Yamal's first hat-trick, big derby win for Marseille and Bayern go clear

0:00James Richardson: We optimise everything about our health routines, except the air we breathe, and when your air is off, your body feels it first. The Blue Air Blue Signature Air Purifiers quietly remove tiny airborne pollutants and odours, supporting deeper sleep, better recovery and clearer focus. Visit blueair.com and use code SIGNATURE30.

0:16Pol Ballus: Hi, this is Matt from P1 with Matt and Tommy, and this episode is sponsored by eBay. The cars you'll find on eBay are just different. They come with a story that you can't wait to share. Like this 1973 Dodge Charger on eBay that has been tucked away in an Arizona barn for over 40 years, only 55 ,000 miles, and somehow in great running order. It even has a rare sunroof. Suddenly, a car that was hidden for decades is being delivered in just a few clicks with eBay's secure purchase. All the paperwork handled. There are thousands of cars on eBay, from unique finds like the Pontiac Grand Prix SJ to daily drivers, and now with a new way to buy them.

0:55Pol Ballus: eBay. Things people love.

1:25Pol Ballus: fiber and no added sugar. And all IQ Bar products are clean label certified and entirely free from gluten, dairy, soy, GMOs, and artificial ingredients. With over 20 ,000 five-star reviews and counting, more people than ever are fueling their busy lifestyles with IQ Bar's brain and body boosting bars, hydration mixes, and mushroom coffees. Their ultimate sampler pack includes all three. I ran the New York City Marathon twice a bunch of years ago. During that time, I ate my weight in crappy snacks and hydration drinks. The texture of IQ Bar is much more appealing to me than the protein bars I ate back then, which just sat in my stomach like a rock.

2:09Pol Ballus: Not what you want when you're running. IQ Bars are smoother and make for a much better, lighter eating experience. Right now, IQ Bar is offering our special podcast listeners 20 % off all IQ Bar products, including the Ultimate Sampler Pack, plus free shipping. To get your 20 % off, text BITMAN to 64000. That's BITMAN to 64000. Message and data rates may apply. See terms for details.

2:41James Horncastle: The Athletic FC.

2:49Pol Ballus: Totally Football Show, European edition. Today, the Fat Ladies are singing all over Europe. In Serie A, it's Turin Do. As Roma let a key game slip with Juventus. In Spain, there's news of Don Giovanni, Dos Santos and the Derby of Seville. Bundesliga, there's Klassiker gas with Bayern's latest big score. and France with Marseille, Carmen from behind against Lyon and PSG hitting the high notes. All that and much more in this Totally Football Show.

3:23Pol Ballus: Well, it's Monday the 2nd of March as we bring you a brand new European roundup on the Totally Football Show. Here in the studio, James Horncastle. Hi, James. Hello, James. Feeling a little bit like you're the John Cusack figure from being John Malkovich, I imagine, today. Oh, okay. As you look around the table. Well, see. At three. At three shaven-headed but bearded white men. All shaven-headed by choice. All wearing glasses.

3:52James Richardson: It's a choice. Very much a choice. Yeah, absolutely. It's interesting.

3:55James Horncastle: I saw Jack Lang, friend of the podcast, who has shaved off his mustache. What? I didn't recognize him. So I said, next time I come in, I'll shave off my head. Oh, don't do that.

4:06Pol Ballus: You'll look wrong. I wouldn't do that. Yeah. But Jack Lang shaved off his moustache. Listener, if you've never seen Jack Lang, search out a picture because he's quite, he's a bit of a treat, isn't he, Jack? I feel he looks a little bit like, we were just discussing Narcos. What a great show that was. Yes. The character played by Boyd Holbrook, I think is that. Ah, yes. Yeah, yeah. The American DEA agent. Yeah.

4:29Tom Williams: Yeah.

4:29Pol Ballus: there's someone else who

4:30Tom Williams: there's a character in Better Call Saul oh yeah who is the absolute spit of mustachio Jack Lang but I mean clearly not anymore because he's no longer mustachioed

4:40Pol Ballus: right another great show what's a great TV show that you'd recommend Seb

4:44James Richardson: old but good The Wire I can always go back to The Wire because you can always find a new thread to interest you with each rewatch well right

4:52Pol Ballus: and James Gamora oh yeah

4:55Seb Stafford-Bloor: good child

4:56Pol Ballus: alright Paul

4:58Seb Stafford-Bloor: are you a fan of television? Yep I'm a huge six feet under fan I'm sorry what? Oh six feet under Six feet under Really? Yeah yeah yeah

5:07Pol Ballus: Never seen it Yeah yeah Never seen it

5:08Tom Williams: Really Lalo Salamanca

5:10Pol Ballus: Oh really? Yeah the hit man I can see that Would you say that Jack Lang looks like Lalo Salamanca Well he did

5:16Tom Williams: when he still had a moustache

5:17Pol Ballus: I'm not sure I think he just had a moustache Hmm There is that that having a moustache is half the kind of Hmm If not more In the same way that

5:25James Horncastle: bald people are often oh you look like it's like no you're just bald right pitbull yes three pitballs

5:36Tom Williams: thanks Jim it's nice of you to say that and not one of the baldies thanks for being an ally yeah

5:42James Horncastle: what can I say

5:43James Richardson: so true it's kind of it's kind of our joke to make not yours though isn't it really no but what I would say is

5:50Pol Ballus: he's got Tourette's it's okay

5:52Tom Williams: our culture is not your costume I don't think he's about to adopt our costume anytime soon but you know Put it out there just in case.

5:58Pol Ballus: Well, I don't know. I thought you might say, because Tim Spears, who was previously quite a woolly individual, One of us. has now shaven his head, and that was quite a shock. He looks like he's done time in some San Diego joint. He looks better. Might have kind of very politically insensitive tattoos.

6:15Tom Williams: Maybe he has. Maybe it's all next The Athletic Long Read. I went inside a San Diego penitentiary to see how they're gearing up for the World Cup.

6:23Pol Ballus: American History X. You know the whole thing with that vibe. Yeah. Yeah, great movie. I mean, we could talk about great things to watch, but you know what? Funny enough, there's been some really, really special, special drama on the TV over the past few days, and we'll be getting on to that. Shall we start, and I'm talking about the football, shall we start with a bit of Moment of the Weekend?

6:42Seb Stafford-Bloor: Paul, what was yours? Mine is an easy one to go to, because it's La Minya Mal's hat trick. Attention, my ball for La Minya Mal.

6:51Pol Ballus: I don't know if it's a bad game. La Minya Mal or something scored. La Minya Mal!

7:07Seb Stafford-Bloor: One of those moments of what were you doing when LaMindiamal scored his first hard trick? What were you doing, Paul? I was at home watching with my dad, to be honest. Okay, what did he say? I mean, he's not that much of a big fan of LaMindiamal because he's one of those characters who says that he doesn't like the outgoing character of LaMindiamal. It's more like, yeah, try to be. But yeah, no, he enjoyed that. And after the second goal, he basically stood up from the sofa and just celebrated it, basically.

7:34Pol Ballus: All right.

7:34Seb Stafford-Bloor: The second goal was like unreal. Really, really good goal. Popalooz. Yeah. I have, by the way, with that moment of the week, I had a bit of a quiz question for you.

7:45Pol Ballus: Oh, okay.

7:46Seb Stafford-Bloor: Because I have the list of the three youngest players to do a hat-trick in La Liga. Oh, yeah. Right? La Minha Malle is now the first one.

7:55Pol Ballus: Yeah.

7:55Seb Stafford-Bloor: the top of the list. And I wanted to ask you who is the second one, which, and that's a wing to set is a former Tottenham player. Giovanni De Santos.

8:04James Richardson: Oh, me. No, no, no, no. You're not going to, you're not going to take that memory away from me. No. That was quick. Yeah, because my, my, my only, my only knowledge of Giovanni before he signed the Tottenham was that hat trick. And I remember thinking, goodness me, we've, we've snagged, uh, an incredible La Masia product for 5 million euros or whatever it was and I mean we don't need to go into what happened next but as it turned out we hadn't snagged very much at all

8:34James Horncastle: I always like how his name translates to like it's Johnny Two Saints yeah hey

8:39Pol Ballus: isn't it of the Saints I think it's of the Saints there's a there's a great

8:43James Richardson: Harry Redknapp quote still he was asked why Giovanni wasn't playing as much for Spurs and he said if he could pass a nightclub as well as he passed a football he'd be a player

8:51Tom Williams: right I started out Harry Redknapp and ended up like I don't know Prime David Beckham. Why did I go squeaky?

