Declan Rice stars on a famous night for Arsenal – Football Weekly

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Declan Rice with a free kick for the ages, bending it perfectly round the wall, giving Thiba Cortua absolutely no chance.

When will we see another like that?

Well, 12 minutes later.

We were all Martin Odegaard, just hands on head in disbelief.

Did anyone know Declan Rice took free kicks?

Not even him.

What a time to bring them out.

Arsenal absolutely destroyed Real Madrid in the second half at the Emirates, which is going to make Real's inevitable comeback at the burnabout even more galling.

On the evidence of last night, there is no way Anchilotti's men will get back into it, but we all know there's no point using things like evidence when talking about Real Madrid.

In the other game, a brilliant win for Inter at Munich.

Bayern dominated until possibly the goal of the night.

Marcus Taram going full Gootie before Lautaro went full charisma.

What a joy.

But that game is definitely still alive.

Also, today we'll cover another miserable night for Leicester City.

Barry's first run.

Your questions.

And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Barry Glendenning, welcome.

Hi, Max.

Nick Ames, who's out in Munich for the game of the night.

Hey, Nick.

Hello, Max.

Yeah, be with you in about an hour.

Matthew writes, not a question.

I'm just happy Nikki is on the pod after an Arsenal win for a change.

Robert, I'm amazed you have Nikki on after a great Arsenal performance.

Los Paulsas, surely this is a Philippe day.

Nikki doesn't get happy pods.

Well, look, Philippe is on tomorrow, so I'm sure we'll address it again.

But Nikki, yes, congratulations.

What a night.

I can't tell you if it's a trap, Max, because I have been pre-booked for after the second leg as well.

Right.

And i don't know if this is all just a set up to make it an even bigger kicking when it turns around in the second leg but i hope not because that was one of the most incredible european nights um in all my life watching arsenal i think it's certainly the most the best european night at the emirates um since they moved there i was thinking about comparisons and what else it could be and of course there was the the the the thrashing of me lamb but it didn't matter because they'd lost so heavily in the away leg anyway there was um archivin with a winner against barcelona and they lost the second leg of that one as well.

And so let's not preempt the second leg, but none of them was as emphatic as Beasting Real Madrid.

3-0 at all.

Yeah, I mean, it could have been more, couldn't it?

Steve says those Declan Rice free kicks were so good.

My wife and I shared a cigarette afterwards, and we don't even smoke.

Ken says, how good was Rice's achievement this evening, given Roberto Carlos tried for the next 12 years unsuccessfully to replicate his free kick?

And Rice did it in 12 minutes.

And T to the Max is a genuine dilemma.

Which of Rice's free kicks were the best?

I mean, I'll go to you, Nikki, first as well like when he scored the second what how did you react

it's one of those weird things where it's easy to say afterwards but there was something about when he was standing over i thought he's gonna he's gonna do it again there's just that feeling you get sometimes in the area there's something about the way he's standing and i i think that's clearly something that was in his head as well because he said it in his interviews after the game he was like oh um basically just i just sort of had that feeling of belief in myself after doing the first one.

It's an impossibly good free kick, the second one.

I mean, the first one was just perfection because you look at it.

And then, of course, the camera's cut to Roberto Carlos, who is just because

these things are like this in the world, he's there to see it.

He's there to see someone do his free kick homage.

But the second one is

it's so in the top corner that you almost couldn't have physically held it more in the top corner than where it was.

It was just exactly perfectly where it where it could be.

And and and you know, the first one's got such incredible bend on it, but maybe, maybe, maybe a keeper who was positioned differently could have stopped it.

I don't know.

But the second one, I don't care who you are.

You can't stop it.

It's just the perfect free kick.

And I, yeah, it was absolutely astonishing.

What did I do?

I yelped.

I made some noises

that don't normally come out of a person.

But yeah,

I was astonishing, Matt, because honestly, there's just one of those.

moments in time and clearly Declan Rice is an exceptional footballer.

We got him half price after all, but still, could he hit another free kick like that?

I don't know.

I mean,

you'd have to take quite a few goes to get it better.

Yeah, I mean, you could just

see the reaction of all the players, you know, sort of Bellingham and Mbappe.

There's a lot of, well, I mean, fair enough.

And it was sort of, like you say, the second one, it was sort of even further in the corner than a postage stamp, wasn't it?

The Arsenal hadn't scored a direct free kick, Arteta was saying after the game, since September 2021.

Martin Erdegaard away at Burnley.

Declan Rice, Barry, has never scored a direct free free kick.

It's ridiculous.

Like, it's ridiculous.

It beggars belief that he has played 402 senior games of football for club and country, two countries, and

never scored a free kick and then scores two of such sublime beauty in 12 minutes.

It's just astonishing.

I had my head in my hands, like, disbelief,

not in sadness, in disbelief when the first one went in.

And then when the second one went in I just burst out laughing like I was sitting on my own just burst out laughing

and then he revealed after the game that the SEPI's guru that is Nicholas Jover had told him for the first one to cross the ball to the far post but after high-level talks with Pakaya Saka decided to he was feeling it so he went for it and ignored the instruction and scored the second one i think the first one if you want a nitpick you could could say there probably should have been someone else in the wall, another man in the wall.

The second one, if he had gone up to Thibaut Corta and told him where he was going to put it, he still wouldn't have kept it out.

I mean, it's the one part of the goal the guy can't reach.

It was astonishing.

