Episode 46 - El Clasico Recap

In todays episode we discuss:

Barcelona win El Clasico at the Camp Nou and claim their 29th La Liga title

Madrid locker room is in shambles 

How Hansi Flick has transformed Barcelona

Relegation battle in La Liga and Premier League are getting intense 

Arsenal's win vs. West Ham gets them closer to the PL title

This and much more, tune in!

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:27

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to a very special episode of the friendly foes because Barcelona are officially the champions of La Liga 2025 six season. Back to back seasons. Go ahead, enjoy it. Enjoy it. Back to back champs against Real Madrid. You guys watched us lift another trophy. I think that's the first time they've ever given the trophy to the team that won it mathematically that night.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Yeah, what the fuck was that about? What was that about?

SPEAKER_05 1:07

That's crazy. That was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

That's messed up. They've never done that. And now they're like, oh yeah, Barcelona's gonna win. Let's go ahead and give them the trophy. They had it all planned out. That's never happened before. They always give it to the winning team, I think the season after, usually. Or maybe the last season.

SPEAKER_05 1:28

They used to do it the season after for a long time, and then I think the past few years they did it at the end of the season. At the very last home game, I think, or the last game.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

I never understood that, but that's crazy work how they did that. They were just like, Yeah, we'll give you guys a trophy for all Classico.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

That's crazy work.

SPEAKER_05 1:48

Crazy. It was awesome. I'd love to see it.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Tewas, I thought you worked for Florentino, bro.

SPEAKER_05 1:55

I thought so. I think he still does. Let's not. So you I don't think he does. You are saying that Florentino has paid Tewas before. That's what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

No, I'm definitely not saying that. I'm not saying that. I just thought he was a Madridista. That's it. Doesn't mean he has to throw him some money or pay him under the table. I just thought he he liked Real Madrid. I thought he was a fan. That's it.

SPEAKER_05 2:16

Yeah, he was he was a fan. That is for sure. But what did you I know you said you weren't gonna watch the game. Did you actually catch any of it? Did you watch any of this game at all? Hell no, I didn't.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Good thing you did it. That's like the equivalent of watching my wife getting gangbanged, bro. Why would I want to put myself through that? Why? Why the hell would I want to watch that, bro? I'm honestly shook that it was only 2-0.

SPEAKER_05 2:42

I was gonna say we took it easier.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

I'm sure it should have been more. I'm sure it should have been more. If it wasn't for Courtois, I'm sure it could have been like five. I don't even know how many saves he had. I don't know, but I'm sure you haven't even seen the highlights.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

No, dude.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

What what do I have to see? What the hell do I have to see? I saw the Rashford goal here on Instagram.

SPEAKER_05 3:04

That was a sick goal.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

I saw that. And I saw Ferran Torres goal one time. I swear they always assist him in a classico with a back heel, dude. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. He always gets assisted with a back heel.

SPEAKER_05 3:20

Insane, man.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

And he always wants to score against Real Madrid. He does. He does. Always misses, but against Real Madrid, he never fails, dude.

SPEAKER_05 3:29

He's on target for them against him. It's amazing. He always the shark always comes out. They played a hell of a game. Madrid looked very sloppy. It could have definitely been a lot more. I think the score could have the line could have been at least 3-4-0. I mean, at the very, very least. Barcelona were just toying with Madrid. It almost looked like they felt bad for them. The way that they were playing. It was like a training. It was like they were at the training ground. They were playing rondos around them. That goal in the lead up to Ferranzgo, I think they touched the ball. I think every Barcelona player touched the ball. And I think they passed it around probably like, I don't know, 50 times before they got to it to Ferran Torres. It was incredible. It was a great start. I mean, by the 18th minute, it was 2-0. We were 2-0 off. I thought it was going to be a blowout. I was like, oh, we're ready for more.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Well, that's why I didn't even want to watch it. If I would have seen that first goal, I would have turned it off right away, anyways. Like the first 10 minutes, I would have been like a lot of people.

SPEAKER_05 4:32

That was such a sick goal, man. That's one thing that Marcus Rashford does bring to the table that we don't have. He is a really good free kick specialist. I think that's his second goal that he scored for us as a f for a free kick. And there's not that many players that have done that since Messi left. I think this is the first time a player has scored a free kick goal in the El Clasico since Messi left. That's true.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think you guys didn't have somebody score a free kick for you guys for a while until him, no? Or who was it?

SPEAKER_05 5:04

No, Ferran Torres scored one.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Ferran Torres, okay.

SPEAKER_05 5:07

I think it was against Bettis. He scored it under the wall. But yeah, it hasn't been that many. We don't really have somebody who is good at taking free kicks. And as soon as as soon as I saw him line up, I was like, I get a vibe. He's gonna go for it, he's gonna shoot. But I did not know he was gonna go for the post that Courtois was at and just bury it upper 90. That was sick. That was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

And even afterwards, I couldn't save that.

SPEAKER_05 5:32

Yeah, I thought I I thought it should have been he should he should have had more of a opportunity there, more of a chance there to save it, but he didn't bury that thing. I mean, it was he was not expecting him to put it there. And even afterwards, Rashford was saying that he wasn't even gonna shoot at first, that his teammates were the ones that told him you should shoot it, he was gonna cross it in. I was like, why would you cross it in from there? You were it's a great distance to shoot on.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

I think maybe just because of the angle.

SPEAKER_05 6:00

I think it was the angle and just a little bit of confidence he said, because the day before in training, he said he tried ever he tried scoring free kicks and he missed every single one. That's crazy how that. So it was a little bit of confidence. He decided to score against Madrid. Thanks a lot, you asshole. He he sure did, and what a what a goal that was. But then he missed a one-on-one against Courtois. But Courtois saved it. Courtois saved it with his hand. I mean, just a small slightest touch that went to a corner kick, but yeah, I I think it should have been a it could have easily been a lot more, but I think Barcelona realized what was happening. They realized that Madrid wasn't in it. Madrid was really, really out of it. I mean, they've been out of it for a couple of weeks now, but it was very evident that there is a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

I'm surprised they didn't pounce though. I'm surprised that they did not pounce on us like 5-0, 6-0. I'm honestly.

SPEAKER_05 6:56

I think they were I think that's almost even more than respectful. I think they were Barcelona felt so bad for you guys that we took it easy. Like the players were just, it was literally like being on the training ground for them. They were just passing around, toying it around. They did get a couple of breakthroughs. Real Madrid did Jr. Garcia had some really good saves. Gonzalo Garcia had one after being 2-0 up that I thought he should have scored, and he went to the side netting. But aside from that, man, there was really no much opportunity. Jude Belling had a goal that was called offside, and he was like at least a yard offside. I mean, it was incredible. And not only him, there was like five other Real Madrid players offside. You could tell they were their head was just not in the game. They were somewhere else. They were already on vacation. It was so bad that the referee didn't even add any time at the end. He called it right at the 90th minute hit, boom, ref called it. That was it.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Well, yeah, why would he? Nothing else was gonna happen. Madrid wasn't gonna come back. Exactly. It's insane to me how they just did not care about this game. Barcelona was literally gonna win the league if we didn't win and they did not care. They just let it happen. They were like, whatever, they're gonna win it anyways, just let them win it right now. Why not? And that's crazy thinking to me. How you're gonna let your rival beat you for the league and your face off. How you let that happen is mind-blowing to me. I really don't understand that. They really did not care whatsoever. And that's never happened before. Never. We've never witnessed that. And they just didn't care. They did not care. What a what a disappointing season. What a very depressing season. So much happened. And then the chariot on top was that Valverde and Tromeni fight right then last week. That was just the worst thing.

SPEAKER_05 8:47

It's funny, man, because we we were talking about it last week, and then after we recorded, literally the day after they got into another fight. We didn't even really talk about this one. And Valverde got sent to the hospital.