8:58James Horncastle: The eunuch version.

9:02Pol Ballus: It went very high. That was extraordinary. I'd love to know what other bits... For example, Tom over there can do... Who was it you did the other day in quite uncanny fashion? Wayne Rooney, but I've never tried it before.

9:16Tom Williams: I'm not convinced I'll be able to do it again. Go on.

9:19Pol Ballus: Try it now.

9:20Tom Williams: It was him mangling the name of Pascal Stryker much of the day. And you see Pascal Stroud comes in behind him. And he's got the space. It was better the other day.

9:36Pol Ballus: I swear. I swear, listen, that we haven't brought Wayne Rooney into the studio. That was Tom Williams. Incredible. I think that's my moment of the week. Yeah. There you go. That was brilliant. And on demand as well. With the pressure on, you stepped up.

9:50James Richardson: Yeah, you're not having any more because I think that might be the extent of it.

9:52Pol Ballus: Seb what about your moment of the week

9:55James Richardson: I so Josip Kimmich's winning goal what proves to be the winning goal for Bayern Munich against Borussia Dortmund so the goal itself fantastic but if you go to the replay and you see Josip Stanisic so bear in mind the goal is on the volley on Kimmich's left weaker foot and probably about two or three seconds before he he actually strikes the ball Stanisic is already celebrating which it's kind of the mark of ultimate respect right because if I was about to take on a left-footed volley from 20 yards, no one would be pre-celebrating you get to the cries of no or lay it off or whatever. And a really, really sweet strike and just caught perfectly behind the camera angle.

10:36James Richardson: And a great goal for what was actually a really good occasion because so often in German football, that game, it gets so hyped up. It's really underwhelming because Bayern's power shines through. And it kind of did again, but it was still a really good contest settled by brilliant, brilliant, better technique.

10:53Pol Ballus: Very nice. Bayern, who were, of course, a feature of the Champions League draw. They were. And have pulled Atalanta out of the hat. We'll get into all of that soon enough. But James, your moment of the week?

11:04James Horncastle: Got too much choice. So many lovely goals in Serie A this weekend. But you mentioned Atalanta. I think it's worth shouting out Sassuolo, who beat Atalanta on Sunday lunchtime. and this was quite unexpected because Sassarolo went down to 10 men after only 15 minutes so it was a case of oh, Atalanta are going to be tired after the comeback against Dortmund but this was like a godsend for Atalanta, but no Sassarolo, five minutes after going a man down, got in front when they doubled the lead in the second half another beautiful goal from Eric Torstead sort of outside the box, just centre-backs don't know which way to go.

11:51James Horncastle: Should we go with Berardi? Should we go with Gloriente? And you just see the waves part for Torstead, who could sort of carry on his run. And instead he's like, I'm just going to have a go. Top corner. Brilliant.

12:03Pol Ballus: It's a lovely goal. You're right, there were some gorgeous, gorgeous stretches this weekend. So many.

12:08James Horncastle: Five wins out of six for Sassuolo. First year back in the top flight. Good Lord. After a year out of it. So they've pushed themselves into eighth place. They've overtaken the likes of Lazio, the likes of Bologna, who've been in Europe over the last few years.

12:23Pol Ballus: When they beat Atalanta, did their manager go on a run?

12:27James Horncastle: So their coach is Fabio Grosso, 20 years after being the hero when Italy last won a World Cup and could qualify for World Cups. But Grosso, he's made this jump, really. He's got a number of clubs promoted. And then he's decided to stay in the second division and take other teams up. And this time around, he's like, no, I'll commit to Sassuolo. And we're seeing, you know, teams in eighth. Got a tough run of fixtures coming up. But to win five out of six and be practically safe already is a good job. Hugely impressive.

13:02Tom Williams: Tom, your moment of the week. Well, sticking with the Fabio Grosso theme. Oh, yeah. I'm going to go for Marseille-Lyon, which, of course, was the fixture before which he almost lost an eye in late 2023 after the Lyon team bus was pelted with missiles by Marseille supporters. Thankfully, no one nearly lost an eye this time around. Absolutely fantastic game. The third time out of the last four Ligue 1 meetings that Marseille have come from behind and beaten Lyon 3-2 with a goal scored in the 85th minute or later. On this occasion, they went behind in the third minute, equalised, went behind again with 40 minutes to play, equalised Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang got that equaliser and then pops up again first minute of stoppage time Igor Pichot plays in Ethan Wanary down the left hand side, low cross Aubameyang slides in to score OM win, had Lyon won, which looked like it was going to be the case for quite a significant portion of the game, there would have been an 8 point gap between Lyon in 3rd and OM in 4th as a reminder, 3rd place is an automatic Champions League qualifying spot in Liga, fourth place, you have to go by the playoffs.

14:14Tom Williams: But because OM won, the gap is now two points. So they are right back in the mix for automatic qualification.

14:19Pol Ballus: Extraordinary. Extraordinary. All right, let's get into some of those stories in greater depth. We're going to begin, Seb, with the Bundesliga. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network.

14:33James Richardson: Ole Seb, gegen Svensson.

14:37Seb Stafford-Bloor: Berlingham. Kimmich! The Bayern! Joshua Kimmich and his super finish. His right foot is the strongest. The left can also a whole lot.

15:11Pol Ballus: Any remaining questions about the title race, Seb?

15:13James Richardson: Yeah, 11 points. It's too much. It's over. And I suppose for Dortmund, for Bayern, it's convenient because now you can start to ration the minutes through the Champions League. They're still in the Pokal, playing in the semi-final against Leverkusen in April. They can start being a little bit more sparing with minutes for Harry Kane, Jostok Kimmich, Conrad Lyman, Michael Lise can spare a few players, which is great news for the rest of their season. And for Dortmund, it ends their season in one sense because there's nothing to play for in a kind of a title objective sense. They're still very well placed to re-qualify for the Champions League, which is great news.

15:52James Richardson: And clearly the last year has been a big improvement on the two years prior to that, certainly in the league. There is now discussion about what next, because during that game, Emery Jan suffered a cruciate ligament injury, tried to play on through it but came off and is now out for the rest of the season his contract is up in the summer so he may well have played his last game for Borussia Dortmund Niki Sule he is Dortmund's highest paid player his contract is up in addition to which question marks around Nico Schlotterbeck's future because he's into his last 18 months what's Marcel Sabitzer going to do Sarah Garcia is getting a little bit older maybe it's time for him to move on possibly so it's kind of this fork in the road where what do we do next we go back to being the kind of the traditional perception of Dortmund around the sort of the Klopp Tuchel years where they were sort of Europe's elite finishing school a title which really has been kind of usurped by some of the other clubs in Germany Eintracht Frankfurt, Ebi Leipzig of course teams that have also got very very good at recruiting and accelerating talent do they move down that line do they carry on just consolidating their place in the Bundesliga as Germany's second place team because that's starting to create a little bit of umbrage and irritation amongst their fans.

17:06James Richardson: They're not really, yeah, because they want to be aspirational. You know, everybody knows what the financial disparities are between Bayern and Dortmund. And if ever there was an example of this being the wrong approach, it was this game because, for me, Dortmund played as well as they're probably capable of playing. They create a lot of promising moments, half chances. Ultimately, they just didn't have the technical quality to take advantage of them. And you always knew the longer the game was going to go on, well, there's Jamal Masiala sitting on Bayern Munich's bench. Leon Goretzka can come on, Kim Min-J.

17:40James Richardson: Their talent's just different. And so there's a feeling that Dortmund's best opportunity of carrying a heavier punch, being able to compete, is by lightning in a bottle moments with a nucleus of talent which explodes in a very short space of time. So we'll see what's next. But yeah, it's very interesting. But they played well. They played well. it's a good game it lived up to it's billing it's fun proper occasion some great goals as well Harry Kane up to 30 goals for the season 12 away from beating Robert Lewandowski's single season scoring record in the Bundesliga which sits at 41 goals so interesting but then I think we mentioned this last week out to 11 points at the top of the Bundesliga now probably over as the title race goes how many minutes does Kane play if they get through against Atlanta which I expect them to do that road to the final is fully all kinds of difficult tests that you're going to need a fully fit Kane for, which so far at this stage of the season, Kane hasn't really been that way for Bayern.

18:36James Richardson: He's always carried like a back injury, a bit of wear and tear or just a bit of fatigue as a result of playing every week. So yeah, lots of interesting things coming off it.