I don't want to be Debbie Downer on Declan, but I do remember last year when Arsen went out against Bayern Munich.

He did not show up for either leg.

I think it was Leon Gorecka took him to school over the two legs.

Last night he was just sensational and one of several Arsenal players who performed outstandingly.

Yeah, Scott says, I don't know what it says about me or about the pods' ability to not so much get under one's skin, but to shape one's thinking.

But when Rice, that Rice goal went in, the first person I thought of was Barry.

Thing is,

there is part of me that prefers the first one.

Because

I agree with Barry and Nikki.

And the second one, it it is perfect it's perfect like you can't strike a ball like that in a place like that but you sort of see free kicks a bit like that reasonably often i don't think i've seen one bend that much since roberto carlos i mean there probably will have been ones but barry said you could put one more person on the wall i i think it went further wide than that yeah i think so too it was it was a proper kind of old old school brazilian banana kick wasn't it it was just so so much whip and swing out and in I agree with you, Max, but I also have got a nasty feeling it's going to be lost to history by the second one because that's going to be the one people show because

it was just something out of this world visually and optically.

And as I think Nikki said, it couldn't have been further top corner.

But you're right, the technique for that first one was absolutely astonishing.

And really,

it absolutely beggars belief what we saw there last night.

For that to happen twice was,

I think, something that on that level on that stage on that occasion we hadn't really seen before i think that second one is just like roy of the rovers isn't it it's just like you've got like a cartoon picture and whoosh is the ball's going off his foot like it's just so

yeah no no no that was the right noise and also nikki like

in an any other game we would be purring about mikel marino's finish which is absolutely elite it's behind him the technique is so perfect yeah i mean all of them were exceptional goals and it was just, I mean, so happy for Michael Marino, and

one of the real, I guess, embodiments of

selflessness and

doing what is asked of you when it's not your natural role in the team and perhaps coming at it.

I'm trying to remember what the stat was.

He's got this incredible record, more goals against Madrid than any other team in his career.

So, someone who, I guess, has brought that little bit of understanding of a particular opponent to the match as well.

But exactly as you say, Max.

the least impressive of the three goals of the night, but that's just because the bar is somewhere up on Mars.

I don't know.

Yeah.

Who else did you want to pick out, Barry, from that performance?

Because they were just so much better than Raoul.

Well, I think while he didn't have a huge amount to do, I thought Jack O'Kirrior did everything that was asked of him.

And

people had...

including myself had identified him as a potential weak link, but he more than

adequately covered for Gabriel.

I thought Bakaio Saka was excellent.

It was his first start in quite a long time, but he didn't show any signs of rustiness.

He won the two free kicks.

I thought Miles Lewis Skelly, there was some question over whether he would be picked to play in this massive game or not.

He was, and he was superb.

You couldn't single out anyone for playing badly.

Marino did what was asked of him.

As you say, brilliant finish that that is being overlooked.

But yeah, they're the players I would pick out.

And,

you know, Rice, Odegaard, Party totally dominated the midfield.

And I'll be honest, everyone's saying, ooh, Real Madrid, I think this tie is over.

Real Madrid haven't kept a clean sheet in nine games.

They've conceded 17 goals in those nine games.

I think this is done.

I've asked us to talk about this, Kivior and Saka.

I mean, I thought Saka was in parts brilliant and absolutely, you could see, was putting the frightness on Madrid.

And there was that ball he had across the penalty area in the first half, and it was still 0-0, where you just thought, oh, where is that striker again?

That same moment, because, of course, at that point, we don't know how it's all going to end up.

But they did, there were moments of rust at the beginning, and both Kivior and

Saka gave the ball away that led to Madrid.

half chance at least in the first half one of which I think was Saliba cut out and there was the one that Mbappe had had a shot that was that was saved by Ryan but you think Mbappe probably should have done better.

So, there was a moment in the game, it's easy to forget it, there was a moment where the game, despite Arsenal, I think Arsenal were better all the way through, but there was a moment where it still felt like there was jeopardy.

It's just in the second half where something ticked over and Rice's goals, and

it just felt like mentally Real Madrid came apart, and Arsenal just got stronger and stronger.

Nick, you've watched a lot of Arsenal in the last few years.

Did you sort of, have you seen this performance coming?

Not this season, I don't think so.

Not such an emphatic and barnstorming second half as that.

And obviously

with

their attacking options obviously and not quite where they might be still and that has hindered them domestically.

Didn't see it coming.

Honestly,

I could have envisaged them winning against Rael.

I think obviously they're so well structured and well coached

and so good on set pieces for example that it wouldn't have surprised me to see them nudge it 1-0 or 2-1.

But a result of of this emphasis, I honestly could not see it coming.

It's not been the kind of performance that has been in my post as such.

And now now I think, you know, I personally agree.

I think that I think Bataille's done.

I think let's feel anything can happen at at the Burner Vale, which for various reasons it definitely can, but I think Arsenal will probably lock this down after a scare or two and then you've got I think

this could be their year.

They could do it.

Villa or PSG is a perfectly winnable semi-final.

They've obviously beaten PSG already in the league phase.

Arsenal fans are going to kill me for looking too far ahead, so I'm going to stop.

But no, didn't see this coming.

I think they'll lock it down.

I think they'll see it out, and it could get very exciting.

Nikki grimacing at these, all these, you know,

yeah, of course.

I know I'm coming back here in a week's time.