SPEAKER_04 8:59

Yeah, he got knocked out, bro.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Well, according to him, he fell and he slipped, right? Nah, I think he got knocked out, dude. He 100%. Trump and he knocked his ass out. How is he getting knocked out? Like you're supposed to be the bulldog of the team, and you're over here getting knocked out. Dude.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Like, what the hell are you doing getting knocked out, bro?

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_02 9:22

Like, you're the one supposed to be knocking people out.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

I wasn't expecting that, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_05 9:27

Especially if you're Valverde. I think it's so crazy how I mean I I really would love to know the details behind that fight because there was a lot of stuff that came out that there was, you know, Chua Meni went in pretty aggressively on a challenge. Valverde got pissed off.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

And then I think there's been some beef brewing since Shabi Alonso left. It looks like there's part of the squad that was with Shabi Alonso and part that wasn't. And Chua Meni was part of the squad that was with Shabi Alonso, and Federico Alberde was on the other side where he didn't really get along with Shabi Alonso that well. And I think it's just been brewing since then. I don't really know exactly what happened in their first fight that led to that. But the second time was because Federico Alberde thought that Chuameni leaked the fight to the press, which it seems like he did. I'm still not really sure. It looks like there was a French gossip account on Instagram that messaged him asking him what happened, and he kind of let them know a little bit of what happened. But I'm not really sure if he's like the mole, the one that's leaking everything. I think that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_05 10:40

There was everything getting leaked that day. Everything was getting leaked that day. I mean, I was I was refreshing all the Madrid pages just trying to catch up on the gossip. I was like, what's going on, man? And there was so much, so much gossip going around, but I feel like that's even old news at this point because ever since then, um I mean they each got fined $500,000, which is insane. Valverde couldn't even play, Shuameni still played, which I thought was crazy. I thought he was gonna get suspended or so or something.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Yeah, he should have definitely got suspended.

SPEAKER_05 11:12

But now there are a lot of people, a lot of Real Madrid fans that are saying it's time for Valverde to get out after this whole incident. What are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_01 11:21

No, no, no, no, no, no. That that's not valid. I mean, I I can understand wanting to take away his captaincy, that's more of a valid argument. But we're not gonna find another player on the market like Federico Alberde. There's nobody like a Federico Alberde. He's so versatile, he's so good. He's a Balandoro candidate. There's no way we can get rid of Federico Alberde. If we do that, that's just shooting ourselves in the foot. So, I mean, the the the only valid argument I can see here is taking away his captain, see. No, I no, definitely, definitely shouldn't get rid of him. And honestly, I I hope Trumani doesn't go go either because we we need both of them. They're pillars to our squad. We really need them in in our midfield, they're vital to that midfield. There are future midfielders, present, future. They're still only 26, 27. We can't let go of these players. Like they gotta somehow work it out. They have to. They have to for the sake of the team. Because, like I said, they are pillars to the team. They're two starting players. We need them.

SPEAKER_05 12:34

Yeah, who knows, man. As of right now, I don't see either one of them, or both of them staying. One of them's gonna end up leaving because it does seem like that fight was something that was never seen before in a Madrid dressing room. I mean, there's obviously fights that happen and all these things, but this is something that was completely different to the point where another player had to go to the hospital, and then the way that they try to dress it up and put essentially putting what's the saying, putting lipstick on a pig with this, all these false statements, Valverde coming out that it was just a slip, even his wife like reposting a bunch of things and reiterating what Valverde is.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

I mean, it's embarrassing. You got knocked out by your own teammate, dude.

SPEAKER_05 13:16

And then she would make it a completely different statement. So, not that he was saying anything about the fight, but it was just the tone of voice within the statement was completely different than that of Alberde.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

So it was just but I mean you can tell that they both regret the situation. I don't know how they move on, but they gotta find a way to move on because I mean they both made the club look bad. I mean, that gives the club a really bad image, especially with the season that we've had, and then they they go they go on and do that. Like, really? Like if we haven't suffered enough.

SPEAKER_05 13:54

Yeah, and it was very, very public. It became very public very quickly. Quick, very, very quickly. People knew about it instantly. So, yeah, somebody within the dressing room was leaking some sort of information, who knows what it was. Obviously, that pissed off a lot of players, it pissed off a lot of people. It does seem like there's a Xavi Alonso clan that's against the non-Shavi Alonso clan. So the the dressing room is completely broken, completely broken, if you could tell on the field at El Clasico.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

And I blame Florentino for that, for letting it happen, for giving too much power to the players. That's what happens. Now you got a divided squad because of your decision to side with the players and Lego Shabi Alonso. Well, half of the players, because half of the players still wanted him. Right. So, I mean, I don't know. I don't know how he didn't see a problem brewing there.

SPEAKER_05 14:51

And speaking of giving too much power to the players as well, and adding the cherry on top, and I'm sure you saw this, but even after the training, after the whole fight went down, there was a video caught of Mbappe leaving the training ground window down in his car, and he was just busting out laughing, cracking up like he had just watching a freaking Kevin Hart special or something.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Yeah, I don't know what the hell was so funny. Yeah, I don't know what the hell was so funny. People said that he didn't see what happened, but still there was an emergency meeting that we'll say on his notches called all the players in. I know Carval Hall left and he had to come back. So I honestly don't know what the hell was so funny. I really don't.

SPEAKER_05 15:32

Well, and then on top of that, he didn't play in a classico. That was a whole drama in itself because he supposedly was fit to play. Apparently, Arbaloa told him you're not starting, and then all of a sudden he said, Oh, I'm no longer fit to play. He doesn't uh go to a classico. Doesn't even travel with the squad.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Doesn't even travel with the team, but then he posts on Instagram saying a la madrid with the score showing that we're losing 2-0. Like you couldn't at least had the score, bro. Yo, this you couldn't have done that before the game started, and just like a little a la madri with a white heart, like, all right, asshole, why aren't you there with the team? You're supposed to be there, even if you're injured, you're supposed to be traveling and support the team, bro. And now you're over here, you're basically trolling us. You're you're basically trolling us. That felt like a troll, bro. It really did. Like, why why are you like it almost felt like he was making fun of all the fans? It really did. That's exactly what it felt like. I don't know why the hell is that. Put that picture up, yeah. I like the score, bro. Jesus.

SPEAKER_05 16:39

Yeah, why couldn't you have taken that picture like I don't know, 30 minutes before, like whenever the game started? This guy is more anti-Madridista than John Laporta and Gabi and Fermin. This guy hates Nico Medina and me. Jesus. This guy hates Madrid, man. It's insane. At first I saw the story, but I didn't even realize that the the score line was up, and then everybody started talking about it, and I was like, damn, you're right. That's kind of weird. That's kind of weird that he did that.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

I saw that and I was like, I just I couldn't believe my eyes.

SPEAKER_05 17:15

Even more drama evolving at Real Madrid. Who knows what's gonna happen? Obviously, the Mourinho rumors are starting to heat up very, very quickly. He's starting to turn them down, or not turn them down, but shut the rumors down a little bit. But I think he's gonna end up coming down.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

No, we all know what's going on. Yeah, yeah. Am I ecstatic about it? No, I'm not. But at this point, whatever, dude. Just just come on, come on, dude. Come on, try to fix something. You know, I don't I don't know anyone else that could actually succeed in fixing the Madrid dressing room other than him. Maybe Zidane, but Zidane's not gonna come back right now. Him and Zidane are probably the only two that that could do something. So I don't know, man. We'll see. It's not gonna be the same Mourinho. I mean his same personality, of course, but he's he's not prime Mourinho anymore. But like I said, I thought the same exact thing about Ancelati when we got him from Everton. I thought he was washed, I thought he was done, and he came back and won everything. So I'm hoping Mourinho does the same thing. He was the one that brought us back from the dead too. When Guardiolo came in for his first season, we were done for. We hadn't won anything in a while. We hadn't been to the semifinals of the Champions League in like, I don't know, five, six years, maybe. Actually, no, we hadn't longer than that, man. I think we're longer than that. We yes, you're right. We actually hadn't surpassed a round of 16 for five or six years. That's what it was. Until Mourinho came. So he he did bring us back from the dead, and maybe he can do that again. And a hundred points. He got a hundred points in the league. He got us a hundred points, yep. And we had the most goals with him as well. Ronaldo had one of the best seasons with him. We actually had a really great trio with Ronaldo Benzema Higuain. That was our high-scoring trio of all time. So we'll we'll see how he can get Jude, Vinny, and Mbappe all to concede because I really don't think either Viny or Mbappe are leaving. Bellingham is definitely not leaving. So we're gonna see if uh Mourinho can try to make this work. And if he can't make it work, nobody can make it work. Nobody. That's it. He's gotta get rid of one of Vinier and Mbappe for sure.