18:46Pol Ballus: I remember another big Bundesliga side champions who expected to get past Atalanta by Leverkusen, I think their name was.

18:52James Richardson: Yeah, that's a really strange one. It was, when I think back to that game, a couple of years have passed and I think we all got swept up by the Leverkusen story and got so used to them just beating everybody in their way. I remember when the first goal goes in in that game, you can almost see the players didn't really know how to cope with it. They come up against a team that obviously were extremely well coached, looked at probably the game of his career, correct me if I'm wrong there. There were a few weird selection decisions going back, looking back at it, especially in defence, a few rotation things, which I don't think Javi Lonzo would do again.

19:28James Richardson: But yeah, very strange night. I don't think this Leverkusen is going to make much of a noise in the Champions League. Against Arsenal.

19:36Pol Ballus: But the Atalanta-Bayern one, everybody will have Bayern Munich as heavy favourites. It was a tough draw for at least one remaining side. And quite a surprise to even find them there because they came into last week's clash 2-0 down from the first leg. But what a magnificent performance they came up with, James.

19:52James Horncastle: Yeah, I saw David Walker, the producer of cliches and one of the guests on cliches, tweeted. I thought this was spot on how all of Atlanta's goals in that game came at the right time. There was an early goal, there was one on the stroke of halftime, there was one on the hour mark, and then there was one to kill it in stoppage time. And what a game as well. I mean, when Dortmund got back into it with that goal midway through the second half, I did think, oh, no, that's sort of it now. But for Nikola Krzysztof to put his head where most people wouldn't put their feet and to get the scars across his face that he did, and then for Samadzic to choose that penalty to take.

20:43Pol Ballus: He doesn't take penalties.

20:44James Horncastle: No, and he decides to properly blast it and it goes top corner. It's kind of Kevin Pressman-esque penalty. So, Atalanta, again, keeping the Italian flag flying high in Europe. You guys have just been talking about them winning the Europa League against Bayer Leverkusen. a little bit up and down this season even with Palladino. We've seen that in the extremes between that first leg and the second leg against Dortmund. We saw it, for example, even at the weekend where mitigating circumstances aside, you would have expected them to maybe beat Sassuolo with 10 men for 75 minutes. It was Atalanta's first defeat in the league in 2026.

21:36James Horncastle: But let's see. They'll have some players back. I mean, speaking to people at Atalanta before the second leg against Dortmund, what they were really worried about was they had so many injuries. You know, Raspardori, who they signed in January, wasn't fit for that game. Di Ketelero wasn't there. Ederson, who is one of the best midfield players in the league, even if he's been inconsistent this season, he was a doubt for that game. So it was a feeling that they have more to come. Certainly the biggest test of all, although a test they're looking forward to because Bayern is the one big club that throughout this eight-year period of Atalanta being relevant in Europe, it's the one big club they haven't played.

22:15James Richardson: Actually, when that game was reaching its final stages, I was on a train between Munster and Dortmund. It's a patch of track where the Wi-Fi signal is absolutely dreadful. And so you have all these people in the carriage trying to keep up with it. And as the Wi-Fi kicked back in when the penalty had been scored and different people's Wi-Fi signals came back on at different times, you had this sort of ripple of misery down the carriage carriage yeah it was did people walk from one end of the train to try and remain in no it was no and i i was at the training ground the day after the morning after um to to speak with gregor coble and um yeah pretty quiet pretty quiet he was in very good form i will say um because obviously we've all had enough horror stories of things being cancelled last minute when that happened and he made his mistake i thought oh i'm gonna say maybe just turn around immediately and go straight back to hamburg but he came and the interview did more time than he promised, was very, very good, was very gracious.

23:11James Richardson: And yeah, top pro, top pro.

23:13Pol Ballus: Okay.

23:14James Richardson: Yeah.

23:14Pol Ballus: But Levekuzn, as you mentioned, their draw this weekend won one with Mainz, leaves them down in sixth spot, currently six points off the Champions League places. They do have a game in hand there, which they're going to be having midweek there at Hamburg, a game that was previously snowed off back in January.

23:31James Richardson: Yeah, I was actually, so I was going to that game and a scouting friend of mine came over from England to watch it and it had been snowing very heavily in the few weeks before. I remember the pictures you took. Yeah, absolutely. And we got to Hamburg Central Station two hours before kickoff and my friend had obviously travelled all the way over, come over that day, got up at like 4 o 'clock in the morning and we found out with 90 minutes notice that the game was off and they read it out over the tannoy in the station in German and there was a brief second where I'd heard what had happened, but he didn't speak any German, so he didn't know.

24:06James Richardson: And I just thought...

24:06Pol Ballus: It was like his wife.

24:07James Richardson: I didn't want to tell him, right? Yeah, just, you know, he was the one happy person left in the station for about 10 seconds.

24:13Pol Ballus: What did you do with him instead, Seb?

24:15James Richardson: No, well, he got an early night because he was actually traveling on to, I think, to see Leipzig. So he was staying in the city and then moving on. So he got a game. It wasn't like he had to go straight back. But, yeah, it wasn't a great moment. But yeah, let's see. I mean, Leverkusen lost Artur, their wingback, their Brazilian wingback at the weekend. And he's probably going to miss, he'll certainly miss the Hamburg game. He will definitely miss at least the first leg of the Arsenal game, which is a blow they can really do without considering the strength of Arsenal. And you can't afford to take absentees into that, really.

24:52James Richardson: So let's see. But I said yesterday, I think great for them to get to this point. Good for their education, this young group of Leverkusen players. they'll learn a lot by playing against Arsenal and it's a kind of a free hit really Jimbo I think.

25:04Pol Ballus: Okay as it stands then if they do win midweek away at Hamburg there will be only three points between Hoffenheim in third and Leverkusen will still be in sixth place but right in the mix Hoffenheim, Stuttgart, Leipzig and Leverkusen the four teams essentially battling over two spots. Stuttgart got a big win this weekend at home to Wolfsburg. Leipzig were 2-1 winners at Hamburg.

25:27James Richardson: Yeah Wolfsburg have got trouble. They lost 4-0 to Stuttgart. And that starting lineup, I mean, so for context, financially, I would say Wolfsburg, clearly they have the historic patronage of Volkswagen. They are a member of, I suppose, the upper middle class in the Bundesliga. This is terrible underperformance. For them to be 17th, they spent nearly 70 million euros in the summer rebuilding this side. Of the players who started against Stuttgart, Christian Eriksen, Lovren Meyer, and Mohamed Amoura was in there. This team should be nowhere near where it is. They've got trouble, especially because on Saturday, St.

26:04James Richardson: Pauli went to Hoffenheim on one. St. Pauli, who'd started the weekend in 16th, who under Alexander Blessing through the autumn went nine straight games, went nine consecutive defeats in the league. A lot of clubs would have sacked him. Even coaches who were allowed to stay in position would have struggled to revive what looked like a really, really flat group, really flat playing group. And they went to Hoffenheim 1 and ended Hoffenheim's unbeaten record at home, which stretches back to October. Brilliant performance, excellent goalkeeping performance by Nicola Vasil, the Bosnian national team goalkeeper, who took a nasty couple of blows to the face in the process, but made some truly excellent saves.

26:44James Richardson: And yeah, they deserve their win. Bit of a pasting on the expected goals front, but they defended well. Goalkeeping is very good. It's got a lovely, lovely counter-attacking goal too. So well done, St Pauli. Well done, Alexander Blessing.

26:56Pol Ballus: It does look tight down that end of the table as well. Heidenheim in last place are fully eight points from safety. Wolfsburg currently in the other relegation spot. They're only two points away from a playoff position, but it's Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen, St Pauli, Meitzen, Köln all really within reach of one another.

27:16James Richardson: Yeah, it's very, very tight. And yeah, St. Pauli are at home to Eintracht Frankfurt next weekend. So that'll be a chance to move further on up the table. But yeah, it's very tight. The only thing I would say at the moment, I think Heidenheim are probably gone. I think that game against Bremen. Bidenheim. Farewell of Heim. Yeah, it's tricky. So some of the players were interviewed afterwards, as was Frank Schmidt, the head coach, who's done amazing work. They brought them up from the fifth tier of German football, the longest serving professional coach in Germany. It's been a little bit of a bridge too far this time.

27:50James Richardson: And you could tell by some of the body language and the responses to that Bremen loss. Hey, well done Daniel Toon though, the Bremen head coach. His first win at Öster Bundesliga level. Yeah, he's been given a pretty bit of a hospital pass with that squad. But Toon will win and a game he could not afford not to win basically. So well done him.