Of course, I can't.

It is worth saying that in amongst this, you could make an argument that Real Madrid aren't at their pinnacle right now.

Of course, they lost at the weekend.

They're having their own struggles.

And I felt like looking at the formation 442 with Rodrigo on the right, is that enough of a, is that giving you enough in the middle of the park to deal with

a pretty physical arsenal midfield when you think about Rice's energy and Partey's energy?

I think on paper, you could certainly look at it and go,

it's not feeling balanced and right right now for Madrid.

And they've got their own injury problems as well.

They've had injuries at the back.

But at the same time, it's still Madrid at the Bernaval.

It's still Vinnie and Dembathay and Jude Bellingham and Rodrigo.

No, of course I'm not confident they're going to go there and have an easy time.

Yeah, confident and Bemius says, in what minute will Real Madrid score their first goal in the Bernaval comeback victory?

Old Jotter responded, 80, 89, 90 plus 3, OG, 90 plus 8.

I mean, that's the thing, Barry.

Like all the stats you've put out, really, when you say they haven't had a clean sheet in nine, and

you know, the way Arsenal can counter and the way that Arsenal can set up as well, and they can be defensively excellent.

99% of me believe agrees with you that the tie is done, but you just

don't know.

Like, Real Madrid, just you can just see us in a week desperately going, Come on, Sid, you've got to come on, and him going, They suffered all night, but they found a way.

Like, they just I can see it happening, yeah.

I mean, look, uh, the latest series of Reacher,

the

new mon is this fight between Jack and this bloke who dwarfs him in terms of

enormous

Dutch bodybuilder guy.

The whole series is leading to this showdown between them.

And, you know, obviously Reacher wins, but the bloke just will not die.

And that's kind of what Real Madrid are.

Part of me hopes they

sort of go 2-0 up at the burnout.

I'm a neutral, but I want Arsenal to go through, but I'd love to see an Arsenal Villa semi-final.

But yeah, in terms of short-term fix, yeah, give me Real Madrid going 2-0 up with about thirty minutes left in this tie at the Bernabau.

Oh, God.

With the knowledge that it's Nikki and Philippe on after that one.

Just wonder, Nikki, you know, it's such a statement victory for Arteta.

And I there have been

and some dissenting voices and they're always dissenting on voices everywhere.

On the fact that, you know, if he doesn't get Arsenal over the line with a trophy, a major trophy soon, that questions should be asked.

I mean,

I think this goes quite a long way to say, come on, you've got a great manager.

It's hard to win trophies, right?

And

everyone should just be a bit calmer.

But

is it a daft question to say he needed a night like this at some

I mean, need is a weird word.

I'm certain the camp of it is a bit daft because people have very short memories and forget how not long ago it was that Arsenal went missing out on Europe altogether and then it was playing in the Europa League.

It's not like Arsenal have been camped out in the Champions League later stages, is it?

This is something extraordinary.

It's not like Arsenal had been mounting serious title challenges on any...

consistent basis before Arteta took over either.

So the idea that it should be expected that everything goes our way

is probably a bit just reflective of the impatience of the social media age of football.

Maybe it was always us and we just play that on social media.

But I think that from the point of view of this season,

there was this odd feeling after the Everton game where, of course, more drop points and then you see that even if we don't win the next game, you think, well, it could have still meant something if you win that game.

But there was this odd feeling, and I think there has been for a little while,

it almost felt indifferent the end of this Premier League League season, which I think is the most frustrating feeling of all.

It almost feels like no one still believes it's possible, even though they say the right things and go through the motions.

And that feels a bit empty and like you should be aspiring to more.

And perhaps all that aspiration, whether deliberately or not, for the players, has actually been just waiting for this, for the cup, for the Champions League that felt like more of a possible goal than catching up to that Liverpool team.

I don't know.

It certainly is energizing as a fan to have that reminder of

everything, of how it can all be when it all comes together.

And also, of course, in this game, you get a reminder that, yeah, when Bakayo Saka's there, that attack looks quite different, doesn't it?

I did think it was a nice little touch at the end because on the night of Rice, you know, the season sort of began with Arsenal fans outraged at this heinously unjust

second yellow card he got for kicking your ball away at a free kick.

And on this, his night, Kamavinga got his second yellow

for a far more emphatic kick away of the ball

before a free kick.

You know, and this being a foul that many Arsenal fans claim is only ever awarded against them.

So that was the little cherry on top.

Well done to Arsenal.

And yeah, Philippe is on tomorrow.

So I imagine we will discuss those free kicks again.

And why not?

I'd happily discuss them every single pod.

And then Nikki and Philippe will

be there for the quarterfinal second leg, whatever happens.

And yeah, I'm with Barry.

Let's hope it's tight and nerve-wracking.

But, you know, it would be great if they managed to get through, right?

That'll do.

Oh.

And just before we end part one, Kenneth said, not a question, just appreciating the symmetry of the Arsenal men's and women's games against Madrid because it was the same scoreline at the same stadium, similar goal scorers, like someone got a brace and one for another, same nationalities of the scorers, one English and one Spanish.

Um, and that you know, that is you know, what two amazing well, after that, one and you know, the women beating well, we were like, This, you know, what a brilliant result for them to both do the same thing is superb.

And also, coefficient news because we're all here mainly for the coefficient.

England will have five teams in the Champions League, could be six if Villa finish out the top five and win the championship.

