Inter 7-6 Barcelona, the greatest two-legged semi-final of all time? - Football Weekly

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Hello, and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly Intera through to the Champions League final after an extraordinary game at the San Siro.

By the end, there were players who couldn't move, players facing the wrong direction.

It felt like both managers had made 25 substitutions.

Inter dominated without having the ball at the start, pressing Barca and going two up by half-time.

Barca came back.

Garcia's brilliant volley, almost brilliant header.

Inter were done all over the place.

It was a surprise they held on for as long as they did before Rafinha won it with two minutes to go.

Except he didn't.

Just after Yamal hit the post, Francesco Serbi, 78 years old, up front, Paul Warhurst style, scoring his first ever European goal in injury time before whipping his shirt off, wheeling away like Iggy Pop.

Extra time then and David Fratesi's composure won it.

Jan Sommer somehow kept everything out.

What a moment for Simoni Nzaghi in his shimmering rain-soaked suit.

Blimey.

Also today, we'll look ahead to tonight's semifinal, do some Trent to Madrid, Monday's Palace Forest game, the derivation of Arsenal, just try and walk it in.

Your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Barry Glendenning, welcome.

Hi, Max.

Hello, Jonathan Faduba.

Hello, Max.

And from the racing post, Mark Langdon.

Hi, Max.

I mean, what a game.

Ed says, will anything ever be this good again?

Or should we all just stop?

James, is there a way to hang 210 minutes of football in the Louvre?

Moldy, amongst others.

This was a good game, wasn't it, Barry?

I don't really know where to start, apart from perhaps, Barry, congratulating Inter, because not many gave them a hope in this semi-final.

Even after the first leg, where they'd drawn away from home, the whole chat was about Lamina Marl, to the point where it felt like Barsford won.

And yeah, Inter did win.

They are through.

Yeah, it was a remarkable game of football over two legs.

I give Inter a chance.

I didn't didn't necessarily give them a massive chance.

I certainly didn't expect such a brilliant, brilliant second leg.

And I think you probably have to congratulate Barcelona too for playing their part in it and making it such a good game.

I think

obviously their players will be devastated to lose, but I think in time when the dust settles, and it'll have to settle pretty quickly for them because of an appointment, Real Madrid at the weekend.

But I think they'll look back on this game and go, Wow, I'm sort of glad I was part of that.

I don't think there's any shame in them losing this game, but it was just a sensational game of football, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

And it had me more or less on the edge of my seat for every minute of the two legs, apart from a bit in the second half, quite a long period, I suppose, in the second half last night, when I thought, I inter are done.

They're behind.

They can't run.

They were still...

It was still level, but they had nothing left.

Their players looked so tired.

And then when Rafina scored with four minutes to go, he goes, ah, that's it.

Well done, Barca.

And Inter somehow clawed their way back into the game and added time.

And then somehow had the legs to go on and win it.

It was...

Brilliant.

I loved it.

Yeah, and Barry's right, Mark, isn't he?

Inter was so done in that second half.

Like, they were just all over the place.

and like you just thought there is no way it was i was just thinking well barcel will score at some point we know that happened then they did i still can't quite work out how inter won it but i don't mean that in a kind of

you know in the sense that they didn't deserve it because i feel they did deserve it over both legs yeah i mean i think barcelona deserved it over over the two legs but what i but but inters spirit and sort of desire to stay in the game um because even in the first leg there were times when barcelona pulled that one back to 2-2

that you felt like, oh, they're just going to go on and run away with it.

And they didn't.

And then it was the same in the second half, really, at San Ciro, where Barcelona did dominate, but Inter just hung around and, you know, just made it difficult enough for Barcelona that they couldn't quite put them away.

And then, as you say, a cherubi goes up front for that last moment, finishes it like Lautaro Martinez

in that position.

It is a brilliant finish for

anyone, but for a centre-back.

And I think this has been kind of what Timon Nzagi has built into.

They're not, you know, if you look at kind of the most glamorous players in the world, you wouldn't put sort of Mikatarian and Shalonolu and players like that necessarily in that category.

Barela, you maybe would, but it is a team of battlers

and, you know, really determined, tactically, very strong,

experienced, definitely, one of the eldest teams in sort of European football.

But the way that they just kept going, I think, is admirable.

You know, another final for them.

And the one point I think I would make is that with the away goal rule now not being in operation, that extra 30 minutes that you get in extra time at home,

you sort of wondering where they got that kind of energy from.

I mean, San Ciro would have loved to have been inside that stadium on Tuesday night because San Ciro was just going absolutely bonkers.

And, you know, if they were tired, just that extra bit from the crowd maybe was the difference.

And Jan Song was amazing, so

Jonathan, a friend of mine, an Italian friend of mine, Davo, who constantly thinks we're biased against Italian sides and Italy, said, Look, Into are doing this with half a team of hacks and rejects.

I know Mark's touched on that, but is that an accurate description of this inter team?

It's a slightly harsh description of them, but

I understand the rationale behind it.

You've got players like Matteo Damian,

of course, who was hugging Wayne Rooney at the end of the game from his Manchester United days, who was on punditry duty.

Mikatarian, of course, who had a sort of, you could say, mediocre spell maybe in England with both Manchester United and Arsenal.

Didn't maybe quite work out and hit the heights that he hit at Dortmund in his early time.

Aging players like Atserby.

It is a bit of a sort of mishmash, but it really works.

It works perfectly for Inzaghi.

He's got a team of warriors, basically, that will do anything it takes to win.

They've been successful already.

You know, they got to the Champions League final two years ago, of course, so there's history here.

