Advantage Dortmund in Champions League semis? – Football Weekly Extra

This is the Guardian.

Hello, and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly.

Dortmund beat PSG in front of a quite sensational yellow wall.

Nicholas Fulkrook with the ultimate good touch for a big man, taking the ball out of the sky and hammering it past Donna Rummer.

Dortmund to a man were brilliant.

Adeyami and Sancho gave the Paris fullbacks a torrid time.

Chan, Chan, Brant, and Sabitzer ran midfield.

While it's hard to think of one PSG player who had a good game, and yet they create as many chances and probably still go into the second leg as favourites.

We'll look ahead to the Europa and Conference League semi-finals and preview the Premier League games tonight, tomorrow, and over the weekend with both Man City and Arsenal at home.

We're all expecting an as-you were opening to Monday's pod.

Also today, Kloppy Waters for Emma Hayes.

And then there's 777 FIFA and Philippe.

All that plus news of spreading vasectomies, your questions.

And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Archie Rintut, welcome.

Did you say spreading vasectomies?

I did.

We'll get to it.

Yes.

Well, how are you?

You're not going to get one during the pod.

I mean, it seems unlikely, but it'll be good content.

I imagine.

Barry Glendelling, hello.

Hello, Max.

And bonjour sava, Philippe Beauclair.

Sava man, ju etois.

I'm very well.

Thank you.

Ah, sava, sava, bop, bop, bop.

Right,

D.I.

Sizzle says, oh my God, what a dream lineup.

Very kind of you.

Let's begin in Dortmund.

Archie, you were there.

And we bang on about the yellow wall.

It's sort of cliche.

It's a thing we know about Dortmund.

But that was amazing yesterday.

Visually and audibly, they were all in

from an hour and a half before kickoff.

And I think that helps build.

your atmosphere as well and they weren't just pumping out tunes for the hour before either it's it's allowed to grow

and what a difference that can make on a European night because every

that actually at Dortmund there's been kind of murmurings of discontent from some fans because the atmosphere's not always been up to it in between

And they say that the rest of the stadium doesn't get involved as much.

And that actually was probably the biggest difference last night is that the rest of the stadium was involved to a much greater extent with every time that Kari Madayami tracked back, which was a lot.

And every small moment they were there for the team as well.

So, yeah,

it was a special night for Dortmund.

And

having been at that Mainz game where they lost the title last season, they need these nights so soon after to help, I think, rebuild supporter morale of fresher, happy memories.

And that was a big one.

It won't be sealed unless they do finish the job in Paris, but still to,

I think, deserve the win in the end, even if PSG had a greater number of good chances in the game.

I don't think you can really begrudge Dortmund for it because of the way they went about their task.

I mean, you made such a good point yesterday.

We did the TV together in Australia.

And saying, you know, it's because it's terracing.

You've got to get there early, you've got to get your spot.

Reminds me of, you know, Cambridge when we started getting good and other people would turn up.

And you're like, well, this is my bar.

You don't, this is where I stand.

Like, you've got to get there.

If it's a game like that, there's, I presume, I presume there's a bit of a pecking order, you know, people sort of like shuffling in and then just standing right in front of someone when it's their spot.

Archie's right, isn't he, Baz?

I mean, I thought Dortmund was so good when I said it intro, and yet you look at chances created.

Naturally, this could have been 2-0, 3-0 either side, 3-3.

Actually, 1-0 is quite surprised that there weren't more goals, actually.

Yeah, because you say Dortmund were better in pretty much every department, but PSG still created, I don't know, five decent scoring chances.

Should add a couple of goals.

Fabian Rui's diving header that he put wide from six yards.

I mean, you really have to hit the target from there.

He should have scored.

That was more or less a bullet header.

Mbappe hitting the post, Hakimi hitting the post.

Those could have gone in.

So while

it's a good result for brussy dortmund the matt tie is still very much in the balance

i i presume dortmund are pleased with it but they'll probably think we should have got a couple more uh because they did have good chances yeah they did um philippe you put a lovely note in the whatsapp group describing the nicholas fulcrug finish as you called it Did you say it was like an otter slipping off a wet rock?

Yes.

Is that what you said?

Yes, that's what I said.

I mean, it sounded simultaneously beautiful and like something from the Urban Dictionary.

That's what I

thought.

But what a I mean, what a touch.

What a like, that super slow-mo of Fulkrug taking the ball out of the sky was beautiful.

It's the way as well.

You know, it's like when

you see the wheels of a train and they seem to be going the wrong way because of the speaker.

It seems like the the ball actually does this a little bit before it settles just above the surface and skims on the surface, you know, like a pebble you throw across a still lake.

And the speed of the execution and where he hits it as well, the part of his foot he hits it with,

it's the sweetest of sweet spots.

It's absolutely glorious.

He had a magnificent game, Emil Fulkroog.

And he should basically, and he should also, we shouldn't forget, he should have been given a penalty.

That was,

you know.

You don't fall.

Is that the dive?

Is that the push back?

Do you know what?

I thought it was a blatant penalty at Telescope for the replay.

