mathematically assured of it and Lens completely battered them uh and lost 2-0 uh which is a bit of a bit of a metaphor for their experiences in the title race this season but I think nevertheless kind of you know looking back at the season as a whole I kind of feel like people will not forget the fact that PSG have have won the league but this has very much been lones's season i mean they have been the drivers of all the narrative in the title race and psg have you know have managed to get over the line in in not massively convincing fashion only 76 points which is some way off the sort of tally that they they have racked up in recent seasons and finished on a disappointing note losing the derby at paris fc who's now who've now beaten them twice this season having knocked him out of the Coupe de France.

51:24And Luis Enrique said afterwards it was the worst performance of his entire tenure as PSG coach, which is, you know, less than ideal preparation

51:31Pol Ballus: for the Champions League final. Right. The other negative note, or one of the other negative notes about that performance was the fact that it saw Ousmane Dembele come off in the first half. Precautionary, you would hope, but is there any news on his well-being? It is the third time this season that he has gone off as a precautionary measure in around the 26th or 27th minute. And yeah, he had a slightly peculiar game, wasn't really very involved. And then, you know, signals to the bench, he needs to come off, walks off, straight down the tunnel into the changing room. And yeah, the word on the street is that it was purely a precautionary measure.

52:10But again, I think just a sign that what happened in the first half of the campaign, the recurrence of the muscular problems that dogged him in his early years at Barcelona have clearly spooked him a little bit. And as a consequence, I think the merest hint of discomfort, particularly in a game that doesn't really mean anything, you know, he will generally just leave the scene as quickly as possible.

52:35Pol Ballus: All right. Paris FC taking the 2-1 victory. Alimami Gori with both of their goals as they confirm an 11th place finish, which is excellent stuff for the promoted son. The highest ever finish in the top flight. How many other top flight campaigns have they had? A few in the 80s in particular. But yes, this has been the first one for a while. Very good. Anything else from France, Sommes? One last stat to mention from the Marseille-Rennes game, which saw OM run out 3-1 winners. So Habib Bey getting one over his former club in what is probably going to be his last game as Marseille manager, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrating the goal that he scored by mimicking someone spraying a fire extinguisher in reference to his own fire extinguisher escapade of last week which I've written about for The Athletic if anyone wants to have a look at that but yeah, the standout stat from this game was that both teams had 27 attempts on goal 54 in total that is the highest in one game in Europe's top five leagues in something like 20 years or maybe this century.

53:47Ridiculous. There you go.

53:51Pol Ballus: Marseille 3, 1, 1. Next up, Bundesliga. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. Bundesliga finished off its season on Saturday by Munich with a 5-1 thrashing of Kuhn, which featured a hat-trick for Harry Kane, which means he finishes the Bundesliga as top scorer with 36 goals, almost twice as many as the closest challenger, who was Denis Undarv of Stuttgart, in case you're wondering. Extraordinary stuff. Michael Ollesey was named Bundesliga player of the season with his 15 goals and 19 assists. And all in all, Bayern end the season with 122 goals in 34 matches.

54:34Pol Ballus: No team in any of Europe's top leagues has managed that many since Il Grande Torino back in the 40s. The incredible side that's still regarded by many as the best ever side in Italy whose lives were cut so dramatically and tragically short in the Superga air disaster at the end of that decade. That is extraordinary, isn't it? In an 18-team championship. So they play four fewer games than a lot of other clubs. Well, remarkable, isn't it? Remarkable. What else happened? And what are the conclusions to draw at the end of this Bundesliga season? And well, even though he's on holiday, Seb Stafford-Bloor has sent us this roundup.

55:16Okay, so the big drama heading to the final day in the Bundesliga was relegation because Heidenheim, Wolfsburg and Sampauly were all level on points on Saturday, but separated by goal difference. Sampauly played Wolfsburg at the Minotaur in Hamburg and Heidenheim hosted Mainz. Ultimately, Wolfsburg survived. They won 3-1 in Hamburg. Eriksen, Vasil, Pecinovic, 3-1.

55:49And Mainz got the result in Heidenheim. They won 2-0.

56:02That means obviously Heidenheim's a Pauli down, Wolfsburg into the relegation playoff spot. And that's going to be against Paderborn. It's going to be a two-legged game starting next week. And for a long time, it looked like that might be against Hannover because they played Miracleus' Nuremberg at home on Sunday and could only draw 3-3 despite being 3-2 up. Conceding an 83rd minute equalizer.

56:34Couldn't find a winning goal despite, I think, 9, 10 minutes of stoppage time. So that'll be the playoff. Back up to the top of the Bundesliga. We know about Bayern. Their champions are having for some time. We know that British Dortmund are always going to finish second. They're into the Champions League. They were joined last week by Ebi Leipzig, who also qualified. They finished third. Fourth place was the drama on the final day. So heading into it, Hoffenheim, Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen all had an opportunity to nab that last qualifying spot for the Champions League. Potentially, we might have a fifth in Germany, depending on what happens between Freiburg and Aston Villa in the Europa League.

57:11But for now it's fourth. And that spot belongs to Stuttgart. Hoffenheim got hammered by Borussia Mönchengladbach.

57:26Helebanen sent off early in the first half, but still dreadful, dreadful result. Leverkusen had the opportunity to capitalize. They were home to Hamburg and they could only draw.

57:40Fabio Vieira Fabio Vieira on loan Fabio Vieira from Arsenal scored an absolutely brilliant goal in the 1-1 draw and Hamburg held on they've been safe for some time too but it leaves Leverkusen in 6th and with no hope at all of playing Champions League football next season so big questions about whether Casper Hollemann will return below Leverkusen Eintracht Frankfurt Albert Vieira is in trouble Albert Vieira who was appointed mid-season following the dismissal of Dino Topmuller. They most likely will part ways at some point, so watch this space. Let's see what happens there next. But yeah, everything else kind of now pointed towards Freiburg and see what they can do against Villa.

58:25Pol Ballus: Seb Stafford-Bloor. Tom! James, that's it then for this edition. We'll get together again on Monday to talk about, I guess, the Coupe de France, maybe a bit of Nice-Ass, and the final day in Italy and Spain and loads of other things as well. And look ahead, of course, to that big Raya Vallecano-Crystal Palace matchup in Leipzig. For today, though, that's more than enough. Thank you very much, A-Listener. So do join us again soon on the Totally Football Show. For now, from all of us here, it's goodbye. You've been listening to the Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. For more great podcasts just like this one, including The Athletic FC and our dedicated club podcasts, search for The Athletic.

59:14We're also at The Totally Football Show on Insta and at The Totally Show on YouTube. The Totally Football Show is an Athletic Media Company production.

59:29The Athletic FC.

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