It's not the first time.

And I think that was that determination and that desire was what really, I think, dragged them through at times in this tie.

It was that maybe feeling that they really want to get back to the final again.

And for those who remember that game against Man City a few years ago in the final, they actually played really well in that game and were, you could argue, quite unfortunate to lose it.

Some might say they not dominated City, but they had their fair share of chances and did quite well in it.

But of course, the team's slightly changed since then.

They've added bits and pieces here.

I think Denzel Dunfries has really improved his game, for example.

He had a fantastic two legs.

There's players like I think Lataro Tiz and Martinez, he's got a shout for being maybe one of the most underrated players maybe in world football.

He's such a good player.

He was like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon, wasn't he?

He was just so sort of like, you know, bandaged up, sort of hobbling around going, there's no way he could move.

It was extraordinary, I thought.

But Max, did you see the way that he then managed to get his fitness back to celebrate with Fratesi in the on the the the in the stands at san siro sorry Jonathan no it's it's you know Mark is put on and it's kind of embodied by I think that two of the key key men in the tie as well which was Jan Sommer and which you mentioned there the goalkeeper who he's had a really good career to be fair like he's been constantly constant at the international level he always sort of pops up at international tournaments and and does does pretty well and i i think marcus turam as well was was really good over the two legs he's a player who doesn't really get a huge amount of credit, maybe, you know, on the global stage.

Didn't have an amazing Euros, really, did he, when he was with France, to be honest.

But he just had that energy and that passion.

I mean, the scenes at the end, Max, were incredible, weren't they?

I mean, Alan Shira, the commentator, was literally thanking both sides.

He was like so happy at the end.

I've never seen a commentator just sort of like...

sort of like bowing his head down and nodding to both sides to sort of thank them.

Jan Sommel was crying.

Raffini was crying.

Like you said,

Martinez was like rallying the crowd, dancing around.

Interagi was pointing at the players.

Zanetti, of course, the legend of Inter was there doing that Argentinian hand waving and stuff like that to the fans.

It was just chaos.

And it was a fantastic, like you say, it was a fantastic occasion.

And one of the best two-legged knockouts maybe you could hope to see, really.

It had everything.

Yeah, actually,

somebody, Matt said, has there ever been a better two-legs of football tie?

Like, there have been better moments, Deanie versus Leicester, you know, Trent Alexander Arnold's corner to Arigi, but across 180 or 210 minutes and I can't think of any so like I don't know if you if anyone has anything that springs to mind of like two games that have been well Liverpool and Chelsea famously served up a few humdingers 20 years ago, didn't they?

Those awful, awful, awful two-legged games

will go down in history as the very antithesis of this one.

Marino versus Benitez.

I can't think of any, but like my memory, you know, Forest Palace, you mentioned in the intro, that that seems like years ago now.

Producer Joel's saying that that Real Madrid Man City semi

was pretty good.

Spurs Ajax was good.

It wasn't as good, but it was really good, wasn't it?

Yeah, I think the, I think, you know, for drama, you could say that there's there's definitely been moments, you know, uh, that that that can match that.

I'm not sure about the quality, though, over

200 plus minutes.

There'll always be recency bias.

You know, you can't recall the 96 Champions League sort of quarterfinal stage, or at least I can't.

But

I think the fact that it was so close and the game was kind of going from one way to the other, it was a clash of styles as well.

I think

you sometimes get really,

you know, you can get great games when two teams are sort of flying forward against each other.

You can get the opposite of that, as Barry said, when Mourinho and Benitez do battle.

But I really enjoyed the fact that, you know, Barcelona are this possession-based team, want the ball all the time.

Inter are just as happy for Barcelona to have it for large spells and then hit them on the counter-attack.

Yeah,

I can't think of a two-legged game where there was so much quality.

I mean, that first leg, the first half of the first leg was about as good as football can get, I think.

So, yeah,

I'll give this one the nod.

Yeah, and actually, the first leg was so many.

Like, five of the six goals were ridiculously good, weren't they?

I mean, the goals were pretty good in this one.

I mean, so what Lautaro kicks it off by, you know, they, they, I think DiMarco does really well, doesn't he, in midfield?

He was great while he was on the pitch, uh, and that leads to Lautaro scoring.

Then there's the penalty.

Are we all happy?

Are we happy that's a penalty, Jonathan?

At first, I thought it was quite a good challenge.

I think if it was not VAR days, that would have been considered like a great tackle.

But of course, when you slow everything down, there did start to look like angles where it did look maybe like he had fouled him.

I think it was a sign of the modern day, really.

I think maybe a bit harsh.

Barcelona was very aggrieved by it.

I think Hansie Flick came out and said that a lot of decisions had gone Inter's way, kind of hinting at maybe a bit of referee bias.

Eric Garcia also did in his post-match interview.

50-50 for me.

No, I think you're right.

Maybe a bit harsh, but I think the main thing is that making the challenge is you're always risking.

You're taking a chance, sliding in, really.

I think in 1989, it's an absolutely amazing tackle, but it isn't 1989.

It's probably what I think.

I mean, did you that was the thing, Ben, because Inter was so good.

Could you see Barca getting back into it?

I couldn't see Barca getting back into it apart from Inter sort of just disappeared in the second half.

Yeah, well, Inter were brilliant in the first half.

And at half-time, it looked like there was only going to be one winner, and it was a matter of how much they would win by

rather than would they win.

And then they just went off a cliff completely in the second half.

I don't know, it's because they've got quite a few older players in their team but or because Barcelona were too good for them.

I think I might owe Gerard Martine

an apology.

Yeah, I think we all do.