28:09Pol Ballus: There you go. Well done you Seb. What a great roundup of the Bundesliga. Let's see how James Horncastle fares with the latest from City Air next.

28:22Pol Ballus: This episode of the Totally Football Show is sponsored by The Drop by GNC. Now, if you've been locked in lately on your health and fitness grind, then proper supplementation is probably extremely important to your daily routine. And thanks to GNC, it's never been easier to shop for your goals. For 90 years, GNC has been delivering the most cutting-edge, effective ingredients and products available. And now you can cut through the clutter with The Drop by GNC. You'll find the latest in everything from protein and creatine to weight management, immune support and so much more from all the top brands.

28:52Pol Ballus: We're talking Cadence, Wealthy, Bear Bells, Ghost, not to mention innovations like new GNC Amp Creabolic. This first of its kind formula combines creatine with my HMB and bioactive peptides to not just build muscle but also repair and protect it in ways creatine alone simply can't. Or there's the improved GNC Amp Wheybolic, the most studied protein formula on the market, proven to significantly increase your strength and endurance. And now GNC have increased the protein and perfected the taste. You can get these and more of what's new and what's next only on The Drop by GNC. Just search up gnc.com slash the drop.

29:33Pol Ballus: Taste the Mediterranean at Whole Foods Market with a vibrant selection that captures the flavors of the region. Shop coastal favorites like responsibly farmed whole bronzini and jumbo white shrimp and pair them with specialty pastas, robust olive oils, and aromatic sauces directly sourced from the Mediterranean. Want a fast and easy dinner? Grab refreshing Greek salads and tortellini from the prepared foods department. Taste the Mediterranean now at Whole Foods Market. When it comes to managing money, forget the hype and look at the results. Bill has a trillion dollars of secure payments powering our BillPay tools.

30:10James Richardson: Instead of just moving money, Bill is powering the financial operations of nearly half a million customers. So stop the guesswork and start scaling with the proven choice. Ready to talk with an expert? Visit Bill.com slash proven to get started.

30:25Pol Ballus: And grab a$250 gift card as a thank you. Terms and conditions apply. See offer page for details.

30:37James Richardson: 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 Kaye and the very best football writers around.

31:10Pol Ballus: Well, Sunday night, the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. It was the big top four chasing showdown. Roma up against Juventus. Juve, who themselves have featured in a remarkable comeback attempt in the Champions League last week. Again, coming from behind in a rather more successful fashion, ending up with that 3-3 draw. James, what lessons to draw from this 3-3?

31:34James Horncastle: well say what you like about Juventus they've been involved in some of the best games in City and in the Champions League this season I mean if you go back to the opening weeks of the campaign the 4-3 against Inter in the debut Italy the 4-4 against Dortmund the Galatasaray game where they come back 3-0 up Zegrova has the chance for 4-0 yeah they could have gone through without having to go to extra time and then in this game a comeback and I think this was a massive opportunity wasted by Roma for two reasons Juventus three of the last four games have been down to 10 men they play extra time against Galatasaray they've got their captain Manuel Locatelli who's played well since Spalletti's been at the club he's suspended I think if there's ever a time where you can beat Juventus or expect to outrun them, better them.

32:32James Horncastle: It should be in this game. Roma get themselves a 3-1 up with 20 minutes left and then, I wouldn't say capitulate, but give away two avoidable goals. And for Roma, who haven't been in the Champions League for seven years, they had in their hands the opportunity to put seven points between themselves and Juventus. and eight points between themselves and Gasparini's old team, Atalanta, who, as we've mentioned, lost to Sassuolo on the day. So I think regrets. Roma certainly have a few. But as neutrals, what a game.

33:11Pol Ballus: What a game. And what a goal back at the start to make it 1-1 from Conceição.

33:17James Richardson: Shot to volley, isn't it?

33:19Pol Ballus: It's extraordinary. You couldn't hit that any sweeter.

33:22James Horncastle: No. Outstanding from Sisko, Conceição. Also, Wesley Franca, his goal for Roma earlier on.

33:32Pol Ballus: Wesley the farm boy.

33:33James Horncastle: Wesley the farm boy, yeah, the farm hand. So, just didn't let us down on any level, this game. And, you know, I think for Juventus, they see it as a point gained from a losing position rather than two points lost. They've come through a gauntlet of fixtures which have been very unforgiving, where they've often played really well in those games but little injustices or big injustices, if you're a Juventus fan, have stopped them getting as many points as they perhaps should. But to be sort of still in the hunt for Champions League football just as the calendar is easing off for them and the rivals for the final top four plays, well, Roma are in the Europa League where they will play Bologna and I think if they were to get through that they might play Lille or Aston Villa because Bologna could get through that as well.

34:31James Horncastle: Como this week have the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final against Inter and Atalanta are obviously still in the Champions League themselves. So Juventus have kind of a clear calendar to just focus on finishing top four and with Spalletti you wouldn't bet against them doing it. The only issue, I mean, we've mentioned how entertaining these Juventus games have been all season. We're not used to Juventus conceding this many goals and being involved in these kind of seven-goal thrillers or eight-goal thrillers or six-goal thrillers. So they definitely have to tighten up at the back if they are to get that fourth place.

35:16Pol Ballus: As you say, currently there are four points between them and the Champions League positions. Roma in the fourth spot. Three points ahead of Como, says Fabregas. It's Como, then Juve, then Atalanta. Roma continuing this problem with winning games against the big clubs.

35:33James Horncastle: Yeah, I mean, they're in a position to win this one against Juve. The only one that people kind of credit as a big win was when they played Lazio in their Derby della Capitale earlier in the season. But as we see Lazio, kind of shambolic this year, transfer embargoes fire sales in January you know ooh look we're going to build a new stadium blah blah blah okay maybe sort out the team first but they did they have beaten Como and I think we should we should look at Como as a big team now because Como are the team that are making everybody nervous you know they put in that excellent performance against Juventus a week ago they beat Lecce at the weekend when they went behind early on in that game and then found themselves 3-1 up anyway at half-time.

36:23James Horncastle: And that was without Nico Paz, who was sort of dropped for this game. So Como are really, I think, making the likes of Atalanta, Roma, Juve sweat. Even maybe Napoli and Milan, I think, will be wary that they cannot take their foot off the gas between now and the end of the season because Como have this continuity that it gives you pause for thought. It makes you worry. I think they could definitely gatecrash that top four. There you go.

37:00Pol Ballus: Napoli moved back into third place themselves this weekend with a 2-1 victory away at Verona. Second goal coming from Romelu Lukaku. He's back. He is.

37:11James Horncastle: I think it wasn't the most beautiful goal of the weekend, of which there were several. But it was the most moving goal of the weekend.

37:36James Horncastle: He scores with the last kick of the game. He has been making this sort of comeback from a really bad injury. last summer he snapped the tendon in his hip flexor and so he's been sort of eased back in since mid-January he's made these cameos where he's never played more than 20 minutes and I think a lot of people have focused on the fact that he was decisive for them last year but in a different way from what we used to in that he was double figures in assists he led the league in assists last year and they needed someone to step in and replicate that for them. And Rasmus Hoyland's sort of been doing it.

38:16James Horncastle: And then we focused on this injury crisis, which has relented or really harmed Napoli's title defence. And I think a lot of people overlook the fact that Lukaku has been grieving. His father passed away in September at age 58. and he took everything off his social media apart from photos of him, his brother and his father and when he scores the goal, that wins them the game and obviously the Napoli bench spills out onto the pitch all his teammates run over to him and you can kind of see that he just wants to be on his own in that moment he sort of points to the sky, whispers a few words takes off his shirt for which the referee books him and then when the referee is booking him he sees that he's in floods of tears Lukaku and he's actually using his shirt to wipe his tears away and his post-match interview was one of the most moving I've seen for a long time because he's sort of hanging back and he's there with the Napoli skipper Juan Jesus and Juan Jesus gives his answer and then the presenter's like come in Rom come in we want to talk to you and he tries to talk and he can't.

39:39James Horncastle: He just keeps choking up and he says how hard it's been. He had never expected to lose his father so young and you've got a sense that he's found moving on in his daily life really difficult. He says, I do this for my kids. I do it for my brother. I do it for Napoli because before I came here, these were the words he used, I was dead. so to see him have that moment I think it put in perspective what he's been going through it put in perspective Napoli's season as well that Antonio Conte I thought spoke quite eloquently after the game about you've all been focusing on this stockpile of injuries that we've had but it's not just injuries it's kind of personal issues as well and so leaving that aside if we can, a massive goal and win for Napoli to stay in third place.