I wasn't sure, but I do think they should have had one in the first half.

After Sabbits' shot is saved,

I can't remember, Archie, can you remember?

Who was...

There was a sort of coming together, and it looked to me.

I mean, we know from Anthony Taylor and Everton, Notting Forest, Anthony Taylor's not giving any penalties anytime soon.

But

I thought Dortmund could have had one then.

I think it was Adiyami on that side.

For Philippe to be talking about Nicholas Fulkrug having all that grace when...

Yeah.

I've been at Dortmund enough times this season and heard fans groaning about Fulkrug's first touch and the way that he's linking up with the rest of the team.

And yet this is symbolic of Borussia Dortmund this season and how on the big nights in the Champions League, they've turned it on, but domestically

they've not been having it.

The comparison that I've used with you before, Max, is

they're not happy eating their vegetables, but when it comes to eating their ice cream boy do they love ice cream and and the thing is is that they're gonna get rewarded with more ice cream as well because this result meant that Germany has that fifth Champions League spot now

which is funny because it's going to a league that didn't support a European Super League idea and my understanding of this whole creation of the fifth spot was to placate

those those clubs who were pushing for it and yet yet, the direct beneficiaries of it are the people who are going, like, well, we're continuing along our own way, thanks.

So, yeah,

all in all, bizarre.

And just back to Fulcrue quickly.

Just another reminder that this guy was two years ago playing in the German second division for Werder Bremen and was not even first-choice striker for the entirety of that season.

And since then, has gone on to go to a World Cup with Germany, score at a World Cup with Germany, get a move to Borussia Dortmund, and is now scoring vital goals in not just a Champions League quarterfinal, but a semi-final.

And the Dortmund CEO after the quarter-final had the nerve to go to Fulker.

Oh, finally, you've scored because he'd gone nine games without a goal.

Yeah, he's got a real air of a League One journeyman centre-forward who's good for about eight goals and about a thousand flick-ons.

He's Kiefer Moore.

He is, yeah.

He's got, he really has a touch of the keeper mores, that's for sure.

Look, there were some brilliant performances, you could list pretty much the whole team for Dortmund, and Ada Yami, I thought, was my man of the match, but a lot of people getting in touch about Sancho.

And Dave says it: look, I know there will be lots of should United look at signing this Sancho lad jokes, but in all seriousness, how do we analyze how badly it's gone at United and how free and happy he's looking now?

Do we underestimate how important happiness is to footballers?

I don't know what you think, Bass.

Well, obviously, if you're happy and content in life, you're going to

perform better at work.

He

didn't deliver at Manchester United.

By several accounts, his timekeeping was poor, which isn't good enough.

You know,

I'm completely anal about punctuality, personally.

But, yeah,

I...

I just think if you're in a team, in a squad, or in any workplace, lack of punctuality is is a lack of respect for your colleagues, I think.

It might not seem a big deal, but it seems to have been a real problem for him.

You know, just be on time.

It's not hard.

Just talk, oh, get him on the plane, which is all well and good.

You know, he has, what, I think, 23 caps or so.

If you're getting him on the plane on the back of one brilliant performance, who are you leaving out?

That's always the question you have to ask.

I don't know how good he's been throughout the season or if this was a one-off standout performance against a brilliant side, but

he's clearly playing with confidence, with a bit of swagger that we didn't see at Manchester United at all, or maybe on one or two occasions.

He set up a couple of chances.

He

had Nuno Mendez absolutely on toast and it was a really, really good performance from him.

But I don't think that detracts from the issues which led to him leading from leaving Manchester United to go back to Dortmund in the first place.

So, what happens during the summer?

He's still a Manchester United player.

Will they want him back?

And,

you know, everyone's saying United are the bigger club than Dortmund.

Dortmund are in the Champions League semi-final.

Manchester United are nowhere near that.

Dortmund have a bigger stadium

than Old Trafford.

The atmosphere at Dortmund Stadium is 100 times better than any Premier League round.

So

why would you want to leave that to go to what I would say is a club that isn't showing much sign of winning anything, really?

You've reminded me, Baz, of when Shinji Kagawa moved to Manchester United, and I think his first game was Everton Away.

And I remember a commentator saying, oh, but will he have played in an atmosphere like this?

And I thought, yes, weekly, actually.

um sancho has been having a good if not great time

uh since since coming back he scored a fantastic goal at the weekend away at rb leipzig but they went down 4-1

and

that's that's been a mood of dortmund against the big teams in the bundlesliga this season they've taken five points from eight games against the four teams above them

there's this

desire to sign Sancho, but whether the financial package can come together for Dortmund is another matter.

Just to pick up on the national team topic and how that works actually for the German side of this, last night you had Mats Hummels, Nico Schlotobeck, Emre Chan, Julian Brandt, Kari Madayemi, and Nicholas Volkrug all part of that brilliant performance.

Only one of those players was included in Julian Naglesmann's last Germany squad, and that was Nicholas Vulcru.

And as it stands, Naglesman says that he only wants to make one or two changes from the last squad.