He struggled a bit in defence again last night, but going forward, he set up two goals and he should have set up three because he sent that cross in for

oh, the Garcia miss where Jan Sammer pulled off that brilliant save.

That should have been a goal as well.

Inter were brilliant the first half, disappeared in the second half, somehow snatched that last gasp equalizer and then went on to win it.

So it's weird to see a team

sort of drop off a cliff mid-game like that, but they got away with it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, Barce's goals were brilliant, Mark, weren't they?

I mean,

the volley from Garcia and the header from Alma were both like, oh, these are great goals.

This is, I'm just, I'm having such a great time watching them.

Yeah, I mean,

when Eric Garcia smashes one in with a volley into the opposite corner, you know, you're having a fun night, really.

You know, of all the players on the pitch, he might have been sort of about 19 or 20

to have done that.

But it was great.

I mean, Barry mentioned he's missed later on.

I'd forgotten about that this morning.

I mean, there's been so much going on, but that was a pivotal moment because

he should have scored really.

I know it was a great save, but there was um you know a lot of goal was that 2-1 was that i think that was at 2-1 it was before

i've actually done it like a timeline and stuck it to the wall in front of me because there's so much to remember i knew i wouldn't possibly be able to do it so that was at 2-1

uh and then

so between

his volley and almost header So it would have leveled the scores.

Yeah, I mean, I would also just point out Johnny Liu's uh article that that's up on the guardian i mean for him to have kind of summarized it in the way that he did um so soon after the match was some effort as well because i'm still struggling to compute sort of parts of it um sort of you know 12 hours on or whatever it is so uh kudos to him um and I saw one highlights package this morning that managed to get this game into under three minutes.

And I mean, I've no idea how the editors have done that.

But yeah, I mean, Olmo scored a great goal, sort of made up for i mean it's his fault really that the first goal he got dispossessed but that's just the way that just the way that barcelona play that they do take those risks and at that point once it got to 2-2 i could only see barcelona winning your mouth started to get more space they were very aggressive against him um in in the first half particularly but there was more space opening up and then once rafinha scores um you do feel like that is game over i don't know if anybody sort of said your mouth should have run to the corner rather than

I was going about to exactly say that, like John Barnes in 89.

She's taken to the corner.

He's dispossessed, didn't he?

For France, and when they were trying to qualify for a World Cup, but he hits the post and into go at the other end and equalise.

I think it was just written really for that game to carry on and not be done.

Small Catty says, Francesco Acerbi looked so tired and old five minutes after returning to the pitch when he scored.

Are we sure he's definitely Italian and not Croatian?

Mark says, in a reverse twist on the usual M.O., can any of the panel guess which song was UK number one when this year's Ballon d'Or Francesco Acerbi was born?

It's a classic, he says.

It was I Think We're Alone Now by Tiffany.

That makes me feel so much better.

Knocked off top spot by I Should Be So Lucky, Kylie Minogue when music began.

And then actually the winner, Jonathan, by Fratesi.

Like, if he takes it when you'd expect him to take it, I think a defender blocks it.

But that just to delay it for that second.

is so brilliant.

Yeah, and it was also a great build-up play, I think, with Turam and Medi Meditaremi, who I thought was really good when he came on as well.

He had a fantastic impact former Porto striker, the Iranian.

He really brought a lot of energy, and I think he was a key part of the intel comeback, really, in the way he sort of held the ball up.

He was sort of double marking with a couple of other players on Yamal as well, down the sort of

Yamal side.

And yeah, just the way he took it, he sort of delayed it, didn't he?

For Tasey, and then just curled it.

It was a brilliant finish.

The crowd went like berserk.

He ran off and was like climbing, scaling the security hoardings and pointing to somebody in the crowd.

It was like, yeah,

unbelievable scenes.

And it's an interesting one that Inter was, you know, over this course of these two legs, the fact that there's been so many goals, I think 13 goals in total.

When you look at Inter in the first stage of the Champions League, they actually only conceded two goals in the first 10 Champions League games of this campaign.

So it shows you how solid they've been defensively up till, you know, it was really the quarterfinal where they conceded conceded three against buy and uh over two legs but this one it just their defense just seemed to implode um but

as everyone has sort of mentioned on the panel like they looked out of it at a certain point it looked like they were it was almost like eubank ben in a fight you know they just had they were just hanging on and doing whatever they could and just somehow found some strength to recover in extra time and and and and hit that sucker punch so it was really fantastic the way they they did that and i really think it just came down to their that desire maybe from the disappointment from years ago.

They just found something within themselves to sort of come back.

And maybe Barcelona haven't had that experience with a lot of young players.

You look at Flick and the players he brought on, for example.

I mean, he brought on Font, who's a really young player.

Barcelona got such a young squad

to go that far.

It was really...

They did really well themselves.

But I just think Inter had that...

little bit extra motivation towards the end to to see it off and it was embodied in Fratesi's Frates' finish.

Barry, I mean, I hope you haven't put the substitutions on your timeline.

You need an extra wall.

Like, they just kept it.

I was just like, surely they've used them up.

I was also going to go, there's just so many, there's just different squads on the pitch now.

You could go to your timeline.

When was the Jan Sommer tip around the post from your mouth?

Was that at 4-3?

I think it was.

I don't have the Jan Sommer tip around

the timeline.

It's not an exhaustive minute by minute timeline.

It's not good enough.

I mean, do you remember it?

Do you remember it, Barry?

Oh, what I say.

I do, yes.

I mean,

Sommer was brilliant last night.

He, across the two legs, he faced 19 shots, made 14 saves, let in six.