SPEAKER_05 19:33

Bring on whoever, man. Bring on whoever you want. Hansi Flick takes him out one by one. Took out Ancholotti, took out Xavi Alonso, took out Arbeloaf, hasn't been official yet, but we know he's not staying. There's no way he's gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

That's crazy, bro. He this dude doesn't even know Spanish, and he's won his both league titles that he's coached.

SPEAKER_05 19:53

He's never lost a league title. Isn't that crazy? He's four for four on league titles. Freaking high. Back to back seasons, and people were saying, oh, Hansi Flick's second season aren't aren't that great. And we're on track to have a better record in the league than we did last year. We're on track for a hundred-point season. We are three games away. We're 91 points. And we are disgusting. We won La Liga against Real Madrid at Al Clasico. I don't think that's ever been done before. And we're 18 for 18 right now so far in the league at home. 18 wins, 18 games played. We could go completely undefeated at home. I don't know if that's ever been done in La Liga. I'll have to fact check that. But even so, all wins?

SPEAKER_01 20:41

I think you I think there's definitely been teams that have gone undefeated. I don't know if they've won all their games. Maybe top.

SPEAKER_05 20:47

No, I'm talking about one. Like we've won every single game at the Cam No for in La Liga this season. 18 for 18. We just got one more. I don't know if that's ever I don't know. I'll have to fact check it. But either way, it's still an incredible achievement what Hansi Flick has been doing. And there was some tragic news that happened the day over Classico. His father passed away the morning of, and he decided to stay with the team. He wants to be with the team.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Once that happened, I knew we were gonna lose. I knew that we were gonna lose. Are you telling me the Barcelona players weren't gonna give it their all for their coach? Exactly, man. After their father, after his father just passed away, no, they were gonna get it.

SPEAKER_05 21:27

I think that I love that, man, because it shows the unity that the squad has with each other and with Hansie Flick, and that Hansie Flick is essentially a father to everyone.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Like you said, he doesn't even know. How does it feel? Can you can you tell me can you tell me how that feels? Because I have no idea how that feels like. I have no idea how to how to see my team interacting with their coach like that.

SPEAKER_05 21:47

It feels amazing to see that every single player just loves that coach, and they were they're willing to risk it all for him because he gives them so much confidence. I mean, Rafinha was on the brink of Leaving the summer of 2024, whenever Hansi Fleet came, and he convinced him to stay. And Rafinha has had back-to-back, wonderful seasons. That's something that a coach gives you because of the amount of confidence that he's given Rafinha. He's the the confidence that he gave Lewandowski. The second this is Lewandowski's fourth season. His first season was amazing. One La Liga was Pichichi, everything. His second season was not as good. It was very, very subpar. And they were talking about him leaving as well. And Hansi Flick came back, or not came back, but came. He brought in a lot of confidence in him. And he But they worked together in Bayern, too. They worked together in Bayern, so they knew each other, right? So he knew how to get the best out of him. Bring giving so much confidence to a player like Casalo, like Bernal, bringing Pedri back to full fitness, giving all the confidence in the world to Gabi. Gabi's been through hell and back with back-to-back severe injuries to his knee. And what a game he had, by the way. I know you didn't watch, but this kid was everywhere, bro. You would have never thought this kid has ACL reconstruction surgery, meniscus surgery, nothing like that. This kid was everywhere. Absolute beast, absolute demon. I'm very excited to see him next season under Flick again. We'll see if he makes the World Cup squad. That's the main reason Flick has been playing him so much because he wants to give him the opportunity to showcase himself to Luis de la Fuente. I hope he does. I hope he makes it to the World Cup.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

But the Spain midfield is tough to get into.

SPEAKER_05 23:34

It's stacked right now, for sure. Stacked. But man, like I it's it's beautiful to be back-to-back champions. Hansi Flick is one of the very few coaches to have done it in his first two seasons. Very, very few coaches have done that. I think Guardiola has done that. Hansi Flick has done that. Mr. Chi put out a tweet about it, but hold on.

SPEAKER_04 23:55

Let me find it. Hold on, I got it. So yeah, only check this out.

SPEAKER_05 24:14

There's only been one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. So there's only been eight managers that have won back-to-back La Liga titles with the same club in their first two seasons. So this guy with the brother being being hockey with Real Madrid 37 years ago. Then it was Cruyff with Barca, Van Gaal with Barca, Reichhardt with Barça, Guardiola with Barca, Luis Enrique with Barca, Valverde with Barça, and then Flick with Barca. Even Barca. All Barca coaches. And this is another crazy stat too. Hansi Flick is the first coach to win his seven first six El Clasicos. Excuse me. To win six El Classicos out of his seven first El Classicos. Guardiola won five out of his first seven. He's the first coach to win six. And then on top of that.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

If only he played us when we didn't have Mbappe. I wish. I wish. I wish.

SPEAKER_05 25:21

Wait, play who played us?

SPEAKER_01 25:24

Flick. Because he came last season, right?

SPEAKER_05 25:28

He came last season. His first season was whenever with Mbappe, yep. And then right now he's got the most percent as far as percentage wins go, he's six out of seven against Real Madrid. Man, no other uh coach has done that. Guardiola was nine out of fifteen, Croyf was nine out of twenty-five it comes when it comes to wins. Flick is six out of seven. Venivals was six out of twelve, and Renus Mikel's was six out of fifteen. This guy's six for seven. That is an incredible stat against your biggest rival. And then to win two, three finals against him, and basically four, because last night was basically a final for us because we lifted another trophy in front of Real Madrid. So insane, bro.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

If you would have told me this two years ago, I wouldn't believe you.

SPEAKER_05 26:26

Nobody wouldn't believe this. Nobody would have believed.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Everybody was making fun of Barcelona. You guys were the joke of the league of football.

SPEAKER_05 26:37

And now it's you guys had just won La Liga. You guys had just won the Champions League, and on top of that, you went out and got Killing Mbappe, who arguably was the best player in the world. You guys have been chasing him for years. Everybody thought you were they were gonna come in with Mbappé and just completely destroyed Barcelona for the next decade. Completely.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Especially because Mbappe loves playing against Barcelona.

SPEAKER_05 27:00

Yeah. He does. He does him.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

He's got like 12 goals.

SPEAKER_05 27:05

Yeah, but not many wins. Not many wins against us.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

Not with the Madrid jersey, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:11

Definitely not with the Madrid jersey. Just won. And that was back in October when you guys were five points ahead. And now, well, they're losers. La Liga losers. And um, and we talked about this last episode a little bit too, but to see the progress that Barcelona as a club has made domestically, I mean, in general, since Johann Cruyff took over as a manager in 1988, 1989 has been monumental. Whenever he first took over in 88, Barcelona only had 10 La Liga titles. Real Madrid had 23. Ever since then, we've won 19 La Liga titles. Madrid has won 13. We have won 50% of La Liga titles since Johann Cruyff came in as a manager and changed our philosophy completely. He won as our first Champions League, and we've won four more ever since. And we're still behind, obviously, in league titles to Real Madrid, but to see the dominance that we've had domestically since Johan Cruyff took over has been astonishing. And it's a testament to total football and the philosophy that he brought in over from IX to Barcelona and that we still apply to this day. I mean, we wouldn't have we wouldn't be where we are today if it wasn't for La Macia. If you look at all these players that came through La Masilla the past three, four years, we would not be here without him. The Gabis, the Fermines, the Lamins, the Palcuarci, Gerard Martin. I mean, this guy came, this guy came out of Nova. Gerard Martin and Fermin Lopez, two, three years ago, were playing in the third division in Spain. They were playing in the third division. Now they're back-to-back La Liga champions with Barcelona and started being beating Real Madrid. Yeah. Isn't that insane? I mean, to to put it into perspective, man, I I would have never thought this. Like two years ago, I would have never thought this. And to to have won three out of four La Liga titles in the last four years. And I don't even think you mentioned your boy Lamin. I did mention Lamin, but and he wasn't even he wasn't even playing this past weekend. He wasn't even playing. He was just resting up.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

It's about what a crazy you guys let go of a whole whole generation of players. That was like your golden era, and now now you guys produced a whole nother generation that could bring you a whole lot of titles, too.