And he's going to be put under a certain amount of pressure by those performances.

I think, particularly, more of the centre-backs of Schlotterbeck and Hummels.

The first choice pairing right now will be Yonatantar

of Bialeva Kusin and Antonio Rudiger of Real Madrid.

And then behind that, you've got Valdemar Anton, who's had a tremendous season at Stuttgart.

But it's just quite funny that you can be playing in a Champions League semi-final and putting in that performance.

And it's no guarantee that, as you can see, we've got six players for Germany there who will probably not make the squad.

Five of them, I've seen.

I don't know.

Germany are going to win the Euros now.

I don't know if Devil's going to have a good squad.

That's pretty Joe Rotz regarding his timekeeping.

Maybe no one told him that Germany's an hour ahead.

So he's always half an hour late.

I wanted to ask you

if you do cryptic crosswords.

No, I'm not clever enough.

Archie.

I've tried, but I'm not very good at that.

That's a pity.

Well,

I don't know if you know Rob Jack or Rob Jakes, who does the crossword for The Blizzard, which is a football-inspired

crossword.

This is relevant, by the way, I reassure you.

And he came up with that clue, which is Johnson, a CAD, appalling right-winger.

Five letters, six letters.

Johnson, a cad,

appalling right-winger.

Okay,

so is it Shane Shancho?

Yes, it is, because it's an anagram of Johnson, a cad.

And the appalling is the sign that there is an anagram here.

Anyway, I thought I wanted wanted to share this.

This is Radio 4.

It's good that, because

I think some of the listeners like to think this is the intellectual part of football broadcasting.

I'm not sure it always is, but sometimes it's good to elevate it.

Can I ask you about PSG, Philippe?

What did you make of

their performance?

Because

I was thinking yesterday, if that had been Real Madrid, right, who were under the cosh and didn't perform and miss some chances, I'd have been like, they knew what they were doing and they'll be fine.

But I just wonder if it's our preconceived ideas or if just PSG were a bit rubbish yesterday.

I wouldn't say rubbish because they're much much better in the second half without changing much.

I mean the tactical organization changed, they didn't change at half-time.

It was just a question, I think they were a bit surprised by the intensity of

Dortmund's play.

They tried to press higher up the pitch, which they don't always do PSG, and it didn't quite work.

Dortmund were finding ways through the lines.

And then afterwards,

after the pause, I think basically Luis Enrique just asked his players to be more on the job.

And they were.

But my goodness, some of the French press is absolutely scathing about them today.

I was reading the summing up of the game in Le Parisienne, and I thought, surely we haven't seen the same game.

I mean, the adjectives which were chosen were adjectives I would have chosen for Manchester United's performance in the Champions League, for example.

It was that bad.

Kinen Mbepe came from a lot of criticism.

I mean, he curled that shot against the post, but he was once again underwhelming in terms of his influence, lost loads of balls.

So, as you know, in France, there is, it's not starting, there is a real anti-Mbappe current.

Is that because he's going to Madrid?

Is that the reason?

I think there's

partly, yes, and partly also because of his body language.

The fact he's not really performing at the moment like he was

earlier in the season.

But this said, and also people are questioning the fact that Gonzalo Ramos, for example, stayed on the bench as he's been staying on the bench for the whole of the knockout phase, when he's actually the number one scorer at the moment in Liga.

He's at eight goals in 11 games, I think, over the last 11.

And he's being totally ignored.

He's left on the bench.

Many people, that rankles with them.

But if you look at PSG as a whole, you're looking at a team that has lost...

hasn't lost in French league since September, which is impressive,

and which is playing with a kind of togetherness, certainly, I think, that was absent in previous incarnations.

And the big players are players like Vitinia and Fabion Ruiz.

They're the ones who actually make that team tick, rather than, and it's a team in Luis Enriquez's image, which, and

they won't be as bad in the second leg, which is why I do share your view that they can do it, overturn that

in Paris, in the Parc des Prince.

But there are other things about the games which I thought were worth mentioning mentioning on the PSG side.

Seeing Nasser Al Halaifi, chairman of PSGE and European Club Association,

sitting in the presidential box next to a convicted criminal, the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, was actually something which is an illustration of a lot of things that PSG stands for.

And he's, by the way, dear lawyers, dear lawyer friends, he has been convicted.

He has been convicted.

I'm about to say, I bet they're getting into

now and many other things as well.

So yes,

he's been convicted.

So and that was a reminder of where PSG are right now.

But they're not in a bad place if you go back to the field for a second.

And with a little bit more luck and composure in front of gold, they probably would have come back with something a bit better than a defeat.

Very, very tough.

Again,

loads of criticism towards this side, loads of criticism towards Bappé, towards Luis Enrique, but I think it's misplaced.

It's just the way that PSG is treated in the French media.

That's all there is.

I think Luis Enrique was caught a little bit off guard by Jaden Sancho playing on the right-hand side last night because you saw the amount of space that they were prepared to give Julian Rhyerson running up from right back, whereas on the left-hand side, Ian Mattson was...

shut off from making those kinds of dangerous runs that we've seen him make quite recently for Dortmund, particularly in the Champions League.