I can't remember any of them being particularly his fault.

I think he made nine saves last night.

And even if you look at the stats, everything is in Barris's favour.

Possession, they had 70.

They had 22 shots on goal to

interest 13.

they completed 666 passes to interest 206

and they had a slightly higher xg as well so if you were just looking at the bare statistics of the game you'd go oh they must have won but uh inter won by the only stat that ultimately matters i suppose yeah i think the key subs were when Inter brought on Fritesi and Zielenski for Kalinoglu and Mikitarian

because they could hardly move at that stage

and

neither of them are they're no spring chickens but like they've they were visibly out gone

so

oh what a game it's just great yeah it's so good to see them groaning getting out of bed just getting flying

Ian says does anyone else think the ref had a very good game tonight deserves a mention for letting the game flow with absolute authority I thought that was a really good point.

I think we occasionally forget when reps are brilliant.

And I thought he was.

You're slightly grimacing, Mark.

You're not sure?

He does have a kind of main person syndrome.

I think he likes to really,

really get involved.

Like

the moment when he gave a penalty, but it was just outside of the area.

And he let everybody at San Siro know just how close it was.

And it wasn't actually a mistake from him.

He was kind of doing the millimeters finger signs.

It was really, really tight.

Um, you know, just letting them know it wasn't his thought.

He did okay.

I mean, I think, and you know, it was a um, it wasn't the most sort of difficult game to ref.

I think both teams played it in the right spirit.

Um, for you're giving this guy nothing, I thought he did a really good job, but yeah, no, you're right.

He does, I know what you mean.

You know, he it's not a ref you don't notice.

No, I thought into word you could have said that he could have clamped down maybe on some of the um Yamal fouls in the first half, but um, yeah, I mean, I, he, he, he, um, he didn't ruin the game.

That's all I ask of a ref.

He did also miss Inigo Martinez and his spitting at Asobe.

I don't know if you've seen the fallout from that.

Did you see the for all round the penalty?

In the first half, yeah, there's been like a video and it's gone around with

seems to suggest, it seems to look like Inigo Martinez spat at Asobe, and that was why he was.

I don't know if you remember after the goal, he was sort of fuming and pointing at someone at Serbi and sort of going mad after the first penalty.

And yeah, if you look on social media, there's sort of a video of Martinez appearing to to spit at um at some at zerby so or towards him anyway so that i think it's going to be something that might rumble on in the coming days uh deglan says is there no one in the sansiro who can get in zaggie a coat what's the correlation of football managers and cold flu medicine consumption must be lots of colders none of them own a waterproof i mean that suit it's all looked so good didn't it just so slick just absolutely drenched and dan says so what we're all supposed to go back to normal football fixtures now are we supposed to be taking fulham everton and wolves Brighton like it isn't being handed a single glow stick while walking out of an exit at a 24-hour rave?

Yeah, well, I mean, that is that's what we have to do, isn't it?

Um, uh, uh, next on the agenda, uh, is PSP.

I suppose it's it's yeah, it's like playing golf.

Like back in the days when I used to play golf, I was terrible, but you just hit one good shot, keeps you going back.

That's all you need, you know, one good shot out of a hundred.

So if the next 99 matches are garbage, you know, we just need one like this to keep to remind us.

Exactly, yeah.

Um, right, we'll look at the PSD Arsenal in a second.

Coach, the energy out there felt different.

What changed for the team today?

It was the new game, Day Scratches from the California Lottery.

Play is everything, those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

Are you saying it was the off-field play that made the difference on the field?

Hey, a little play makes your day, and today it made the game.

That's all for now.

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Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

So PSG are one up on Arsenal at the Part Lead Prize.

Declan Rice said we need to have big balls.

Arsenal played a very strong side at the weekend and lost, Jonathan.

PSG played a very rotated team.

They lost as well.

But, you know, they've got to be strong favourites, PSG.

How should Arsenal approach this game, do you think?

Well, they've got to go for it, really.

They're losing the tie, so they have to win.

And in that case, they're going to have to put out some goals.

Arsenal's...

general pattern in sort of big away games is they can often sit back.

You might remember obviously the Manchester City game.

I know they had 10 men in that, of course, so

that might be considered a reason, but they can't sort of sit and counter really unless they use it as a strategy just to contain PSG and then maybe open up late on.

So it looks like they're going to have to go for it.

I think they will try and go for it, but of course

there's a balancing out there, isn't there?

It's going to be a really...

A really, really good game, I think.

Declan Rice, of course, has spoken and maybe he's got a few free kicks prepared for himself again to pull something out of the bag.

I think PSG is just formidable at home and formidable in general.

So the trap for Arsenal is if they go for it too much, I think Louis Enrique's strategy is going to be to just pick them apart

the way that those three midfielders can open teams up and then get at them with the wide players, you know, Clara Scalia, the likes of Douay and Barcola if he starts, or Dembele, if he's fit.

So it is a bit of a trap scenario for Arsenal.

I I think the one thing I'd say about Arsenal is that on their day they they can blow teams away in certain phases.

They've got the ability to do that and I think even though it's an away game, I think Arsenal can still potentially do that.

So I think it's very hard to call this match.

You know, there's a part of me that could see Arsenal kind of

just romping in some way.

But at the same time, there's a part of me that saw what PSG did to Man City.

Astervilla, Liverpool, and things that, you know, they'll with a 1-0 lead they'll kind of kind of blow them away.

But the one thing I'd say maybe about PSG is

I think a lot of their squad gives me kind of also similar vibes as Barcelona in the sense that they do have quite a young, inexperienced squad at the like the very top highest level of the Champions League.