40:40James Horncastle: Because again, if they dropped points in that match, I think we would be talking about Como again in terms of being this team that is keeping all of the teams above them very honest, apart from who Como play in the cup this week, which is Inter. Yeah.

40:58Pol Ballus: In Cizzo Inter, who are now almost certain to take the Scudetto, they are 10 points clear of Milan, who are in second place and who face them next weekend in the Derby della Madonnina. But even a win there would leave the gap not far short of insurmountable. Milan this weekend continued their usual habit of struggling to beat the smaller sides. They took until stoppage time to get past Jamie Vardy's Cremonese, although it wasn't Jamie Vardy's Cremonese by the time the goals finally arrived for Milan. He'd been hooked about an hour in. Inter, meanwhile, did their usual job on a smaller side. In this case, Daniele De Rossi's Genoa, who they beat 2-0.

41:39Pol Ballus: That's now eight wins in a row for the Nero Zuri in the league. Of course, in the Champions League, not so much.

41:44James Horncastle: Yeah, 14 out of 15 wins in the league, which is why they've opened up this gap which prior to Milan scoring in the 89th minute they were 13 points clear and certainly the questions that reporters were putting to Christian Kivu was what do you make of the atmosphere around your football club at the moment because it looks like you are going to wrap the title up very quickly this is statistically in the league I think the third best season Inter have ever had in terms of points. And yet the reception of this is, it's almost like you're on the brink of relegation rather than being on the brink of a championship in Christian Kibbe, your first season.

42:30James Horncastle: Right.

42:30Pol Ballus: Is there a big reason perhaps that there might be that perception of Inter right now?

42:35James Horncastle: Well, I think there are a couple of reasons. Right. I mean, one is the Bodo game, which I'm judging by your attitude to this. My attitude is manifest. It's very quick to forget. A team that reached two Champions League finals in three years when they were probably about to go bust between one and the other and everyone looked at those Champions League finals and said, how has this ragtag bunch of free transfers and Man United rejects got this far? And so, I mean, if that is the framing of how Inter was seen going into these games, maybe going out to Bodo Klimt shouldn't be as big a surprise.

43:13Pol Ballus: No, that's fair. But I think what was surprising, I think what was a surprise about last week's performance was that Bodo Klimt deserve a lot of credit and they had a fantastic game in the Arctic Circle in the first leg. I think everybody expected Inter to come out with an attitude with much the same desire and fight and hunger that Atalanta and Juventus showed subsequently.

43:36James Horncastle: But I think they did in the first half. they played well in the first half just couldn't finish Turam's 1v1 misses a chance they have 7 or 8 corners corners for into this season have been like penalties they've scored 15 goals for them don't score from any of those I think if you look at the metrics Bodo's goalkeeper for goals saved above average he's the highest in the Champions League this season so he's having a good season I agree with you James that Inter should still progress against Bodo. And in fact, speaking to some people around the club, they were furious that they'd gone out because they understand what the international perception of Inter is and how important it is to carry on in the Champions League because the Champions League is so much more lucrative than Serie A.

44:32James Horncastle: just going another round or two rounds further is worth so much more than winning the league. But I think for a guy like Christian Kivu, when he got the job, people said, this inter-team's at the end of a cycle. This team's over the hill. To have been 13 points clear fleetingly on Saturday nights, I think he would have taken that. and I think some members of the club would have taken that because again I think one of the reasons why people are so down on Inter even domestically is they're treated as a team that has won four league titles in five years rather than two because they've lost two on the final day and so people are very critical of them because of that but their fans were, being at the stadium on Wednesday night they were largely indifferent to going out they were singing lots of anti-AC Milan songs on the way to the Metro because I think it meant something to them that their rival for the title this season has been Milan.

45:41James Horncastle: Milan's next league title would be the 20th. So for Inter fans, in a very provincial way, stopping them doing that means a lot. And I think they have been hurt enough by this team reaching Champions League finals and losing Champions League finals that in some respects going out means we don't have to go through that anymore.

46:04Pol Ballus: We spoke to Bodo Glint van Martin Schleepers the morning after who commented on the kind of surreal atmosphere at Santero and the fact that there didn't seem to be any particular drama or trauma to that exit but possibly there's plenty remaining from previous disappointments. Well, there you go. They do at least look good in the league. Ten points clear of Milan coming up. their Coppa Italia semi-final on Tuesday against Como with Lazio against Atalanta on Wednesday. A shout for the incredible Di Marco goal from their victory over Genoa at the weekend. That was gorgeous.

46:39James Horncastle: Yeah, ball over the top, which he runs onto. Left foot volley across goal. Drew some comparisons with a goal that Totti scored for Roma against Sampdoria two decades ago. But Genoa's coach, Daniele De Rossi, who was a teammate of Totti's was like, lads, no. Come on. Like, let's leave Totti's goal where it is, in the pantheon of all-time great City, our goals. Well done, Federico Di Marco. But Totti's is still better.

47:06Tom Williams: Just watched it now. I mean, lovely goal. It's so smooth. The way he meets the ball without... Yeah, the fact he doesn't have to break stride in off the base of the right-hand post. Beautiful. But, I mean, that Totti goal against Sampdoria, I mean, that is... Siamo seri. Let's be serious.

47:21Pol Ballus: Let's be serious. So, but there you go. Lovely. Let's not be Serie A any further, because next up, it's Paul Belous with La Liga.

47:36Pol Ballus: All right, Paul. Big Seville derby this weekend, eh? Woof. So much drama. Anthony with the overhead kick. Alexis Sanchez sending everyone scurrying to their team lineups.

47:49Seb Stafford-Bloor: Absolutely. One of the games of the weekend. And yeah, quite incredible to see how it ended up. Betis, basically, they gave it away. They were top favourites. They're much the better team, I would say, overall in La Liga. They were winning 2-0 at halftime. But then Manuel Pellegrini, I think that they got too complacent. They just waited, hit back, and just gave the ball to Sevilla just to do whatever they wanted to. And Sevilla took the chances. Alexis Sánchez scored just after the break and then in the last minute of the game, local boy, Isaac Romero, just put the equalizer 2-2 and a big drama unfolded after the goal because of celebrations.

48:30Seb Stafford-Bloor: Again, Isaac Romero put his shirt on top of the corner flag. All the bettisk players that were on the bench just run at him and told him, what on earth are you doing here? You are disrespecting us. and yeah, normal scene for Sevilla Derby which is one of the possibly one of the hottest derbies in Spain and a game that I would encourage anyone just to see if they have the chance

48:56Pol Ballus: Yeah, the stadium looked absolutely magnificent there for Betis but a 2-2 draw the result How old is Alexis Sanchez now? I think he's 36

49:06Tom Williams: He'd reached veteran stage when he was at Marseille and that was like three years ago He's on his last legs and yeah, he's still going 37.

49:13Seb Stafford-Bloor: Yeah, yeah. He basically, he could only play for 60 minutes. He was taken off after 60 minutes because he was knackered. But the header that he scored, like the cross from also from the Seville left-back, really good. But the header is like top class. Like he just switches to the far corner. Really strong header. Really, really top class execution. Excellent.

49:37Pol Ballus: Paul, you told us about Laminio Marl's hat-trick, his first ever career hat-trick. in Barcelona's 4-1 win over Villarreal and indeed your father's reaction to it. We're still waiting to see whether Real Madrid can respond. They play this evening, Monday, this evening as we record. But as it stands, Barcelona with a slightly more healthy lead atop the table of four points. Of course, it's not just the title race that they have to consider. There's also the Champions League draw, which has seen fit to pair them with Newcastle. Were they happy with that news in Catalonia?

50:12Seb Stafford-Bloor: Yeah, yeah, they were absolutely happy. I think that if any Barca fan could have imagined the best possible draw, that was it, basically, because they got Newcastle instead of PSG. And then if they go through, potentially, they're going to face either one of Atletico or Tottenham. So they avoided Liverpool that could fall in that category as well. and to top off like the dream scenario that all the Barcelona fans had on the Champions League draw, Real Madrid will play against Man City, which was also warmly received by all the Barcelona fans.

50:45James Horncastle: Paul, now that you get to go back to Newcastle.

50:48Pol Ballus: Oh, yeah.

50:49Seb Stafford-Bloor: I'm not going to go back though, because Laya will.

50:52James Horncastle: Ah, okay. Maybe Laya will take the restaurant recommendations.