I think I was surprised that he didn't really seem to do much to protect Nuno Mendez a little bit more.

Yeah, especially since Nuno Mendez, according to some information, was not actually 100% physically fit.

So you would have thought, you know, Sancho is the threat and that he would do something about it, but he was setting his way.

So I agree with you.

That's a very good observation.

I thought, thanks.

Well,

occasionally they come.

I thought that Marquinios had an excellent game

despite what happened as well.

I say despite what happened, despite some of the chances that Dorman were getting

two key blocks against Julian Brand.

And Marquinios

is such

an important figure for PSG fans as well, as somebody who's been there.

through all these years of madness at the club, but also just continually performs in big games.

He was very crucial crucial against Barcelona in the last round as well.

He's somebody I'll be looking out for next week.

The one thing that I think is a question mark is the injury to Lucas Hernandez and what it would mean with Beraldo playing there for a full 90 minutes, because I know that he's not been as consistent for PSG.

But just another point, Vitinia, I've not seen him live much, but there's a certain energy and buzz to that guy that you can see why you have him at the heart of a team to set the tempo, to give you that kind of rhythm.

He was impressive.

I wonder if Luis Enrique will consider putting Kirian Mbappe out to the left-hand side a little bit more just to drag Dorkmund out from their comfort zone and maybe then start with Gonzalo Ramos in the next game.

Or Columbueni.

The thing is that Gonzalo Ramos has also been taken out of the team that played the semi-final of the French Cup, which was a big game against Dad René.

He wasn't there.

So either there is something happening between the two, or there is a tactical subtlety that is escaping us all, because,

frankly, everybody who's seen Gonzalo Ramos over the past, I would say, three months with PSG would say, he has to start.

He has to start.

So he might have to do something about it.

I mean, yes, shifting Bappé back to the left wing, where many people anyway would say.

That's the place where he's most effective when he's playing as an out and out winger.

Yeah, except perhaps Vinicius Jr.

That's for another pod, isn't it?

Yes,

just a note, a big fan of Ian Mattson, a someone who's traded off football is called Ian.

There aren't many coming up on the rails.

So good to have an Ian back in there.

Anyway, that'll do for part one.

Part two, we'll look ahead to the games of the Europa League.

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Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Europa League Den Marseille Atalanta, Roma Levikusen.

Archie Levikuzen's probably the favourites for the tournament and

just a few games away from being unbeaten all season.

And it doesn't matter how many times you say that, in all competitions, is ludicrous.

46 games unbeaten.

And they've really started to

test the limits of that.

in recent weeks with some of these late goals.

I've been at both of their

latest late, late displays against Borussia Dortmund, where they scored in the 97th minute, and against Stuttgart, where they scored with the final kick of the game in the 96th minute.

And I was next to a Bailevakusen official who just wasn't even reacting

with celebration anymore after the Stuttgart goal, after the late goal against Stuttgart, just turned around and went, you've got to be kidding me.

That's how everyday an occurrence it's become for them.

The thing to note ahead of this game, I think, is that Florian Wierts has been rested from the start for the last two Bundesliga games, I think, to give him a bit more energy in the tank.

He is of a few Labour Coups and players who are very important to this team.

I think I've mentioned before the likes of Grimaldo, Jacques, Tarr.

Wierts is the X factor to that.

And

yeah,

they really like to get control on a game in a way that Bay Munich and Dortmund have struggled to across a league campaign this season.

It shows you that you can be set up as a team to play well in cup competitions, but does that translate to the everyday

tussle of a league campaign?

And Leverkusen have that, and now we're finding out, do they have that as well in knockout competition?

And so far, it looks like they do.

But I think Roma is going to be a huge test of that because they've really kicked it up a notch since Daniel Ledorosi took over from Jose Mourinho.

The performance against Brighton, I thought, was really impressive, even if Brighton have slipped off in the Premier League a bit now.

But I think if there's going to be a team that beats them in the final weeks of the season, Levacus and that is, then I wouldn't be surprised if it's Roma across one of these legs.

What about Marseille?

We obviously saw Atalanta beat Liverpool with our favourite Charles de Catalera Philippe.

What chance do you give Marseille?

They've had a bit of a

basket case season, which feels quite Marseille-y to me.

I think you can say that, I think.

If you look at it,

they're no great chicks.

I think they've won one in six in the Liga.

They're on their third manager of the season, Jean-Briggasset, a name that you might be familiar with for two reasons.

Once, he was Laurent Blanc's faithful right-hand man

throughout all of his jobs.

And second, he's the guy who was sacked by the Avrico's because

of their winning run.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So he was the manager, but he lost all their games.

Yes, that's.

Absolutely.

And so he lands at Marseille, a club that has already eaten away Marcelino and General Gettusso that season, who are doing badly in the league, but who somehow are still in with the shout after going out of a pretty difficult group in the Europa League.

And you look at the clubs

they've taken out of the competition, that's pretty damn serious.

And what is this thing again, you know, that Archie was talking about?

