Episode 42 - UCL 2nd Leg Quarterfinals

In todays episode we break down the 2nd leg of the Champions League quarterfinals. Both Madrid and Barca bow out of the competition. Liverpool and Sporting also get eliminated. Tune in to listen to our reaction and to see which one of the foes is crying the hardest!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:27

And what's going on, everyone? Welcome back. It's been a rough week in the Champions League for everyone in this podcast involved. Barcelona lost 3-2 on aggregate to Atlético Madrid. Third loss in a row to Atlético Madrid in a knockout stage of the Champions League. And we are out once again in Real Madrid today. Lost to Bayern Munich 6-4 on aggregate. Crazy score line. Crazy games. Both games were pretty hectic. A lot of back and forth. They they kept it alive. The remontada was on on both games on both occasions. But at the end of the day, both teams are going home for the remainder of the Champions League. And Bar Munich Advanced, Atletico Madrid Advanced, Arsenal Advanced, and PSG Advanced as well. We will talk about those later on. But first, we're going to get over to my co-host here. As we just we just wish witnessed a phenomenal game at the Alliance Arena. With Bayern Munich beating Real Madrid 4-3, beating Real Madrid for the first time in nine years in the Champions League. And Real Madrid are out and potentially going trophy less again for a second year.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Nine years, 14 years.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Whatever. It's over. It's over.

SPEAKER_04 2:07

How are you feeling? It's definitely over. Man. That was a partidazo that we witnessed, but my goodness. I'm so upset. That game was just decided over the dumbest detail, which was that red card. And I'm pretty bummed out because we were really going toe to toe with Bayern this game. It was a partidazo. Classic European match. 4-3. It gave us everything we wanted. But we just came up short. Right after that red card that just killed the whole momentum. And those are minor details that you can't. Even if there's just five, ten minutes left, whatever it was. And that's exactly what happened. We got that red card. We were just focused on the referee after that. That kind of just you know shook us up a little bit. And Lucho Diaz took advantage of it. Lucho Diaz breaking my heart, man. Luchito, what a goal by Lucho.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Two games in a row. Back-to-back goals by Lucho against the Almighty Real Madrid.

SPEAKER_04 3:30

Yeah, he's putting his name on the map. And he could have had a few more, too, both games in both of them. He could have.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

He could have. That was uh that was a tough game. Yeah, that red card obviously decided everything. Don't I know it? Because that happened to us as well, and we'll we'll get into that later. But yeah, it's those little details. It comes down to small details. I mean, I thought it was gonna go to PK's.

unknown 3:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:55

I did too. I was kind of happy with that because uh you could tell both teams were gassed, both of them. They were, and it was just whoever made a mistake was gonna lose. That's what it came down to. And sure enough, here comes Kamavinga with the dumbest yellow card, second yellow card ever. That was why would you just pick up the ball and try to waste time when you're on a yellow, especially when the referee had already warned you not to do that? That was just the lack of discipline, complete lack of discipline. Madrid were very disciplined all game until that point. And yeah, I mean, you could also say Mbappe and Vinny could have finished their chances. Loonin maybe could have made a couple of saves in those goals, but yeah, no, that that red card really killed our momentum. And I'm not pointing all of our defeat towards Kamavinga, but no, but it changed changed the game 100%.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

It changed the game because the goal came right after that, and obviously after both of them, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. And then you know, morale goes down, and even if they would have made it to overtime with a man down, that would have been really tough to overcome. So very, very silly mistake by Camelinga there, but man, I I I thoroughly enjoyed this game. It was really, really fun to watch. It was really, really fun to watch. Obviously, I was rooting for Bayern Munich. I got the Bayern Munich jersey on right now. That stupid Bayern Munich jersey. You went to Munich one time. I was at the Alliance Arena back in uh back in 2019. I got Tiago in the back of the jersey here, uh Lamacia Legend, Barcelona Legend.

SPEAKER_04 5:38

Did you wear that when you guys played them in Lost State 2? Where you were in that jersey then?

SPEAKER_00 5:44

I should have, I should have. But it is what it is. You know, we we got demolished by them, and now you guys I get to feel a little bit of the same with Lucho Diaz. I told you Lucha was gonna make a difference, and boy, did he make the difference. But man, you guys came out, you guys came out hot. I mean, not even a minute into the game, you guys scored. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:03

And yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was on bonkers mistake by Manuel Noyer after having a phenomenal first game, being the man of the match. He made two pretty crucial mistakes in in Arda Guller's goals, both of them. I thought he was playing.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

I thought he was playing for you guys for a second.

SPEAKER_04 6:23

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't I don't know what happened. Just it in a matter of a week, he went from being man of the match to I don't know. That's a good one. Potentially a villain.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

He could have he could have cost him the game, but then easily.

SPEAKER_04 6:36

I think in this in the second half, he definitely made a a few good saves for sure. Which he redeemed himself. But yeah, those two mistakes were very costly for them. And and we almost came back. See, it was those silly mistakes for Bayern, too. It was whoever made the most mistakes or the last mistake was gonna end up losing, and that was us, unfortunately. But I would say it was a pretty even series. I'm happy with our below's game plan. I'm happy with how we showed out at Allianz Arena and at the Bernabelle, too. Bayern Munich is a phenomenal team, the best team in the world, probably right now, and we were really able to compete with them. We gave them a run for their money for sure. They were scared till the very last minute. If it wasn't for that red card, it could have been to PK's easily. But yeah, they didn't have a lot of things. I'm proud of my team, man. I'm proud of my team. I think if we would have won this game, we would have won the whole thing. But now I think it's it's gonna be Byron taking it, taking the whole thing home. Yeah, it's I I think so too. I think it's going to I think Byron is a very strong. That front three is serious. And then you got Nabri too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nabri too, and Muciala, when he came in, he was balling out, bro. He was. He had that assist to Lucho. But the whole game, ever since he came in, he had fresh legs and and yeah, he was killing it. I enjoyed watching it.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

That was hard to watch. So it was good to see him back out on the field and and crushing it again. But yeah, man. Once once he gets to 100%, oof. Yeah. I can't even imagine what that would look like with those with those four up front. Oh my god. Yeah. Oh my god. Scary. Yeah, man. They're definitely gonna be. I mean, PSG's looking pretty good too. We'll get to the PSG Liverpool game. PSG's looking pretty good too. They're getting hot again at the right time. They're getting hot when it matters the most.

SPEAKER_04 8:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

I mean, Dunbell is healthy.

SPEAKER_04 8:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Yeah, if Dembel is healthy and uh they keep doing their thing, but even then, man, they have some so much depth up front as well that they're they're so solid. But they're solid. That's gonna be at a very exciting game to watch in the semifinals. Um, especially because Byron, so Byron beat them, right? During the what's it called? The league phase. That was when Lucha scored two goals and then he got a red card. Did they play in the league face? I think you're right. Yeah, yeah, bro. Yeah, yeah. Because Lucha, I don't remember if they won. I can't remember if they won. I think they did. But that was when Lucha scored the race against.

SPEAKER_04 9:10

They also played in the Club World Cup and PSG won. Right, yeah. I don't remember how much they won by, but yeah, you're right. They did play earlier in the championship. Lucha scored that race and they won two to one.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Two to one, yeah. Two did win. So it's gonna be it's gonna be a fun game to watch and to witness. But man, yeah, they a lot of back and forth this game. I was very excited to watch. It's crazy how just one mistake can just cost you the game. And it was like they they were going mistake for mistake because Noyer made a terrible mistake, then Lunin made a terrible mistake in that first goal for Bayern. That was I didn't know I don't know how he ended up in his own goal before the ball did. I was trying to figure that out. I don't know what he did there either. I thought it was a foul. I thought so, I thought somebody for Bayern meeting pushed him into the ball.

SPEAKER_04 9:59

No, he just wasn't following the ball. And then what's his name? Pavlovich got right in front of him and boom.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Easy, easy tapped. Trent was defending behind him. Trent was yeah, he was covering him behind him. The whole Trent can't defend allegations, you know, he's just doing them for himself right there.

SPEAKER_04 10:16

Same with the second goal with Harry Kane just wide open. I mean, that whole goal was we gave Upamekano so much space to find Harry Kane. Harry Kane was by himself in the 18-yard box. I mean, you can't leave a striker like that by himself.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

That whole sequence was kind of crazy because they were determined to score. They were determined to score. They kept attacking and attacking, and they would lose the ball and get it back immediately. And there was no, I was on my toes the whole game.

