Episode 38 - Champions League Quarter Finals Are Set!

After a big week of European Football, the Friendly Foes break down the games in the Champions League Round of 16, and make our picks for the Quarter Finals.

Plus, we talk about about more AFCON drama, Laporta winning the presidential elections for Barcelona, Finalissima drama, and Messi's 900th goal. Tune in!

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:26

And what's going on, everyone? Welcome back to another episode of the Friendly Foes, a special Champions League episode again, because we just had a couple of days of wonderful European football. Both Real Madrid and Barcelona are through to the quarterfinals, and the quarterfinal bracket is completely set. Real Madrid is facing Bayern Munich. Barcelona is facing Atlético de Madrid. This is happening, I believe, starts in about a month or so. But man, so exciting to see the Champions League moving forward. And we have a step closer of an El Clasico final coming to you. Potentially. We'll see what happens against Bayern Munich and Atlético de Madrid. But man, I know you're happy because you guys got another big victory against Man City, and that was a very convincing win over Man City to say the least. Yes, yes, very convincing.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

We talked about it, we talked about it when we did the bracket. We thought Man City was gonna kill us, but hey, it's Madrid. This is our championship. We're the Kings of Europe. I can't believe I even doubted them for a second. So our below is starting to find this groove. We're winning games in La Liga, in the Champions League. We're playing good football. So I'm happy where this team is at right now, and I think we can go all the way. I'm confident in beating Bayern Munich. I really am. I'm confident. I'm confident. Even though my boy Thibaut Courtois, right now, he looks like he's hurt. Who's gonna ask? Did he get hurt? He might have a tear in his abductor, so the quarterfinals are in danger for him right now.

SPEAKER_04 2:10

But we're in kind of the same boat because John Garcia came off today injured. And I'm I'm scared. We'll get to it a little bit later. He did. But that's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

Okay, so he he's got a hammy or abductor. Yeah. Yeah, abductor. So he's definitely not gonna play the Derby this weekend. And then we have the international break, so we'll see how he comes back from that, even though he's not gonna be playing, but we'll just see how he recovers after the international break. But no, overall, a very good display from Real Madrid. Man said he was definitely pressuring us for the first few minutes, but after Bernardo Silva just elbowed that ball, I knew it was done. I knew it was over. I got scared when Vini came up to take the penalty. I was like, please give it to Valverde. Because Vinicius, his last couple of penalties, he he he has not done well. But he did very good. He did very good, cool, calm, collected, and then they didn't stand a chance after that. Even though they still played decent with 10 men, I'm not going to lie. They didn't do too bad. They didn't do too bad. And then when Haaland scored, I was like, oh shit. But nah. Nah, we're good. We're good over here. And that's three years in a row now that we beat Manchester City. So, Pep Guardiola, we are your father. We own you. We have knocked you out three years in a row. You just can't deal with the greatness of Real Madrid. You got us one year, but hey, you needed it. You needed it for your legacy at Man City to win that Champions League. So we'll give you that. But that was it. Every time we play, Pep Guardiola is just ground and pound, baby. Ground and pound. It's just payback for what he did to us in Barcelona, those four years that he was with you guys. So I'm glad he's out of the Champions League. Hopefully he's just done with Man City. See you later.

SPEAKER_04 3:57

Yeah, who knows if he will be. He still has a year left in his contract. I think a lot of people are starting to ask those questions because it's been two seasons in a row now where they get bounced from the Champions League by Real Madrid and they're struggling in the Premier League as well. They're in the League Cup final this weekend against Arsenal, but yeah, we'll see what happens with Man City. But yeah, I mean, pretty, pretty ridiculous way to lose at home. I mean, you have a pretty big opportunity to make a strong comeback at the Etahat against Real Madrid, and then Bernardo Silva does one of the dumbest things I've ever seen from such an intelligent player. And at that point, I mean 20 minutes ago.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

I think it was just a reflex there. I think he knew he fucked up right away. He's like, man, I shouldn't have done that. But because he had his hands tied to his back, and then boop, he just let that elbow go. Yeah, completely rubber. You can't do that. That completely ruined them.

SPEAKER_04 4:54

That was deliberately trying to stop the ball, and it was an obvious red card. Yeah. And it wasn't like it was in the 80th minute or in the 70th minute. No, it was 20 minutes in.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Yeah, that completely killed their momentum.

SPEAKER_04 5:08

Yeah, completely. That was it. As soon as that happened, I I turned that game off. I was like, it's over. This isn't Real Madrid isn't gonna lose this game. It's over. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

Man City's not gonna win.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Yeah. But yeah, man, Man City still created some chances. Courtois, even though he was injured and made some incredible saves. Even when he's injured, he's still killing it. Arbolo called him the best goalkeeper in history. And I mean, it's up there, man. He's up there for sure. I don't know if I'm there yet. I'm still a Casillas guy. But every day he's just getting closer and closer and closer. Like this time next year, I might change my mind. I don't know. I've just always been a big Iker Casillas fan. So that guy's just in my heart forever. But the more I watch Stebo Cortois, the more I want to agree with Alvaro Arbeloa. Not just the best goalkeeper in Real Madrid, but in history. So I mean if he wins another Champions League, dude, he's he's on fire. I mean, these past four years, he's been one of our best players. The amount of times he saved us, it's ridiculous. Ridiculous. I don't even know we'd be a top two or top three team in La Liga if it wasn't for him. We definitely wouldn't have a Champions League if it wasn't for him. So he's just been so crucial to our team. So, so, so crucial. And it's gonna suck if he's not gonna be there for the quarterfinals, but we do have the best backup goalkeeper in the world, I believe, in Andre Lunen. He had a pretty good showing in in the second half against Manchester City. Also had some pretty good saves. So I feel comf I feel comfortable with him, but he's not courtois. And right now, Bayern Munich is on a different level too. So on fire. They're on fire. It'll be tough. Well, we're gonna need our best players, but I have confidence in Lunin if he does get the nod.

SPEAKER_04 7:04

Yeah. And then Bop is back. He got a few minutes. Mbop is back too. Which I don't know why Erbilloa put him in.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Yeah, me neither. Me neither. Me neither. I mean, I think Mbap is the one that's telling him, yo, I'm good. I'm good. Like, let me play, let me play. But which I don't know. I think he's kind of risking it there a little bit, especially in a World Cup year. He's definitely risking it. I think he just shouldn't even play in the international break. Shouldn't have played against Man City. Hopefully he doesn't really play against Atletico. Even though if he played against Man Manchester City, I'm sure he'll go in against Atletico. But I would rather him just rest. We have players clearly that can step up for him. He's probably the best finisher in the world next to Harry Kane. But we we we have players that can fill his role. We clearly didn't need him against Manchester City to win, and Manchester City is a pretty damn good team. So I think we would be okay if he just rests a little bit. We we need him fully fit for the quarterfinal against Bayern Munich. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:04

I don't know. Yeah. That is true. I found that to be interesting that Arbeloa put him in. I was like, that's weird. I would have just let him continue to rest if the injury was that severe. Hey, at the end of the day, it is what it is. You guys end up winning the game, end up winning the entire leg pretty convincingly. What was it, five to one? Five to two, something like that. Five-one. Yeah, five-one. Completely demolishing Man City. And I think that's a good question.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

You start to question what? Okay, no, I was gonna say I gotta praise my boy Vinicius because when it comes to these UCL knockout ties, that man always performs. Every single knockout tie, except Chelsea in 2021 and against Atletico Madrid last year, he's been involved in in some way, whether it's an assist or a goal. So Vinicius is the best when he's playing Champions League knockout football. And that's what we need from him. And I think he's gonna kill it against Bayern Munich. I think him and Mbappe are gonna have a show. That's my bad thing.

SPEAKER_04 9:10

Another man of the match performance for for Vinny as well. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, even though I hate the guy, he he does perform really, really well in the Champions League in those big games. It seems to be his tournament. And he he's uh he always puts on his own. He's a big game player in those those scenarios. So man of the match performance for Vinny. What I what I was gonna say is you start to question now with Man City, like we were talking about a little bit earlier. What where do they go from here? What is why is Man City not working the past two years like they had been in the past? It seems to me like Guardiola is losing what made him so iconic. I think he used to be a a coach who would just was really quick on his feet and would always think outside the box and do something different, and he would kill you with possession, keeping the ball, try to outscore opponents as much as possible. And now it just seems like he's turning back and trying to be not like every other coach, but just it feels like he's betraying his original playing style because they're not they're just not playing the same. And you got rid of some pretty big important players, which he tends to do that. He tends to get rid of big players and then he brings in more new big players that do big things, but it seems like this time it's just not a big deal.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

He's changing his team too much. He changes his team at least in Manchester City, like every two years, he's changing the the starting 11. For example, Phil Phil Fulden is MIA. He didn't even play one single minute against Real Madrid.