Look at Boris Herdmund in the Bundesliga.

Okay, they're certainly better than Marseilles, all things being compared, you know, Mutettis Mutandis.

But

in Liga, they've been very, very poor, very disappointing, in turmoil.

In Europe, they seriously think that they have a chance of bringing another European trophy to Marseille, whom, as they never tired of reminding anybody, everybody, especially PSG fans, they're the only French club to have won the Cup with the big ears, as we call it, Le Coupeau and Sorais.

And they've done that with a team which has got academy products on them.

There's been loads of injuries.

There's a guy called Pierre Enrico Babayang,

forgot about him.

He's still there, still playing, and he's still scoring a few very important goals in Europe.

And you're thinking, listen, they went past Chakta, they went past Benfica, they went past Villa Real.

These were not small teams or small clubs.

Maybe they're able to do it.

And the atmosphere, okay, it's not going to be the yellow wall because there is no yellow wall at the Villodon.

But the atmosphere in Marseille would be absolutely fabulous.

And I give them a chance.

I want to believe.

Would it be good for

European football if Marseille won?

Because if my memory serves me correctly, fans have disgraced themselves on a few occasions this season.

And Marcellino basically walked out because he said, look,

this team is unmanageable.

I can't cope with these

demands of these fans and their aggression.

Yeah, there's nothing new about that.

I mean, the history of Marseille is the history of their own bus being stoned by fans

with fans

erupting erupting

in the offices at the training ground demanding to see the sports director which they did demanding to talk to the manager and so on and so forth.

Yeah they they are pretty wild.

I agree with you on this one.

Whether it would be a bad thing for the club to go through to the final, I don't necessarily agree with that.

i'm not saying it would be i i mean there's a certain romance and mystique surrounding marseille but you know they

they do have a propensity to misbehave they do it's not new it's nothing new and it's not going to change in the conference league then fiorentino versus club bruges and aston villa olympia quas and look it's such a it's a massive opportunity this baz for villa isn't it i know they may have aspirations beyond the conference league but you know you saw the west ham fans having a really lovely time last year you've got to think right now this is they should throw all their eggs in this basket.

I'm not just saying that from a, I'd like Tottenham to steal top four point of view.

It's a brilliant opportunity for Villa.

And in Unai Emery, they have a manager whose pedigree in Europe is, you know, second to quite a few, but not too many when it comes to the second and third tier competitions.

I have no idea whether Olympiakas are any good or not.

If they've made it this far, they must be handy enough.

But

I'd probably back Villa to beat them you know Villa are a very good side second to Craig Noon or as someone on Sky Sports News once said second to Craig no one

which was fun look Chelsea place Birds are seemingly in the Premier League Baz

and just been saying he doesn't care about set pieces he uh he's in his sort of typically chipper press conferences um to quote Billy Joel you may be right I may be crazy but it's maybe a lunatic you're looking for I'm just not interested in it I never have been I think this last bit was just about him talking about set pieces.

I don't remember Billy Joel writing, you know, an upbeat tune about thesis about corners.

That's on all marking and Ben White fiddling with Vicario's gloves.

Chelsea have 14 injuries ahead of this game.

Spurs without Ben Davis and Destiny O'Doggie.

So I don't know who will play left back.

But Spurs need this, Barry, if they want to get top four.

They do.

And I was saying to someone yesterday, I have literally no idea what way this game is going to go.

Couldn't call it.

Chelsea are a mess, but they do occasionally tend to raise their game against quality opposition.

Spurs are a good team and are capable of absolutely calamitous performances.

So this is a game I'm looking forward to.

And I usually take Thursdays off when it comes to football watching, but I will certainly be tuning into this one.

Not a clue what way it'll go.

Probably Spurs, I'd edge towards them just because of Chelsea's injury list.

I don't know if you've you've addressed the Bournemouth table, Max, where if you look at the results since

I think it's the 10th match day in the Premier League, I'm talking in slightly Germanified terms here, just to explain.

If you start making a table of when a team has become successful, they generally put either the name of the coach in and then call it, for example, when Julian Nagsman came in, they called it Di Naglesman, Tabella.

Right, okay.

Yeah, like the Solskjaer table.

We're aware of, yeah, we get that.

Right, I see where you're coming.

I get the point.

Point is, whilst there's a bit of a kind of a Harry Potter kind of conundrum here, where

I think the phrase is, neither can live while the other survives, where

ever since Bournemouth have become good, Tottenham have been bad.

Namely to the point that, well, Spurs were unbeaten after the first 10 games.

They were top of the league.

And if you look since Bournemouth have become good, Tottenham are very mid-table.

And

I was just looking into it and thinking, what has gone wrong there?

And for me, I think it's a little bit of

a drop-off in terms of that squad and having enough players on the same level to be able to rotate effectively because you saw in those first 10 games of the season how good they were.

But you need to play such a high-risk system that Postokoglu wants to, you need to to have

such a group of players who are going to be able to come in for you.

And I think that maybe someone like Pierre-Emile Hoibier, just over a consistent period of time, is he going to be able to step up to levels that the players ahead of him have done.