SPEAKER_04 10:45

It was just back and forth the whole time. I was either shitting myself or about to celebrate a goal. It was back and forth the whole time. I I could not even sit down for a second. It was it was a very exciting game. One of the most exciting European games that I remember, honestly. Has to be probably tied with the the Manchester City tie back in 21-22. That was pretty exciting. I would say that that's pretty equal.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

This was a lot of fun to watch and to witness, and uh it was great to see. And but at the end of the day, Bayern Munich got the got the dub, and uh you guys are going home, man. So obviously, out of the Champions League, out of the Cobo de Rey, lost the Super Cup, nine points behind Barcelona now after you guys dropped points against Girona this past weekend. Done. How long until how long until Art Beloa gets uh gets the boot?

SPEAKER_04 11:43

I don't know if he'll get the boot, man. You think he'll honestly I'm not a he might. I'm I'm not a hundred percent sure, but he he might stay. And I wouldn't hate it either, to be honest with you. To me, I feel like he has the dressing shut the fuck up. He's got he's got the dressing room down for sure. I think the players respect him, and I think this was a year for him to learn. I think he still needs to be better at reading the game and at his tactics, but I think he's he definitely has the locker room together. I think the players are behind his message, and I think after this year there is nothing left but going up. So if he does stay, I think it wouldn't be the worst thing. Honestly, it was it's just a weird season. When you inherit a team in the middle of the year, that's weird, you know. I mean, you can't expect them to to make miracles, especially how things ended with Xabi Alonso. But yeah, I think the most important thing at Real Madrid is if you have the locker room, I think you're good. You're good. He's got that psychology part down, and and that's what I like. And hopefully he learns from his mistakes, he learns to read the game a little better, he learns to do better substitutions, make better lineups. But I can see him progressing from when he first started taking over the team till now. Like I definitely see progress. I I feel like he's more comfortable as well. So I I I honestly wouldn't hate him staying at at Madrid for next season. But if he does go, then I I hope we have a better replacement, obviously, like in Unay Emity or this guy from Bournemouth, Iraola, I think his name is. He's he's a pretty solid coach. Raul Gonzalez, Klopp, Fauregas. I don't know. Well, they were those are talk about uh Didier DeChumps. And Didier DeShumps, yeah. But I mean I wouldn't hate that either. But to be honest with you, man, the the problem, no matter who we get, I don't know if it's gonna solve our problem. Our problem is not the coach. Our problem is starts with the board, and then the players gotta put their part too. They gotta be held accountable as well. I don't really think it was most of Shabi Alonzo's fault or Arbeloa's fault, to be honest with you. I think the board and the players have to really take a good look at themselves and say, hey, like this this is definitely our fault. Both of them should be held accountable, starting at the top of Florentino Perez. We gotta have a great, great uh transfer window in the summer. Selling some players, buying some good players. So the problem is not the coach, it really isn't. If Arbeloa stays, I'll I'll be fine with that because he's not the problem.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

Interesting. Who okay? So let's start off with you're saying you have to get rid of some players, buy some new players. There's obviously a lot of talk about some of the players that may be coming in. Enzo Fernandez, there's talks about Rodri. Those are the top two that come to my head. But who would you who would you get rid of? Like who are players that you would get rid of after this back-to-back seasons if not winning any trophies?

SPEAKER_04 14:48

Well, to start off, our captain, Carvajal. I'm sorry, but we need a a good, healthy right back to be able to compete with Trent. He's a legend, the best right back in the history of our club, but the time has come that he's gotta go. Unfortunately. So start off with him, obviously, Alaba. I think Rudiger is gonna be. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean, his contract is up. I think Rudiger will sign in a new deal. We'll definitely need another center back because Essentio doesn't even play that much. So we definitely need another center back to compete in the world. So time out, hold on.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

I want to talk about Asensio real quick now that you brought it up because you talked about Arbaloa has a locker room. There's a lot of talk about Asensio guy has a little bit of beef with Arbaloa. Because there's a lot going on there. I don't know if you saw the video moving around that there was a fan that asked him, like, oh Asensio, why don't you put in? He was like, Why don't you ask Arbaloa? That was a little spicy there.

SPEAKER_04 15:46

Yeah, but not the way he said it wasn't that spicy though. If you really looked at the video, he's like, No sé, hay que preguntar el misterio. Like, yeah, like fucking ask Arbaloa. Like, don't ask me, bro.

SPEAKER_03 15:57

I'm I'm just working. Like, to be honest with you, I think the media made it a lot more controversial than it really was. Like, if you actually hear the video, like he wasn't like saying, like, oh yeah, Arbaloa doesn't put me in. You gotta go ahead and ask him. He's just like, I don't know, man, you you gotta go ask Arbaloa. Like, he really didn't sound like a dick. When you write it out, it sounds like he's being a dick. But when you actually like hear him respond to the question, he wasn't being a dick. He was literally just saying, I don't know, bro. Ask the coach. Like, but he he I know it sounds like it's being a dick, but if you really listen to the video, he wasn't being a dick. He really wasn't.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

And even then, there was a lot of prior to that video. There was a some reports coming out about him being upset because he didn't play. I forget what game it was. And you know, yeah, and then Arbaloa demanded him to apologize.

SPEAKER_04 16:43

I'm not sure how true all that is, but I mean he's probably the only player that's got gotten into it with him like that. But hey, I respect Arbaloa too for standing his ground. You know, that's something that we need. We need a tough coach as well, not just saying, Hey, I want to play, like, let me play, and he's gonna let him play. No, dude, you've got better players ahead of you. I'm sorry, that's just how it is. Militao's back. He was arguably the best center back in the world before he got hurt. Rudiger has been playing phenomenal. Dean Housen has his moments, but I would still put him in front of Asensio. Like, I'm sorry, bro, you're just a fourth center back. Like, that's just what it is. You're playing for Real Madrid, you got players at at a better level than you. And not saying he's trash because he's not, but there's just better players. That's it, and he's gotta keep working, and he knows it. So, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

Okay, so you would you would get you would get rid of him too, potentially.

SPEAKER_04 17:42

I mean, I wouldn't love it, but I I wouldn't I wouldn't hate it either. Like, I just want more competition at the center back because Rudiger, if he does renew, he still has health issues. He's like 32, 33. Like, he's got question marks all over him. Melee Tao, like, yeah, he's the best when he's healthy, but is he gonna stay healthy as well? I don't know. So we need at least one more center back to keep things flowing smoothly. Then left back, it's tough because I think I like Fran, but he might have to go because we have three left backs at the moment. We just got Alvaro Carreras. Mendy, we renewed him, I think, last year, but he always gets hurt. But defensively, he's probably the best left back in the world defensively. So I mean, if he stays healthy, I I I would I wouldn't mind just keeping Mendy and Alvaro Carreras and say, alright, bye bye, friend. But Mendy's a question mark as well, he's always getting hurt. So maybe another left back, or maybe you start looking at La Faurica for that. I'm not really sure. And then in the midfield is where we really need to move some things around. Camavinga, he's probably gonna end up leaving. I mean, he's checked out right now. I think he's gonna go, and if we get a good offer from him, which probably will end up being from the Premier League, we're gonna take it. Especially we want players like Enzo Fernandez, Rodriguez, which I don't mind Rodrigo, but he also has to be at the for the right price because he's about to be 30 this summer. He just came from an ACL injury, and his contract is up next year. So I'm not trying to spend 50, 60 million, whatever Manchester City is asking for for him. No, I'm not paying more than 25 for him. That's that's the max out with go. If they want more than that, then then no, we can find somebody else. Another thing is Tiago Pitarch. We we didn't have him before our below came. Now we have him, so I think he's gonna stay with the first team next season, too, and that gives us depth. He he obviously has some growing pains to work on, but I don't mind keeping him around. It's a solid option. Obviously, I feel like Nico Paz is gonna come back. That's gonna be another problem because you I was gonna say, where does he even fit? Yeah, I mean, we talked about it on one episode. I don't know. I don't know. I really don't know. We we're definitely gonna take him back, like 99% sure. But yeah, you got Brahim, Ardagular, Bellingham. There's gonna be problems there, those are problems brewing. So I don't know. I mean, I think Brahim also just renewed his contract, if I'm not mistaken, but we could sell him after this performance out of I don't want to sell him. Hell no. Jude Bellingham, I'm not selling him. Yeah, you can't sell Arda Guler right now. So, but Brahimus also has some really good performances, and out of those three players, he's probably the only one that's okay with being like a bench player and then playing starter here and there. Like a role player. He's the only one that's that seems okay with with being a role player. Arta Gular and Bellingham are gonna want to play every single game. And when Nico Paz comes in, that's just gonna be a lot more complicated.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

So And don't forget you got Mastantono in there as well.