50:55Seb Stafford-Bloor: I mean, she really will. Yeah, yeah. She really will. Yeah, yeah. Better she listens to you, because if she listens to me, is going to end up in Nando's.

51:04Pol Ballus: Well, nothing wrong with that, Paul. No, no, no. Barcelona's lead then four points over Real Madrid ahead of their clash with Getafe on Monday evening. Atletico Madrid beat Oviedo and moved above Real into third spot. Betis are a further eight points back after their consecutive draws. We've got Copa del Rey semifinals coming at midweek and we've got the return of the Barcelona-Atletico clash, last time at saw Diego Simeone's side triumphing 4-0. This time back at the Camp Nou, what awaits, Paul?

51:40Seb Stafford-Bloor: Yeah, yeah, that's it. I wanted to mention that because basically Simeone played Atletico 1 against Oviedo on the weekend. And Simeone played, he basically rotated all the squad, just looking towards like the return leg of the Camp Nou. He doesn't want to leave anything for chance because they know that Barca will try to do their best and just to create this sort of remontada atmosphere. And it's basically what Barca are doing right now through social media. After LaMigna Malhatric, he uses his Instagram account just to post a message. 1 % of chances and 99 % of faith looking already towards Tuesday.

52:16Seb Stafford-Bloor: And there was like a general call from like the Barca players after the Villarreal game saying, look, we need everyone here on Tuesday because we are going to try it. Because we believe that we can make something happen. But we need the fans and everything. So, because Atletico are massive favourites after the 4-0 win in the first leg, but everyone in Barcelona is getting ready for one of those nights on Tuesday and hoping for a remontada. They've had it done to them by Roma, by Liverpool, of course,

52:47Pol Ballus: but they've done it themselves, most famously, to Paris Saint-Germain. Do you believe, Paul?

52:54Seb Stafford-Bloor: I think they have a chance. I think they have a chance, although, yeah, And yeah, if I had to guess who's going to go through, I think Atletico is still well on top of this. For what I sense from the dressing room and everything, they really believe that they do have a chance.

53:15Pol Ballus: OK. I mean, 4-0, not that dangerous a scoreline. But were Barcelona to score one of those well-timed early goals, who knows what that could do to the fragile Atletico mentality. What have you got, Seb?

53:27James Richardson: Paul, obviously we've had some really weird results from English teams in the Champions League this season, even struggling sides doing pretty well. What's the response been in Madrid towards the Tottenham draw? Just because obviously over here almost seems like a bye. What's the attitude in Atleti?

53:44Seb Stafford-Bloor: Atletico were very happy, if I can be honest. For Atletico, it was also like a dream scenario. Because they sort of avoid the other side of the draw as well. they know that Tottenham is not going through their best moment either. So yeah, I think that the reaction was really positive with Atletico. The only club that complained a bit or said that it wasn't kind on them while the draw was Real Madrid. Who cast aspersions as to the impartiality

54:13Pol Ballus: of the draw process, Paul?

54:16Seb Stafford-Bloor: Yeah, well, we have a tendency here in Spanish football just to blame everything apart from, I mean, just to find for guilt elsewhere and in draws and in refereeing and in everything. It's national sport.

54:34James Horncastle: We came out of the Super League for what?

54:37Tom Williams: When is this club going to catch a break? Real Madrid, one long history of being unfavoured by the authorities. It breaks your heart.

54:47Seb Stafford-Bloor: What else should we know about the weekend in Spain, Paul? Yeah, possibly we should talk about Rafa Mir and what happened at the game between Elche and Espanyol. I don't know if you heard about this, but the game was stopped by five minutes, if I'm not wrong, in the 80th minute of the game after Espanyol right-back Omar El Gilali reported racial abuse from Elche striker Rafa Mir, who was formerly at Wolverhampton. Maybe you remember him. As I was saying, at the 80th minute of the game and the referee activated all the anti-racism protocol, the game was suspended for some minutes and eventually it was resumed.

55:26Seb Stafford-Bloor: The tricky thing is that when it happened, Elche were trailing 2-1 and ended up getting a 2-2 draw thanks to a late penalty that was scored by Rafa Mir. After the game, the referee in the report of the game, he revealed what Elche Lally reported to him about the incident and according to the Espanyol player, Mir told him, you came here to Spain on a small boat. Rafa Mir on his side he has denied it and his version is that in a nagitated dispute he said to El Hilali I'm going to destroy you something like that and now there's a full investigation incoming from the Spanish authorities to see how it ends up and if they can prove anything basically

56:07James Horncastle: Paul do they sound similar I will destroy you and what is alleged

56:13Seb Stafford-Bloor: yeah so yeah because basically what he said in in Spanish is which like the small boat and like the version that says you can judge if it sounds similar it's up to you now

56:34Tom Williams: echoes of the Crystal Palace hooligans account of what he shouted at Eric Cantona prior to the Kung Fu kick incident well the accusation was that he had just shouted a torrent of basically racist slash xenophobic abuse at him, all sorts of effing and jeffing. And his account was that he'd said, it's an early bath for you, Mr. Cantona. Off you go. You can see how they could have been confused one for the other in the heat of battle.

57:02James Richardson: It's also the facial expression definitely matches that account.

57:05Tom Williams: It's an early bath for you, mate.

57:08Pol Ballus: Pretty nice, Tom. Quite the man of a thousand voices.

57:12James Horncastle: South London Tom.

57:15Pol Ballus: Well, I'm going to move on. Paul, that's fantastic. Anything else from Spain ahead of the midweek cup games?

57:23Seb Stafford-Bloor: Yeah. It's not okay if I add a bit of Mbappe here. Of course. Mbappe is not going to play. Mbappe is not going to play against Getafe. He has an injury. He has a knee sprain. He missed the Benfica game. He's going to miss the game against Getafe. And he's expected to miss the next weekend's game for Real Madrid. And the best case scenario is that he makes it for the Man City game. So basically he has a knee sprain and it's been reported in Spain today that he's been unhappy with the medical services at Real Madrid to the point that he has taken a trip to France just to consult a specialist on his knee injury to basically tell him what to do because he has been carrying this knee sprain for weeks.

58:05Seb Stafford-Bloor: He has not improved a lot. And yeah, now he is stopping for a couple of weeks and Real Madrid are just giving him time to assess if he can make it back for the Man City Champions League title.

58:16Pol Ballus: Could be huge. Could be huge. Yeah. We should have a speedy recovery, of course. There's a new book about Kylian Mbappé, written by our former, still very much current friend, but former colleague, Julian Laurent. When's that out? March? This month, I think. May. Maybe May. He's so busy. Julian Laurent.

58:37James Richardson: He's always doing something.

58:38Pol Ballus: He is.

58:39James Richardson: Buying a football shirt or this podcast, Just writing a book.

58:43Pol Ballus: Yeah. Anyway, that's something to look forward to. Huh. Another thing to look forward to, a legal roundup courtesy of Match of the Day's very own Tom Williams. That's next.

58:58Pol Ballus: A password manager should be the first security purchase you make for your team.

59:03James Richardson: Why? Because compromised passwords are the number one way bad actors attack companies, and small businesses are their favourite targets. But unlike a lot of security challenges, passwords actually have a pretty simple solution. 1Password lets you manage all your business's credentials, so you can feel confident that your data stays secure as your company grows. Find out more at 1Password.com slash special offer and start securing every login.

59:30Pol Ballus: Guys, it's no use putting it off. The best time for an underwear refresh is now. Tommy John Underwear is designed for a perfect fit that stays put all day. There's zero chafe thanks to four times more stretch than competing brands. And their innovative horizontal quick-draw fly is a game-changer. With over 30 million pairs sold, there are thousands of men out there more comfortable than you. Don't settle for less. Go to TommyJohn.com today for 25 % off your first order with code COMFORT. That's TommyJohn.com slash COMFORT. TommyJohn. Comfort perfected.

1:00:03Tom Williams: Okay, I have to tell you. I was just looking on eBay where I go for all kinds of things I love, and there it was. That hologram trading card. One of the rarest. The last one I needed for my set. Shiny like this.

1:00:14James Horncastle: Designer handbag of my dreams. One of a kind. eBay had it. And now everyone's asking, ooh, where'd you get your windshield wipers?

1:00:22Seb Stafford-Bloor: eBay has all the parts that fit my car. No more annoying. Just beautiful.