And

that

the biggest question for me with Spurs is what happens with the next few transfer windows and how they manage that.

I think if I was speaking to him about it personally, he'd probably call me mate a lot in his most withering tone but i just find postacoglues

you know because he was quizzed at his presser yesterday about the corners and he was ah look i'm not going to worry about that i'd just tell my players to get the ball down and play some foot football mate but it just seems like willful negligence that this this thing can be sorted out pretty easily and he just isn't fussed about addressing the issue.

What is clearly an issue?

Yeah, I mean, he did put Pape Sartre on Ben White in the second half, and Arsene didn't score from a corner.

So, I, you know, just I think he just doesn't.

I think he thinks press conference, and he's probably right, are just really stupid.

He's just like, This is all just stupid.

You're asking me stupid things, I'm gonna reply with stupid things.

People will write stupid things, and the wheels keep on turning.

And so, he just now that's that's fine.

I mean, I remember

Richard Gere was on Simon Mayo and Mark Crimod's radio show, film show,

a few years ago, and they were

talking about him doing press junkets.

And he said, you know, that's what you get paid for.

You know, the acting is, that's a piece of piss.

It's the press junket at the end.

That's what you get the big books for because it's so stupid.

Yeah, I can imagine.

And I guess it's the same with football managers, isn't it?

Matt Law writing in the Telegraph saying Chelsea absolutely adamant the club did not pay for a flight for Ruben Amarin to visit London last week and did not hold any meetings or talks with him, which is exactly what you'd say if you had paid for flights for Ruben Amarin.

I mean, who knows?

Who knows?

Do you reckon they bought the plane instead of buying the flights much in the way that they sold the hotel?

That's my, I'm thinking, how have they got around it?

Did they sell the plane to themselves?

They're good at that.

Yeah.

Luton Everton on Friday night.

Luton definitely need the points there, don't they?

In the title race at the bottom as well.

Notting Forest go to Sheffield United and Burnley play Newcastle at home.

At the top, Arsenal home to Bournemouth, Man City home to Wolves.

So presumably, and you play first, Phillip.

You're the 12:30 kick off Arsenal at Bournemouth.

And we've just established that Bournemouth are good, so it will depend on how

Spurs do tonight, depending on whether Bournemouth will be good.

But do you feel, I mean, obviously, you've got to win.

You've just got to keep winning.

Yeah, and it...

They probably will, though.

I have to say, it's a fixture that I don't see approaching with complete confidence because they've been absolutely terrific.

They're totally relaxed.

And at Bournemouth actually seems to have, you know, usually when, okay, you've established your status in the Premier League, you're ahead of your objectives, there could be a feeling of, okay, we're relaxed a bit, we're on the beach, so to speak.

At Bournemouth, it seems to have the opposite impact.

They seem to be thinking, hey, let's find out how high we can finish in this table.

So the motivation is here, but motivation mixed with relaxation.

Dominique Solanke in the form of his life.

Obviously, a very fine manager.

Superb results.

That's why I am not entirely confident.

But yes, they have to win.

Keep the pressure on

Manchester City and hope that Wolves do them a big, big, big favour.

Brentford Fulham.

Archie.

We, especially Barry, have not been able to work out all season if Fulham are good or not good.

Is that an opinion shared by the fans?

What's the vibe?

Why do you think I as a fan have worked that out?

Well, that's true, man.

I mean, if the vibe is you haven't, that's totally fine.

Not really.

This is a big game for

both sides.

Fulham liked to ruffle Brentford's hair.

Brentford liked to treat Fulham as their cup final.

I have mixed memories of this game.

I remember 10 years ago going to it when Brentford beat us in the last minute and that memory abides as well as getting locked out my flat and having to break in by jumping over the wall at the back you know when you think how can this evening get any worse and then when i was sleeping on on the on the kitchen sofa bed because the flat had one um

because i lost my keys what your keys to the bedroom i mean were you pissed it was three in the morning well hang on but like if you've got into the house

If you've got into the kitchen.

I know I was waking up.

But if you've got into the kitchen, right, surely you can get into your bedroom.

Like, why'd you get into bed in the kitchen?

I was freshly moved in there and I didn't trust all the other flatmates, so I'd locked my room and lost my keys and company.

Right, okay.

Okay.

Oh, my God.

One of those flat chairs.

Oh, God.

I then moved to Germany six months later.

So all that's true.

Point is, Fulham had had their big moment against Brentford more recently in that playoff final behind closed doors when

Joe Bryan did David Ryer at his near post from

way out.

But Fulham, I don't think of one yet at the G-Tech or

whatever that excuse of a garden centre of a stadium is.

Albeit, can I really have a stab at Brentford Stadium when we can't complete our own?

So, yeah.

In answer to your original question, Max.

That's what I wanted.

That's what I was looking for.

Not like the history of your whole life, but it's fine.

You know, it's a word now.

I don't know.

Brentford Fulham sparks memories.

It's been a, you can't say, well, if Rodrigo Muniz had started earlier in the season, what would have happened?