SPEAKER_04 21:04

Yeah, I think he's someone that should probably go out on loan because he's not gonna get many options, especially if Nico Paz comes, he's not gonna get many many opportunities. So the best thing is to loan him out for a year or two, and then when he's ready, he can come back. I think Gonzalo Garcia is gonna end up leaving. And Drake might come back. And yeah, I don't know. They gotta figure out the Vinny and Mbappe situation too. Yeah. That has to be a good one.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

We talked about it last episode, right? Mbappe came back and Madrid hasn't won a single game sin in April. Not a single game with Mbappe out in the starting lineup again, which is like you know, Teehee Haha type of thing. But it it there is a certain level of truth to it because I wouldn't say it's like just Mbappe. I think there is there's something there between The two of them, and then um even you saw towards the end of the game here, like Vinny was telling Bellingham to shut up or something like that. Bellingham asked him for the ball. Vinny gave him a little bit of a comeback. So there's definitely egos there that need to be addressed. That's that's the biggest thing. I look at it from the outside, as a obviously a Barcelona fan. I I just don't see all of these Galacticos working. Like I just don't think that has ever fully worked for you guys unless one of them is like we've talked about it before, unless one of them is determined to be a role player or in the behind the scenes type of thing, like Benzema was, like Bale was, and Ronaldo was the guy. One of Vinny or Mbappe has to be in the background, and neither of us gonna accept that. Yeah, they have to work it out. And Bellingham, you know, Bellingham came over too because he wanted to, you know, win the Champions League. He achieved that, but he also wants to be a Ballon d'Or candidate. Mbappe wants to be a Ballon d'Or candidate. Vinny wants to be a Ballon d'Or candidate. All of them want to win the Ballon d'Or. So it seems like they more they more want individual success than they want team success.

SPEAKER_04 23:14

Yeah, I'm not really sure if that's it. It's just I just think it's confusing to them, especially to Vinicius having Mbappe on the team, especially after being the star for so long. And then it is confusing. But you can tell like Vinny kind of wants he wants it to work out. You saw he assisted him today. But I can also see Mbappe being selfish sometimes too. I see Vinny being wide open today, for example. He had a few opportunities where he was wide open, he could have given him the ball, and he Mbappe decided to take him take it himself. You know, back in the day, MSN they would play for each other. That's what made him so great. There was no egos between those three. So I don't know. Yeah, Vinny and Mbappe just gotta get that sorted out. They don't play awful when they're together, but for some reason we're just not winning games. And this game it wasn't their fault, but last game neither of them finished their chances, and we need to make sure we do finish those chances that that we have from those opportunities. So yeah, it's it's a head scratcher for sure. But we we gotta figure that out. I mean, Vinny's contract is up next season. So if he's not happy, and if we can get some money out of him, I wouldn't be upset at that either. He's a club legend for sure. But if it if Mbappe and Vinny can't work out, we just got Mbappe. Mbappe's not gonna go, so who does that leave out? Vinny. So I mean, if if we get a good offer for him, thank you, Vinny. You're a legend. Thank you for everything you did. But if it's just not gonna work out, if we're really not gonna win trophies with you guys together, then unfortunately it's gonna be you that has to bite the bullet. You know, and Bobby should have never came in the first place, to be honest with you. Yeah, especially after the way he treated you all.

unknown 25:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Here's what here's here here's one thing that I want to ask, because there's been a lot of discourse online about when exactly it has started going wrong for Real Madrid. Because when Xavi Alonso came in, and we've talked about it at the Club World Cup, they played really well. The season started really well. You guys beat Barcelona in the Clasico. You guys were five points ahead at one point. But where did it all start to go wrong? And everybody seems to be pointing at that exact moment when Xavi Alonso took Vinny out of El Clasico when they were winning. He got super pissed and he walked off the field and went into the locker room. That's when everything started to break down. That's when Xavi Alonso lost the rocket room. That's when basically Xavi Alonso got fired because Vinicius didn't like him anymore. And Arbaloa came in. Do you agree with this as well? Is this where you think this started going wrong for Real Madrid? Because you got it. There was a certain point again, you guys were at top of the liga. You beat Barcelona for the first time in the last two seasons. Top of the league, five points ahead. You were in the top eight for the Champions League, and then it all started to go down here hill. Now we're in April, and you guys are more than likely going to be going trophyless.

SPEAKER_04 26:15

I think the doubt started when we lost to Atletico 5-2. I think that's when doubt started creeping in with Shabi Alonso. And then, yeah, when Vinicius did that whole ordeal in the Classico, that was kind of like the boiling point. Because you saw that Shabi Alonso couldn't control him. So if you can't control him, you can't control any of us. And yeah, he he he lost the locker room there, unfortunately. And it all it yeah, that that started with Vinny there. But I think the doubts started creeping in when we lost to Attico.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Yeah. Crazy. It's crazy, man. Yeah. Here's what I'll here's what I'll say too. This is a fun stat because I think Mbappe might be cursed. I saw this today, that the last goal that Killen Mbappe scored in a semifinal or a final of the Champions League was in May 9th, 2017, with Monaco in the return leg of the semifinals against Juventus. Since then, he has not scored not in a semifinal or not in a final at the Champions League. That's when he came off almost almost nine years since. And he hasn't scored in a semifinal or a final since then. And it's not that he hasn't appeared in one because he went to the final with uh PSG back in 2020, but that is an interesting stat. And then he leaves PSG, and we talked about it. He leaves PSG, they win, Dembela gets the Ball on Door, he comes to Champions League win inside Real Madrid, and they're out of the last couple seasons.

SPEAKER_04 27:48

That's what I'm saying. We didn't need him. We had already won the Champions League in La Liga without him. And then everybody was saying, oh man, you guys are getting Mbappe now. That's crazy. Like that was the missing piece. Because yeah, we just needed a striker, but we were still scoring goals with Vinny, Rodrigo, Bellingham. We it seemed like we were a cohesive unit. And with Mbappe coming, like we just forced him the balls. And yeah, he he scores a lot of goals, but it's just yeah, battle of the egos and trying to make him happy. And that that just can't be it. You know, he has to adjust to the team. We shouldn't be adjusting to him. That's what I don't like.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

That's exactly it. He should be adjusting to the team. He should be adjusting to Real Madrid. Real Madrid is bigger than him. And like you said, they've won trophies without him, and they're gonna continue winning trophies. Well, I mean, it doesn't look like they're winning any trophies with him. So they've won without him. Wait for Super Cup, bro. Relax. Intercontinental cup, bro.

SPEAKER_04 28:47

Relax relax.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

A couple of uh one game one game trophies. We got some silverware there, yeah. Relax, bro. Relax. A couple of one game trophies that nobody even remembers. That's how our boys. I remember. No, it's uh interesting. Yeah, so yeah, it's over for Real Madrid. We're in the middle of April and they're they're out of every competition. Uh they got a lot of things to play for. Nothing to play for. Got a lot of lot of things to do for you guys. NBA playoffs are going on. That's you're gonna be an NBA fan.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

Uh I mean, what else I got, bro? What else do I have?

SPEAKER_00 29:27

Magic was funny today. It's funny because I was gonna I was gonna come in here wearing like a like a Tampa Bay Lightning jersey or something after the Barcelona's atrocious loss. If Madrid would have won for sure, you would have worn uh no, but then I started thinking, I was like, I was like, man, like okay, we're out of the Champions League, brought a couple of rebounds. We still won Super Cup, we still won the Spanish Super Cup, and we beat Real Madrid in the final, and we're nine points ahead, more than likely gonna be winning our third La Liga title in four years. Man, it feels good. Feels good. That feels good. I was very much down in the dumps yesterday. That was it can't feel good to not win the Champions League in 11 years, though. 11 years? 11 years? Yeah, it's been a long time. But you guys also took a long time to win it again after a long time. So it happens. Yeah, way back when. It happens. It's been a long time. It's obviously very disappointing. I'm not gonna say I'm not disappointed. It's very disappointing to lose, especially in that manner. You talked about Kamavinka making a silly mistake. I mean, how it's it's it's like our players are addicted to getting red cards. It's insane. They're addicted to seeing the striker go on one-on-one with our goalkeeper, and they're like, we can't let this happen. We must take him down. And boom.

SPEAKER_04 30:58

Every UCL knockout tie, dude. Just you gotta get a red card.

unknown 31:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:04

But we're starting to follow that trend, specifically with Kamavinga, because I believe he got a red card against Arsenal last year, too. He did? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:14

I don't remember that, man. But they it's crazy. This is this is Eddie Garcia's third red card in the use in the Champions League. So the most the person that has the most of Sergio Ramos with four.