I think we saw with Inter, you know, players like Asobe, Mikatari, and you do need that Champions League

long-term experience.

And I think PSG only have that with maybe some players like Marquinhos.

You know, this is quite a new team, really.

You know, players like Douay, Barcola, even Dembele, he's been around, but the block, but he's not really, I wouldn't really sort of hang my hat on him and say he's a quality experienced player, although he is having a storming season.

And that's the only thing that makes me wonder...

But you could also flip that on Arsenal as well and say they don't have a huge amount of Champions League experience, really, if you look at it in the long term, you know, last five, six years.

So that could also go either way.

So it's going to be a fascinating tie.

The PSG fans are going to be seriously up for this one.

So yeah, it's really hard to call, I think.

Will you give me, Mark, five pounds for every time before the game a pundit or a summariser says first goals crucial here?

I mean, it is crucial.

It is crucial, though, because if PSG get too in front, yeah.

Yeah, five pounds, please, Mark.

Can have you down as the first fiber.

This is good.

I was speaking to an Arsenal fan yesterday, and he was saying that he wants Arsenal to summon the spirit of Anfield when George Graham, you know, they needed to win that.

Keep it tight.

Don't score too early.

Neil-nil at halftime is absolutely fine.

We'll win it in the second half.

And I would suggest that that is probably the best approach for Arsenal because if you commit too early,

the pace and the counter-attacking qualities that PSG have got from all over the pitch

will just hurt you.

You saw that with Aston Villa.

I think Aston Villa in the second leg at Villa Park got carried away slightly by the kind of occasion and the noise and went for PSG.

And you know, Akimi and Nuno Mendes would just had so much space to run into.

So I think Arsenal need to, it might not make for a great spectacle if they do that, but I think Arsenal need to think about this game almost in stages, still be level at half-time and build their way into it that way

and trust that they will create chances because PSG Even though they dominated against all of the three Premier League teams that they've played at home so far, all of them scored, Man City, Villa and Liverpool.

And so, you know, there's definitely goals there for Arsenal, but they can't chase it too soon.

And they need Odegaard to turn up, Barry, which he hasn't in recent games.

No, he hasn't.

He hasn't been playing well.

Whether he can switch it on tonight or not remains to be seen.

That PSG midfield is very formidable.

And on paper, looking at it as things stand of the sort of six midfielders,

Odegaard is the conspicuous weak link, which seems harsh to say about such a good player.

I was looking at the line-ups, and while there aren't too many

PSG players I'd swap out for their Arsenal counterparts, I do give Arsenal a very good chance of going through tonight.

I don't think you can rule out the fact that PSG might shit the bed.

It's in their DNA,

even if a lot of that DNA has been exercised and moved elsewhere.

So I'm looking forward to the game.

Yeah.

I'd give Arsenal a decent chance going through.

But man for man, I just think PSG are better.

Let's talk about Trent Alexander Arnold.

He's confirmed he's going to be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season.

This is easily the hardest decision I've ever made in my life.

From the Academy right through until now, the support and love I've felt from everyone inside and outside the club will stay with me forever.

I'll be forever in debt to you all, but I've never known anything else.

And this decision is about experiencing a new challenge, taking myself out of my comfort zone and pushing myself both professionally and personally.

Will I writing in the big paper that Raoul are keen to get him in time for the Club World Cup, which he probably wants a holiday, doesn't he?

That would mean Liverpool will receive some kind of fee

because of when transfer windows are, etc.

But there is a sort of Club World Cup window

for those teams.

A two-window summer to benefit those playing at the Club World Cup.

The first lasting from the 1st to the 10th of June.

How exciting.

Another deadline for us to count down at the start of June.

Real Madrid play Al Hilal on the 18th of June at the Hard Rock Cafe Stadium in Miami.

Not just at the Hard Rock Cafe.

I mean, we've discussed it before, Mark, but it is a wonderful move for him.

And he's achieved everything at Liverpool.

And this seems like the perfect thing to do.

Perfect for him.

And I think this is,

people are arguing over whether he's done the right thing or not.

And Liverpool fans are upset.

And I can understand why you would be angry at a homegrown player deserting you

on a free transfer.

But you need to look at it two different sides.

I mean, from Trent Alexander's point of view, totally understand why you would want to make that move.

And I think it's perfectly reasonable for

journalists that are not biased to wish him well and say, you know, this is the right thing to do.

And then, um, I understand why Liverpool fans are really upset.

So, um, I'm not sure quite why anyone's sort of arguing um with anyone over it.

And, you know, Jamie Carrie got have you seen, have you seen social media?

I try.

I'm not too aware of that.

I do try.

I do try.

I wish you could, I just wish you could reply to everybody about every subject, going, I'm not sure why you're arguing, guys.

But you know, Jamie Carrey got particularly angry on UK TV and was furious at journalists for telling Liverpool fans and

the media like you know what what Liverpool fans should feel and that that was Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports Monday night football where he also works as a co-commentator and an analyst he also has a couple of podcasts

one of which is you know big on YouTube he also does live shows he's got a column um in the Daily Telegraph he works for CBS on champions league um and he's having a go at the media in inverted commas.

I mean, you know, Jamie is the media.

He's more the media than anyone else.

Oh, no, I do too.

But there's also points of him telling Aston Villa fans how they should feel about Jack Grealish leaving and Everton fans Anthony Gordon.

So, yeah, it's a great move for Trent Alexander Arnold.

But as a Tottenham fan, I know how I felt when Sol Campbell left, and that was to Arsenal.

And, you know, Liverpool fans will be having similar angst over.