SPEAKER_04 10:51

He was uh he was the PFA player of the year a couple of years ago.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

And now to me, that's crazy. I don't really understand. If I'm being honest with you, I feel like Guardil is bored. He's just bored. He just kind of he lost interest. After you win everything, it's like what now? That's why he left Barcelona. I think he's just really Well, there was there was there was more to it at Barcelona, but well, I mean, at the end of the day, like he won those six trophies in one year. He basically won everything, and he's like, where do we go from here? What now? You know?

SPEAKER_04 11:22

So Barcelona was a little bit different because he he got into it with the board. He got into it with the president at the time, Santro Rouse and Bartomeu, and that was one of the main reasons why he left, because they did not see eye to eye. But I see your point, 100%. And he he mentioned it in this press conference uh after the game against Madrid. Because he he was basically like, you guys are like the media and the fans are trying to get rid of me now. I know you guys want to get rid of me just because I haven't been performing well. And it's because his first season as a coach, he set the bar so, so high. Like you said, he won six trophies in a calendar year. A treble in your first season as a coach.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

I mean, that's unheard of. And it's the way he did it, too. It's not just winning, it was the way he won. Everybody, and he was what, like 38 years old, 39 years old at the time? He was so young. So young. Everyone was shook, man. Nobody expected that coming from Barcelona and Guardiola. And same with Man City. I mean, he basically turned that whole team around. That second season he had, 2017, 2018. I mean, he took the Premier League by storm. And then everybody wanted to play like him, you know, with the Tiki Taca in the Premier League. So Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:33

Everybody tried to copy his playing style or everything.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

But now I think it's just find ways to defend it. Yeah. But people caught up to that now. And like I said, he he won everything. I really think he's just like, all right, like, what is this? Uh I gotta find something else. He's not the type of person to just, I feel like, stay in one place. I mean, I'm surprised he stayed at City for 10 years, honestly. I'm really surprised. Yeah. Yeah. But I don't know. To me, he just he strikes me as he's just really, really bored. He just wants to kind of move on. But he's he's very attached to City, though. He is because he hasn't let himself move on, but he's tired of it. You can just tell he looks, he doesn't look like he's enjoying it. He doesn't look like the same Guardiolo. That's where it started with City or Bayern or even with Barcelona. You look at him, he just he really doesn't enjoy. He's just like, ah, whatever. Like you guys go ahead and figure it out.

SPEAKER_04 13:24

I think it's more of the fact that he's tired. I think it's just more he's fatigued. I think it's really difficult to keep doing what he's doing at the highest level in the game, year after year after year. I mean, how many Premier Leagues has he won? Six in ten years? Yeah, yeah. It's insane. That's insane. And what 100 point season? He won four in a row with Man City. He won a treble with Man City. I mean, what what else do you want from this guy? Like you like you said, I wouldn't say he looks bored. I think he just looks exhausted at this point. I think he he's done so much. His brain.

SPEAKER_02 14:01

You can see it in his face. You just see he's not enjoying it as he used to be.

SPEAKER_04 14:06

Yeah, he's he's he's almost just had enough. Like he he's that's what it feels like.

SPEAKER_02 14:12

And I really do think this is gonna be his last season with City. They're saying that he's gonna wait until this weekend and for the Carabao Cup final. But yeah, I think, yeah, I think this is it. I think 10 years is enough for him. He's won it all.

SPEAKER_04 14:25

What else does he have to prove? No, he doesn't have to prove anything. And he'll probably take a break. I think he's a big thing. He might take a sabbatical. He definitely will. I think he he he does. I think he's gonna be a good thing. He might even want to coach a national team. I was just gonna say, I think he wants to coach a national team, some sort of national team. I think he wants, I think that's probably his next challenge is trying to win.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

He won't have that day today. And international tired of. Yeah, I wouldn't even know what club he would go to, honestly. Maybe somewhere in Italy. I could see him going to the CETIA trying that out, but who knows?

SPEAKER_04 14:59

I don't know. He did he did play in CETIA for for a little bit. There was a lot of talk about him, I mean, before Carlo and Celotti, about him going to Brazil as well and taking over that that role. But we'll see, man. Yeah, but it it it is crazy to see how Man City has fallen off a bit the past couple of seasons. And it is it is tough because whenever you're in that position, when you set the bar so high wherever you go, and that's where that's where people expect you to be, especially with with the players that you have with the amount of money that you spend, even though everybody spends a shit ton of money nowadays, especially in the Premier League, they expect uh it's almost like they expect a treble every single year, which is crazy to think about because only of a handful of teams have ever actually accomplished a treble. And he's one of very few coaches who've done it twice. One of Yeah, with two different teams. Two. One of two coaches who have done it twice with two different teams, yeah. So but we'll we'll we'll obviously we'll see what happens. But they got a big game this weekend against Arsenal for the kind of out cup final. That'll be interesting. But yeah, I'm glad we killed that Baldy. Three years in a row. Three years in a row. Revenge. Pep got um Pep got destroyed, especially this year. That was that was pretty embarrassing. Yeah. To to see. Nobody was expecting it. No, nobody's got a lot of money. Never doubting my club again. Everybody was expecting Man City, especially that first game, to completely destroy Real Madrid. And it it wasn't the case. And Pep had literally zero answers for it. Zero answers. There was no he got completely outcoached, Man City got completely outplayed, the players just look lost. Like I was saying earlier, Holland really liked that association with KDB and even Julian Alvarez, and even ever since them two left, I feel like he hasn't really found somebody to connect with as much as he used to with those two.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Yeah, well, I saw Doku was really trying to find them. Him and Doku were were connecting a lot. And again, at least against Real Madrid, I saw them trying to do something. They were probably like the only ones trying to do something in the second leg. But yeah, it's hard to find the connection for him right now. Even though I like Ryan Turkey, he's a really good player. Oh, he's a big uh uh what's how do you pronounce his name? Rayner number four. I don't know how to pronounce his name. The guy who came from the Milan. Johnny Rain Rayners. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a solid player too. But they're not Kevin De Bruyne.

SPEAKER_04 17:27

No, KDB's different. KDB's different. You can tell they're really missing him. Oh, and and they're missing they're missing also a a a leader in the locker room, right? Like they had with Gundagon, Gundagon when they won the treble, like they had with company back in the day. Yeah. Like they had with KDB. They're they're missing that big leader, that big press is in the locker room. And you can tell. That's true. You can tell. And that's that's always very important.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

But somebody has to step up. Mm-hmm. Ruben Diaz. Yeah, he's got some good leadership. But he does.

SPEAKER_04 18:02

I'm not saying like that they have bad leaders, but they're not going to be able to do that. There's always like that. Right. There's always that presence and that you walk into a room and you just command respect, like you feel the presence whenever a captain walks into a room and people, when you're talking, everybody else is listening. That though that's the type of leaders that they need within the dressing room that they don't they don't fully have. It doesn't seem like it. But yeah, because they completely bottled it this weekend after uh their their draw this weekend. I forget who they played, but they I think was it West Ham? No, I can't remember who they played, but they they drew this past weekend and Arsenal won, and that was it. I mean the Premier League is basically an Arsenal hands.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

Yeah, they taught against West Ham.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

Yeah. One who's battling for relegation at this point. Um, so I mean I'll go I'll go on record here and we can be the first to congratulate friendly foes here. Breaking news. Friendly foes, first to congratulate Arsenal on winning the Premier League. Congratulations, congratulations to Arsenal for winning the 2025, 2026 Premier League season, your first Premier League win in what, 24 years? Something like that?

SPEAKER_02 19:15

2004. Back to 22 years.

SPEAKER_04 19:21

So congratulations. Congratulations to Arsenal. But anyway, moving on to more Champions League games. We'll get into the we'll get to the Barcelona game because that happened today. Dude, how scared were you that whole first half?

SPEAKER_02 19:34

How scared were you? I want to know your feelings throughout that first half.