SPEAKER_04 31:28

Eddie Garcia has about to beat Sergio Ramos. That's crazy. That's a record you don't want. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

He's about not only is he gonna beat it, he's gonna completely destroy the record. The record is gonna be a dot to him. Like nobody's ever gonna catch him. How old is he? I don't know, 25, 26, something like that, 24. So he's oh yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_04 31:48

In 10 years, he's getting another five red cards easily.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

Are you kidding me? Easily easy. Insane. No, that was such a I'll take that. That was such a dumb, that was such a dumb mistake. Overall, the game, here are my my thoughts. Similar to Real Madrid, we came out hot. We scored in the first two, three minutes of the game. That's exactly what we're doing.

SPEAKER_04 32:08

Which Lamin, that cocky little kid, bro. My goodness. I mean, he's cocky as hell, but he backs it up. I fucking hate him. He does what I love. That's what I love about it. I want the favor. Hopefully, Cholo gives me the favor of going one-on-one with somebody. Four minutes in this freaking little jit scores.

SPEAKER_00 32:25

I was like, I think that was I think that was more of I think that was more of sarcasm because I think he was talking about one-on-one because Cholo was putting like five people on him every time he touched the ball. So he was like, let me just have a one-on-one. So I think that's what he was saying. Obviously, it was tongue-in-cheek, it was a little sarcastic. Yeah, it was cocky, everything. Like it, it's cool. I needed to be a good one.

SPEAKER_04 32:45

Which I don't I don't mind it because he actually backs it up.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

Yeah, he does.

SPEAKER_04 32:48

So I'm backs it up.

SPEAKER_03 32:51

He does that little jit, bro. I swear, if I was on the pitch, I'd just bite tackle the shit out of him.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

He changed his profile picture to LeBron in 2016, whenever he came back after being down 3-1 in the final of the championship. And then there was that meme going around of all the all the players with the you know the same picture as LeBron right before the game with the sunglasses and the earbuds, and almost every Barcelona fan in the world changed their profile picture to that. So it was it was a fun little viral moment that everybody was having to try to motivate the players to to have a good comeback. And boy, they almost did it, but and they started hot, man. Whenever we went and we went up 2-0, I was like, this is it, man. Like, what they're not stopping us, they're not stopping us. We're gonna keep going. Even Ferran Torres was scored. I was like, You kidding me? That was a good goal. Yeah, it was amazing.

SPEAKER_04 33:41

I was like, what two dumb giveaways, man. Two dumb giveaways. Langlet forgot what team he was playing for. He's like, oh shit, I was playing for Barcelona at one point.

SPEAKER_00 33:51

Gave it right to Lavin. He has to give us something. So he has to give us something. So yeah. And I think Gizman gave away too in the second goal.

SPEAKER_04 34:00

I think that was Gniezman.

SPEAKER_00 34:02

Yeah, it was.

SPEAKER_04 34:02

And then he had a nice ball to Marcos Jlorente in that goal. Marcos Jlorente, what a workhorse, man. You gotta give that guy his flowers. He's a beast.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

He's probably gonna be the starting right back for Spain in the World Cup. He has to be.

SPEAKER_04 34:14

Maybe he's not even a right back. He's a center mid.

SPEAKER_00 34:17

Yeah, but he's been playing right back most of the season. He's playing center mid this game, but he's been playing right back.

SPEAKER_04 34:24

Anywhere he plays, he's excellent. Sometimes I get mad that we let him go, but it was between him and Fed equal, I better there. So yeah. Obviously that that one speaks for itself.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

But anyway, so yeah, Barcelona, I mean, we're we're we're our own worst enemy. Just time and time again, another year, another disappointing loss. Sometimes I'm at a loss of words because we we play so well, but we just make silly mistakes. That goal that Lucman had was a silly mistake defensively. There's no way that Kounde should let this guy get around him like that. Kunde had a terrible game. Terrible game. We need a whole new backline. A whole new backline. The only one that I keep is Paco Arci. There's no way we're winning Champions Leagues ever with Kunday playing the way he did yesterday. And with Eddie Garcia and Gerard Martinez are starting center backs. It's just never going to happen. And they're they're both two good, solid players. I'm not saying they're bad players. They're just not worthy of being the starting center backs for Barcelona. They're just not. And Eddie Garcia, I think he has the most minutes played by Barcelona this season, but that's because he's a Swiss Army knife. He can play anywhere. He can play center back. Very versatile, which I love about him. That's great. But to be the starting center back. He's good to keep around, but not starting center back. Yeah. I'm not saying sell him, but to be the starting center back in a in a Champions League game like this, he's just not that guy. He's not that guy, and he proved it tonight, unfortunately. And Balkawarsi is that guy, but he also made a dumb mistake, so that's why he wasn't playing. He's still young though. Give him a few more years. He's gonna end up being one of the best center backs in the world. He is, and he's he's the only center back that he's the only defender that I would keep. That's our guy. He's gonna be what about Cancelo?

SPEAKER_04 36:14

Are you guys gonna keep him or you're gonna send a back?

SPEAKER_00 36:17

There are talks. There are there are talks about keeping him. He really wants to stay. I think he really proved he made a statement that he he belongs on the team. He gives it all for the team. He loves Barcelona. I don't think I've ever seen him pour his heart out for any other club like he does for Barcelona. He genuinely loves the club. He loves the city, he loves the team, he loves the staff. I say we give him a shot, especially because Balde hasn't really had the best season. Uh Girard Martinez, our backup left back, who again, it's I just he's he's a good player.

SPEAKER_04 36:49

Well, he can play both, right back and left back, too. He can play both.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

Cancelo, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But but my thing with Cancelo is that he's terrible defending. Awful. Like going forward, he is elite. I don't think there are many fullbacks that are as good as him going forward. Defending, he is just awful. And both or the goal that came in that Luckman had started on his side. And he wasn't tracking back. And then Kunday wasn't tracking back, and we got caught. Again, it happens every time. Every time we get scored, it's the same thing. They find a player out wide, that player wide crosses it in, and it's a goal. And we can't we can't win Champions League games like this, man. We had uh, I mean, what? Like let me actually look it up before I pour out a a dumb stat. Let me see it really quick. Because between both games, I want to see something really quick. So last night we had uh eight shots on target. Eight shots on target, they had five. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

The game before, we had seven shots on target, they had three.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

So that's what we had to do. We had 15 shots on target, they had eight shots on target. We scored two, they scored three. That's what kills it. We can't have more opportunities like that and then not finish those opportunities on the other. Yeah, he's gotta capitalize. That's the thing. I mean, just thinking off the top of my head, Danny Almo had one. Marcus Rashford had a couple in the first leg. For me, talking about Marcus Rashford. Do you think he should have started instead of Fredmin or Almo? No. No, actually, I don't think he should have started. No, I actually really like the way Umo plays. Here's the thing with Marcus Rashford, and I really like Marcus Rashford as a player. I think he's really good, and I think he's been he's been a really, really good lone player. He's got what, like 10 goals, 11 assists, something like that in all compass this this season, and he's been phenomenal. He's been great. The thing with Marcus Rashford with this game in particular is that he doesn't have that intensity that Fermin has. He just doesn't have it. Fermin would literally die on the field for Barcelona before anything else. And Rashford would be. Studs up, metal studs.

SPEAKER_04 39:19

Studs up, metal studs. Not a foul, though. Not a foul. I mean, it wasn't intentional. Like you can see, like he made the save and just left his leg up there, and Fermin was going all in as well. It was completely unintentional. But it was but it was it was a hard hit. Yeah. Musa was volume, bro. I don't know if Oblack is gonna see the field again.

SPEAKER_00 39:40

But anyway, before we get sidetracked, to answer your Rashford question, no, I don't think he should have started. I think he's a good player. I think he's very gifted, he's a very technical player. I don't think he even knows how good he is. He just doesn't have the workhorse mentality that Hansi Flick requires from some of his players with that pressing that Rafinha has, that Fermin has, that Gavi has. He just doesn't fully have that. And we need that. And we can't have, especially playing against Atleti in the Champions League quarterfinals, we can't have that. And we we saw it in the first leg. I thought he played a good game, I thought he had some good moments, but that was at home playing at the Metropolitano, and with Cholo probably more than likely was going to be having uh a formation of six defenders and four midfielders, which is kind of like what ended up happening. We needed people to go all in and press, and I think for me was the was the right choice there. I was surprised by how well Ferran Torres played. He did phenomenal, he did amazing. He scored. He scored twice. One got called back for offside, which man, that was I was so annoyed at that. But anyway, it was the right call. It was, yeah. It was. It was. There's just a lot of there's always that thing of like if it hits the defender, is that a new play? I don't even know. I have to look at the role exactly.