Could be seven, Matt, could be seven if Spurs or Man United finish out the top five, massive lol, and win the Europa League.

So, yeah, who knows?

We will find out.

And in part two, we'll do Inter's win at Bayern.

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Max here.

Barry's here, too.

Hello.

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Welcome to part two of the Guardian Guardian Football Weekly.

So Bayer One into two.

Nick, you were there last night.

How was it?

Yeah,

thanks to all our listeners for sitting through, listening through all that to get to a match of the night.

You guys have earned this.

No, yeah, hello from

Munich.

It's a bright morning.

I'm sat overlooking an electrical substation.

The lights might have gone out for Bayern last night, potentially.

I I I've not been working on that during part one.

Was that improv?

That was improv.

This is great.

That was pure improv.

I'm just trying to this is just a work in progress gig that I'm doing here in part two.

Yeah, you got you guys going about Declan Lyce.

I'll workshop jokes for um for the main bit.

No, um I wouldn't open, would you?

Sadly he has.

But anyway, crack on, Nick.

Too late.

Bayern won into two.

This was a good game.

This was a very good Champions League game between two quite flawed sides.

It was quite fade at points, but end-to-end, plenty of intent, plenty of creativity, a lot of chances.

And in the end, I think a well-deserved win for Inter.

He scored two fantastic goals and have this habit of

sometimes you don't see them in attack for periods of a game, but then they put together moves of such fluidity and incision and such emphatic, explosive finishing that you think, wow,

this is a top elite European Champions League team that has got a chance of going all the way.

To be fair,

Bayern came out well.

They came out strongly.

They broke the lines quite a few times.

Michael Elise, who I think we still need to see do something top, top, top in a game of this size, and I'm sure we will one day, but he started quite well, had a a two or three shots actually.

Jan Sommer, who

spent a brief spell at Bayern, I think people felt he was too small when he was at Bayern, apparently.

I was told that by our friend Archie Rin Tut,

certainly stood tall today last night and repelled a few.

And then there was the moment, and it was a moment Harry Kane, I think, knew might be quite significant, judging by his reaction when there was a bit of ragged into defending.

And at least I thought he was going to cut in and shoot, but to be fair, showed showed good composure to find a totally open cane to his left he's eight or nine yards out a very slight angle but Harry Kane is scoring that all day

except when he doesn't and

grazes the outside of the post and you looked at his face and it was a reaction of absolute horror and even then at that early point in the game I felt sorry for him because he's he's I think he's scored 18 Champions League goals since arriving at Bayern.

I think that's more than anyone else in Europe.

And then the big one there, he's missed it and we all know what his history is in pursuit of the big prize.

Could that be another costly one?

And then an inter from that moment on in the game, I thought inter were really, really good.

Bayern didn't really have another chance for an hour.

Inter had a couple of chances, showed themselves going forward, and then they scored the goal of the night.

Sorry, deck, but this was the best goal of the night.

Wonderful back-to-front back-to-front move.

Lautaro and Martinez

involved at quite an early stage of it

around halfway.

They work it down the left.

Carlos Augusto, who had a very good game up and down the left flank, eventually centers it low.

And Marcus Taram

shows incredible presence to eyes in the face.

That's so good.

It's so good.

It was a gootie-style flicker.

I think you said it at the top, like behind him.

He knows that La Taro is steaming in behind him.

Wrong foot's an entire backline, just wrong footed all of them.

And Lotaro is indeed there when he flips it back into this vacant space.

And then the outside of the foot finish was just an absolute chef's kiss.

It was a beautiful, beautiful goal created brilliantly in every element from back to front.

And then the finish was...

very Lotaro Martinez, very emphatic, very inventive.

And yeah, you could watch it over and over again.

Yeah.

I was going to say, Nikki, like, I don't know where that ranks on inter goals in Champions League football, but it was just so good.

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot to say about Inter actually.

And this win, there's

a lot been going on with them.

They've actually been getting a bit of a kicking last week in the press after they drew with Parma.

They could have lost to Paramount.

They were tuned up and they really nearly threw it away.

And Inzagi, in particular, getting laid into for substitutions and accused of taking things complacently.

And

it's been really interesting because about a month ago, I had people saying, oh, Intel could win the championship, though, couldn't they?

They're still that team that played City in the final couple of years.

And I think they, I don't know, they look kind of tired.

They look kind of like they might be losing steam a bit.

And my opinion is slowly shifting on that because actually, like, listen to Nzagi and he's talking in press conferences.

about not even just the treble.

He wants the quadruple.

He wants to try and win the Club World Cup afterwards as well.

And it's reminding me a tiny bit of mourinho in 2010 because inter scraped across the line in in sedi air that season even on the last day there was a point when they weren't they weren't on course to win the league but it was because they were splitting their energies and doing things and i i think in zaggy

a bit like i suppose with arteta and saying well remember where this team's come from inte used to go into european nights

and struggle with teams that it on paper you'd think should be far beneath them.

They went through a long period of really having a a hard time doing anything in Europe.

And now they go to Munich and they have a performance that, as Nick was saying, wasn't perfect.

There were parts of the first half where they looked a bit on the back foot, but they just seem to have this presence and calm about them and willingness to engage the game on their own terms.

And then knowing that you've got...

players like Turam and Lautado who can resolve it for you.