SPEAKER_04 19:39

So my butthole was clenched. I'll be that. I'll be honest. My butthole was clenched. I was nervous because we started off, we started off a little rough. Like the first two to three minutes, Newcastle's pressuring us hard, and I was like, whoa, hold on a second, guys. Like I was not expecting this at the camp. No. There was a lot of big expectations after that really, really shocking and terrible performance that we had against Newcastle at St. James Park in the first leg. So this game, we were really hoping to see something big. And the first few minutes, Newcastle's pressuring hard, and then we score. Rafinha scores a beautiful goal. I mean, Lamin Yamal put that, I forget who it was, that defender on skates in the middle of the field, puts a beautiful slot through ball to Fermin. Fermin slots it back to Rafinha and Rafinha. Just calm, cool, collected, puts it in the bottom left-hand corner of the goalkeeper. And I'm thinking to myself, this is it. I mean, we are going to, we're going to win this game 5-0. Easy. And then freaking Alonga scores. And I was like, oh my God. And then yeah, he scored that. And then we scored, we scored the 2-1. Who scored the second one? It was for me. It was Fermin. Yes. Fermin scored the second one. No, Bernal. Mark Bernal, sorry. Mark Bernal, yeah. Mark Bernal scored the second one. From that Seppies from Rafinha. Yep, the Seppi's from Rafinha. Gerard Martin pulled it back. So Bernal, by the way, fifth goal for Bernal this season as a defensive midfielder. He's killing it. He's crushing it, man. So good for him. 18 years old, man. 18 years old.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

It's like Gabby's not going to be seeing the pitch, especially when DeJoun gets back.

SPEAKER_04 21:16

We'll talk about that in a second. So we scored a 2-1, and then again, like, I mean, it's not even. We scored to the 18th, and then 10 minutes later, they score again, another Alonga goal. And I'm like, oh my God, is this what it's going to be the whole fucking game?

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Dude, I was I was enjoying it so much. I was so ready to troll the fuck out of you, dude.

SPEAKER_04 21:35

I was really ready to troll. I thought it was gonna be like another four three, four, four, five. I was like, what is gonna what's happening here?

SPEAKER_02 21:44

Yeah, Nuke has been able to play that first half. They were done. And freaking Carrie Tripier had to mess it all up. As soon as Lamin scored that goal going into the half, I knew they were done because that that momentum was dumb. I know Barcelona was gonna go into the locker room. And be like, all right, we got him now. Let's just kill him. And that's exactly what happened. If that penalty wouldn't have happened, maybe Barcelona still would have won, but I don't think it would have been like 7-2. Like after that penalty, I think it was just ground and pound, baby. Ground them pound. Like, let's knock him out. Let's get scared and let's make him never come back to the camp new. And that's what it was. And that second goal that New Castle scored, Lamin got a little too cute there, bro. He did, yeah. He did.

SPEAKER_04 22:27

He tends to do that, he tends to do that from time to time, which kind of annoys me. I I do appreciate that he continues to try to be skillful and to trust in his skill set. But there are times where I'm like, I wish you would just play a little bit simpler. Like whenever it's time to play simple, play simple. He's got to be a little bit smarter in his decision making in that way. And he also missed the sitter, too.

SPEAKER_03 22:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:50

That was another thing. Like we could have been up like four or two going into the half. So we missed a couple chances in the first half where I was like, oh man, this is gonna come back to bite us in the ass. So that's why I wasn't like like I was confident going into the the second half. I was like, all right, I think I think we were in a good spot, but I didn't I thought it was gonna be still a little bit of back and forth. But then we came out that second half, and like like you said, I mean, by the way, that should have been a red card on Kieran Tripier for that was a finger when we came out with a yellow that was a hundred percent a red card. But anyway, and then after the fourth goal, it was game.

SPEAKER_02 23:26

After the fourth goal, it was game.

SPEAKER_04 23:28

That for me, I I feel like almost every goal was beautiful. I mean, that Fermin goal was amazing. That Rafinha checking in to Gerard Martin and then Rafinha slotting through Fermin, that finished by Fermine like he's a like he's prime Ronaldo phenomenal. Amazing. Like he's a true striker number nine. Rafinha with two goals and an assist, Lamin with a goal and two assists, Lewandowski with two goals. I mean, what else could we want?

SPEAKER_02 23:55

We could have had That was a nice assist from Lamin, too. When he was dribbling, taking it to Lewandowski, like a now you see me, now you don't.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

Yeah. He put it right behind the defender, right behind the defender, and Lewandowski did beautifully finishing. And that's exactly what we need from Lewandowski. Yeah, he killed the game. He played an incredible game, and those are the things that a true prolific number nine like Lewandowski gives you, where Ferran Torles doesn't. So, but I'm happy. I'm super happy. Well, I'm not super happy because uh Jr. came off hurt, and that's what killed the mood for me completely, because now we got, I mean, we got Roger Vallecano this weekend, but we're still fighting for La Liga. We're now in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, and you're gonna tell me our starting goalkeeper is hurt. I hope it's nothing serious. I haven't seen any further reports on this. We'll probably find out more tomorrow morning.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

Yeah, as as soon as he came out, all the players and coaching staff were around him. Like, dude, are you okay? Because everybody's pretty worried.

SPEAKER_04 25:04

You can tell. Everybody knows.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

You can tell they're pretty worried.

SPEAKER_04 25:08

Yeah, because whenever he was hurt earlier in the season, he he missed six, six weeks. So he missed six full games, like six or seven games. And we struggled. And we struggled during that. I mean, I like Chesney. I think he's a he's a good backup goalkeeper, but I think he's he proved last year that in those big moments in the Champions League, there were certain instances where he could have made bigger saves, especially against Inter Milan, and he did not.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

Yeah, I think you guys can survive a few games in La Liga without Juan Garcia, but in the Champions League, that's gonna be tough.

SPEAKER_04 25:44

So I hope, I mean, we got the international break coming up here uh in a couple of weeks, or I think it's like next week. So hopefully that gives him some time to recover. I hope it's nothing serious. I hope it's like a 10-day injury. It seemed it looked like it was his calf. Hopefully it's a it's a very minor strain. Nothing serious, but man, as soon as that happened, I was like, oh no. Like my hands went to my head immediately. My jaw dropped. Like I tell you, like I was very excited about the game the entire time. We're up seven to two. This is great. We crushed new. This is a big statement win. We needed this at home. And then Joan Garcia gets hurt. I'm like, ah.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

That injury put a stain on the victory today.

SPEAKER_04 26:28

Yeah, completely. I was just like, this is we I just you can't have too much happiness. That's all it is. God gives his strongest battles to the or toughest battles to his strongest soldiers, though. And we are gonna be out there still competing.

SPEAKER_03 26:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

But that's a that's a we're we're both in the same pickle. We don't have our starting keepers, but my second goalkeeper is way better than your second goalkeeper. I know that for a fact. So I'm a little bit more calm, but I like Chesney.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

I honestly thought Arboloa, I thought Arboloa was getting cocky there. Because I Cortan made some incredible saves in the first half, even when he was in the world. Is Arbaloa getting cocky here, bro? Like, what's going on? Is he just I thought he was just showing off giving Guardiolo a little, yeah. I thought he was giving Guardiola a little wink, like, see what I got right here, you know?

SPEAKER_02 27:18

But nah, it looks like he's hurt.

SPEAKER_04 27:21

Yeah, he's like legitimately hurt.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:25

Yeah, no. I as soon as I saw John Garcia go down, I was like, fuck. And Eddie Garcia, another, he also got injured in the first like 25 minutes of the game. And Arauho came on, and I'm I'm like, oh dear God, what's gonna happen now? Um, but he was solid, he was solid, he he played well, but uh now it's now we got both Garcias are out. And what are we gonna do? Yeah, both Garcias are out.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

I don't know what happened there, but going on with the Garcias over there in Barcelona.

SPEAKER_04 27:58

But yeah, either way, all in all, it's a phenomenal performance by Barcelona. Big statement win, which is exactly what we needed, especially in the Champions League. 8-3 overall between both legs. Now we take on Atlético Madrid, and that's gonna be a very tough game because the last time that we played them, we lost 4-0 at the Metropolitano, and I mean we won 3-0 at home, but we can't be letting up four goals again away from home.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

So to be honest, I think you guys got it because you guys will have that in your head for sure. I don't think it's gonna be a repeat of letting in four goals. I mean if Juan Garcia isn't there, then I don't know, maybe. But listen, if there's one thing Athletico's really good at, it's choking in the Champions League. They do not know how to play Champions League football. So Copa del Rey is completely different than the Champions League. And I think you guys will be a little bit more motivated than they will. Because they lost because you guys lost 4-0 in that Copa del Rey.

SPEAKER_04 29:05

So yeah, we still got something to prove. We still got something to show again.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

Yeah, you got something to prove there.

SPEAKER_04 29:10

So you guys played them in La Liga too, right before. Yeah, I know. So we're gonna be seeing a lot of Atletico Madrid back to back to back, man. I mean, we're gonna know them like the back of our freaking hand. You guys are gonna be duking it out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

We're gonna get tired of them. But I I do think you guys will win, though. I I honestly don't see Atletico winning. They are experts at Chucky.