SPEAKER_04 41:07

I think in like lately, since VAR has been into play, I think that's been offsides. If VAR wasn't there, I think that would have been a goal.

SPEAKER_00 41:19

Yeah, but it yeah, he was clearly in an offside position uh either way, but he played really well. I actually think that taking him off was the wrong thing to do because I think he was a player that was pressing high, he was creating opportunities, and he was putting himself in the right opportunities to score. Wandowski came on and really didn't do much. I mean, we didn't really get the ball to him much, but he just at the end of the day he didn't do much. Musso again, yeah. Musso, you said it had a great game. You talked, you've talked before about Lunen being the best backup goalkeeper in the world. I mean, Juan Moose has putting himself on the map out there. Yeah, Juan Musso has been phenomenal since all black has been hurt, and he kept Athletic in this in this lake. Like they they are through to the semifinals mostly because of him, because of how well he played. He had some excellent saves. And I mean, Lamin Yamal, this guy is an absolute baller, an absolute butter. Like you said, he yeah, he talks the top. He was the only one who walks the walk. He was the only one trying to do something. He really was, and he was taking on in both games, man. He would take on these players and he would slide through them like butter, like they were just cones out there on the training ground for him, especially in the first half. He was going through them like crazy. He was he was putting these opportunities for these players on a platter, man. Like that one, the one that comes to mind is Danny Omo, where he tried to chip Musso and it didn't work. And then Fermin, that Trivella pass that he gave Fermin for the diving header where Fermin broke his nose almost. That should have been a goal, man. There is no way that that doesn't go in. And Fermin is an interesting Trivella pass. He what?

SPEAKER_04 43:05

He's perfected that Trivella pass. It's yeah, it's so good when it comes out of his left foot.

SPEAKER_00 43:11

It's yeah, it's amazing. But Fermin is such an interesting player because he would he'll score with his left foot from 30 yards out and put it top bins, but he can't score inside the box. He just he can't do it. I don't know why. It's impossible for him. It's and it's so frustrating to watch. He can't he cannot score inside the box. Anything outside the box, he scores. You put him inside the box, and for for whatever reason, he sends it to section 327 Z. And Lamin puts the ball perfectly on his head for him to score, and he can't do it. And it's so frustrating.

SPEAKER_04 43:46

But that was a good say for Musso, though. Musso had a really good game.

SPEAKER_00 43:49

You gotta give credit to the neighbor there as well. He did. I'm not saying he didn't, but at the same time, man, like you you those are opportunities that in the Champions League, they don't come. Buy often you have to finish those, man. Yeah. Like you just you just have to. I was uh where was the stat that I was looking at, man? We had inside the box we had seven shots on target. Well this is last game so this last game we had seven shots on target. This inside the box. This game we had where is it?

SPEAKER_01 44:26

Where is it? Where is it? We had nine shots inside the box. Only two of them went. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 44:41

That's crazy. Like like come on, man. Drunk I see also had a great one. Yeah. Yeah, we we do. We just have to capitalize on those. So those are the those are the big things that I come across. I think a lot of people talk about the high line, and that's that's the that's the new cool thing to talk about with Barcelona. Oh, they're high line, oh they're high line, oh yes, like we have a high line. Obviously, it's cost easy to expose. It's very it's easy to expose, but at the same time, man, like that's just the exact that's the exciting way to play. You look at the game today, man, Bayern versus Real Madrid. Real Madrid didn't play a high line. Bayern Munich played a little bit more of a high line, but Bayern Munich ended up winning, right? It could go either way. That's the that's the beauty of the game, and that's what makes it so exciting. The thing with the high line that I that I will criticize is we're up 2-0. We tied, we're tied on aggregate. Let's let's try to sit back a little bit. We don't have to have every player in the opposing half. Let's let's let's sit on the ball a little bit, let's play, let's try to find space, let's try to create something, right? I think Hansi just gets frustrated like that.

SPEAKER_04 45:51

He just wants to go, go, go. He's very direct.

SPEAKER_00 45:53

You know, that's very clearly. I I get that, but that's my criticism of it. It's yeah, that we have to stay back a little bit. We don't have to have all 11 players or 10 players, I guess, in the opposition half. We can a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 46:11

He's not happy with a 2-0, 3-0. Like he wants to go all in. Like, you guys better win 5-0, 6-0. Like, he just wants plenty of attack and football. You know? He just wants his photo broke down.

SPEAKER_00 46:22

I love that. I love that. But at the same time, we also have to be I I I get that, but at the same time, we have to be disciplined because that's what's cost us. We had two lapses of judgment in both games where Paul Kursi and Eddie Garcia, where we lack that discipline and that mental capacity to understand what's going on, and we get our cars. We can't win a Champions League game with playing 10 men. I think I saw a stat with out of the 180 minutes we played with 10 men 80 minutes. Can't win that. We can't win, we can't win a game like that. It's never gonna happen. We cannot win in the Champions League like that. And we still technically won the game, but we didn't win on aggregate, and that's that crushed us. And I knew that as soon as Sorloth scored that second goal at the Camp No, I knew that was gonna come back to bite us in the ass. And it did.

SPEAKER_04 47:10

Sorloth only really had two actions in both games. The goal in the first leg, and then he sent off Eric Garcia. Yeah, those two little actions were extremely vital for his team to go through.

SPEAKER_00 47:25

It's crazy, man. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 47:28

That's your kryptonite right there.

SPEAKER_00 47:31

Incredible, incredible kryptonite. So, but yeah, I think it we have to be self-critical. We can there's been a lot of talks about the ref, like Laporta's talking about filing another complaint to WEF uh Rafinha came out saying that there it was a robbery. I don't fully agree with that. I think that there was some refereeing mistakes, 100%, but it's also think it would be wrong to just talk about the refereeing mistakes and not talk about it. Doesn't that piss you off?

SPEAKER_04 47:59

That that pissed me off today, too, Real Madrid. Like nobody wanted to talk to the press. Everybody blamed the referee for the second yellow card that he rightfully gave to Kamavinga. Whether it was soft, I mean, listen, Kamavinga was warned. If you're on a yellow card, you gotta do everything that the ref says, especially if you're playing against a team like Byron. But all the players don't want to take accountability and just want to say, Oh, it's the ref's fault. No, dude. What about Looney with those saves? He could he could have easily made that that save in the corner kick for the first goal, easily could have made a save. What about Trent and his defending? What about Mbappe and Vinny not finishing? Like, you guys gotta take accountability, bro. You gotta take accountability. You don't need to be wasting time like that. We also need to win. So all these players just have to take accountability, really look at themselves and say, we fucked this up, not the ref. That pissed me 100% from Real Madrid as well. Like face the president. Tell them how much you suck today.

SPEAKER_00 49:02

Jesus. You have to. You have to. And that that's something that that really annoyed me as well. Like Laporto, that was the first thing that, oh, we have to look at the refs. Like, no, man. What you have to do is you have to look at your back line and realize, okay, we need a whole new back line. Realistically, we are not going to win the Champions League. Like I said, with Eddie Garcia and Gerard Martinez are starting center backs. We're not going to win with Kounde playing the way he did last night. We're just not going to. If we want to play a five line, if we want to play a high line, we're going to need a whole new back line that's disciplined enough to do it and that has the physical and mental ability to do so. Because if you're going to play a high line, you gotta need somebody fast. Exactly. You better have some athletes back there that's gonna be able to track that striker immediately. Because Eddie Garcia, Gerard Martin, Paul Covarsi, they are not fast players. They're just not. So, and I like Powell. I'm not saying get rid of Powell. Powell is our starting center back for the next 10-15 years easily. He could be the he's the next captain, but we have to put somebody alongside of him that's gonna make him be great. Excel. We're gonna need to get a good left back and we're gonna need to get a good right back. Who is it gonna be? I honestly don't really know. I don't know who we could get.

SPEAKER_04 50:24

But where are you guys gonna get those funds too? Because you guys are still kind of broke, no?