1:00:28Pol Ballus: Millions of finds, each with a story. eBay. Things people love. The youth mental health crisis is growing, and social media is a major driver. Kids are spending up to nine hours a day on screens, often unsupervised, and studies show a direct link to anxiety, depression, and even suicidal thoughts. That's where Gab comes in. Gab offers safe phones and watches with no internet or social media, just the right tech at the right time. From smart watches for young kids to advanced parent-managed phones for teens, Gab keeps kids connected safely. Visit gab.com slash getgab and use code getgab for a special offer.

1:01:06Pol Ballus: That's G-A-B-B dot com forward slash get gab. Gab. Tech in steps. Independence for them. Peace of mind for parents.

1:01:36Pol Ballus: We've got Strasbourg against Reims. Lorient against Nice. Nice in real trouble now. And usually for a Jim Ratcliffe side, they're all the way down in the relegation fringes. Marseille take on Toulouse. And then the team who Marseille beat on Sunday night, Lyon, on Thursday evening, will be up against Lens. What a game that was on a big night for big matches. What a game that was at the Villadrome, Tom.

1:02:03Tom Williams: Yes. and Habib Bey already under a bit of pressure after Marseille lost 2-0 away at Brest in his first game and with this vital need to win. I mean, a draw would not have been good enough. They are absolutely desperate to qualify for the Champions League, ideally to qualify automatically. There was a piece in L 'Equipe this morning about the state of the club's finances. They've been selling an awful lot of players recently. Frank McCourt has put an awful lot of money into the club in recent years, hasn't always got that much of a return on his investment. And, you know, going back to the end of last season, there was this feeling that if OM didn't get into the Champions League, it would be a catastrophe.

1:02:47Tom Williams: And that was the specific word used by Mehdi Benassia, the sporting director. And it's no different 12 months on. And as I said, you know, when we were talking about it earlier, had they lost, there would have been eight points off Lyon. but having won they are now only two points behind them and will go into that cup game against Toulouse with a bit of momentum and the cup is hugely important for OM in that they've not won it since 1989 which is an absurdity for a club of that size the fact that PSG are out of the Coupe de France having been eliminated by Paris FC means that basically all the teams left in the competition are thinking, right, this could be our season.

1:03:26Tom Williams: And so you've got these kind of twin objectives, a top three finish on one hand, Coupe de France success in the other. And they couldn't have got off to a worse start against Lyon on Sunday night. Three minutes in, Emerson is trying to play out from left back. His pass is blocked. And Endrick, not even really a pass, just kind of helps the ball onto the edge of the box. And the entire OM defence has rushed across to the left side of the pitch. You almost got the sense that they were kind of like over-motivated by the need to start strong and, you know, kind of send out a message. And Quentin Tolisso is left totally unmarked at the edge of the box, takes a touch and sticks it in for his third goal in three games.

1:04:12Tom Williams: Igor Pachau came on at half-time, equalised with a classic Pachau goal, cuts in from the left, curls one into the bottom right corner. And then Paolo Fonseca sent on Rémi Amber, 18-year-old centre-forward, the latest Pepite or, you know, little jewel of the Lyon production line. He puts Lyon back in front with 40 minutes remaining. But then Pierre-Americk Aubameyang equalises and then tucks in the winner in stoppage time. And it is the kind of result that only Marseille are capable of. You know, everything suggests that they should not be able of pulling off results like this. you are never building on solid foundations at OM and particularly this season with the departure of Roberto De Zerbi, the head coach the departure of Pablo Longoria, the president which I think was confirmed today constant movement and upheaval and yet right when they needed this result they got it and it's basically relaunched their season

1:05:36Pol Ballus: Good Lord, just two points then between those two teams as they chase the third Champions League spot. The top two places in Ligue 1 still occupied by Paris Saint-Germain and Lens. but perhaps a decisive weekend for the destination of the title, Tom?

1:05:50Tom Williams: Yes, it was four points now, the gap between PSG in first and Lens in second. Lens played really well on Friday night, away at Strasbourg, got a 1-1 draw, which is not a bad result. All the big teams struggle at Strasbourg. Lens found themselves a goal down after 18 minutes. beautifully taken goal by Joaquin Panacelli as Hasburg's Argentinian number nine. There's a miss hit back pass. He's kind of left a bit short by Ismail Egani, a young long centre-back. Panacelli kind of steams onto it and then scores with a kind of like Karol Paborski style, slightly Raoul-esque scoopy chip. I've watched it about 10 times and I still don't quite understand how he did it, which loops over the goalkeeper, bounces into the net.

1:06:42Tom Williams: But Lens were basically dominant, had lots of the ball, equalised through Mamadou Sangar, a young Marlion midfielder, beautifully crisp left foot kind of half volley on the edge of the box on the hour mark. And Lens had a lot more chances to win it than Sarasboi did. They had 25 attempts at goal. So it was a bit of a funny one in that, you know, looking at the game, they might have felt frustrated not to have won. In the context of the title race, it gave PSG the opportunity to then open up a bigger lead. But going into this game off the back of the home defeat against Monaco the previous weekend, we at least saw Lens back to something approaching their best.

1:07:25Tom Williams: And then the following day, PSG put together a pretty routine 1-0 win away at Le Havre. And the kind of classic PSG performance. I mean, Luis Enrique, you know, mixed things up, as he often does in terms of his team selection. They were totally dominant. They scored one goal through Bradley Barcola, who's now scored headed goals, I think, in two of his last three appearances, which is not something you really associate with him. And he played through the middle as centre forward because Ousmane Dembele is still sidelined with the calf issue that forced him off in the first leg of the Champions League playoff tie against Monaco.

1:08:02Tom Williams: And so Barcola was given a run through the middle. and it's very much not his natural position, but he's such a wonderful footballer. There's a real kind of freshness and freedom to his game when he's playing well. It was a very unconvincing header for the only goal of the game. Lee Kang in, who started on the right, thinks in a cross and he kind of runs in behind and very unconvincingly heads it in. But there were some beautiful touches. There was an outside of the foot pass for Lee a few minutes later. there was another cross that should have been converted later on in the game. So he's in top form and PSG now four points clear, 10 games to go.

1:08:41Tom Williams: And it does feel like this is probably it. Albeit, as we've said so many times in the last few weeks, PSG continue to look some way off the heights that they reached in the second half of last season.

1:08:54Pol Ballus: Perhaps they're building towards something, Tom. Meantime, the Champions League will see them pitted against Chelsea and Ligue 1 have given them five days off in between the two Chelsea legs. That's nice.

1:09:06Tom Williams: Yeah, I mean, this has been a feature for a little while. I mean, the league, the professionel, the body that manages France's professional leagues, is very keen to do whatever it can to help French clubs to shine in continental competitions. And so frequently what you see is, you know, clubs with an upcoming European fixture being allowed to play on Friday night, for example, given favourable kickoff times. and the LFP did this with PSG throughout last season and it worked pretty well because they obviously won the Champions League. So there's kind of an acceptance of it. But it is nevertheless slightly peculiar for PSG to request a weekend off and to be told, yep, sure, yeah, we'll fit that in at a later date.

1:09:47Pol Ballus: What was the reaction to getting Chelsea in the draw, the team that had ended their spectacular run in the Club World Cup final last May,

1:09:56Tom Williams: what was it, July actually, last summer? I think it's hard for PSG to think about any potential opponent in the Champions League with enormous confidence just because they have been so patchy. And they were again in the second leg of the playoff round tie against Monaco, drawing 2-2 and actually having a really wobbly end to the game. You know, if Voutfast doesn't completely cock up a stoppage time header, Monaco equalise and it goes to extra time. And, you know, who knows what could have happened? So they, you know, they still look some way off the pace. They had a great record against English clubs in the Champions League last season.

1:10:30Tom Williams: They beat Liverpool and Aston Villa and Arsenal in the knockout rounds. But of course, that Chelsea game conjures up memories of the Club World Cup final. The feeling in France, and I think there is a degree of truth to this, is that PSG had just run out of gas. And they did look extremely leggy in that game. It's a transfer club that is owned by... Well, it's deeply ironic, you might say. but that aside you know Chelsea found out a way of exploiting their weaknesses and Different manager

1:11:04Pol Ballus: back then of course

1:11:05Tom Williams: Yes Enzo Maresco in one of his great triumphs sort of overloaded the right flank put Cole Palmer in lots of really interesting positions PSG never got going and then you had this very unedifying conclusion to the game this big kind of shoving match at the final whistle Luis Enrique slapped Gian Pedro and got away with it like nothing Nothing was about that at all.

1:11:28James Richardson: That's how little it registered. It's such a non-Lewis Enrique thing to do.