SPEAKER_04 29:33

I'm I'm confident that we'll we'll get the we'll get the win as well, but it'll be tough. Atletico always gives us a tough game. Always.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

You guys will struggle. You guys will have your moments with that will struggle, but I really don't see Atletico going through. Especially. You guys played against them in the quarterfinals too, 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_04 29:48

Yeah, no. Remember that time?

SPEAKER_02 29:50

Yeah. Yes, I remember.

SPEAKER_04 29:52

Thanks. Thanks.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Just had to remind you.

SPEAKER_04 29:54

Thanks. Thanks I appreciate that. With that mentality, you guys just like you guys lost to Byron in 2013 in the semifinals and penalties, right?

SPEAKER_02 30:04

Yeah, but we haven't lost in the Alliance Arena in the past four times we played against them.

SPEAKER_04 30:10

It's alright. It'll happen.

SPEAKER_02 30:12

I think I think we'll make it a fifth time.

SPEAKER_04 30:14

It'll happen this time.

SPEAKER_02 30:15

We're also Byron's father.

SPEAKER_04 30:17

Streaks, streaks are meant to be broken.

SPEAKER_02 30:19

So by the way, this is the biggest European classic. We've played each other 22 times. So we know each other like the back of our hand. It's gonna be a good one. It's gonna be a good one.

SPEAKER_04 30:31

I'm excited for that game.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

That's gonna be a really we got some good quarterfinal ties, man.

SPEAKER_04 30:36

We really did. Yes. But let's let's wrap up the Champions League really quick. The the round of 16 because there was some games that were just um got out of hand in terms of scoring. I mean, Bayern Munich beat the crap out of Atalanta today. I think the overall score was 10 to 1. It was 4-1 today. Luis Diaz, another goal and an assist. Shout out to my boy Luis Diaz.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

He's got his little chipper. Did you see Harry Kane's goal? Yeah. Oh my god, dude. That was insane. Yeah, that was insane. I don't even know how he got out of that. Like he created so much space for himself between two players and then just ripped it. Upper 90, dude.

SPEAKER_04 31:21

Harry Kane's having a phenomenal season as well. Yeah, he's he's doing really well. But bar so Byron beat Atalanta 4-1. Liverpool destroyed Galata Saray. We knew this was gonna happen at Anfield. Kind of tough game in Istanbul, but at Anfield, it's a different story. Tottenham tried to fight today. Tottenham tried to fight. I'll give him credit for that. Like you said, Atlanta.

SPEAKER_03 31:43

I was surprised.

SPEAKER_04 31:44

Atletico almost tried to bottle it. At the end of the day, Atletico won overall seven to five, but they they gave him a run for their money. They didn't really make it easy for Atletico. So that was a that was an interesting game, but we knew you were going in Atletico was not going to win that one. Yesterday, I mean, you guys beat Man City, knew that was gonna happen, talked about that. PSG destroyed Chelsea at Stanford Bridge, completely demolished them. Yeah, they're they're and now they got they have this one-year ban now for transfer ban or however long it is that happened.

SPEAKER_02 32:21

For improper payments, I believe, right?

SPEAKER_04 32:24

Yeah, something like that. But they got a transfer ban now, and they're out of the chamber.

SPEAKER_02 32:30

He's just a joke. I feel like his team doesn't take him seriously. He was giving Garnacho a note in like the 84th minute when they were down 3-0. What what do you have to give him? What note do you have to give him at the 84th minute when you're down eight, three on aggregate, dude? Yeah. Or what was it? 8-2, whatever it was. Like they're down so much. Why are you giving him a note for what? Don't don't let in another goal? Like what do you have to write? I thought that was very unserious.

SPEAKER_04 33:00

It was it was probably something stupid. It was probably like, hey, don't forget that we have dinner plans tonight. Or something stupid.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

I would have slap them if I was going to be like, get that shit out of my face, bro. Like, what the hell are you gonna coach me right now?

SPEAKER_04 33:14

Yeah, that guy is not a serious human being. I'm surprised that they replaced Ensomoresco with him. But it is what it is. It's crazy because I was talking to one of my buddies who's a Chelsea fan, and it seems like Chelsea don't really have a sporting strategy. Like they they've built a really good business model in terms of it almost seems like they're a grassroots team now where they buy really, really young players, they don't really have a strategy behind a reason why. They just see really good young players, they buy them, they develop them, or they they they they play them, they help develop them, and then whenever they hit their prime, they're just gonna sell them for like 2x, 3x. And that's that seems what their philosophy is gonna be for going forward.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

When Todd Bowley took over, there was a point that they had over 30 players in their roster.

SPEAKER_03 34:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:08

What are you gonna do with that, dude? That's way too many players in a roster. You can't have more than like 25. And if you're having a lot of things, yeah, dude, and that's not even counting all the players that were like out on loan either. Yeah, it's unbelievable. Todd Bowley took over, and you're right, there's just no sporting direction there. No, that there's no guidance at all.

SPEAKER_04 34:33

You can tell that there is a big difference between a club that wants uh wants to win things and a club that just wants to grow its business. And it seems like Chelsea is not or Chelsea's front office is not really interested in winning anything. Because if they were they would change things up.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

They're doing decent, but I think him having problems with the board, that's what ended up causing some friction there and then letting him go. But I um I think with Ensomaresca with Ensomaresca they weren't playing so badly.

SPEAKER_04 35:13

They w they were. They were doing pretty well. I mean, they won the Club World Cup, even though it's like some people are saying it's a Mickey Mouse children. Yeah. They beat PSG in the final, and now they got destroyed by PSG. And it's to the point where Man City, there's a lot of reports that Man City have Ensomaresca lined up to replace Guardiola next. Yeah. That's what people are saying. That's what they're saying. But PSG proved why they're the treble-winning side and completely destroyed them. 8-2 overall. Arsenal get a pretty big win against Leverkusen 2-0 at home. We knew that was gonna happen as well. They struggled in Germany. We knew whenever they came back to the Emirates, they were gonna get they were gonna get a win. Yeah. And now they're all. And AZ, the way he celebrated, too, that was cold. He was just walking around with pointing at the badge. Like that was cool. I like that.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

Yeah, no, that was a cold. He just met Romadio too. That was his idol. So maybe that had a little something to do with it.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

He rubbed, he rubbed his magic on him.

SPEAKER_02 36:26

Romadio's magic. Yeah. He was going crazy when he saw him. Yeah. Yeah, he got all geeked out. That was cool. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think, yeah, I think Romadio just rubbed off on him a little bit, and that was a golaso.

SPEAKER_04 36:43

Yeah. But let's talk about probably the best game out of the entire Champions League, round of 16, this past couple of days, and that was sporting against Bordo Glypd. Because Border Games. You think that was the best game? I think so. You don't think so?

SPEAKER_02 37:01

Well, I mean, if you it like throughout both ties, like both games? You say or just that this uh this past.

SPEAKER_04 37:09

I was talking about just as I guess the I guess not the best leg, but the best game from the past two days. I guess the most exciting because of what? Because of the comeback.

SPEAKER_03 37:21

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:22

They were the only team that were down by a pretty significant margin, being 3-0 down. Bodo Glimp basically had a foot, yeah, had a foot in the quarterfinals, and sporting came back in a very, very convincing manner.

SPEAKER_02 37:39

Yeah, we got that one wrong for sure, bro.

SPEAKER_03 37:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:43

Yeah. After the first leg, we were like Bodo Glimp is going through for sure. I mean, that was sporting happening.

SPEAKER_04 37:51

I never thought that they would let go of that lead like that. Even if they didn't win at sporting, I was like, they'll score one goal, or they're not gonna let up. They're not gonna lose by three. Like if they lose, they're not gonna lose by three or more. They got four was I wrong. They got destroyed. And man, they like the atmosphere of sporting in Lisbon was crazy. Losing phenomenal goal with the penalty goal, continuing his scoring for the game. And he had an assist too. So that's what that was to me the most exciting one because after every goal, I was like, oh, is this happening? After the first one, I was like, oh, they might, okay, this is getting interesting. The second one, I was like, all right, now we got ourselves a football game.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

Yeah, I think Bordo just didn't know how to handle that. When they first scored, they completely shit themselves.

unknown 38:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:40

They were like, oh my god, they're gonna come back. We can't do this. And at the end of the day, these games come down to experience. I think Border Glimp had a good run, but they don't have the experience, unfortunately. Sporting has a little bit more experience than them, and once they scored that goal, they were like, all right, let's go. Let's go after them. And that's exactly what happened. Yeah, they put a five past them, and I did not expect that. No, no, no. Especially because Bodo Glimp played so good against Inter, played so good against Man City, Atletico. I mean, that was three big samples that we got, you know, of Bodo Glimp, like, okay, they can definitely beat sporting here, especially after winning 3-0.