SPEAKER_05 29:46

Yeah, that's the that's the great thing about La Mesia, and also the bad thing about La Mesia is that sometimes you produce such high talent that the bar is set so so high that every fan thinks, oh, we must have another Messi, another Lamin, another Xavi in there somewhere. But fucking hell, we found him. Like quite literally, right when we needed him the most. We brought up Lamin, we got Gabi. I mean, Belletti's not from La Macia, but he is the most La Macia player I've ever seen. We and you guys bought him when he was like 18. 18, yeah. Over from Las Palas.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

Yeah, he was really, really young. So he might as well be from La Macia.

SPEAKER_05 30:26

Yeah, and might as well be. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

It's like, yeah, but Iniesta left, then you got Belly. Shabby left, you got Gabi. Messi left, you got Lamine.

SPEAKER_05 30:37

Mm-hmm. Busquets left, we got this guy, Bernal, who plays exactly like him.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

He plays exactly like him, man. It's in the bottom over there in La Macia.

SPEAKER_05 30:47

And Fermin, Fermin is another one, bro. Like, I don't even know if Fermin gets enough credit. This guy, though, the way he gives it his all every single game and his goal contribution throughout the season as well. It's one of the best in Europe. He is fantastic. And he can play wide, he can play centrally. That's the type of versatility that we need within the squad, and that Hansy Flick loves. And every single Barcelona fan loves that as well. Yeah, Fermin is good.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

I like Fermin.

SPEAKER_05 31:20

He's a phenomenal player, and it's beautiful to see as well. I mean, after we won the Liga yesterday, you could see how much it meant to these players, especially these La Macia players, because if they weren't out there playing, they would be in the stands rooting for Barcelona. They would be out there in the north end with all the ultras chanting and singing, man, because as soon as the whistle blew, they went over there, they started chanting with them, but then everybody's out of the stadium, and you got players like Casalo and Balde, they're out there literally in the streets of Barcelona celebrating with the Ultras. You got players like Eddie Garcia, Yandani Olmo, they're riding their bikes at midnight through the city of Barcelona just celebrating. That is beautiful to see, and you don't get to see that in many other clubs. So to see that these kids that have been rooting the team that they play for since they were literally kids, and now they're getting to live the dream of playing for that club and then winning trophies and being part of a generational squad, a historic quad with that club, is amazing. This is probably one of my favorite Barcelona squads ever because of that, because of how much this team loves the how much these players love the team, how much they're connected to the fans. It's beautiful to see. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

It's fucking terrible to see from here.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

It's not a beautiful sight. Man.

SPEAKER_05 32:51

What what a moment. Another trophy lifted in front of Real Madrid. It's it's a I would have never thought.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

Would have never thought. Man. Before the first talk classico, I was so happy. Everybody was Classico, so every Real Madrid fan was. Five points ahead. Life was good. Celebrated too early, man.

SPEAKER_05 33:20

It was just one after the other.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

Damn.

SPEAKER_05 33:24

It was just drama after drama after drama. And the crazy thing is, man, is that whenever you guys got Mbappe, I was like, damn, that's gonna be tough, but I still had faith in our team. It was whenever you guys got Xavi Alonso that I was like, oh shit, it's about to get real. This is gonna be interesting. Me too.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

You guys got a bunch of divas. And we didn't let that happen. I think every Madrid fan was super excited to have a coach to actually implement his ideas into the squad. Yeah, in a different philosophy, not just let the players roam around and do their thing. And here comes Vinicius Jr. with his little attitude getting subbed off. And that was it. That was that. That's all she wrote for Xabi Alonso. We were so excited for what could have been. And I feel like Xabi Alonso could have really succeeded at Madrid. He just needed time and support from the players and from the board. And I I think we could have seen a really, really dangerous coach. And I mean I still think I still think we could see him in the Premier League kill it. And I think Madrid are just gonna absolutely kill themselves when they see how good he is in the Premier League. Because he's gonna kill it over there, whether it's with Chelsea, whether it's with Liverpool, he's gonna crush it. He's gonna absolutely crush it. And Madrid are gonna be like, damn, I cannot believe we actually let him go.

SPEAKER_05 34:52

Yeah, I think that's that's exactly what it's gonna look like because now you're looking at him.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

Florentino Perez is a big mistake, his biggest mistake in his technical.

SPEAKER_05 35:01

I think he was president. I think if Florentino Perez had any ounce of shame, he would resign immediately. He would just say, have new elections, I'm resigning today, back-to-back trophy list season as a president. That's unacceptable for a club of this magnitude. Yeah, it's not happening. But I'm saying if he had any ounce of shame, but he's not, he's shameless, and he blames other people but himself. He's that's why he has Arbeloa, because Arbaloa gets in front of the president, he says, Oh, this is all my fault. So yeah, let's see.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

I mean, listen, Florentino Perez has won us so many titles, like it's I hate criticizing him, but this season, yeah, that this was his fault. 100% his fault. Everything that happened was his fault. The the the squad wouldn't be this divided if it wasn't for his decision to fire Shabi Alonzo. So that starts with him. So yeah, no, the the this season was definitely his fault for sure. He he did not know how to handle the dressing room. So it all starts with him.

SPEAKER_05 36:05

And I'm curious to see how how that's gonna change because it's it's very broken now. Some players are inevitably going to have to leave and some big name players, not like uh Tiago Pitarc. I'm talking about, I think Valverde or Chuameni is gonna end up leaving. Whoalberde's not going anywhere. I mean, I don't know. I honestly don't think competition with like 70 million people that signed it to get Mbappe out. Did you sign it?

SPEAKER_01 36:30

I saw it, but no, no, I did not sign it. I did not take a part of those stupid activities. I didn't either, if it makes you feel better. I want him to stay. Of course you do. Of course you do. No, I should have signed it like five times, actually.

SPEAKER_02 36:48

If they would have if they would have given me that petition before he came, I definitely would have signed it.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

But nah, whatever. It's too late now. But no, I don't think Balberte is gonna go. I actually don't think Chuomeni's gonna leave either. I mean, if any of the two do go, it will be Chuomeni and probably to Manchester United, because Manchester United is hitting hard for him. They're going hard for him.

SPEAKER_05 37:10

They are, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:12

I I don't know. I don't Madrid doesn't want to let go of either of them. They're both starters, both are pillar two of midfield. They gotta figure out a way to to make them kiss and make up. We'll see, man. That's it. That's it.

SPEAKER_05 37:27

I don't know if that'll happen.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

That's it. I don't know either. I have no idea. It's too soon to tell. But for the sake of the club, we need both of them. We really need both of them.

SPEAKER_05 37:37

I mean, we're gonna really find out to really find out in the in the World Cup if France and uh Uruguay ever face each other. I don't know if that's even possible. I haven't even looked at the bracket, but if that were to happen, we're gonna find out. If we get a like a Rooney Cristiano Ronaldo scenario in 2006, if we get that with Valverde and True Mini. Apparently, Valverde was trying to get him out of the World Cup. Really?

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Valbert was going hard. Yeah, he was going hard in training. He was really trying to tackle him. He was pissed off.

SPEAKER_00 38:08

He was really pissed off. I guess when Valverde gets pissed off. Oof.