1:11:32James Horncastle: Trump suddenly starts walking onto the pitch and everyone's like, what?

1:11:36Pol Ballus: Yeah, he had that as well. It was a slightly sort of a filter to everything I think that happened at the club. Almost though it was a dimension of its own. Different manager for Chelsea, but the new fellow, Liam Rossino, has also had some success against Paris Saint-Germain of late.

1:11:51Tom Williams: Yes, one against PSG towards the end of last season when PSG were kind of already starting to shift their focus and look at the Champions League. But yeah, a coach will know PSG extremely well, who will, I'm sure, look at that Chelsea victory from the Club World Cup final, because PSG haven't really changed very much as a team. It's still the same starting XI when everyone's fit, albeit that has been a very rare occurrence for PSG this season. You'd have PSG as favourites, I think, but once again, we are still waiting for them to show up. And you tend to think, well, when they have to, they will.

1:12:23Tom Williams: But they really will have to against Chelsea, I think. And Chelsea are the kind of team who, you know, they feel like one of those kind of old-fashioned cup teams. You know, league consistency is difficult for them because they've got such a young squad, because they get players sent off on average every 50 minutes or so. But they're capable of, you know, causing big teams big problems.

1:12:42Pol Ballus: Indeed. Well, there you go. PSG await Chelsea. In the meantime, four points clear at the top of the league. just to mention that their counterparts across the road at Paris FC enjoyed a winning start for their new manager, former PSG boss Antoine Koumbare. I'm trying to pronounce him the way you did last week, Tom. Koumbouare. Koumbouare.

1:13:04Tom Williams: You have to be very careful with the way that you pronounce his name as a viral clip from one of his press conferences last week demonstrated he was being presented as Paris FC's new head coach and a journalist, a young female journalist, asked a question to, I think it was, I think it was possibly Antoine Arnault, who's a representative of the owners, about Comboare and what it was that, you know, had attracted the club or prompted the club to appoint him. And when she mentioned him, she said Antoine, rather than, you know, Monsieur Comboare or whatever. And Comboare interrupted her and said, Le coach, please.

1:13:46Tom Williams: there you go look coach and everyone saw that on social media and thought what a knobhead well but off to a winning start

1:13:53James Horncastle: isn't his nickname Goldenhead yeah well I think

1:13:56Tom Williams: that was from the famous goal that he scored against Real Madrid in this kind of era defining cup winners cup comeback back in the day when he was a bruising centre half for PSG and he scores this thunderous stoppage time winner what a golden head Teddor yes one of those examples of a foreign thing that sounds better in English than it does in the original French.

1:14:20Pol Ballus: Yeah. Anyway, good start for him and a cracking start continuing for Frank Ayes since he took over. Le coach.

1:14:28James Richardson: What is the convention for addressing coaches?

1:14:31Pol Ballus: Just to finish off the sentence, since he took over from Habib Bay at Rennes, they've won three on the bounce and are right back in the mix for, well, possibly even top three. Seb, sorry.

1:14:40James Richardson: What is the convention for addressing coaches and press conferences in France? Is it first name? Is it monsieur?

1:14:48Tom Williams: It depends on the extent to which the person asking the question knows the coach. There's a kind of an individual perspective to every interaction with a coach or player in the French media. Because you have to think about whether or not you're going to use tu, whether or not you're going to use vous. And that is an absolute minefield. And having spoken French for a very long time, it still stresses me out like an awful lot. because some people get very offended if you use the wrong version.

1:15:17Pol Ballus: You would start out with a vu. You would always start out with a vu. And then città di tu.

1:15:21James Horncastle: Yeah, but then... Yeah, so mister in Italy, but that minefield you're alluding to, if you use the kind of vu or in Italian, lei, I don't know what it would be in German, and then someone else after you uses the tu form, you're almost like, whoa, whoa.

1:15:41Tom Williams: But you're allowed to do that if the person doing it actually knows the guy you know you ask your question very formally you use vous and you use all the vous forms the next guy's like hey you know Didier mon grand mon pote allez dis moi that sounds like

1:15:55Pol Ballus: Gilles and Laurent didn't have Gilles in mind

1:15:58Tom Williams: that is maybe it just came through what's that lovely Italian football expression about someone who's very comfortable with the ball and it's he calls the ball two like he uses the informal yeah

1:16:08Pol Ballus: I think that's it then yeah

1:16:09Tom Williams: yeah very nice

1:16:11Pol Ballus: mmm Well, you should write a book about that kind of thing. That is a great idea, James. Do you know what? I think I might. I'm just kidding, actually, because Tom has written not one but two? Or the same book twice? Might be the same book twice. Are there two editions? Is there one and two?

1:16:27Tom Williams: No, there's one edition, but it was updated. Updated? In 2024. Almost like a new one. Almost like a new one. Better as a consequence. Do you speak football? Do you speak football? Available in German, French. Right. Czech Polish and Japanese and Japanese and it looks really it's got a very mad like cover as you would expect a Japanese one yeah but not in Italian I guess Italians think what can a British person possibly tell us how to talk about football because most of their words

1:17:00Pol Ballus: are talking about football or English anyway well

1:17:03Tom Williams: it's often the case yeah oh yeah

1:17:06Pol Ballus: you know what we could chat about this all day listener

1:17:09Tom Williams: ooh Tom Last little nugget from Ligue 1. Heartwarming story at Monaco-Angers. 18-year-old Monaco midfielder Samuel Nibombe, Belgian youth international, collapsed and had a cardiac arrest during a youth game against Rennes at the back end of last season. Very serious. Had to have CPR on the pitch. Defibrillator at the works. Long recovery process. He's now back in the first team squad. Made his Monaco debut as a substitute at the Parc des Princes in the Champions League game last week. And then came off the bench against Angers at the weekend for his Ligue 1 debut. Very heartwarming story. He's also 6 '6".

1:17:52Tom Williams: He's very tall for an outfielder, so you can't miss him.

1:17:57James Horncastle: Yeah. Good stuff. Crouchy.

1:17:59Tom Williams: need to find an equivalent of the pizza crouch we'll work on that

1:18:06Pol Ballus: very good thank you so much Tom many thanks to you as well Seb to James to Paul earlier on producer Lucy and you listener we'll have another Euro round up for you next week ahead of those last 16 match ups have a great week in the meantime and from all of us here it's goodbye

1:18:26Tom Williams: you've been listening to the Totally Football Show

1:18:28James Richardson: part of the Athletic FC podcast network. For other great podcasts just like this one, including the Athletic FC and our dedicated club podcasts, search for The Athletic in all the usual places. We're also at The Totally Show on Insta and at The Totally Show on YouTube. The Totally Football Show is an Athletic Media Company production.

1:18:53James Horncastle: The Athletic FC.

1:19:00Tom Williams: Shipping, billing, admin, payroll, marketing. You're managing all the things. So why waste time sending important documents the old-fashioned way? Mail and ship when you want, how you want with Stamps.com.

1:19:12Pol Ballus: Print postage on demand 24-7 and schedule pickups from your office or home. Save up to 90 % with automated rate shopping. That's why over 1 million small businesses trust Stamps.com.

1:19:23Tom Williams: Go to stamps.com and use code podcast to try stamps.com risk-free for 60 days.

1:19:31James Richardson: Time is valuable.

1:19:33James Horncastle: That's why Lowe's Blueprint Takeoffs turn blueprints into quotes faster. Bring us your plans, and we'll generate itemized material lists to make quoting easier so you can get back to building. Plus, at the Lowe's ProDesk, you get access to thousands of building materials not sold in store. and when your order's ready, we'll deliver everything to the job site. Improving is easy at Lowe's.

1:19:59Pol Ballus: The youth mental health crisis is growing and social media is a major driver. Kids are spending up to nine hours a day on screens, often unsupervised, and studies show a direct link to anxiety, depression, and even suicidal thoughts. That's where Gab comes in. Gab offers safe phones and watches with no internet or social media, just the right tech at the right time. From smart watches for young kids to advanced parent-managed phones for teens, Gab keeps kids connected safely. Visit gab.com slash getgab and use code getgab for a special offer. That's g-a-b-b dot com forward slash getgab. Gab. Tech in steps.

1:20:39Pol Ballus: Independence for them. Peace of mind for parents. Over 90 of the top 100 U.S. accounting firms trust Bill to simplify and secure Bill Pay.

1:20:49James Richardson: That's proven financial infrastructure built on over a trillion dollars of secure payments. Visit Bill.com slash proven for a special offer.