SPEAKER_04 39:19

So yeah, and they beat Inter at the Sentencito as well.

SPEAKER_02 39:23

Exactly. They killed them. Supposedly one of the best defenses in Europe. Yeah. Yeah, that match and the Real Madrid match was the only one we got wrong in our predictions for the quarterfinals. Everything else we got right.

SPEAKER_04 39:38

Everything else we we put them through. Man, that was that was exciting. I will have to say, man, I don't know. Did you did you watch this game on the CBS broadcast? Yes. That freaking narrator is the most boring human being on the planet.

SPEAKER_02 39:55

To be honest with you, I don't like any of the CBS commentators.

SPEAKER_04 39:59

No, I mean, but there are some that at least give it a little bit of energy. But this guy, man, he's watching Sporting against Bodoglynth. I understand, like on paper, not the most exciting game. But slowly and surely, Sporting are coming back, and this guy, like the third goal is like, and they scored again. And then the fourth goal is like sporting scored a fourth one. And then the fifth one's like, that'll do it.

SPEAKER_02 40:25

It's like the brother applied to CBS. Dog, like you show this guy how to how to actually announce some games.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

I'm saying, like, have to better like if you witness that, if you witness a historic comeback like that in the Champions League, you're you should not have a voice the next day. You should go crazy, like scream it like 100%. Something, dude. Say something. Like, I don't know, go berserk. Scream it. Say something. Like that was making me so upset. How could you be so boring? How could you be, how could you, what is is he usually narrate tennis or golf? Was he did he have money on Bodo Glimped? I don't understand what was going on. It was making me so upset. I was like, brother, you are witnessing one of the best comebacks in Champions League history, and you're just so like whatever about it. It's like it was like watching paint drive to this guy.

SPEAKER_02 41:21

Dude, you should go rehearse for CBS and just show this guy how it's done. I think they'll take you on the spot.

SPEAKER_04 41:26

Dude, I mean, I'll give you a little sample if my you know kid wasn't asleep right now, but I'll give you a little sample.

SPEAKER_01 41:32

I would love to hear it.

SPEAKER_04 41:33

Man, but bro, I think all of our listeners would love to hear that. I was like, bro, come on, like, say something, dude. Don't be just sitting there talking about like, and that'll do it. That's the that's the one. That's the comeback. Nope. That'll do it. No, yeah, catch very the players' championship this weekend.

SPEAKER_01 41:53

Very annoying. God damn, bro.

SPEAKER_02 41:56

I was so upset watching. No, but honestly, all the CBS commentators are and all that. I mean, I think the ones who do the I guess you could say like the prime time game are decent. Yeah. But even then, they're not like. If you watch Teudene, that's way better commentating there. Those are a thousand percent.

SPEAKER_04 42:16

Those are real commentators. Those are real, man. Even like I've I've I've heard some Arabic commentators like go crazy.

SPEAKER_01 42:24

Oh, yeah. No, the Arabic ones are wild. You have no idea what the hell they're saying, but you know they're excited as hell. Oh man. They make you and I'm like, nah, let's go. That's always what the hell does that mean? I have no. Is that goal? Like, I don't know. It's exciting.

SPEAKER_00 42:46

It gets me excited. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

Yeah. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 42:50

It's it's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 42:51

I wouldn't mind listening to a game in Arabic.

SPEAKER_02 42:53

No, I just see like the highlights, but like a whole 90 minutes, like I would rather sit a whole 90 minutes listening to a game in Arabic than these guys for sure. A thousand percent. No idea what they're saying, but I'll be way more excited.

SPEAKER_04 43:06

Yeah, that's for damn sure. At least I know when something's happening. Like sometimes with the CBS commentators, like I'll turn away, like, I don't know, like go do something real quick, let the dog out, put some dishes up, go upstairs. I come back down, it's like one zero. And I'm like, why did I not hear anything happen? Like, what happened? Why didn't I hear the commentator going crazy about a goal that was just scored? It makes me so upset. It's sad. It's sad. It is sad. But yeah, no, we should apply. CBS higher us. We'll send you, we'll send you um a sample tape. We'll send you a sample tape. We'll that's we'll send you a little bit. We'll we'll send you a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of fire these guys. Yeah. Hey man, we'll g we'll give you a little bit of Spanglish.

SPEAKER_02 43:46

All right. I don't know if that's allowed. I don't know if I mean the listeners are here in America, dude. I mean, it's all Latinos and and Americans. Everybody will understand that. Everybody will understand a little bit of Spanglish.

SPEAKER_04 43:56

A little bit of Spanglish here and there, but no. Big big win for sporting, big comeback, big comeback for them. That was amazing to see. Amazing to see. So now we got the quarterfinals officially set. And like you were saying, we got some pretty, pretty cool game, pretty good games going on here. So Barcelona Atletico Madrid, Sporting Arsenal, Real Madrid, Bayern, Munich, PSG, Liverpool. And I know we're I know we made a little predictions beforehand, but are we still you still thinking the same predictions? I mean, the only ones that we didn't get right were Bodo Glimped and uh Man City. But you said you're feeling confident against Bayern.

SPEAKER_02 44:35

I am feeling confident against Bayern. I already made the mistake of doubting my club against Manchester City. I'm not doubting them again. Especially with our recent history against Bayern. I think we can do this. Arbolo is starting to find this groove now. So this is our competition, baby. This is our competition. We're gonna go all the way. I think so. I think our chances are pretty good. It's gonna be a tough one, but our chances are pretty good. I believe in this team.

SPEAKER_04 45:08

I think Bayern is gonna be a much more tougher test than Man City, even though I thought Man City was gonna be so I do think, and I said this from the beginning, I do think Bayern is gonna be one that makes it all the way to the final. I don't think Real Madrid makes it past Bayern Munich, especially the way Bayern Munich's been playing this whole season. Luis Diaz, Kerry Kane, and Michael Elise, probably the best trio in world football right now. They have played.

SPEAKER_02 45:35

Everybody doubted us against Man City. They're gonna doubt us again against Bayern Munich. And guess what? If we win, they're probably gonna doubt us again against PSG. I don't know what that purple is.

SPEAKER_04 45:46

If you beat Bayern Munich, I'd rather just see you in the final. If you beat Bayern, if you beat Bayern Munich, just in to be honest, I would I'll say this here right now.

SPEAKER_02 45:56

The winner of the Bayern Munich and Real Madrid tie is winning the Champions League. Winning the Champions League. Is winning the Champions League. Wow. The winner of that tie is winning the Champions League. Really? Mark my words. Yes. The winner of this game will win it all.

SPEAKER_03 46:14

Think Barcelona's winning the whole thing.

SPEAKER_04 46:18

We're beating beating everybody. I don't know why the fuck you're laughing. Because that would be very serious.

SPEAKER_00 46:23

Oh, I cannot wait to see you in the final, bro. I hope that's the freaking final.

SPEAKER_04 46:27

It better be the freaking final, dude. That's what I'm saying, man. Oh my gosh, dude. I would love that. I would love for that to be the final. Realistically, I would love for that to be the final. That would be great so we can shut you guys up because you can you can beat everybody in Europe, but you can't beat us. You can't beat us. You can't do it against us.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

You can't do it against us. Dude, you're gonna shit yourselves once you find out what Real Madrid is like in the Champions League. You're gonna shit yourself. We've seen it and we've beat it. We've seen it and we've beat it. Listen.

SPEAKER_01 46:57

Listen.

SPEAKER_02 46:59

In the last time we're gonna do it again. Different, different team. All right. We had a time, we had a stint that we weren't doing so good in the Champions League from like 2000 to like 2013. After that, bro, we're the kings of Europe, baby. You're gonna be playing against the kings of Europe. All right. My boy Danny Carvajal has more Champions Leagues than your club. Okay? So relax. Whatever. Calm down. You're gonna be playing against against the Kings of the Bread of the Well, which is right here, which is us. No, we're gonna be playing against the Kings of the Copa del Rey. That's you guys. You're playing the Kings of the Champions.

SPEAKER_04 47:36

Where's our training ground? It's our training ground. What? Training ground. Five of the last six games we've played against you guys, we've beat you. And we're gonna do it again.

SPEAKER_02 47:49

That's crazy. But you know what? The last time we played in the Bernabale, I believe we won. And the last time I checked, the final isn't played in the Bernabelle. It's played in Budapest, baby. So whole different ballgame. We'll go train.

SPEAKER_04 48:03

We'll go train at the Bernabelle first. Oh, that's cute. That's cute. That's cute. We'll get that. We'll get it.