Now, Lautaro, I have to say, he's a,

this is definitely his coming of season in Europe because the last few seasons actually that's always been the disappointing thing about him and last four Serie A seasons he scored in Serie A 17 goals 21 goals 21 goals 24 goals in Europe it was one one three and two so it's really been this big gulf between his ability in in in Serie and what he's been doing in Europe this season he scored um I think seven times already in the Champions League and listening to him talk afterwards and saying about, yeah, you know, I was, when that ball came to me, my first thought was I wanted to take it on my left foot, but when I saw the balls coming, I thought the angle is better to down my right and the way he hits it.

There's something about the confidence of the key players in this team on this stage that I think has shifted a little bit.

And

they're by no means the favourite in my eyes.

But

I think this was one of those wins where you think, but they really could.

They could, though.

They're not the favourites, but they've got enough things about them to make you think that they're not incapable of it.

And Barry, there is something about

striking the ball with the outside of your foot, which makes the Roberto Carlos free kick feel better than the Declan Rice one,

even if recency bias makes us, you know, think whatever happened yesterday was better.

About that, that makes that Lautaro finish.

I don't know if it is the goal of the night.

It's so hard to say, but

it was just such a joy to see it go in the back of the net.

Yeah, I don't think we have to rank them.

They were all very good goals.

Yeah, you're right.

Well, I mean, he chose

the far more difficult option because I would imagine

everyone involved, Jonas Urbig, the Bayern Munich goalkeeper who was in for Emmanuel Noor, who's injured, and the defenders were all expecting him to go for the far corner.

And it was the easier option to go for that corner, but he elected not to.

And it's clearly the sign of a player who's full of confidence.

No, I'll take this on.

I'll roof it with the outside of my right foot.

A wonderful, wonderful finish.

I'd be interested to know, Nick, do you think Vince and company deserves criticism for not sort of locking the game down

after Muller had scored the equaliser?

And instead, he kind of insisted on sending men forward in search of a winner, and it ultimately cost them because they got caught on the break late doors.

You must have been listening to the post-match presser because I asked him exactly that question, basically.

Oh, really?

Was it one of those where you've got the draw,

and if you can't win it, don't lose it situation?

Because obviously they got done, I think, kind of from their own free kick.

He preferred not to go there.

He was more interested in pointing out, you know, that everything Inter did in the move subsequent was so clean.

The impression was they couldn't have defended it.

I think the back line was in quite a ragged shape when Inter came forward.

Dyer was about, Eric Dyer was about four yards behind the rest of them I think especially.

But yeah you want you wonder whether given they were so

so stricken by injuries and absentees and had found themselves a way back into the tie I'm pretty sure that if they'd have wanted to wanted to dial it back a bit and take the draw I think that would have been fine for both teams.

I don't even think Inter would have minded going out of there with a draw on on the balance of things.

And they got punished.

i think it was a fair question to ask him but he didn't seem to agree i love eric dyer but i've seen him just be so close to people scoring goals

so many times it feels harsh you know i don't know if he's at fault but he's just really near someone who's just like a less conspicuous vouch fat yeah maybe

yeah anyway i mean buying had a lot of players out didn't they and important players masiala pavlovich davis Upamakano, etc., etc.

So

I wonder, Nikki, if they were, you know, when you score that late on, you sort of think, okay, well, it's ours.

We're either going to win or it's going to be a draw.

You just don't.

And so they've committed so many people forward when Fratesi scores.

Yeah, and I do want to

pick out the Fratesi story as well, because this has been big news in Italy.

His

grandmother passed away on Friday, and it was one of those relationships where he's very close to her.

talked really sort of wait he'd already posted some things on social media about it before this game and he talked about it afterwards just saying you know this was he likes to think he's someone who's quite strong mentally but this is like the one thing that's just completely flawed him and he'd been really struggling seeing her in her in her last uh few days so for him to get that goal felt like another of those little um

personal moments that that get lived out in front of everybody that um was was very powerful i thought um and to talk about him as in the greater context of footballer he's he's really the sort of player who Inter

are probably going to want to be building their next step on.

Marotta was talking before this game about their plans for rejuvenating the squad a bit, bringing the wages down.

That's going to be part of their project.

It's kind of always part of their project in Inter because they're in this cycle where they're trying to be competitive on all fronts, but they can't live in the old days like they did under Marati of throwing money around.

And

there is a core of that team that's aging.

Mikatarian, who I thought was brilliant in this game, by the way, and has been quietly reinvented into something absolutely wonderful under Simon Nzagi.

I think he's one of the underappreciated parts of that team, possibly.

I can't think how old he is now.

He's well into his 30s.

I can't think exactly how old he is.

And Fratersi is this Italian talent who really should have been playing more football at this point in his career and has become really just an impact sub for them.

I think

very much ready for and deserving of his run of being a regular starter because he's got that directness, that ability to break the lines, that capacity to thrive in situations exactly like this, when an opponent overcommits a little bit, looking for that winning goal, that killer blow,

and can get

on the counter.

I suppose it's one of those goals that, if it was still away goals, would be even more meaningful.

It doesn't deliver quite the knockout punch it might have done if it was away goals, but it's clearly significant taking a lead back to Tathanzira.

I think

as well, something that emphasises Inter's achievement is that the script, such as it was, was written for Bayern despite their injuries.

Like, they're going for a home final to start with.

I always think that second to Real Madrid, they're one of those clubs that tends to puff their chest out and sort of see things through vibes-wise and aura-wise as well.