SPEAKER_05 38:16

Well, he messed with the wrong guy. Trumany said, get out of here, bro.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

He does shit like that. Yeah. Trumani literally said, get out of here and knocked his ass out.

SPEAKER_05 38:24

Well, here's here's what here's what I was thinking for a long time for a while, and I still think this is true. I think it was just a regular Real Madrid training. It was that's just what they train like. I mean, if you see the way Valverde he punched that Benfica player, you see the way Rudiger needed that player against Getafe, that stomp that he did against uh Miles Lewis Kelly last year. It was just a regular Real Madrid training.

SPEAKER_01 38:48

Yeah, but those are actually games. When there's the Champions League is on the line there. What the hell is on the line here? Nothing, bro. It's training. I mean, yeah, you're you're training to beat Barcelona so they don't win the league, but still there's no need to go that hard on your own teammate ever. Ever, dude. You never want to injure a teammate. And he was going hard in training. Reports were saying that he was almost trying to injure him. So yeah, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_05 39:22

I thought I thought it was the other way around. Like I had heard the first fight broke out because Chua Meni went in too hard against Valverde, and then Valverde got pissed, and then they started like tossing, like pushing each other, shoving each other.

SPEAKER_01 39:34

Maybe it was the to be honest, I don't remember anymore what led to the first fight or the the the first day, but the the second day for sure, Valbert was going in on Chua Meni.

SPEAKER_05 39:46

Apparently, Chua Meni tried to apologize, and Valverde didn't accept it. He didn't accept his apologies.

SPEAKER_04 39:54

Damn.

SPEAKER_05 39:55

He thought he was the mole. Wow. That's messed up. That's messed up. That was crazy. That was that was some great drama.

SPEAKER_01 40:05

What a season.

SPEAKER_05 40:06

What a way to end the season with this much drama at Real Madrid, Valverde and Shuameni fighting. Apparently, Rudiger, like we talked about last episode, was punching Carreras. There was a video I saw of him slapping. Apparently, there was another video I saw of him slapping one of the staff members, smacking him around.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

Huh? And the staff member was just like, hey man, this is like an everyday thing. Yeah, that's not a thing. Rudiger is not a normal person.

SPEAKER_05 40:38

No, that guy's a crazy. And then you got Mbappe basically trolling his own team, his own fans. He really, he really was. Wow, what an embarrassment. What an embarrassment. And then even after El Classico, apparently there were pictures of him at like 1 a.m. out eating dinner with his girl and a bunch of friends, like having just the happiest time of his life. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

He might be already at the World Cup.

SPEAKER_05 41:06

It might have been before El Classico. It was one of the two. It was either before O Classico or the day or after.

SPEAKER_01 41:12

Well, probably when he was in Italy then.

SPEAKER_05 41:15

No, they caught him in Madrid. He was in Madrid. Like he went out in Madrid.

SPEAKER_01 41:20

That's bold of him. That's pretty bold of him to do that after El Classico. Especially after everything that's going on. That's bold. Yeah, man. Crazy. Crazy stuff. Bad times to be a Madrid fan. Bad times. Yeah. This is the most embarrassing time to be a Madrid fan right now. I've never felt this slow before. Ever. Ever. Wow. Yeah, it's my first classical I didn't watch, dude. Like, I was not excited for it at all. I really, there was not one bit of me that wanted to watch it. I did not want to give them two hours of my time. I don't blame you. Just to get dunked on, bro. Just to get fucking dunked on.

SPEAKER_05 42:00

Just to get just to watch them lose like that and then watch Barcelona lift the trophy. I don't blame you. It was good. It was it was a great ceremony. Barcelona put on a great party. Olivia Rodrigo was loving it. She's going to be remembered forever as a legend being on that jersey on this historic day. She put on a concert apparently, I think the night before for people. I mean, amazing. That sponsorship is probably one of the best in all of sports right now. I love, I love that Spotify sponsorship.

SPEAKER_01 42:29

I can't lie, that is pretty sick.

SPEAKER_05 42:31

It's pretty dope.

SPEAKER_01 42:32

And you guys always do the artist and the classico. You guys had Drake. You guys had, was it Maroon 5 one year?

SPEAKER_05 42:40

Oh, Coldplay. We had Coldplay. We had The Rolling Stones. We had Carol G. Travis Scott was also awesome. He was loving it. He was at the game. It looked like he'd been a supporter all his life. And he had his own merchandise that came out as well. Olivia Rodrigo was great. Carol G was great. Who was the other one, man? There's been a while.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

So that's about it. I mean, it's always been an old classico. Every classico, you guys do that.

SPEAKER_05 43:08

Mm-hmm. Yeah, every single classico is part of the contract, which is pretty dope. They promote uh a big artist like that. Drake. Did we say Drake? Yeah, Drake. I think we lost that old Classico whenever Drake was on. We got the Drake curse. I can't remember. Of course. I can't remember. Mind is getting foggy on that one.

SPEAKER_01 43:26

Too many Classicos now.

SPEAKER_05 43:28

Yeah, too many. Too many. But anyway, man. Wraps it up for La Liga officially. I mean, not officially. There's still three games left to be played. The champion is already set in stone, but we got some we got some stuff going on in relegation battle. Even as early as today, Girona played Rayo Ayacano. They tied 1 1. But if you look at the table right now, man, there is like four points left.

SPEAKER_01 43:53

It's crowded down there.

SPEAKER_05 43:54

It's very crowded. You know, we were talking about Sevilla a couple of episodes ago. They were in 18th. Place. They've won back to back. Now the 13th. It's crazy because they are three points from relegation, but at the same time, they're five points from a European spot. So they could mathematically still qualify for the conference league, and they could also mathematically go down to the second division.

SPEAKER_01 44:19

That's pretty crazy. I mean, dude, there is literally nine points that separates Levante, who's in 19th place, and Gatafe, who's in seventh place. Yeah. There's nine points left to be placed. Yeah, and there's 14 points between Madrid and Barcelona were first and second. Isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_05 44:36

That's a wild, that's a wild way to put it. There's a bigger difference between one and two than seven and eighteen or nineteen. Wow. Yeah, man. It's getting crowded.

SPEAKER_01 44:49

It's crowded, bro.

SPEAKER_05 44:50

It's crowded down there.

SPEAKER_01 44:51

It's a crowded and crowded bottom, bottom of the table.

SPEAKER_05 44:54

And middle. Espanol is is uh is having a really, really tough time the second half of the season. The first half of the season, they had 10 wins, three draws, four losses, 33 points. Second half of the season since January, they have had now their record is now 10 wins, nine draws, 16 losses, and they have 39.

SPEAKER_01 45:18

I didn't realize that. Damn. So they've only added six points the second half of the season. Holy shit.

SPEAKER_05 45:24

They haven't won a single game the second half of the season. Wow. I would love to see them go down. That would be the cherry on top.

SPEAKER_01 45:31

Gidona, dude.

SPEAKER_05 45:32

Gidona is won.

SPEAKER_01 45:33

Gidona two years ago they were competing for the title.

SPEAKER_05 45:36

Yeah, they weren't Champions League spots.

SPEAKER_01 45:43

Yeah, that's what happens.

SPEAKER_05 45:44

That's what happens, bro. All their players left. So, but yeah. It's getting crowded down there in the relegation in the relegation zone. It's gonna be exciting to see the last three games of the season. Nine points still left to play. A lot could happen. Play, there's some teams could get relegated, and some teams can qualify for Europe. Who the hell knows? That's the beauty of this sport. But La Liga is pretty wrapped up in the champion. Barcelona officially champions once again, back to back, 29th league title. Now we're going for the hundred points. 100 points for Hansi Flick. We can do it. He would be the third coach to do it. Be the third coach.

SPEAKER_01 46:26

Mourinho, Tito Iranoa.

SPEAKER_05 46:29

There you go. Mourinho and Tito Iranoa. Back to back. Mourinho in 2011-2012. Tito Iranoa. Rest in peace. Left us too soon. Could have been a legendary coach.