SPEAKER_00 48:09

Worry about Atletico Madrid, all right? Worry about getting through Atletico Madrid.

SPEAKER_02 48:13

And then you know what? You guys have a big test against Arsenal in the semifinals. That's gonna be a big test for you there.

SPEAKER_04 48:20

That will be a big test. That will be a big test. So you're saying Arsenal beat sporting?

SPEAKER_02 48:25

Well, for sure, bro. Yeah. Not at the time.

SPEAKER_04 48:27

Yeah, I know. There's not a big test. I think so too. I think so too. I think sporting.

SPEAKER_02 48:31

I have it pretty clear. It's gonna be PSG Madrid, and then it's gonna be Arsenal against Barcelona.

SPEAKER_04 48:37

See, I think it's gonna be PSG Bayern and then it's gonna be Arsenal Barcelona. I do think PSG is gonna beat Liverpool, even though Liverpool had a very, very good showing today against Galatasuray. I think PSG, PSG or PSG, and they current champions, treble winners. I think they have such a deep team, such a good team that it's gonna be tough for Liverpool to beat them.

SPEAKER_02 49:01

But I mean this season just hasn't been the best for them either, I don't think. They're still kind of struggling in League On, but they play a Liverpool that's also struggling. Exactly. We'll see. I mean the second leg is at Anfield. We'll see how both teams are from here on out. But I do think PSG takes it. Dumbella has to stay healthy too, because you know that guy at any given moment, he could just get injured. And if he gets injured, that could change things up a little bit too. But I I'm I'm pretty sure PSG is gonna be the ones that are gonna end up going through.

SPEAKER_04 49:36

Yeah, PSG, I think PSG go through uh as well. So yeah, that'll be that that's that's what I think's gonna happen. Barcelona goes through against Atletico, Arsenal goes through against Sporting. You say Real Madrid, I say Bayern Munich, and then PSG is gonna be in the semis as well. So exciting, exciting, exciting. We're getting towards the end of the season. Those games are gonna be played April 7th and April 8th is the first leg, and then the second leg is gonna be April 14th and April 15th. So that's a pretty good guy. Not that far away.

SPEAKER_02 50:10

The least exciting one is definitely Arsenal sporting, but Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:14

Hey, who knows? We'll still give them a little bit of a challenge. I was gonna say sporting can make things interesting. Sporting can make things interesting. Yeah, they're the they're the lesser opponent out of the out of the ones left, but they can make things interesting. They could. You always gotta root for an underdog a little bit. Always gotta root for an underdog. I'm sure you're rooting for sporting, because against Arsenal, you guys will struggle. Give me Arsenal. I actually don't. I don't care about Arsenal. I'm not rooting for sporting. I give me Arsenal. Give it give them to me. I want to show the world that Arsenal isn't all that. I want to show the world Arsenal ain't all that.

SPEAKER_02 50:50

They're gonna do to you guys what they did to be last year.

SPEAKER_04 50:53

Declan Rice ain't gonna do that. Declan Rice had his moment of free kick brilliance last year against you guys, hasn't had it since. So that ain't gonna happen. If they score against us, it's gonna be some stupid corner kick where they throw Joan Garcia on the ground. It's like a WWE match in there, and then it ricochets off 10 different players and hits off William Saliva's asshole and then it goes in. So that's how that's how their first goal's gonna go.

SPEAKER_02 51:22

That's that's gonna be a good matchup, though, if it does happen. Very good matchup.

SPEAKER_04 51:25

It will be good because defensively, Arsenal's really good, and offensively, Barcelona is really good. So that would be that would be an exciting game. But give feed me Arsenal. Give them to me. Give me Arsenal. Okay. I want them. Okay. Feed me Arsenal. You want the big boys. All right. Yeah. Give them to me. Give them to me. That's gonna be exciting. But yeah, so that's uh that's the Champions League talk. It's a lot of a lot of exciting things happening in the Champions League. But there was also a lot going on this past week. A lot of news happening around the soccer world. We'll try to get to them here pretty quick, but right off the top of the bat, we talked about it last episode. Laporta going up against Victor Font for the Barcelona presidential elections. Laporta wings very, very clearly, 68% of the votes went towards him. I thought it was amazing to see the players after that big victory against Avija go to the voting booth, and Laporta was celebrating with all of them and jumping about.

SPEAKER_02 52:27

I thought it was like there's no way this Laporta was like, I know, but I also thought it was really funny. Laporta was making sure everyone voted for him.

SPEAKER_00 52:34

Like he was right there, like, yeah, yeah, I'm bouncing right there, but I'm making sure you're voting for me, dude.

SPEAKER_04 52:39

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was like, it almost didn't even seem like he should have been there. But that doesn't seem like that. Dude, they didn't let Turt Stegan vote. Yeah, because he didn't renew his membership. He didn't renew his membership. Apparently, like the the the player or the membership has to renew his membership? Or he has to keep like his membership up to date with I don't know exactly what it was that he didn't have correctly, but there was something in his membership that he didn't have correctly. Poor guy.

SPEAKER_02 53:09

The club just hates him. They just want to get rid of him.

SPEAKER_04 53:11

Yeah, poor. I felt bad for him too, because he showed up to vote and didn't accept his vote. That was tough. That was hilarious.

SPEAKER_02 53:17

I wonder if he was gonna vote for the other guy. LaPorta knew that and was like, yeah, no.

SPEAKER_04 53:21

Who knows, man? Probably, you're right. Who knows? He probably was good. The other guy probably came up to him and was like, hey, if you vote for me, I'll keep you. That's probably what it was. That's that's the only thing he was doing. He was just going off of he was he had some stupid tactics, Victor Fon. But here's what I will say. And like we talked about Chelsea earlier, how Todd Boley is the owner now, but he doesn't really care too much about the sporting strategy. And it really does seem like he doesn't care too much about Chelsea overall. I think he cares because he's got a vested interest, because he spent a lot of money in the club and he wants it to succeed as a business, but I don't think he cares whether Chelsea wins or lose. And you see it a lot nowadays with the football clubs are being run by billionaires who American billionaires, people who don't really have any sort of affiliation with the club. They just want it for again their own vested interest to grow their investment portfolios. It's beautiful to see that for Barcelona, the presidential elections, the two candidates that were going for the presidency are both diehard Barcelona fans. And you saw the way that in the way that John Laporta was celebrating, in the way that Victor Font is go is still gonna be going to every single band, is still gonna be a member or socio to the club. I love to see that.

SPEAKER_02 54:39

Well, I think to even be a president, you have to be a member or a socio or like you have to be affiliated to the club in some way to even be. Sorry to not say it.

SPEAKER_04 55:01

Straight out of Catalonia. But it's be it's beautiful to see, man, because again, in a day and age where it seems like the love for the game is being lost little by little by taking care, but taken over by these billionaires, by the money. We've seen the World Cup ticket prices, how much they're charging, and all these billionaire owners starting to charge more and more per for Premier League games. Wayne Rooney was talking about that not long ago. But just to see that my club still has that in effect that the people who are in charge of it are people who truly, truly love the club and care about the club and are lifelong fans, I love to see it. Love to see it. So I mean I'm happy with that. Well, Barcelona and Real Madrid are I think the one of can't, I don't know the exact number, but I I I've they're like the only two clubs in Spain that still have elections for presidency.

SPEAKER_02 56:02

Yeah. And I think Atlético Madrid, too, no?

SPEAKER_04 56:05

They used to. They don't anymore. They do have really. I'm pretty sure they do have an owner now. They used to have it that way, but they don't they don't do it anymore. Everybody else does have Bilbao. That's a good question. Does Bilbao?

SPEAKER_02 56:19

I feel like Bilbao goes usually with Real Madrid and Barcelona.

SPEAKER_04 56:24

They do. Let's see. Yeah, it is a fan-owned club, yes. Bilbao, you're right. Bilbao is operated by his members with over 43,000 members. The club is one of four professional teams in Spain alongside Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Osasuna, NOX structured as a sports corporation maintaining a unique community-led model. So there you have it. I like to answer for you. So yeah, four four teams in Spain. Barcelona, Bilbao, Osasuna. Bilbao is another really, really cool story that I mean, that's a whole nother episode, but the fact that they don't really go by any players outside of the basket region. They have a really, really good academy. So many great players have come through there, and they're one of three teams who have never been relegated from the Liga. Two other ones are Real Madrid and Barcelona. Sounds crazy. Great club.

SPEAKER_02 57:12

Yeah, they don't have any foreigners really in their team at all. I don't think they're not going to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_04 57:16

They can't. They're not. It's like within their bylaws that they they can't buy anybody outside of the basket region. They can't incorporate anybody over the city. And they're still able to get descent. And they're still able to compete, man. They're still like they were in the Champions League this year. They were in a couple they've won tons of Copeland Reis as well.