No, I mean, it's come on because, like, Trent's won everything.

He's given that everything to Liverpool.

Like, they've won loads of things.

Sol Campbell had one.

Oh, no, I'm not saying

I know how that feels.

But, yeah, I mean, I think

from the Liverpool fans' point of view,

I think because they've won, they feel like he should stay and kind of build this potential dynasty now of kind of now they've got 20, they want 21 and sort of to jump above Manchester United.

So, I think that's where the kind of annoying sort of aspect comes from.

Do you do you think Jonathan Liverpool should be

criticised, not necessarily for tying him down, but for sort of letting him go on a free and not selling him for, I don't know, 100 million last year if someone was going to come in and obviously a big ear.

Or is like winning this title worth not getting a transfer fee for Trending Alexander Arnold?

This is a different quote because there's

there are certain clubs where I do think there is a difference between perhaps maybe match going fans and

social media fans.

And I think Liverpool is probably quite a good example of that.

I mean, there's a lot of, most big clubs, there's a difference, but I think Liverpool, you could argue maybe is one of them.

The vitriol on social media towards Trent, I just find absolutely ridiculous.

Like people slating his brother, slating his whole family.

Like I find it...

unbelievably bizarre but that is I suppose how football fans on social media can behave at times and I don't really get it and I'd like to think, I think Liverpool fans in the stadium probably will maybe wouldn't feel that hatred almost towards their own player.

But I agree with you.

And I think it's the point that hasn't really been discussed enough by people like Jamie Carragher, who are very quick to sort of jump on anyone who jumps on Liverpool, but don't necessarily want to jump on the club itself.

I don't see Jamie Carragher criticising Liverpool for allowing the three literally three best players to run out of contract at the same in the same season, which which

for probably you could say over the last 10 years the best run club in England I find it unbelievable that that is that that's been allowed to happen really when you look at the way Liverpool are run they're probably number one in every

maybe obviously Man City as well I'd say over the last 10 years but they're nearly number one in every single category and you can include it's sort of nutrition sports science that's part of the reason they've won the league in terms of how they've managed injuries, the way they manage contracts, the way they sort of find undervalue talent like Salah as they've done.

But to allow the three of them to get out of contract, I think

is a huge jeopardy that they've put the club into in terms of the potential losses financially.

And I don't get how that hasn't been talked enough in the Trent situation.

It's not Trent's fault that they didn't.

Maybe they...

I mean, we're not privy to all the conversations.

I'm sure they must have had...

offers to him in the last two years maybe but to allow him to get into the final year of his contract is um that's a situation arsenal were in you remember in the sort of late wenger days where players like uh fabricas Van Percy, their contracts were dwindling, Alexis Sanchez, players like that, and it was they had to sort of when the new ownership started to sort of assess the problems at Arsenal, that was when they clammed that down and changed their sort of policy on contracts where if they allowed them to get too late they would just sell essentially and or put them up for sale and I don't see why Liverpool haven't been sort of more put under more scrutiny in terms of the backroom staff for for allowing that situation to to develop.

I think there was one article in the in the Telegraph sort of questioning that.

And I know some Liverpool fans have sort of questioned FSG which is probably a bit harsh.

And it does feel a little bit harsh also criticising Liverpool just for because how well they're run.

But I do think that was a bit of a...

But is it worth it because

they won the league?

They got the trophy.

Do you know what I mean?

Because if they were going to run their contracts down, then they have to sell them, right?

But I think that's the major part of the discussion, more than say Trent being a disgrace for allowing a contract to run down, if that makes sense.

I've got

he's fully entitled to do that.

And then it comes to the onus then becomes on the club within the last two years to say, well, this is a risk in terms of

financially.

And they've kind of taken that risk, like you've just said there, they've taken that risk to win the title.

So

maybe at the end of the day,

they've done the numbers and figured out that it's worth that risk.

But that's why I don't really understand why they heat so much on Trent, because it's not...

It's not necessarily Trent's fault that that's been allowed to happen.

That's a calculated gamble, maybe, to go and win the league, which they've done.

So I think the criticism towards Trent, I find, quite unfair, to be honest.

but that's just me personally what i like is his statement where he said this is the most difficult decision i've ever had to make i'd like to know what other decisions he's had to make in his very gilded life you know will i get a lamborghini or a rangerover or if i get both what color should they be what will i have for dinner big decisions like that well even what will i have for dinner like this every chance he's got a chef because you know top footballers have a chef don't they yeah but you still i mean restaurants have chefs.

You still go in and look at a menu and decide

what you'd like to have.

But do you think the chef...

You know, if I had my own personal chef and he served me up fish, I'd be like, yeah, but hang on.

Would you, would you, if you had a chef at home, would you expect a full menu every time?

It's not like a rest.

You know, like...

No, you can't.

You can't say, welcome, have a sneak.

I leave a note on the fridge.

I fancy...

you know, a steak tonight.

Oh, venison, please, this evening.

Because if you want something for dinner and you're presented with something else, it's quite disappointing.

I agree with you, but if you're a footballer, you know, so much has been done for you that maybe your agency has been taken away.

And so you just don't have that in your mind.

Do you see what I mean?

I think we're slightly getting away from the point here, which is not like us at all.

No, you're right.

And also, just with regard to Jonathan's

very astute assessment of, you know, the difference between online fans and match-going fans.

I think

a lot of online fans are genuinely unpleasant because, A, they're just genuinely unpleasant, but B, I think when it comes to football,

they want to show that they care more than other online fans or other fans, so

they slightly lose the run of themselves.