SPEAKER_01 46:40

Mourinho freaking poked him in the eye. Almost took his eye out, dude.

SPEAKER_05 46:44

Yeah, what an asshole. Remember that? Yes. Can you imagine if that happened today in the age of VAR? Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 46:51

And social media, too, because I mean there was social media back then, but it wasn't.

SPEAKER_05 46:56

It wasn't like it is now. No, man. I remember that fight. That was insane, man. That was an insane fight. And then Mourinho, everybody's fighting. Mourinho just comes up, hands in his pocket, and I don't know, or just pokes him in the eye. And then he tried to lie about it in the press conference. Somebody asked him about it. He's like, I don't know what you're talking about. He liked there's hundreds of K. We got you on K, my bro.

SPEAKER_00 47:19

What are you talking about? Man. Crazy.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

There's no one like him. The special one. I can't wait for the press conferences. I just can't wait. I can't wait for the theater.

SPEAKER_05 47:33

I was uh I was looking at some old press conferences that he's had, and he's had so many classic ones. But whenever he was at Madrid, remember when he used to have Aitor Caranka, the Madrid assistant coach, go up and do the press conference because he got annoyed of Ableton Media. And then there was one press conference where Aitor Caranka was there. I think it was the first one that he showed up, and then a bunch of the journalists left because they're like, oh, this is a lack of respect. We're supposed to talk to the head coach, the first team coach, not the assistant. And then the next press conference, Mourinho showed up, and some journalist, one of the journalists who left, asked him a question, and he was like, Are you the director over at us? And he's like, No. Well, I only talked to your director. You didn't want to talk to my assistant. I only want to talk to your boss.

SPEAKER_01 48:25

Dude, what a classic Mourinho response. Yeah. You know, he was looking at that press conference too, like on his phone or at his office or whatever. And he was taking notes.

SPEAKER_02 48:35

Oh, who's talking shit?

SPEAKER_00 48:36

Who? Martin from us?

SPEAKER_04 48:41

Got him. Got him. He had that in his background.

SPEAKER_01 48:45

Make sure to let him know that he's not he's not the boss over where he works. Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 48:51

But anyway, that'd be that'll be interesting if he ends up coming. But we'll we'll keep everyone updated. Obviously, we'll keep all the reactions coming as things progress. And like we said, La Liga's still a lot left to play for those uh for those teams between 7th and 18th place or 19th place. Crazy to think about. That's uh that's enough for La Liga. That's enough celebrating, that's enough drowning in your own wallowing your own self-pity over there with Real Madrid. I think it's time to talk a little bit about the Premier League because we had a very big game with between West Ham and Arsenal this weekend. Not only was Arsenal chasing the title, but West Ham is trying to avoid relegation at the same time. And Arsenal ends up winning 1-0 with a very controversial goal taken away from West Ham at the very, very last minute, 97th, 98th minute, whatever it was, and Arsenal are that much closer to becoming Premier League titles for the first time since 2002.

SPEAKER_01 50:01

But was it that controversial though? You think that call was very controversial? I mean, they made it controversial online, but I think the foul is clear as day.

SPEAKER_05 50:10

But here's the thing is that there is a foul behind between I forget the players, man, but there's an Arsenal defender who's grabbing a West Ham player. So it could have been a penalty.

SPEAKER_01 50:23

Declan Rice.

SPEAKER_05 50:24

It might have been Declan, yeah. There was somebody who was grabbing a West Ham player. So that's why it's controversial because yes, was there was there a shove on David Raya? 100%. I think that was a foul, but there was also a foul behind that happening. So it's which one do you call first? That's where it gets controversial because to me, they're both fouls.

SPEAKER_01 50:44

Well, once he touched the keeper, the keeper is protected, man. The keeper has to be protected by the ref. Once you kind of uh try to block the keeper or invade him from getting the ball.

SPEAKER_05 50:59

Which was definitely happening. It was definitely a foul. I'm not debating that. The only thing I'm debating is was the foul behind also a foul? Should have that been called a PK? Which one happened first? I don't know. I'm genuinely asking because I don't know. Like how I mean decide that.

SPEAKER_01 51:16

The referee is gonna have the keeper's back. Just because you can't touch the keeper. You just can't. You can't.

SPEAKER_05 51:24

And I think the funny thing is the argument that the people are making is that that's what Arsenal has done all season with their quarter kicks. Is they've been invading the goalkeeper's box. They've been not shoving him to that extent, but getting in his way prevented him to get to the ball. So that's the argument that everybody's making is that that only gets called in favor of the biggest.

SPEAKER_01 51:46

I mean, it's it's more it's more controversial because it is Arsenal. And they're so close to winning the Premier League, and that was at the 98th minute. I will say it's probably the biggest VAR call in Premier League history. For sure. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 52:00

I think it was definitely the biggest VR just because they were already blowing the bubbles and everything, they were having a good time. They tied it up.

SPEAKER_01 52:09

It went crazy, dude. You you heard the Arsenal fans cheering, you heard all the West Ham fans going crazy too, like booing. It was just a whole mix of emotions at that stadium. But I think it was it was a good call by the ref, honestly. A lot of pressure, but I think I think it was a good call.

SPEAKER_04 52:28

Yeah, I keep going back and forth on it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:35

Yeah, no, I don't I don't think it's so it's too controversial. I see what you're saying. But if you touch the keeper, bro, it's it's a foul. The keeper's obviously gonna be protected over you know over the defender that got fouled or the what is it in the box by Declan Rice.

SPEAKER_05 52:53

Well, anyway, Arsenal are that much closer to the Premier League title. There's two games left to play. They play Burnley and Crystal Palace. I really don't see them losing those games. I really thought that they, if they were gonna drop points, it was gonna be against West Ham, and they did not. I think that's it. The the title's basically in their hands. I don't really see them screwing this one up. Yeah. Like they did earlier this season. I don't see that happening.

SPEAKER_01 53:19

You think they'll lose another one? Because we didn't think that they were gonna lose against who was it, Bournemouth or Brettford?

SPEAKER_05 53:25

Bournemouth, yeah. That was a big one. But I mean, if you look at who they're playing, they're playing art, they're playing Burnley and they're playing Crystal Palace. And Crystal Palace is in the final of the conference league, and they they don't really have much to play for against Arsenal here. When is the final of the conference league?

SPEAKER_01 53:42

Yeah, they're and they're mathematically saved. That's up in two weeks.

SPEAKER_05 53:46

Yeah, and so it's after. So they play Arsenal May 24th, they play the final of the conference league May 27th. They're probably not even gonna play their best team. They're probably gonna try to save some of their starters. I it it's not a game that Crystal Palace really cares about at that point because it's not like they're fighting for Champions League or Europa League. The way that they're fighting for Europa League is that if they win the conference league, not if they finish.

SPEAKER_01 54:16

And Man City actually have a harder schedule, too.

SPEAKER_05 54:19

Yeah, they do.

SPEAKER_01 54:20

Yeah, they play Crystal Palace's Palace. They gotta play the FA Cup final this weekend. And Bournemouth were Bournemouth, who are they're kind of fighting for a top five spot, dude. Not gonna lie, low-key. They can still kind of do it, especially after Liverpool and Asta Villa play each other this weekend.

SPEAKER_05 54:41

Well, that's huge.

SPEAKER_01 54:42

So they're low key trying to yeah, they're low-key trying to get into the Champions League. Because obviously, I mean, if one of them loses and Bournemouth can get a win, that they'll just be one point away from either Aston Villa or Liverpool to make it to the Champions League.

SPEAKER_05 54:58

So here's a question. If Aston Villa, let's say the league were to end today, Bournemouth in sixth place, Aston Villa wins the Europa League, they automatically get into the Champions League. Does the sixth place team get the fifth place spot? The fifth spot for no no no no no no no.