SPEAKER_00 50:28

You guys know this else. That's the other thing that I want to talk about because a lot of people are talking about oh this is it's a huge disappointment, but people are saying, oh, this is an embarrassment that Barcelona's doing this again. And I just don't think it's that much of an embarrassment, realistically. I think at first I was very like emotional, emotional about it, so I was really pissed off. But if you look back on it, man, four years ago, five years ago, where were we at? We were on the brink of bankruptcy, right? Six years ago. We were the laughing stock of Europe. We were playing in Europa League. Yeah, I thought we were in the next main. I thought we were gonna be the next main United or the next ACM alan. That we weren't gonna even sniff a Champions League. We were we were gonna finish outside top four in La Liga, we weren't even gonna win a La Liga in years. That's crazy. I thought it was gonna be years. It was gonna be insane. And then here we are, about to win our fourth or third La Liga title in four years. And the whole reason we're there is because of La Macia. And because John Laporta has completely changed our financial structure to the point where we are in a much better place than we were four years ago. And he brought in the right players as well. You brought in Rafinha, you brought in Lewandowski, brought in players like Frankesi, who's no longer here, but brought in player like a Kunde, who hasn't been having the best season, but has been has put on a very strong performance in Barcelona jersey. And we've promoted players from La Macilla like Gabi, Lamin, Bau, Fermin, right? We brought another player back in Daniel. I mean, if you look at it, Barcelona has only spent like $85 million the last two seasons in Juan Garcia and Daniel. And Druni Bardaggi. That's it. That's the that's the only players we've gotten the last two seasons under Hansi Flick. You look at that and you see how much Hansi Flick has improved Barcelona and where we are right now to where we were five, six years ago, you gotta stand up and applaud. Because that is true. That is true. What Hansi Flick and even Xavi, I'm gonna give Xavi his flowers as well. What Xavi and Hansi Flick did with Barcelona to get them to where they're at now and to use La Macia to bump the team up to where we are now, that's amazing. And I'm so glad that we looked at La Macia that we are where we are at now because we have 18-year-olds who are carrying the team on their back. Right? Because we have Rafinha, who Hansy Flick changed his mentality completely. And if we had Rafinha in this game, we probably could have could have ended completely differently. We'll never know. Hindsight is 2020, but we clearly miss Rafinha in this game.

SPEAKER_04 53:14

And this entire whole season you guys missed him.

SPEAKER_00 53:17

Yeah, the whole season we did. And we still ended up winning two trophies. Right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:24

So do you think you're gonna get more players from La Macia? Because I mean, this summer you guys either have to spend or something.

SPEAKER_00 53:40

They've been saying that for a while. I don't know when it's gonna happen or not. But as far as a right back goes, there's that right back in Xavi Sparte, who we talked about earlier this season, who Hansi Flick compared to Philip Laum. Just the best, the best comparison I think anybody can ever give you. And I think he he could be a good addition to the team. I think there's uh another center back in Alvaro Cortez, who apparently has been crushing it in La Mesilla in the Barcelona Beast squad. I think he's somebody that we take a look at in preseason, see how he does, and see how what he can do to the team. However, I think we do need to spend money. I think we do, because I don't think we have a striker in La Mosilla, and I don't think we have a solid center back coming out of La Mesilla like Paul Course. Yeah. So we have to we have to go and see what the market looks like. But if you look like you guys are gonna get Bastoni.

SPEAKER_04 54:32

Yeah, and he's gonna be running out of Italy, especially after that red card that he got in the qualifiers.

SPEAKER_00 54:37

Yeah. So there's a lot of talks about Bastoni, there's a lot of talks about Julian Alvarez, all these things. I don't think these players are worth breaking the bank for. I think we have to be financially responsible given where we're at and we're how where we were financially. Five, six.

SPEAKER_04 54:52

I think Julian Albarez might be worth breaking the bank for, especially for you guys. That might be the perfect striker.

SPEAKER_00 54:59

No? I think he's a perfect striker, but I'm not spending a hundred mil on him. I don't think he's worth spending a hundred mil. I think I'd rather I'd I'd much rather spend that type of money on him like a world-class defender, if anything.

unknown 55:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 55:13

But that's me personally. But you guys really don't have a striker out there this season, because I mean Fernán Torres is just not the gonna be the starting striker. And Lewandowski, he's already old, and I think this is his last year of his contract.

SPEAKER_00 55:30

So I don't know. I but but I just I just know that I I don't think it's worth spending a hundred million. I would rather go get like I was low-key tongue-in-cheek joking about this, but I would rather go and get Sorloth and spend a good amount of money on a striker that's gonna be in the box, gonna be an aerial threat, and he's gonna be he's gonna score your goals, right? Julian Albarez is a phenomenal player. That he's a phenomenal player, and obviously I would love him, but I just don't think we're in a financial position to go spend a hundred million on this guy. I just don't think we are. You think he's not going less than a hundred mil? I don't think so. I mean that that guy is especially if he has a good World Cup, forget about it. Yeah, forget about it. So he doesn't always start with the Barça fan. He is a huge Barca fan. He has admitted himself that yeah, apparently he came from La Faurica.

SPEAKER_04 56:26

He came from our academy. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he came from our academy. I thought he was in our academy at one point.

SPEAKER_01 56:33

He was, but hold up. I didn't know that about Julia. Let's check it out. Let's see where he's at. I don't see anything about him in whatever Atletico Cachinas, and then River Plate.

SPEAKER_00 57:02

He had a trial with Real Madrid.

SPEAKER_04 57:04

Yeah, that's what it is. He had a trial.

SPEAKER_00 57:07

He was unable to join Real due to age restrictions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what it was. Anyway. Interesting. But yeah, there was a video of him. There was a video of him circulating that about him saying that he he would love to play in Barcelona someday or something like that. But I know that he's Yeah, exactly. I know that deep down he would he would like to move. I just think it would have to make financial sense. And I I don't necessarily think he's again, I don't think we're gonna we we need to break the bank for for a player like that. I would rather be a little bit smarter with our money, get a striker who's gonna be efficient in front of goals, who's gonna score us goals. Maybe go find somebody in, I don't know, like it it like the in and like a smaller team in Germany, or go find some some African dude or some somebody in South America that's scoring a ton of goals. I would rather that guy from uh that Brazilian guy that plays in the Premier League, Igor Tiago.

SPEAKER_04 58:08

Uh he plays for Igor Tiago or Burntford. That's a good option.

SPEAKER_00 58:13

See how much he costs. Yeah, exactly. Like he probably would be expensive because he's a Premier League player, but something like that, like somebody who's not like a lot of people were talking about too, like Victor Osiman. I think Victor Osiman would be great. Victor Osiman would be fantastic. That would be pretty good.

SPEAKER_04 58:31

I don't think he was linked to Real Madrid a couple years ago.

SPEAKER_00 58:34

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 58:34

But now, yeah, I mean he plays for Galata Sarai. He's doing good.

SPEAKER_00 58:39

Yeah. He's doing well over there. I don't think you would have to be a good one.

SPEAKER_04 58:42

So yeah, you don't you don't necessarily want a star striker, just somebody that can score you at least like 15 goals during the season, match him up with Fern Torres.

SPEAKER_00 58:51

Give me somebody like like Luc DeYoung. Like Luc DeYoung, whenever he was, he came on phone for us. That was fantastic. Somebody like Obama Yang. Oh, dude, I would love to be a good one.

SPEAKER_04 59:01

But you can't have him like your main well, Obama Yang could be your main striker, but somebody like Luke De John can't he can't be your main striker. I mean, he's good to rotate, but he can't be your starting striker every game. No way.

SPEAKER_00 59:12

No, not every game.

SPEAKER_04 59:14

But um, but he he's somebody that Obama Yang could the Obama Obama Yang was definitely a good signing. Yeah, somebody like Obama.

SPEAKER_00 59:21

Obama Yang, I loved, I loved Obama Yang. So but yeah, we definitely we're gonna need to look at at making some changes as well if we ever want to win the Champions League. And I don't think changes are gonna have to be made tactically. I think they're gonna have to go down to player personnel and to understand a little bit better. If we want to play this way, we're gonna need players who are more disciplined to play this way. Yeah, and that's it. I think it's just your defense.

SPEAKER_04 59:49

Defense and a striker. That's that's the main priority. Because your midfield is pretty set.