Yeah, I mean, look, that'll all be solved this afternoon when Mark takes to Twitter to just reply to everyone saying, just make sure you're going to

get exercised about this.

Yeah, yeah.

You'll be all right.

Anyway, that'll do for part two.

Part three.

We'll round up that Palace Forest game that Barry's forgotten about.

Coach, the energy out there felt different.

What changed for the team today?

It was the new game, Day Scratchers, from the California Lottery.

Play is everything.

Those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

Are you saying it was the off-field play that made the difference on the field?

Hey, a little play makes your day, and today it made the game.

That's all for now.

Coach, one more question.

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welcome to part three of the guardian football weekly uh so notting forest uh drop another couple of points uh or gain a point how do you see it they drew at crystal palace uh who played really well actually ebruitieze uh scored a penalty he was excellent murillo equalised shortly afterwards.

It means that Forrest are sixth, 61 points, two points off fifth.

Mark, has the Champions League dream died?

Is it dying on life support ebbing away?

I mean, I still think they've got a decent chance, haven't they?

They've got Chelsea last game.

Yeah, I'm ebbing away, probably.

Looking at the points expectancy to get into sort of the Champions League, sort of looking at

suggesting about 68,

maybe 69, if you've got a bad goal difference, like Aston Villa, for example, who might need to win all three games.

It's not a bad run in, I don't think, for Nottingham Forest because Leicester at home at the weekend, you would expect, you know, if you're going to qualify for the Champions League, you need to be winning that one.

Go to West Ham, who have been fairly lifeless so far.

And again, if you sort of

fairly is very kind of you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So if they play like a doctor, it's like a doctor looking at a dead body going, fairly.

He's fairly dead,

I'm afraid.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, they are on life support.

He was asking earlier on, yeah.

So that's a winnable game.

And then you've got the Chelsea one last up, which who knows could be a playoff for the Champions League.

If Chelsea do their job, Chelsea might already be in.

It might actually be an easier game.

So I would suggest that it wasn't a terrible result for Forrest.

But the problem they got is that Chris would, outside of him, like you're just wondering where the goals come from from open play.

Like Murillo got that one at Sellers Park, but it's from set piece and sort of deflection.

And they've got the counter-attack, but it's just from open play when they've got the ball kind of, and the other team that's showing them more respect, maybe than sort of just flying at them.

It's like,

how are you going to score goals?

And if they are going to need, I don't know, maybe seven points from what they've got left,

that would be the concern.

But even if they miss out, this is a team that I think were expected to be fighting relegation.

So if they get, if they end up in the Europa League, I really don't.

I hope that they're not disappointed because it's still been a brilliant season for them.

Certainly expected to be fighting relegation from a large selection of this Zoom call, as we have pointed out many times.

Crystal Palace are 12th, their natural home.

Yes, it's nice to have them there, isn't it?

Any thoughts, Barry?

Not really.

I thought Forest were maybe a little bit lucky to to get a point in this game the new york jets owner steve woody was uh in the stands at sellers park sitting alongside steve parrish who who we know is looking for investment thomas chuchal was there as well uh monitoring adam wharton who limped off uh hopefully he's okay for the cup final and callum odson a doi was uh not playing for forest so he was in the away end with the forest fans so

maybe more interesting.

Who was in the stands rather than what was going on on the pitch?

But yeah, I hope Adam Morton isn't,

it's nothing serious.

Yeah, definitely.

Grant says, could you please mention the late fixture change of Villa Spurs and that it's complete bollocks?

Thank you, Grant.

So yeah, Tottenham's game at Villa has been moved from Sunday, May the 18th to Friday, May the 16th.

Ahead of Spurs, potential in big letters, involvement in the Europa League final on Wednesday, May the 21st.

we'll get to

don't tempt fate please Premier League do it after the semi-final that is really is asking for it oh god isn't it ah just terror the morning

yeah I know but Aston Villa are not happy their director of football operations Damian Vitigani I hope I pronounced that correctly said the club had reluctantly accepted the scheduling change and hoped the quote, clear prejudice against Villa in this decision would be remembered should they need assistance with fixture scheduling due to European football next season.

Fixture changed and honestly not happy.

We really pushed everyone in the club at different levels with solid and fair grounds to protect our fans and keep the Spurs match on Sunday.

I mean, now, Mark, I know you're a Tottenham fan, so you're not objective in this.

Should Villa be annoyed about this?

Well, I think the match going fan should be annoyed about this, which I'm not sure if that's what Aston Villa would, the director of football operations or whatever his job title is, was sort of, I don't know how much he kind of was thinking more about just Aston Villa rather than the supporters, because, you know, if you plan to go to the game, you know, you might

not be able to go now because it's on a Sunday, because it's on a Friday rather than a Sunday.

Last home game of the season for Villa, usually there's, you know, lots of stuff that goes on after the last home game.

You would prefer that to be in the afternoon if you've got sort of younger.

What about the Villa players training their kids on the game?

Exactly.

Yeah, exactly.

You know, the younger...

Luca Dinha's children won't be able to

get to the pitch.

They'll have to be pushed around the pram

instead.

So

I think from that point of view, it's wrong to change it so late.

I think the Premier League trying to help sort of clubs that are in Europe, I don't think is a bad thing

per se.

And it seems to be like...

probably the league that does least to help their teams in Europe anyway.

And I know that people are saying that sort of is this sort of arrogant from Tottenham to be booking it so soon, but it's caused enough sort of anger by doing it now.

If they would have done it sort of

sort of after the second leg, there would have been even less time for people to make alternate arrays.

Does this mean they won't change it back?