You know, they are Bayern Munich, they're very proud of it.

Obviously, won many European Cups, but also

the Thomas Mother story.

He came on when Bayern really weren't doing much

with defending very well.

Most of the plague was in front of him.

There was no Messiala to

go beyond Kane, and it was causing Bayern issues.

Muller comes on, they announced on Saturday, I think it was, that he's going to leave after 25 years

at Bayern, man and boy.

He's a real all-Bavarian icon, isn't he?

You can't really envisage Bayern without him.

He doesn't want to leave, that's very clear, but he's not getting an extra year.

Comes on,

and then nine minutes later,

classic Thomas Muller finds a bit of space that hadn't really existed before in that half, anyway, and snaffles it up from a couple of yards.

And you think, then, okay, this is the story.

And definitely, when you're writing a live match report, you're thinking, good,

this is the story.

I can do a nice, dreamy little opening par here, sign off, go downstairs, have a coffee, think about what I'm doing for my rewrite.

And then, to be fair,

to rip that up and have the presence of mind at a time when you are coming under pressure.

I think Kane had another shot after the goal that was saved.

There was a few things going in and around the penalty area.

To have that coolness and presence of mind to be able to construct the kind of move

that they did for the winner and not just sit on the ball and wait for everyone to sit in and get back and see the game out.

I think that says a lot for the way that Nzagi encourages them to go at teams.

It was a good achievement from them last night and you've got it back then now.

Do we surely not, sorry,

we can't completely ignore the fact that Philip Lah might have written a column for The Guardian on Tuesday with the headline, Italian teams cannot cope with modern football's intents.

Do they need a reboot?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, no, I mean, we have it all here, you know, on the pitch.

There's a lack of initiative, commitment, athleticism.

Italy spends a lot less than the four other top leagues in Spain, England, France, and Germany.

The players run less.

I read a statistic a few years ago that said the Bundesliga team with the lowest values ran more than the team with the highest values in Serie A.

Italy has not updated its operating system.

It works too slowly.

The good news is you can still win with defensive football, but slowing down is not the answer.

You need to add something.

Power when winning the ball, activity and possession, an unrelenting desire to conquer and attack.

The Simeone style.

The whole of Italy should be playing like Adletti.

Should he have waited until after the game?

Nikki is the question.

I think the whole of Italy should be playing like Inter.

I don't think they need to play like Simeone, but Inter are a class apart.

And

on this point, I mean, the thing is,

it's not without a grain of truth, the things he writes.

And I think

the thing that, from my perspective, right after every other Italian team went out of the Champions League in the, what was it, the playoff round, it was officially called, wasn't it?

I was asked to write a book, a column about Italian football in crisis, and because of various things, I didn't write it because I was already had other things on, but I also kind of wanted to go, yeah,

all these stories are individual club stories.

It's never about like one unified picture and everything is the same.

And Inter are absolutely a top European football team.

Whether that means that all of Italy hasn't got its problems is a different conversation, but Inter absolutely deserve to be treated like what they are which is one of the best teams in Europe.

On Baz punditry watch is Declan Rice having a good day but Harry Kane having a bad day basically a carbon neutral punditry day for Baz.

Anyway that'll do for part two.

Part three will begin with another defeat for Leicester City in the Premier League.

HiPod fans of America, Max here.

Barry's here too.

Hello.

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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.

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Please play responsibly, must be 18 years or older to purchase, play, or claim.

Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

So, Leicester Nil, Newcastle 3, 8 straight defeats without scoring a goal, over 12 hours of football without scoring.

Their next two games are away at Brighton and home to Liverpool.

Also, eight home defeats without scoring, stretching back to a 2-2 draw with Brighton on the 8th of December, which beats Watford's previous record of seven, set between December 1971 and March 1972.

Barry, you mentioned on Monday's pod that Southampton, despite being on 10 points and already relegated, don't feel like the worst team in the league.

Yeah, and I think this confirmed my view.

It was an absolutely dismal performance by Leicester.

I think Newcastle, obviously they're still very much in the hunt for a Champions League place, but they could be forgiven for sort of checking out after that huge high of winning the Carabao Cup.

But

instead, it's Leicester Leicester who've checked out, and they've checked out months ago.

They're an appalling football team.

And the problem is that the club are massive.

They have a chief executive who never makes a public utterance.

Their owner communicates through the medium of programme notes.

Mime, mime?

No.

Through the medium of pro

mime would probably be as useful.

But he communicates through the medium of programme notes in which he just tells fans it's important to get behind the lads and blah blah blah.

This game they conceded after 115 seconds.

The game was gone after 34 minutes when there were three kneeled down.

The pick of the Newcastle goals was the second where Fabian Scherr spotted Mad Termundson off his line, tried his luck from just inside his own half and hit the crossbar.

Jacob Murphy was the first to react and he scored with the on the follow-up and

appointing Rude Van Isleroy was clearly an error but it's difficult to see how anyone could have whipped this rabble into shape and if you look

like Oliver Skip and Harry Winks can't get in this team Harry Winks has been sort of banished from the first team squad because he refuses to spend one night a week in the training ground he's commuting from Hertfordshire I believe or Hertfordshire however you pronounce it and

I think his wife has just given birth to a daughter.

So, you know, he might have his own reasons for that.

I think, knowing you as I do, Max, you'd be delighted for the opportunity to spend a night in the Leicester training ground.

Do I say it out loud?