SPEAKER_00 55:16

Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_01 55:17

Because nobody then in that case there would be six teams. Like if Bournemouth make the top five, those are the top five teams that make the Champions League, and then Astaville obviously would be out of the top five. But if they win the Europa League, then there would be six Premier League teams in the Champions League.

SPEAKER_04 55:37

Hold on, hold on.

SPEAKER_01 55:41

Because I already think that happened before. When was it? That happened.

SPEAKER_05 55:45

It has happened, but I'm reading it here. I'm reading it from the actual Premier League website, and it says if Villa finish fifth and have already qualified for the Champions League by winning the Europa League, the EPS would be passed down to the team finishes sixth in the Premier League. As it stands, a team who finishes sixth qualify for the Europa League through their league position. But if the EPS place and qualification for the Champions League is passed down to the sixth, the qualification for the Europa League via league position will be lost with that spot passing to another country.

SPEAKER_04 56:18

Interesting. Wait, so what? So it's essentially if I'm reading this correctly, so through the sixth place I could also get a spot in Europe's Elite Club competition.

SPEAKER_05 56:38

If Villa essentially if Villa finish fifth, and on top of that, they win the Europa League, then uh they uh the fifth spot that the Premier League get passes down to the sixth place team. So uh as it stands today, if uh Villa finishes fifth, Bournemouth finishes sixth, and Villa wins the Europa League, then Bournemouth would get into the Champions League because the Premier League has five spots, but then they would relinquish a Europa League spot and they would go to a different country.

SPEAKER_04 57:16

That's the way it works. I just read that from the Premier League website.

SPEAKER_00 57:24

Interesting.

SPEAKER_05 57:25

Isn't that interesting?

SPEAKER_01 57:26

So there could be sixteens. So so in that case Warnemouth would want Aston Villa to win the Europa League.

SPEAKER_05 57:34

Exactly. But yeah. In that case, I mean they would probably want to depend on themselves a little bit more, they would want to get into that fifth place, but yeah, Villa could qualify either by winning the Europa League or by winning or by staying in fifth place, which is interesting.

SPEAKER_01 57:54

And I do remember in 2012 when Chelsea won the Champions League, they didn't make the top four, and Tottenham did. But since Tottenham got fourth place, and there was only four places for England to make it to the Champions League, they took Tottenham out and got Chelsea in.

SPEAKER_05 58:15

Yeah, it's it's changed since. I mean, we're talking about you know, twelve years ago.

SPEAKER_00 58:22

So 14 years ago.

SPEAKER_05 58:24

14 years ago, what am I even saying? Yeah. So we're talking about a long, long time ago.

SPEAKER_01 58:30

Yeah. And last year the five teams to make it to the Champions League were Chelsea City, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Newcastle. But Tottenham won the Europa League, so they made it that way. Those were the six teams to make it to the Chamber.

SPEAKER_05 58:42

Those were the six teams, yeah. Wow. Interesting. So Bournemouth could still get into the Champions League. So a lot to play for for them. Yeah. A lot to play for for them, man. So we'll be keeping tabs on that. So yeah, that that game against Man City, which they play Man City on Tuesday, next Tuesday, because like you said, Man City has the FA Cup final this weekend. Yeah. But yeah, I don't think to sum it up, I don't think Man City wins the Premier League title. I think they'll win the FA Cup this weekend because Chelsea is in shambles as well. Chelsea is an absolute joke at the moment of a club. You talked about they're they're starting to go after Xavi Alonso. I don't know if Xavi Alonso will end up going there. I don't know who in their right mind would want to go manage that club right now.

SPEAKER_01 59:34

Because it is Yeah, no, the perfect fit for Shavi would be Liverpool, but Liverpool has to get rid of Arne slot first.

SPEAKER_05 59:42

I'm sure they will. I'm sure there's no way they don't. They haven't won a single thing. They're not playing well. It looks like the players have given up on him and his philosophy. I think they I think the right move there is to part ways with him and move on. And they could potentially, I mean, they'll still qualify for Champions League, I think, regardless, but they're a lot's gonna on the line here for them this weekend against Aston Villa.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:10

Yeah, that's gonna be a big game.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:12

Big game. Big game for sure. And Tottenham with a big draw today against Leeds. That gets them one point closer to staying in the Premier League for next season. Because uh, especially after West Ham lost to uh Arsenal. So now all Tottenham has to do is just not lose for the remaining two games that they have, which is against Chelsea and Everton.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:37

Tough game for that game against Chelsea, they could probably I don't know, they'll win. It's at the bridge. You know, Chelsea's gonna want Tottenham to get relegated, so they might actually exactly Chelsea's gonna probably go all out all against them.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:54

And then Everton, I don't think they can mathematically qualify for Europe.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:59

I guess they might be able to.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:04

That would be crazy if West Ham beats Newcastle, Chelsea and Tottenham tie, and then Tottenham and West Ham go into the last round of the league, tied on points.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:17

That would be that's that would be that would be an insane end to the season for the relegation battle.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:23

Yeah, you gotta see which goes down to the second division.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:28

Oh my god. My dear.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:31

That's a pretty close relegation race as well. Two teams that are supposed to be in Europe, West Ham and Tottenham.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:41

That's right, yeah. That's right. That's right, man. And speaking of Europe, I mean we touched on it a little bit, but we got the Europa League final and the Conference League final set as well. We got Aston Villa vs. Freiburg for the Europa League. That one's gonna take place May 20th in Istanbul. And then we got the Conference League final. That one's gonna be against Crystal Palace and Rajo Vallecano. Rajo Vallecano, small little club from Vallecas in little uh neighborhood outside of Madrid. First European final in the history of the club. Amazing to see.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:23

The only Spanish team going to a European final.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:26

Yeah. Only Spanish team.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:28

It's a good game, actually. And our boy Munoz is playing, our boy Letima is playing.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:32

Yeah. Who do you think wins these two games? I'm I'm going for Crystal Palace in the conference league.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:39

Me too. Me too. For our boys. We've got to support our Colombian brothers. And then I'll go for Villa too, man. I think Villa really won't. I think he won three with Sevilla. He won two or three with Sevilla. Three with Sevilla. Went to a final with Arsenal.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:58

Yep. This is his sixth Europa League final. And the only one he lost was with Arsenal. And that iron.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:05

And Villarreal, too. He won with Villarreal.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:08

Yeah. So he beat Man United with Villarreal in penalties. And he won crazy, bro. Three with Sevilla, one with Villarreal. And now this is his sixth final and could win it with Astabella. That would be historic for night Emini. But yeah, I think Villa wins. I think Crystal Palace wins. I think the Premier League is having a great showing in Europe this season. Three three teams are in the final for all the European competitions. I think two of them will at least win. I don't think Arsenal make it past PSG.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:42

I don't think it'll be Arsenal now.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:44

But I do think Crystal Palace and Aston Villa win their respective games in Europe. I think so.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:52

So that's that's what we got set in Europe as well. It'll be good. Yeah, it's gonna be good, man.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:59

It's gonna be good, but hey, that's that's a lot to talk about this episode, man. What else we got? What else happened this week that we haven't touched on? That's about it. A little bit of Hamez. Our boy Hamez, his uh time in Minnesota has come to an end. So he one, he released a Netflix special. He's going to, he announced that he's gonna release a Netflix at the end of the month and Netflix documentary, so that's gonna be exciting to watch. But then on top of that, his time in Minnesota has come to an end. He's played a whopping five games for them.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:33

Dude, I don't understand this guy's club career.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:36

I don't even think the Minnesota coach wanted him.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:39

No, I don't think.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:40

I think it was just kind of like a marketing gig, and here you go. And he just needs somewhere.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:55

Well, he came out and denied that he came out and denied those rumors. He did. After the he they played uh Austin FC this weekend, Minnesota. He had actually a good game, he had two assists, but he they asked him that and he denied those rumors. He said, no, no, no. Like the only one who knows when he's gonna retire is myself. Right now I see myself playing for at least a couple more years. I'm just focused on the World Cup.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:17

That's crazy. Well, if he does play, it's gonna be for Tolima because nobody else wants him, bro.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:22

I don't think so. I do think that he is gonna retire sooner than what we think. I don't think he's gonna play over two years.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:29

Like I said, I mean he might he might want to play a season for Tolima before he calls it quits, and that's it. Done. That's it. That's yeah, that's if the team is gonna take him, bro.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:39

If they make it happen, I think he'll end up playing. I don't know if it's for Tolima itself, but definitely for a team in Colombia. I think he'll probably want to win. Or Mbigalo play. Yeah, or Envigalo. I don't think I think Mbigallo is like in second division right now.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:53

Bucaramanga Ryan Runners team IFC Inter Inter de Bogota.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:02

Inter de Bogota. Three Bogota teams now. Well there's there's always been there's always been that team.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:13

They just they were rebranded. It used to be like I that and they rebranded to Inter de Bogota.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:19

But they were always in Bogota though?