SPEAKER_00 59:53

No, our midfield is set. I love our midfield. I love Lamin, I love Rafinha. We're just gonna need we're gonna need somebody up front who can finish those opportunities that Lamin literally puts on a platter for you. We just need we need that. Again, we we can't have how was it? What was it, 18 shots on target that we had between the last two games and three goals? We just can't have that. So we need to finish those. But anyway, that's uh that's enough. We're both going go both going home, both disappointed. Both going home, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:26

And just like you said, just wanted to touch on a note, like you said, if Rafinha was there, maybe the game would have would have changed. I think the same with us. If Courtois was there, I think we might have to be having a different conversation too. Because even though Lunin didn't play awful, he did have that one goal that he definitely could have saved. And then in the first leg, I think he could have Courtois could have definitely saved Harry Kane's goal in the burn of bail. And I think Courtois maybe would have saved his goal too here at the Allianz Arena. So I think if we would have had him, some things would have changed. Those small little details, man. Having the best goalkeeper in the world would definitely help us out. Not bashing out Lunan because he's great, but Courtois definitely would have been a game changer.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:13

It's just those those those small things, man. Whenever whenever a star player like that and an important player like that goes down in the most important part of the season, you feel it. Yeah. And especially with with Courtois, like he's been a big, big player for you guys, and he's saved you plenty, plenty of times. And and Rafinha for us, I mean, he is such strong mentally, and he boosts everybody's morale. The difference between him being on the field and being off the field is incredible. I have to look at the the the stats again about uh the the amount of wins that we had with Rafinha on the field with versus without Rafinha, and it's it's insane. It's yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:52

No Rafinha, no party.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:55

Literally, no Rafinha, no party. But anyway, we also had other Champions League games that happened this week. PSG went ahead that they are onto the semifinals, beat Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield. I think we saw that coming. I don't think anybody expected Liverpool or this Liverpool team to make a comeback against this PSG team.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:16

They were actually playing better against PSG for a little bit. They were actually dominating. They really wanted to score, but as soon as Dembele scored that that goal, that was it. And I think having Ekitike out touring his Achilles. And he's out for the World Cup. I think that was tough for them. Yeah, he's out for the World Cup, man. He won't be back till like January. That sucks. He was in such yeah, man. He was in such a good moment of his career, and then right before the World Cup, that's gotta hurt. That's why players play so cautiously right now, because they're two months out from the World Cup, and if they get injured, even if it's like a six-week, eight-week injury, that's like shit, man. Like the World Cup is literally right here, right around the corner. Nobody wants to get hurt. So it sucks. I don't think France will miss them, to be honest with you, because they are so stacked, but they could have used them. They could have used him.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:09

You could always use a player like that. But yeah, I feel bad for him. Poor poor guy. Everybody wants to play a World Cup, and it sucks to be missing it out like this. Yeah. Thoughts and prayers out to him, man. Hope he recovers quickly. But yeah, Liverpool. Yeah, like you said, they tried it a little bit, but uh didn't work out at the end of the day. Luce Enrique and PSG, man. Though those boys are on fire. Bless you.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:32

Yeah, Dunbell is showing. Thank you. Dunbel is showing why he won the Ballon de Oro last season. He's coming out when he needs to come out. When the time is right. Yep. When the time is right. When the big nights are calling, he's right there to perform.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:50

He's right there. What a play. And on the other side of the bracket, we had Arsenal versus Sporting. Another bit of a snooze fest this past couple of games.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:03

I mean, Arsenal went 6-0 on that. Sucks for any neutral that was watching that game instead of the Real Madrid versus Bayern Munich game.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:12

I was gonna say I don't think many neutrals were watching that game, I'll tell you that much. I didn't tune in once. I just watched it. No, me neither. There's barely even any highlights. But Arsenal only needed one leg goal in the first leg to qualify, and that was it. And that's it. From Kai Havertz, man, Chelsea legend, when giving them that UCL title back in 21. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:32

And now he's helped Arsenal go to the semifinals. That's crazy. I honestly think Atletico will beat Arsenal.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:42

Dude, I think so too. I 100% believe Atletico is going to beat Arsenal. And they're going to lose another final. They are. So this is what pisses me off about it the most, man. I was thinking about this, and I'm glad this didn't come to life. But I was, I think this is what I was so pissed off about yesterday is I was just literally laying in bed staring at the ceiling. I was like, we lost to Atletico again. Madrid is going to get to the final and they're going to fucking beat him in the final. I just know. And I wish I wish they get to the final. But what's going to be really annoying is that Atletico is going to get all the way to the final again and they're going to lose. And it's going to be so funny.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:23

They're not beating either Bayern or PSG. I'm sorry. They're not.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:26

No, they're not, man. They're really not. They're not going to do it. Even though it would be a you know storybook ending for Gridsmund to be winning the Champions League like that with Atletico.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:36

That would be crazy because. But man. But no, I don't I don't think they have have enough to beat zero those two.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:44

I do agree they are going to beat Arsenal. I think Arsenal is is is um what's the word I'm looking for here? They're just very bland. They're just like chicken and rice with no seasoning on it. You know what I'm saying? Like they they just Which is crazy because if you look at their squad.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:00

Bro, they are they are really studded.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:03

They have a bunch of studs in the world. They do.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:06

They have a ton of studs. A ton of studs. But they they play like I don't know. Like they're like it's like I feel like I'm watching golf when I watch them play.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:18

That's definitely what I'm going to be watching now with Real Madrid not having anything to play for. See me watch Masters golf. Nah, bro. My my boy Rory McElroy, he won.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:31

Second green jacket in a row. Second green jacket in a row for Rory. Oh man. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah, you're about to become a huge golf fan the next couple of years, because as long as Mbapp isn't Real Madrid, he's going to be keeping you guys trophyless. Don't say that. Don't say that. Don't say that. But um no, Atlantico definitely beats Atletico definitely beats Arsenal. Arsenal are in such a bad form right now. Not bad form, but they're just mentally, I think they are like, oh shit, we're doing it again. Shit is happening again. Because they went from quadruples. Thoughts are creeping up again in their head. That's exactly it. Even though Arteta came out and was like, oh, like, no, like I I believe in this team. I have a I have a fire inside of me, all these things. I forget the example. Well, what else is he gonna say? Exactly. He has to come out and he does it to motivate the players. Brother, like if they play like that against Man City this weekend, it's game over. It's game over.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:35

I think, yeah, if they lose against Man City this weekend, I think they lose the Premier League.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:40

I think so too, man. And they did, and Man City beat Chelsea pretty convincingly. And now we have a we have a title in our hands.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:53

And I think it's pretty crazy because we've been saying Arsenal was gonna win, then they started losing again. Man City started creeping back up, and then we were like, oh, we got we got a title race, and then all of a sudden Man City started losing again, and Arsenal just kept winning, and we're like, alright, no, Arsenal's running away with it for sure. We even said here that Arsenal was gonna win the Premier League. We congratulated them already, but no, we we jinxed it way too soon. I think we might have. Somebody else would have jinxed them regardless. Because they, I mean, the way they're bottling this is embarrassing. Completely embarrassing.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:32

And if they lose against City, my God. If they lose against City, I think I think it's a it it that might be it's time to hit the panic button if they lose against City. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because City have a game in hand. Oh yeah. City have a game in hand, and I just I don't see them winning the Champions League. I really don't. Even if they beat Atletico, they are not beating Byron or PSG.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:56

Neither Atletico or Arsenal will be either of those teams. The final should have been Byron against PSG. That should have been the final.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:03

That would be a sick final. But no, this semifinal Byron PSG. I don't even and I was looking at the tiebreaker, right? Because let's see, because I'm trying to like map it all out. Let's see if Man City beats Arsenal, then they beat, they win their game in hand. Now they're even on points. If they keep even on points until the last game of the season, it comes down to goal differential. Arsenal has a plus 38 goal differential. Man City has a plus 35 goal differential with a game in hand. So even if they come down to the last game of the season at the same amount of points, Man City still has a chance to win on goal differential. And even if I think the other the second tiebreaker is goal scored, which Man City has more with 63 right now, and they have a game in hand. But a fun, a fun little uh fact that I just found out here that I was looking at, because between Man City and Arsenal in their last one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, in their last seven games since uh twenty twenty-three, man city has only won uh one game, and it was the EFL Cup final a couple of weeks ago.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:27

Wait, you said in the last what? Say that again?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:29

Last seven games that they faced each other Man City against Arsenal. So since August of 2023, Man City has not won against Arsenal. They've only won one game, and that was the League Cup final. Yep. They've tied a ton. They have let me see here.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:49

They have Who won the first game in the Premier League this season?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:53

Arsenal? They they tied 1-1. They tied 1-1. They tied 1-1. But they beat him in the Fairbacker. Then it was last season, Arsenal beat Man City 5-1 in February. Then in September of 24, they tied 2-2. March of 24, they tied 0-0. October of 23, they tied, or excuse me, Arsenal beat Man City 1 now. August of 23, which was the community shield, Arsenal won on penalties. You have to go back until April of 2023, was when Man City beat Arsenal for.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:30