He needed to go through that experience in the first half of the season to get to this point.

So you can't have one without the other.

I think all in all, what more can you ask for as a Fulham fan on the pitch

when you've had a good cup run?

You've beaten and stayed unbeaten against Arsenal this season, won away at Old Trafford for the first time in 21 years.

Yeah,

take that.

Shame about the ticket prices.

Uh, Luton Everton, we mentioned 77 and Everton on yesterday's pod, uh, but you have been following the story very closely, Philippe.

Um, keep it short, keep it legal.

Here we go.

Oh, keep it legal.

Next item on the list, please.

Can I just ask, Philippe, do

you foresee any point in the near future 777 taking over Everton?

No, I don't.

I don't.

For tons of reasons.

And I think that

I'm sorry, I didn't listen to the pod yesterday, but the filing for bankruptcy of their airline in Australia is the one thing is is the first time that actually

the cracks which have been visible to all the people who are looking at this at this company, at this group of companies,

this one has become visible to absolutely everybody.

It's an absolute mess, to be honest.

I've been talking to loads of Everton fans over the past few weeks and few months.

And

it's a case, the devil you know, the devil you don't, the frying pan and the fire.

It's very much that kind of zone in which they're living at the moment.

Because you were talking about the

Everton game.

Well, we've got to keep in mind the fact that should Everton go into administration before the season.

finished and there has been talk of that because they brought in somebody who is a specialist you know, they brought people who are specialists in administration.

Well, they would be deducted automatically a number of points.

And that would put them actually in a position where they can still be relegated.

It's normally nine, isn't it?

Is it normally nine points?

So that would take them to 27 points.

Yeah.

So two points ahead of Luton.

So yes, it is.

So it's still a crucial game.

And as regards 777,

rather than having the lawyers, you know, losing their rag over what is and what should be and what shouldn't be on this podcast.

Please have a look at what Paul Brown and I have been writing about these guys since August of last year in Yozima.

It's not very edifying.

They've also had huge problems in the edge with standard unpaid bills.

This is all a matter of record, by the way, dear lawyers.

This has been confirmed by the Belgian national broadcaster.

Unpaid bills and which go into the millions and so on and so forth.

So it's an absolute mess.

And I really empathize with all Everton fans who are not responsible for the current state of affairs.

No, of course.

Some, I mean, we've seen, we were talking about it yesterday a little bit that, you know, some Everton fans, because football is so tribal, and obviously not all, but some, you know, shoot the messenger, right?

And have been critical of you and Josimov for sort of unearthing the news.

What would they prefer?

That they suddenly have a new owner who collapses, which collapses in no time?

Do they prefer a new owner which has got serious history in U.S.

courts?

I mean, again, I won't go into details because everybody can refer to our reporting, but I can tell you there is no agenda at work here.

And even there's no agenda against 777 partners.

It's just the fact that it's the truth that we're trying to investigate and we're putting it out there.

And that's that.

If people don't like it, they don't like it.

But, you know, they should understand that If 777 don't take control of the club, they might have dodged a far bigger bullet than the one which will hit Everton one way or another in the next few weeks and months.

Crystal Palace Fay Man United on Monday night.

We'll talk about it on Wednesday's pod next week.

Adam Craft in the Athletic writing that Sir Jim Ratcliffe told staff today he wants to end the club's work-from-home culture.

Staff must return to offices full-time, part of Inios' shock therapy to reboot the culture at Old Trafford and the London offices.

One problem is that Manchester United's offices were reconfigured post-COVID, and there aren't actually enough desks for everyone to be in currently.

Good replies about where Jim Ratcliffe decided to work from, not always from home, and

whether this also applies to the players was quite a nice line as well.

Anyway, that'll do for part two.

We'll begin part three with Chelsea's title defense in the WSL taking a hit at Liverpool.

Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly, Archie.

Some breaking news from Germany.

Yes, Max.

So you might be aware that Bayern Munich have been trying to find a new coach for next season.

They've been turned down by Chabi Alonso.

They've been rejected by Julian Nagelsman.

And now, today,

they've received a third rejection.

Ralph Ragnik.

Ralph Ragnik has decided to stay on as coach of the Austrian national team.

So the options for who becomes the next Bayern coach are thinning ever more.

I wonder if they're going to go and knock now on Hansy Flick's door again to see if he fancies it, even though Hansy Flickers, the noises from his camp are that he would prefer to go abroad now.

But

this is

very bad for Bayern amidst everything that's going on.

Would they ask Tuchel to stay if he won the Champions League?

No.

No,

they've already said that

that chapter is over.

I don't think either side

wants to continue working with one another either.

This comes off the back, Max, of an interview or a talk that was given by honorary president Ulli Hernes last Friday, where there were some memorable quotes.

So just for a bit of context for anyone who might not know, Ulli Hernes is now the honorary president, but he is the biggest architect of modern-day Bayern.

So he still has a spot on the board and is incredibly influential in the club.

Now, he said a few things.

He said regarding Chabi Alonso that my wife said straight away, if he has character, he won't come to Bayern.