SPEAKER_05 1:06:22

Yeah. They were always in Bogota. The two big ones were just Midonarias and Santa Fe. But anyway, man. Yeah, we'll we'll see what happens with Hamas. But yeah, his time in Minnesota has come to an end. Minnesota is not gonna exercise the option to extend his contract to the end of the season. His contract expires June 30th, and he's leaving after their game on uh May 13th. He's gonna go and uh go to Columbia and start training for the World Cup with the national team. Interesting. Little stint here in the MLS for him. And did not go as anyone expected.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:02

Small little stint, dude.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:04

It was uh man porn. Yeah. I mean, hopefully he shows up for the for the World Cup. That's all that matters. To me, at least.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:13

Yeah, because he also had a health scare too, after the friendlies.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:17

Yeah. Yeah, he had to go to the hospital. He apparently had like rhabdo or something. Who knows?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:24

So I don't know. Anyway, he just kills it for the World Cup and then bows out after that.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:42

That about it. That about doesn't. That about doesn't, man.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:49

That about does it for this episode.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:52

I can't believe this team really let Barcelona dunk on them. To win La Liga.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:01

You enjoy it, dude. You enjoy it. Who knows when this will happen again? I'm enjoying it for sure. No.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:14

It's been an incredible last two seasons under Hotsey Flick. He's completely changed my life. Absolutely. As a as a Barcelona fan. He's made it infinitely better. And he needs to have a lifetime contract. They just extended his contract. Hasn't been official yet, but should be announced here soon until 2028 with another option. He should be the coach until he decides that he doesn't want to coach anymore because he said that this is gonna be the last club that he coaches. So if this is gonna be the last club, maybe the Champions League. He will.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:35

Congratulations for winning your league. Congratulations for winning your super cup. We are still your father. Do you understand that? We are still the kings of everything.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:44

I don't even understand why you're I don't even understand why you're talking crap right now. You're going back to back seasons without a trophy.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:53

You've won one of the classical the last time.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:56

You have no room to talk.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:58

You're not kids. I got all the room to talk because we're still your father, bro. How many Ligas do we have, and how many Ligas do you have? Tell me right now. How many Champions Leagues do we have? How many Champions Leagues do you have to do? Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:10

How many how many La Ligas have you actually seen Real Madrid win? Because yeah, you may have more than this, but you haven't seen them win all of that because since the year 2000, you've only won nine. Okay. So guess what? You haven't actually champions league.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:22

How many how many Champions Leagues have you seen Barcelona win? How many? Well, I've seen six, baby. Six. Actually, nine since I've been alive. I just didn't watch soccer since then since I was like 10 years old. That's when I started watching soccer. But before then, they won three.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:38

So they've they've won nine Champions Leagues since I've been alive.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:41

You can keep talking about your Champions League all you want, man. You know what? At the end of the day, at the end of the day, those last two seasons.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:53

Cute. That's cute. That's cute.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:01

Don't ever forget it. Very last two seasons. Three finals lost. And we won the Liga all in your head. Don't ever forget that. That's historic. That's never happened. We won the League.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:13

I'm gonna forget it. Don't worry about it. Next season when we start winning trophies again. I'm gonna forget about it. You'll be not gonna go.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:21

You can keep flaunting all this other crap and everything, but the reality is, man, that as of today's game. That's what the trophies are there for to fly. Your team is in shambles. We are in shambles. Your team doesn't even get along. We'll get through. And at the end of the day, you just watched us win another title. You watched us lift another title in front of you. That's gonna feel like shit.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:49

You know what? It does hurt. And the Ninja Turtle, he is an asshole. But you know what? We're still gonna win something next season. We're not gonna go another season trophy list. So be ready. We'll see. Be ready. Enjoy this moment. We'll see. All right. Talk your shit. Everybody said the same thing. Because this ain't gonna happen for long, okay? This ain't gonna happen much longer. You ain't gonna win a three P. That's not gonna happen. Just wait.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:13

Who knows? Just wait. We definitely will. I got the confidence in this team. If anybody can do it, is this team, man? Just wait till we come back next season and do it all over again. Wait till we come back.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:23

Wait till we come back. Wait till we come back.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:25

I wish you would come back. Make it somewhat exciting. Make it somewhat. Make it somewhat exciting for us. It's been too easy. We won La Liga with 14 points ahead of you guys. This is crazy. At least give us some sort of El Classico. This isn't El Classico anymore. We just keep beating you guys over and over and over. We had to let you guys win one just so you guys can see that. I see you're feeling big now.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:49

Three, four years ago, you were crying, oh Messi left. I don't know. We're gonna win the league. That was way longer than four years. We can never win the Champions League.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:57

I think next year we'll win it, but now you're Mr. Big Shot, huh? You got back-to-back leagues.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:06

Hansie Flick is your is your new daddy. You love Hansi Flick, huh? Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:10

No, he's your daddy. He's my father.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:13

And Real Madrid is your father. Remember that. No, they're not, man. Remember that.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:19

Remember that.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:20

Hey.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:21

You're still gonna chase us with titles. You're still gonna chase us with titles. We're not chasing you guys. You guys are chasing us. Remember that.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:28

You're the ones with no titles right now, man. We're the ones with we're the ones doing a parade out in North City. You guys are trying to figure out who's fighting next week. You guys are trying to figure you're getting with Dana White and be like, hey, we got this. We got Valverde and Chuameni, they gotta fight. And uh Rudiger wants to fight everybody. So how can we sets it? How can we set some?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:46

We already had that. We already had the undercard with Rudiger and Carreras. The main fight was Valverde and Chuameni. That already happened, bro. Yeah. We already had that set up.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:56

It's gonna happen officially now. So I don't know why you talk all this crap, man. Look at this stat that I just saw. Rafinha, nine wins and 13 of Classicos. Cristiano Ronaldo, eight wins and 30 little Classicos. That's all I gotta say.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:11

Dude, you know what, man? I'm about to call Dana White up right now to set up a fight between me and you.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:16

How about we do that? I'm about to call up Dana White right now. Come on, Dana. Me and my brother are gonna be fighting at the White House. That's gonna be the fight at the White House. That's gonna be the show.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:29

The Medina brothers, the friendly foes. That'll get more traction than Elliot Taporia versus Justin Gagey, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:39

It will.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:40

But anyway, man, we'll have to let you guys go now. It's been a pleasure having this episode and seeing Barcelona win again, another league title. We'll see what happens with Real Madrid, but hey, we'll be keeping you guys posted as the Premier League ends. We have the Champions League final still, Europa League, Conference League. We got the World Cup coming up in a month. This is insane. The World Cup is in a month, people. Get ready. Exactly a month. Super 31 days. 31 days, man. It's about to get real here in the US. We'll see how everything uh pans out, but it's getting super exciting. But we'll keep everybody updated, man. Again, be sure to follow us on all socials at friendly foesfc, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, X, whatever you want to call it. That's what we're typically posting. Please help us rate, review the show, share it with your loved ones, your friends, your neighbors. Let them know about the friendly foes. It helps us grow and love you guys, man. Appreciate y'all tuning in. We'll see you all next week. And remember again, peace calvarza. Campeones. Love you guys. Peace.