You can just imagine the stick that the Travelling Spurs fans are going to get at Villa Park from the home fans if they're not looking forward to a Europa League final.

But

Max, I'd say that there's two sides to this story, maybe.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Maybe you're right.

I think aren't Man United playing on the Friday.

So they've got Chelsea.

So then we'd have had two days' extra rest for a potential Man United Tottenham Europa League final.

But anyway,

please don't tempt fate.

Anyone else, Parker?

It's just written, isn't it?

Seventh-minute goal from Bolo Glimps and then just agonisingly hanging on until they score in the 88th minute and then extra time.

And we will be doing a bonus pod

on Thursday night to we are just to

riff on Max's pain.

I have to say, I am really looking forward to that game.

I really look forward to it.

You looking forward to it, Mark?

No.

No.

No,

the Boda goal on last Thursday just sucked the sort of life out of the stadium, really, that was bouncing at 3-0.

It just feels such a different game, 3-0 to 3-1.

But at the same time, I mean, if you're a Premier League team and you can't defend a two-goal advantage, even on an artificial surface against a team from Norway,

then you really don't deserve to go any further.

And if they don't go any further, Ange might be better off just staying in the arctic circle because the reception he'll get on sunday would not be pleasant against crystal panels you're not going are you marketing strapping on your snowshoes and getting the huskies attached to the sled and it's a 16 hour drive from oslo or a kind of two flights so fair play to the um very small number of totten fans that have got tickets because it's such a small stadium oh yeah that's that is that's real support isn't it on the subject of arsenal trying to walk it in uh i mentioned my friend ben who has no interest in football, but keeps bringing it up.

Whenever it gets onto the subject, he just says the thing about Arsenal's.

This is from Peter says, Dear Max, on today's episode, you referenced your friend Ben, who hates football and uses the phrase Arsenal.

Always try and walk the ball in phrase, which he overheard at a party.

I also have a friend called Ben who hates football.

He also uses that same Arsenal cliche in conversation and claims to have heard it at a party.

Are we friends with the same Ben?

Who is your Ben?

Mine is 40, 5'6, and lives in Shepherd's Bush and is a Virgo.

Thank you in advance, Peter.

Mine Mine is about 48 and lives in

Brunswick in Melbourne and is a designer.

I don't know his star sign.

But actually, neither of them heard it at a party.

Neil, amongst others, says definitely one for part three.

Read the thing about Arsenal as they always try and walk it in.

Did Max's friend try to claim a line from the IT crowd as his own?

Or more likely, has an exhausted Max confused real life with TV?

Either way, I assume friend of the show, Chris O'Dowd, was a bit put out.

Yeah, this is a scene between Chris O'Dowd and Richard Iowadi, where Richard

is trying to be a man of the people by talking in football clichés to the postman by using, I watched it the other day,

by using a computer program that teaches you what to say about each game that's happened.

And he goes all cocky and says, the thing about Arsen Wenger is he just tries to walk it in.

It's a very funny scene, but that's, I judge Ben for that.

Yes.

I would very much like to get my hands on that computer program it would make my life a lot easier

let's type it in that was a good goal wasn't it barry that's i've got it here by the way on on the subject of television i have received and thank you to the many people who say

i have received conclusive proof that i was right that the

TV murder committed by the leg of lamb or not committed by the leg of lamb, in which the leg of lamb was the murder weapon, was a rolled out tales you expected.

It was, and it was on TV a couple of nights ago, wasn't it?

Um, I'd got lots of messages when that appeared on television, too.

I do like the idea of the leg of lamb being the murderer.

It was you!

Um, Callum says, Hi, Max and Football Weekly Family.

I've never felt so compelled to write in a serious message before.

I'm uh usually more a fan of stupid questions on X to Max, but as a Watford fan, I'm gutted by the sacking of Tom Cleverly.

Yes, maybe there were some things he could have done better as manager, but he was a rookie and the team has almost no investment.

So I feel that he did an outstanding job given what he had at his disposal.

The reason I'm so saddened is because he was just a good man.

I helped found the Proud Hornets, the LGBTQIA supporters group for Watford.

He came to an event we ran.

He didn't just show his face and leave.

He stayed for hours talking to everyone, engaging with them and showing real interest about their personal.

personal lives and experiences and spoke very openly about his ambitions in football, thoughts on the state of football and his dream club to to manage.

I've met a lot of people involved in football, and no one has seemingly cared as much as him, and no one embodied the fabled Watford family spirit as much as him since Graham Taylor.

He's a good manager and a great human, and any club will be lucky to have him.

Never felt more disenfranchised with the club.

Keep making football enjoyable for me whilst Watford doesn't.

Nobody does it better, says Cam.

Thank you so much.

And yeah, bad luck to Tom Cleverly.

They were doing quite well, weren't they?

At the start of the season, I think not the top 20 had them predicted to finish bottom.

So they didn't do that.

You know, they're in the championship.

So we wish Tom Cleverly well with his next club.

Well, getting sacked by Botford is just a riot of managerial passage, isn't it?

Probably right.

Probably get another job.

Yeah, if he could get in the Kike Sanchez Flores, who's the other one?

And they just rotate.

He could become part of the three.

Javi Gracias.

Javier Gracias, yeah.

It seems to be there all the time.

Yeah.

Anyway, we will welcome one of those two back for the start of next season.

And that'll do for today.

Thank you, everybody.

Thanks, Baz.

Thank you.

Thank you, you, Jonathan.

Thank you, Max.

Thanks, Mark.

Thank you, Max.

Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove.

Our executive producer is Danielle Stevens.

This is The Guardian.