SPEAKER_02 57:34

Yeah. Bill Bow's a very respectable club. Very, very respectable club.

SPEAKER_04 57:40

Incredibly. They're and the fan base that they have is amazing. Going to San Mames and playing at San Mames is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 57:47

San Mames is a nice stadium. But I was gonna say, did you see Ronaldo bought 25% of uh Almeria? Yes, I did see that.

SPEAKER_03 57:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:56

And then their followers on social media went up like crazy. They had like hundreds of thousands of followers before, and now they're up to like four million, I believe. That Ronaldo effect is insane.

SPEAKER_04 58:07

Yeah, we'll see how he does as an owner. I'm curious. I'm curious to see that. Yeah, me too. We've seen we saw the other Ronaldo, Ronaldo Nasaiu, he was the owner for Malaga for quite some time, and that did not work out for him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:20

So but you can tell Cristiano's way more disciplined, and he's already had business adventures since way long ago. I mean, he's a whole brand. So he knows business and he has good people around them. Ronaldo's more like, uh whatever, dude. Like, let me go have a beer.

SPEAKER_04 58:40

That is true.

SPEAKER_02 58:41

Let me grow this belly. I don't care what's going on in Bajal Lead right now.

SPEAKER_04 58:46

I'll be curious to see how they he is as a part owner of that club. How they how they operate. I think he's gonna do it. Yeah, I think it it'll be interesting to see. But um, moving on to some more news that happened this past week, Finalissima canceled again between Spain and Argentina that was gonna take place March 28th. There was a big problem happening because they had to get a new venue since it was gonna be in Qatar, but because of the war going on and everything going on around the world, they had to find a new venue, and both federations were fighting to see where they wanted to go. Spain was very, very adamant about just having it in Spain at the Bernabéo. Argentina said that's not fair. We need to have this in a neutral ground. They could not come to an agreement, so it was canceled. It was canceled.

SPEAKER_02 59:38

What an unserious competition.

SPEAKER_04 59:40

It's a stupid just don't play the finalisima anymore.

SPEAKER_02 59:44

Take take that finalissima title from Messi. Like, when was it, three years ago? Take that away from him. It's unserious. It doesn't matter. Yeah, take that away from him. Come on. It's so unserious. They're not gonna play it this year, then don't even play it anymore.

SPEAKER_04 59:58

Well, I I think it's I think it's um I think it is a dumb tournament that they just made up just to and they again, more corporate reasons, more tickets, more ways to get sponsors involved and all these things. And I think it was dumb to begin with. I think that if they were gonna have that game, it should have been this past summer, like summer of 25. I don't know why. Yeah, they played it too long. The hell they waited until March of 2026.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:26

I think it was because of the World Cup going on, but still easily made it happen. They could have made it happen.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:32

Why would you why would you wait three months before the World Cup starts to have this game? It's it's ridiculous. I don't know. It would have been a really good game. It would have been a sick game. I was kind of excited to watch it, but we'll we we won't get to see it, but pretty stupid all around. It's a pretty dumb, dumb little game to tur title anyway, whatever. I think this should bring back the Confederations Cup. I like that format a lot better.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:59

That was pretty cool, yeah. I thought it was just a format. All of all of the champions of each continent have them all face each other. I thought cool was that. I I like that. And that was perfect right before the World Cup. Like a little preparation to see how all the stadiums were. Yeah, just exactly. I thought it was perfect. And it wasn't like a long tournament either. Like it wasn't a tournament that dragged. There was only eight teams that played.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:23

So it made perfect sense. It made perfect sense to have on site where the World Cup was going to be held. You gave a good run to see how we were going to logistically handle all this. Gave a good showing for having all of the champions from each continent. So I don't know why they got rid of it. Kind of stupid. And they they kind of got this feeling this moment. Whatever. Bring back Confederation's Cup. That's what we're talking about. And you were talking about them, they should take it away from Messi. It seems like we are taking tournaments away from people nowadays because we just got news yesterday, actually, it broke that AFCON or excuse me, CAF officially gave the AFCON championship to Morocco. So they took it away from Senegal two months after it all went down and it all happened. If you guys don't remember the drama that went behind the scenes, or not behind the scenes, it was in front of the entire world, but the drama that happened at the final, the AFCON, essentially it was in Morocco, Morocco versus Senegal. Senegal, or excuse me, Morocco were given a penalty that Senegal did not agree to. They thought it was a robbery, and they decided to walk off in protest because of how bad the officiating was. Then they decided to come back on. Braheem Diaz missed a penalty. It was literally at like the very, very last minute. Braheim Diaz missed the penalty. They went overtime. Senegal won the game. Throughout the game, Morocco was doing a bunch of shady things, a bunch of really, really crappy things to Senegal. Taking Eduard Mendy's towel, they were throwing it over. The ball boys were getting involved. The backup goalkeeper was getting involved. It was really, really shady things that went down. You called it, bro.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:11

Whenever we talked about it, what was it like? Yeah, whenever it happened, you called it. And you said that that penalty was just very fishy, that the players weren't celebrating.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:22

I guess you were right, bro.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:25

I'm telling you, man. That whole situation. That whole situation was really weird. And then it they they probably Morocco was like, oh no, like we regret that. It was really weird. There's a whole conspiracy going around in Africa that Morocco was putting in, was giving uh FIFA money, was giving the African Federation money so that they could get the title back. And it's really weird that they would come to this conclusion two months after the tournament is over and say that Morocco is now the sole winner and that they won 3-0 because according to Article 82 or whatever article it was, that if a team walks off the field without any permission from the referee, they forfeit the match. But why didn't they?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:12

Yeah, why didn't they do that like the day after? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:14

Yeah, why didn't they do that? Or even the day of. Like why didn't the referee uh say that?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:19

It's so sad, man, because you know the Africans I feel like have really fought for this tournament to be taken seriously. Yeah. And now after this, this is the most unserious thing that a any what is it, like a federation or I don't even know what do you call the CAF, whatever they are. That's the most unserious thing somebody could ever do is strip away a title from somebody three or two months later. Like it just it it makes the whole thing very suspicious to how it was being handled. And I think it it sucks for Senegal. They literally celebrated it with their people. They had the trophy, everything, and now this is gonna get stripped away. They have the medals.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:04

They have the medals. One of their players, I forget who it was, but he posted a picture on Twitter. He was like, Morocco will never have this. They got this, and he was holding up his medal.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:14

I mean, unless they get it in the mail and they all have gold medals, but I mean, I'm sure they won't, but it sucks because nobody's gonna take this tournament serious anymore. Like if they if for the people that did take it seriously, they're not even gonna take it seriously anymore.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:27

Yeah. It's a really shitty thing to do. The whole thing was rigged. The whole thing was rigged. It's a hundred percent, and it sets a really, really dangerous precedent of if there's a c there's uh some sort of uh controversy in a final of a game potentially could get reversed a few months later. Like in that case, give Colombia the Copa América twenty twenty four final. Give them to us. There was a couple of penalties that didn't go our way.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:56

One hundred percent.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:57

Yeah, give us the wordn't even. No, it wouldn't. It would just be weird. It doesn't just be weird.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:03

I wouldn't even be like happy about that, bro. No.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:06

I really Moroccan player. If I'm a Moroccan player or a Moroccan fan, I would be like, this is ridiculous. Don't give this to me now. I already mourned that loss. Like, this isn't even fair.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:15

Yeah, for real.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:16

Like I wouldn't have it in me to just celebrate. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:20

Like the moment's gone.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:22

Yeah, it's completely gone. Like, what am I? Yeah, what are you gonna do there? It's ridiculous. But yeah, completely rigged. It's um, like you said, it sets a it it makes the tournament be so unserious. And like you said, AFCON is always looked at that, looked down upon from different pundits, from the media, from fans, and the entire African continent and entire so many African players have fought so hard to get it to that top level, and then they do this shit, and it's like, yeah, like nobody's gonna take him serious anymore. Nobody, not even their own players. I was gonna say, no player's gonna want to go, but like, why am I gonna go waste my time for a month?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:04

Exactly, exactly. Yeah, especially because it takes away from club football. It's not like it's in the summer. So no, nobody's gonna want to play there anymore. That sucks, man. Really sad to see. Because they really, like you said, they've really been fighting hard to get respected, and then they do this shit.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:24

Yeah. So sad, so sad to see, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:28

Hold up, what was this CAF that gave Morocco the title, or was it FIFA that stepped in? You know, I don't know. The actual hasn't stepped in, they have to do something about that, bro.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:42