But you've read my mind.

Yeah, one night a week.

Do you know what?

Even now, if I could spend one night a week in Leicester, I would.

And that is some fucking commute.

Yeah, so they've now gone 12 hours without scoring.

I read somewhere yesterday they're the only club in Premier League history to have paid out more in wages than they bring in in revenue.

So it clearly didn't really cross their mind that they might be

among the worst three teams in the league.

And

they are an absolute mess.

But the performance on Monday was diabolical.

The only

bright spot was they brought on a 15-year-old Jeremy Munga for his debut.

Couldn't wear a shirt sponsor because Leicester is sponsored by a betting company and he's only 15.

So, yeah, one for the future maybe, but that's it.

And

a lot of there were a lot of empty seats at the King Power.

The fans have just given up on them, or a lot of them have anyway.

Jack Rafferty tweeting, when Jeremy Munger was born, the number one single in the UK was Evacuate the Dance Floor by Cascada.

Harry Potter and the half-blood prince was top of the cinema box office and Michael Jackson had just died.

We all feel nice and old now.

Carl Anker said, Bulletproof by LaRue was at the top of the UK charts.

I Got a Feeling by Black Eyed Peace hadn't reached these shores yet.

Producer Joel said, I got a feeling was top of the charts.

Whose charts are we following?

We keep doling this out with young players, and we might have got them all wrong.

Anyway, Nick, you wanted to come in?

Leicester were obviously top of the charts in the championship last year.

But

I did feel that their promotion promotion was all a bit surly and morose, really.

Enzo Mareska was in charge, and they were getting through games, but wasn't really very popular.

But I remember a run they had towards the end of a season where they weren't winning a few, and the atmosphere was turning quite a bit in there, even though they were comfortably top two most of the season.

They didn't exactly go up on the crest of a wave, and I think that's largely because of the precipitous fall they had from obviously very, very great things in previous years.

And I think,

obviously, then there was a lot of change, the ill-advised ultimately appointment of Steve Cooper.

And it just felt at the start of the season like they didn't really have much of a chance.

It just felt it was a rare example of a club coming up.

in a bad place with no real momentum, just kind of getting up through almost simply because they had better players than most of the others in the championship last season, rather than through having any kind of goodwill or momentum behind them.

And yeah, they might have issues now.

You know, the finances, as we know, have been problematic.

Who's going to coach for team?

It's going to need a massive reset if they're going to challenge strongly next season.

Ipswich have, you know, looked better.

I mean, they're not, what are they, three points above Leicester, but it sort of feels like they've given it a good push.

Harry says, question for Nick.

Do you think McKenna will still be there next season with your Ipswich hat on?

I was hoping we weren't going to go there.

Do you know what?

I had thought that this season would be the last we'd see of McKenna at Ipswich one way or the other.

I'm increasingly of a mind that he will stay, which would be a good thing for them.

I don't really see

a vacancy.

I think one consequence of the Premier League's middle ranking teams, especially all all looking so solid and so strong and so and so upwardly mobile even if in practice they're not in the table is that there's no managers particularly in trouble.

I think we can expect Angel Prostacoli to leave Spurs and I'd have pegged McKenna for that maybe if he kept hip switch up but I don't think Spurs are going to appoint a manager who who has got relegated.

Maybe you could see Ireola take that job for example but again would Bournemouth take that punt?

I don't see enough vacancies in the Premier League that someone takes McKenna.

I think probably he stays on and gives it another year and I think Ipswich will need that because I agree.

I think they've given quite a good account of themselves over most games but they have fallen short.

I think they're going down and I don't think anyone's going to argue with that or

be too devastated actually given where they've come from.

Personally I'm not crying about it.

I think they'll come back stronger.

But there is quite a rebuild to do.

Liam DeLatt is among those who will be on his way.

And I think losing McKenna at this point too would complicate things.

But yeah, short answer, I'm more confident than I was that he'd be there next season.

I like the idea that someone could argue with them going down when they are finishing the bottom three, which is quite a tough one.

Look, big night in the championship.

Great night for Leeds because they won one then at Middlesbrough.

Not an easy game.

While Burnley were held at Derby, and Chevy United lost at home to Millwall.

That's two defeats in a row for Chris Wilder's men.

So that has Leeds on 85 points.

Top on goal difference about Burnley have 85.

Chevy United have 83.

Five games to go.

Pretty tight.

Not tight at the top of the league one.

Birmingham are promoted.

They won 2-1 at the same time.

Sorry, Max, you missed out on the most important news from the championship, which is that Sunderland have confirmed their place in the play-offs.

Please accept my apologies.

I thought you'd lead with that before the Arsenal game, if I'm honest.

It's exciting.

I'm excited.

I'm excited for you for the playoffs.

Birmingham have

got promoted.

They won 2-1 at Peterborough.

They'll be champions any minute now.

Big games in the playoff races.

Wickham won 1-0 at Huddersfield, so they're still in with a chance of automatic.

It's a blow for Huddersfield.

Bolton lost 1-0 at home to Rotherham.

So they dropped to seventh.

Reading won 3-1 at Shrewsbury.

so lots of problems off the pitch but reading still in a playoff position on it uh they leapfrogged bolton by the way shrewsbury basically down um uh nick you were in belgrade for the annual uefa congress i you have my sympathies What's the top line coming out of that?

It was interesting.

I think a lot that you could take from it was the contrast between Janny Infantino and Alexander Chaffun, both of whom were there.