I didn't know that's that. I actually thought Man City owned Arsenal.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:35

Not recently, not the last three years.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:37

Not recently. Not the last three years. That goes in Arsenal's favor there. It does.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:43

Are they playing at the Emirates or at the Etihad? They're playing at their Emirates. No, sorry, at the Etihad. At the Etihad. I apologize. Oh wow. Okay. Yeah, they're playing at the Etihad this weekend. I've I got my East, my Arabian companies mixed up, my Middle Eastern companies all jacked up. Yeah, they're playing at the at the Etihad. So that's gonna be very, very interesting. That's gonna be the game to watch for this this weekend, because that could that could bring it all down to the premise. Who you got? You said we thought I think Man City's got it.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:14

Yeah?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:16

I think Man City's got it.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:18

That's crazy, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:19

I don't I think I just don't think it's a lot of things.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:22

Are Arsenal really gonna lose? Are Arsenal really gonna lose?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:26

I've been thinking about this a lot, and I was like, there's no way Arsenal lose this, right? But after they lost to Bournemouth, because I was looking at their match, their their schedule, and I was like, okay, they're playing prior to Bournemouth. I was like, they're playing Bournemouth, Man City, Newcastle, Fulham, West End, Burnley, Crystal Palace. I was like, Okay, let's look at their stats. At home, prior to Bournemouth, they were they played 16, 15 games, they won 12, drawn two, and lost once. And I was like, they're winning majority of their home games. They're winning the majority of their home games. So they're probably gonna win all those home games, right? Then they lost to Bournemouth, and I was like, oh, I don't know anymore. I thought they were gonna drop points against Man City and potentially against West Ham because West Ham's trying to stay alive.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:13

Yeah, we weren't counting on that Bournemouth loss. Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:16

That Bournemouth loss came out of nowhere, man. And now I'm like, are they gonna lose to like Newcastle? Are they gonna lose to Fulham? Are they gonna lose to Burnley at home? I don't see them losing at home again. I don't think they will, but I do think they they lose against Man City and they could potentially not lose, but they could draw points against West Ham.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:36

Yeah, if they lose against Man City, I think it'll end up being like a domino effect where they keep losing points.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:42

I do because it's gonna get in their head.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:45

Yeah. If they that's crazy, if they draw, like that's best outcome for Arsenal. Like Man City has to come out and win this game.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:58

Yeah, it's gonna be good. It's gonna be one to watch for sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:01

Might decide the Premier League. I think it will decide the Premier League. I think it will because Man City still has a game in hand against uh Crystal Palace, I believe it is, that they have to play. I don't think they've scheduled it yet. So that's gonna be Man City wins Man City wins that game, those two games, and it's it's over for Arsenal. Forget about it. I think so too.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:21

I think so too. And I don't think they'll win the Champions League either. So bye bye Arteta.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:26

Bye bye, Arteta. Yeah, he better he better start learning Chinese or something, man. Because at that point. Saudi will take him. Saudi will definitely take him. Just go take the money, man. Grab the money and run. Oh man. Anyway. Anything else you wanted to talk about? I think that covers. I think that covers it for the week. I think that covers it for the week. Yeah. I mean, like you said, last week you're not gonna be watching La Liga much longer. Uh, because you pretty much completely bottled it again this weekend. You guys play Deportivo Lares at home. I mean, that would be crazy if you guys dropped points again, but you never I don't even know, dude.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:04

I'm watching NBA playoffs, baby. Saturday night, Lakers against Houston Rockets. Let's go. Let's go. Welcome to the Lake Show. Welcome to the Lake Show. LeBron James at 41 years old against Kevin Durant. Come on. Come on. Let's go. Let's go, LeBron. Let's see if he can win one last ring.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:25

Hey, let's see if he does it. If he does it, let's see if he's ever going to retire. And then in the meantime, Barcelona. I don't think so. Barcelona's gonna be uh winning La Liga here. There's still eight games left to play. Or seven games left to play, excuse me.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:39

Jesus Christ, that's too many games, bro.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:41

I need it to be done now. I just need I just need to fast forward to the World Cup. That's it. Nothing to do with it.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:47

I want to fast forward to May 10th because we could potentially win the league against you guys at home at the Camp.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:55

You let me know how that game goes. I'm busy. I'm busy.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:00

Oh no, we're gonna have to we're gonna have to live stream that one with with us winning La Liga at the Camp No versus Real Madrid.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:10

I'm not in I'm not interested. I am not interested.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:15

Conic, and then we can wave bye-bye to Mbappe. He can go he can go home and try to figure it out for next year. He'll be seeing birdies for me. He'll be seeing a bunch of birdies. I think not just you, everybody. Everybody in Madrid. So my god. Man.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:34

Let me know how that goes, bro. Let me know how they start playing. Now they don't have anything else to play for because I'm not watching them.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:41

Oh, that's hilarious. Yeah, no, I'll let you know. I'll let you know how the games go. Whenever we hop on here, you can talk about how the Lake Show went, and I'll let you know how Real Madrid continued. We'll be talking about NBA playoffs and golf. Yeah, golf. Anything else? Is there more golf? Like the Masters just happened. Is there more golf that's going on? I don't know, dude.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:01

I'll find like some junior golf or something. Golf or woman. I don't care, dude.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:05

I'll find the NHL playoffs are starting. The NHL play. Yeah, there we go. Go lightning. Let's go lightning, baby. Man. Yeah. At least we still have La Liga to look forward to. You guys have. Well, you better. Those boys better start playing their summer vacations and uh start getting.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:23

I think they already are.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:26

I think they don't even want to play either because they don't want to get injured for the World Cups. Better start looking at Cancun all-inclusive resorts. Yeah, let me know. I'll go join them. See if maybe I can talk them out of their shitty seasons that they've had. See if uh I can I can have Mbappe and Vinny make up. Do something.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:52

Do something.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:54

That'd be hilarious. But anyway, that's been enough of the friendly foes for this week, man. Champions League recap. Everything that happened between Barcelona, Atleti, Real Madrid, Bayern. We probably talked a little bit too much about it, but we just had to just have to get it off our chest. We just had to cry a little bit. Just had to let it all out. And well, we move on. Looks like the route Madrid Barcelona final isn't happening anytime soon. No, no classical final. And that would have been a great final.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:24

That would have been because it's probably gonna be Bayern Munich Atletico, the two teams that eliminated us.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:31

Yeah. More than likely, yeah. More than likely. And yeah, like I said, I don't see Athletic winning that game at all. So yeah, no. I'm excited to watch Bayern PSG. Are you rooting for any particular team to win the Champions League now?

SPEAKER_04 1:18:48

I mean, Lucho, yes, is part of Bayern, so yeah. I would not hate seeing Bayern Munich win it just because of my boy Lucho. That's what I've done. We don't want to see PSG win it. Arsenal, I don't feel like they deserve it. They're not the best team in Europe. Atletico, I don't like Atletico. They're our little brother, but whatever. They can get one if they want. Especially against if it's PSG, if it's Atletico or PSG, I'm rooting for Atletico. Really? Crazy. Yeah, yeah. I I do not like PSG whatsoever. No. I'll root for Atletico if if PSG's there.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:26

I don't either. I don't like them. But yeah, same. I'm rooting for Lucho. Bunch of oil money motherfuckers. Yeah. I I hate those guys too. I like Luis Enrique, but I I hate everything else about them. Yeah, no, I hate their whole team. Yeah. But no, hopefully Lucho Diaz and Barry Munich bring it home. Vincent company and the boys. They're the playing well. They deserve to win it. So anyway. Should have been us. It should have been us.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:56

Should have been us. Should've been us, man. So much hope.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:00

Yeah, we had a little bit too much hope, and here we are again. Yeah. I guess your sex is gonna have to wait for for a long time. It might wait till my son is 18. Who knows?

SPEAKER_04 1:20:15

Around the same age when you guys won the last Champions League.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:19

That's how that's how old you were.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:20

I was like 22. Relax. No, I don't think you've seen a Champions League in your 20s.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:29

No, you were 20.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:33

Yeah. So yeah. Anyway. Move on. Anyway, we move on. We move on, brother. Alright, man. Well, thanks everybody for tuning in. Make sure you guys continue to follow us on social media at friendly foes FC. Be sure to tell all your friends, all your family, all your neighbors about the podcast. Be sure to rate it, subscribe, submit a review. It helps us grow on all platforms. And uh we appreciate all the love from everywhere and continue to help us grow. And we'll see you all again next week.