The app let me see. Let's check it out really quick. So the CAF, the Confederation of African Football, awarded Morocco the 2025 AFCON title. That's crazy by overturning.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:53

FIFA has to step in somehow then.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:55

I don't think they will though.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:57

I think I thought you said it does like for the future, if something does happen in any tournament, it sets that that um what's the word I'm looking for? President. President, yeah. It sets that president. Now it's like, okay, like if something weird happens in the final, can it get overturned? You know? Like that's that's weird. So for that reason, FIFA has to step in.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:25

Yeah, that's FIFA does have to step in, but FIFA in itself is also very corrupt, and we've known this for so long. So who knows, but what's going on?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:34

But they've never done something like that. I mean, that's as that's as corrupt as it gets, bro, in front of all of our faces.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:40

That that's well, I mean, given the given the World Cup to Qatar, like they were very open that Qatar bribed FIFA to get the World Cup, and they were they were given the World Cup. That was also Yes, but it's still even even after they found that it was that there was so much controversy behind it and that there was literally a bribe, they still were like, ah, we're gonna go ahead and have it.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:07

But I mean I don't know, man. Like it just it was. Oh, yeah, no, this set that's this is one of the this is one of the craziest things. What happens if there is like a controversy in the final yeah, the World Cup or Copa Medica or the Euros? Could it be given to the other team? Yeah, because we didn't get our way. That's exactly what it's gonna be. It's a bunch of question marks now.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:31

Yeah, it's it's stupid, man. Like just let it all play out in the game. If things are going wrong, like just just fix them during the game, but don't wait two months to go at it. That uh that's ridiculous, but super sad. Super sad. But what what can you do? What can you do besides talk about it, speak about it, and let the CAF know that this is not right and Senegal these players deserve better. The people of Senegal deserve better. 100% anyway, man. A couple more things uh to go over. Messi into Miami. They played Nashville tonight for the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Don't ask me what the fuck that is. I actually have no idea. But they lost, though they didn't lose. Well, I guess they did lose. I don't know what happened. Messi sponsors.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:23

Wait, so the Conca Calf Champions Cup?

SPEAKER_04 1:10:25

Yeah, what is this called?

SPEAKER_02 1:10:27

Wait, isn't that the like the that's their continental tournament? That's like their Champions League, no?

SPEAKER_04 1:10:32

I think so. I think they they yeah, it used to be the Champions League. It used to be called the Champions League, but now it's called the Champions Cup. So for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, Inter Miami played Nashville tonight, and Messi scored his 900th goal, his 900th professional goal.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:48

Wow. You think he's gonna go to a thousand?

SPEAKER_04 1:10:51

No, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:52

No, that's what Ronaldo's trying to do. I know what I know that's what's going on. He's got like 40 goals to go, but I mean if he has to make those 40 goals when he's like 45, he's gonna wait till 45 and score.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:06

Oh, he's gonna be Ronaldo. Here's what Ronaldo's gonna do, bro. Ronaldo is gonna be 85 years old playing at the 2078 World Cup or whatever the fuck that is. And he's gonna be on the sidelines, literally like won't play nothing, but until he well, one, he's gonna get to a thousand goal first, and then he's gonna wait until he finally wins a goddamn World Cup to retire. That's what he's gonna do. He's not gonna have a piece, peace.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:33

Listen, if it's if it's not Colombia, it's gonna be Portugal this year.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:36

It's not gonna be Portugal.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:38

He'll get his World Cup. Not that I'm rooting for him because I'm rooting for Colombia, but if Colombia's not there, then Ronaldo's gonna step up, baby.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:47

We'll see. I mean, they do have a good they do have a good uh team, but yeah, Ronaldo's at 965 official goals. Yeah, so he's got 35 goals left. He's got 35 goals left.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:57

He can do that in like a season.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:59

He can do that in a season. One or two seasons, he can do it. Easy, especially.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:04

But if it takes him three years, he'll wait. That's just how he'll wait one more.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:07

Yeah, yeah, you will. I'm telling you, he'll just be on the sidelines at the wor at the next World Cup. He'll just be, he won't even play it.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:15

No, I think he's not that obsessed with the World Cup. I think this is legitimately his last World Cup. He obviously would want to win a World Cup. Who wouldn't? But his career has been so great. I mean, you can't define his career just because of a World Cup, you know, if he didn't. I know you can't you can't define his career because of that.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:34

But he's already won way too much.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:36

That's literally the only thing missing.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:37

Yeah, but he's always gonna have that in the back of his mind.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:41

If he doesn't win it. But yeah, Messi, 900 goals. They ended up losing to Nashville. Well, I guess they tied, but they lost. I guess the Champions Cup does have the away goal rule still because they drew nail-nail the first game. Uh and then they so they're eliminated? So they're eliminated from the Champions Cup. Dang. They're eliminated.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:01

The Champions League just isn't Messi's thing, man. Hasn't been for 11 years.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:06

Oh, that's funny. That's a funny, that's funny. It's sticking with MLS really quick. Hamas made his official debut for Minnesota. James Rodriguez? James, our boy James. James Rodd, J. Rodd. He got trashed. He got destroyed, man. It wasn't even. At that point, I was like, just don't even put him in. Because it's he went he came on when they were down 5-0.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:30

Yeah, what's the point?

SPEAKER_04 1:13:31

I think it was 4-0 up at halftime. Vancouver scored four goals. It was in Vancouver. But he officially made his debut. Yeah, he officially made his debut, which is exciting to see because I was starting to get worried there for a second that he wasn't playing, and it's March. Yeah, he needs to play.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:51

He hasn't played since November, I think. Yeah, he's been Columbia.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:55

Now, granted, bro, this guy's gonna put the Columbia jersey on, and it's gonna be like Batman putting all his stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:02

Yeah, it's gonna be a whole different story.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:03

A whole different ballgame, man. So he needs some rhythm. But that's it, man. So that about does it for us for this episode. Talked a lot to you guys about everything going on. We got some exciting games going on this weekend. The Madrid Derby, Real Madrid Atletico, Barcelona playing Rayo Guaycano, and the Carabao Cup final, Man United, excuse me, City against Arsenal. We'll see if the quadruple is still on the table or not. We'll see if Man City takes that away from Arsenal. It'll be crazy if Arsenal starts winning all the trophies that they need, or if they start losing them and then they start going at a downfall effect. They will win the Premier League no matter what, but we'll see about the other three. We'll see about the other three.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:49

I mean, FA Cup, they have a good history with the FA Cup. I think they have a good chance to win the Carabao Cup. Champions League, they're not freaking. No, they ain't winning. That would be insane if Arsenal wins a quadruple. I think all the Premier League fans of Arsenal fans would lose. Yes, yes. They all hate Arsenal. They all hate Arsenal. Specifically because of their fans. Yeah. Everyone in the Premier League hates the Arsenal fans.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:21

It's because they're they're big they're the Arsenal fans are annoying as hell, too. So they they start talking crazy, bro. They start talking crazy. They start saying like wild. Yeah. They start saying things like Bill Kerr is the best player in the world. And it's like, what? Or Kayasaka is the best player in the world.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:40

Relax, relax.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:41

Like, let's calm down.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:42

Once they start winning, they think they're on top of the world. They think they're like this club. And it's like, bro, relax. Calma, calma.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:49

Yeah, like take take it easy, fellas. Take it easy. But anyway, we'll have more exciting talk for you guys next week. Exciting games this weekend. No Champions League next week. And then we got the international break the week after that. But we'll review the games this weekend with you guys for an episode next week. Again, be sure to follow us on social media at friendlyfoesfc. We're out there pushing out the content, pushing out clips from these from these episodes and more, specifically on TikTok as well. So be sure to follow us on there. We're also live tweeting pretty much after every during every Real Madrid and Barcelona game. So be sure to fight follow us on Twitter or X, whatever the hell you want to call it. Be sure to follow us on there again at friendly phones FC. And again, guys, appreciate the listening, appreciate the support. Be sure to tell your friends, your family members, your neighbors. Be sure to tell everybody. If you like this episode, share it. Give us a five-star review. Give us a good uh good comment. Share it on your social media. Say something nice. Say something nice. Be nice to us, guys. Be nice to us. We'll keep we'll we're keeping up with everything.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:04

I'm mean to him all the time. Say some nasty shit on there. Talk good about Los Blancos, baby.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:11

No, we all know, we all know Los Blancos, Los Berengues, they just stay cheating. They stay cheating. And they stay. Yeah, with Negreta, right? That's a lie. You can even keep it straight face.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:25

Anyway, yeah. That's how we're gonna wrap up the show.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:28

That's the conspiracy theory. That's how we're gonna wrap up the show, guys. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you again next week.