Obviously, Chaffun, the UEFA president,

obviously gets up and gives his state of a nation speech and that kind of thing, but he was upstaged a bit by Janny, who looked like a man reborn.

He obviously hasn't checked the economic situation in his beloved United States.

He gave some quite boosterish announcements,

a very good one for us about the Women's World Cup in 2035, almost certainly taking place

in the UK and Northern Ireland,

and gave some, you know, spoke about a 48-team Women's World Cup as well.

And it felt that Mfantino was a man energised by the Club World Cup

funding going through and

just by

the fact that he's got a World Cup next year and that he's got these close ties to the Trump administration that is kind of overseeing it all.

And by contrast, UEFA, it was all fairly procedural, a bit flat.

Last year, there'd been quite a lot of dynamite in Paris because Alexander Cheffrin had just succeeded in getting the statutes changed so that in theory he could run for another term and then had told everyone that he wasn't going to straight after,

causing a lot of ruption and conspiratorial chat between people within UEFA.

You wonder whether there might be a power struggle or civil war.

And that's all calmed since then.

A lot of people seem, I don't want to say they've been whipped into lying, but they seem to be in line.

And I think we can expect Cheffrin probably to run again, in fact, for another term

in a couple of years' time.

And that was probably about it in terms of newslines, really.

That's enough for me.

That's enough for me.

Yeah, it was enough for me by the end.

UEFA seemed pretty happy with the Champions League format.

I would say that.

There was quite a lot of

graphs flashed up on the screen showing how successful it's been this season.

I think I I was wondering whether it would survive beyond 2027 when this cycle ends.

I now think it will.

They seem really pleased.

Personally, I'd be quite interested in seeing it divided into the league phase divided into two times eighteen teams rather than one times thirty-six.

And I know that got discussed before, but I think it may well stay the same.

And whether we like it or not, we'll get another three years of it.

All right.

I don't haven't disliked it so far, to be fair.

Spice says, which would be the more satisfying watch?

Declan Rice scoring an absolute top bins fizzer world either free kick against Real Madrid or Jonathan Wilson's face after discovering Baz has just beaten his personal best for a half marathon.

John, given Declan Rice went from never having scored a free kick to scoring two in a game, should Barry in fact be targeting two consecutive half marathons?

I see on Blue Sky you announced you went for your first run, Barry.

How was it?

I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would.

I think it was like watching Newcastle win the Carabao Cup final.

It was unpleasant but tolerable.

So yeah,

I thought I'd grab the bull by the horns.

So I signed up or I downloaded a running app and I was looking for a schedule to go from, you know, sofa slash barstool to half marathon in a year.

And so they've automatically said, no, you need to target a park run first, you know,

build a basic level of fitness.

So

I'm going to follow their instructions to the letter.

So yesterday I went for one of my big long walks, and during the walk, as an homage to your country of residence, Max, I

did

seven rans, seven or just jog seven lengths of the Aussie Rules Oval on Clapham Common.

So not small.

Jog, walk, jog, walk by seven, which I think is one more than was specified.

And yeah, it was all right.

I think this will be doable.

The one thing was, on one of the jogs,

two, I guess, professional dog walkers hoved into view with, I counted 11 dogs between them,

six or seven of which were not on a lead.

And I was just thinking to myself, please, please, please don't get bitten by a dog on your first run.

So I had to sort of veer off course a little just to make sure I didn't antagonize any of the pooches.

So I, I, yeah, it wasn't as awful as I thought it would be, and I got a little bit of a buzz out of it, I have to say.

Oh, good.

Well, lots of reaction, lots of people very excited.

Yeah, look, I'm not going to become one of these evangelical running boars, by the way, so I will not be taking further questions on this one.

I see, I see.

Well, they may come in on email form, but

understood.

We'll just see you at the start line.

Brad says on his recent vasectomy, I finally had mine done and somewhat sheepishly asked if I could use earbuds during it.

As the doc rummaged around, I was able to listen about the joy of Bacayo Saka's smile while I certainly felt far from gleeful.

The comfort I got from friendly voices was immense.

Thanks for the support, though I suspect you didn't set out in this career so a bunch of men would associate you with testicle pain.

And Matthew says, dear Max Barry and the team, we welcomed our first child, Rosa, to the world in the early hours of Saturday morning, and it's been a wonderful, if sleepless, experience.

Although my life will be forever changed, the Football Weekly has been my grounding force at this time, as has my team Spurs incredible mediocrity.

My wife's family are Saints fan, and it was deeply amusing to have my mother-in-law visit the maternity ward and swearing at her phone when Brennan Johnson scored to send her beloved team down.

Best wishes, Matthew.

Well, our love to Rosa and you and Mrs.

Matthew as well.

Congratulations.

May you have a wonderful time raising a small child.

They'll make up a bed for you at the Leicester training ground.

One night a week off.

God, they can make Ruben Eston could make an absolute fortune, honestly.

Uh, anyway, that'll do for today.

Thanks, everybody.

Thank you, Nikki.

Thanks.

Congrats for being on after an arsenal of victory.

Thank you, Nick.

Thank you, Max.

Cheers, Baz.

Thanks, Mick.

Okay, you're right, Nikki.

Don't get too excited until after the second.

We'll do this again in a week.

Football Weekly is produced by Del Grove.

Our executive producer is Danielle Stevens.

This is The Guardian.