And if he doesn't have character and says yes, then he's not the right coach for you.

And as always, she was right.

Which is an incredibly weird thing to say.

when you are in the process of trying to get a new coach and it basically suggests that Ralph Rangnik is spineless if he comes away from the Austria project at that moment.

He also said, by the way, that Ralph Rangnik was their third choice coach.

So I'm sure that's not helped Rangnik in that mind.

I think the reason why Rangnik has turned the job down is because he wouldn't be given enough of a say.

You've got two new sporting director figures there installed in the last year in Max Ebel and Christoph Freund.

Added to that,

the the influence that Karl Heinz Romeneger, former CEO, still has on the board as well.

And I don't think Rangnik was going to get enough say.

But what also created more headlines before this

Buying Real Madrid game was Ulijonis laying into Thomas Tuckel and saying how he wasn't somebody who would really develop players and put his arm around players, that he preferred to just buy in new players.

And Tuckel took offense to that of his coaching honor.

But then again, Thomas Tuchel did also lay in to Minjay Kim in the press conference after you might have seen,

saying that he was overambitious,

I think, is the best translation in his attempts to get the ball on two occasions.

So now Kim Minjay needs to criticise someone who does his boots and he can just go down and down and down until the little.

I was going to move us on.

Jim says, Will Emma Hayes' last dance end up being even less trophy-laden than Jürgen Klopp's barrier?

Amazing game in the WSL last night night and Liverpool beating Chelsea.

Yeah, and Chelsea's title hopes have taken a massive dent as we approach the home straight of the sea.

Well, they're halfway up the home straight or more.

Chelsea, with all due respect to Liverpool, Chelsea played this game like a team who had just come off the back of two really grueling encounters in the Champions League against Barcelona.

Look, I won't lie.

I just saw a highlights package, but they looked really knackered.

And they went ahead.

They should have gone 2-0 up.

Early Doors.

Liverpool goalkeeper

Tegan Mika made a brilliant save.

And then Liverpool equalised.

And Chelsea were playing catch-up from that point on.

It was 2-1 Liverpool 2-2, 3-2, Liverpool, 3-3.

And Liverpool 1-4-3.

Chelsea could have rescued a point right at the death deep in injury time with a Beaver Jones volley,

but it was really well saved.

And the commentators have said that Chelsea had only conceded three goals from set pieces all season.

They conceded three goals from corners in this game.

So that's what did for them.

Yeah, it looks like they're learning from Tottenham/slash Nottingham Forest

how to defend.

That seems a remarkable stat.

I think Liverpool only had four corners.

They scored from three of them, three headers.

One was helped along by a Chelsea player.

I think it went down as an own goal.

So the upshot is that Chelsea have three games left.

Man City have two.

City are six points ahead.

Chelsea have a game in hand.

City have a fairly significant goal difference advantage.

But Chelsea are at home to Bristol City on Sunday.

They're already relegated.

That could be an opportunity to get the goal difference up.

Then they have to play Spurs away, Man United away.

Interestingly, Manchester City play Arsenal at home on Sunday.

So Emma is relying on her good pal Jonas Ideval to do her a favour,

which is lovely for her and him, I'm sure.

And City's other game is Villa Away.

They're in seventh place.

So it's not all over for Chelsea, but it's the odds are stacked against them.

And they really need Arsenal to do them a favor this weekend.

Philippe, FIFA have signed a deal with Saudi government-owned energy company Aramco that runs until the end of 2027.

Seems to tick so many boxes in Filippe O'Clair Bingo.

They become a major partner at the 2026 Men's World Cup, 2027 Women's World Cup.

Janny Infantino said, We're delighted to welcome Aramco to FIFA's family of global partners.

Aramco has a strong track record of supporting world-class events, but also a focus on developing grassroots sport initiatives.

We look forward to collaborating with them on a variety of initiatives over the coming years.

Amin H.

Nasser, Aramco President CEO, said through this partnership with FIFA, we aim to contribute to football development and harness the power of sport to make an impact around the globe.

It reflects our ambition to enable vibrant communities and extends our backing of a sport as a platform for growth.

Do you think this partnership, Philippe, is about harnessing Aramco's commitment to grassroots initiatives?

They certainly have an impact on the globe since they're, I think, the single biggest contributor to global warming or carbon emissions, RMCO.

And it's not me who's saying that, it's a study by The Guardian, which established that they, who are 100% state-owned by the state ruled by Mohammed bin Salman,

have

emitted more carbon dioxide, I mean, it's billions of tons, than anybody else.

Are they worse than all the cows in the world?

Do we know?

You're talking methane here.

Ah, sorry.

I'm talking CO2.

I'm talking CO2.

It's a different thing.

I get them muddled up.

There's a real impact on my home life.

The thing is that obviously there's a lot of

attention being given to the relationship between FIFA and Saudi Arabia.

And there will be more over the years to come because the gigantic project of hosting the 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia, which is going to be

just

ratified, not even ratified, but it's already been agreed.

We all know that.

The process of building the stadiums, they will attract a lot of attention.

The process has already started because it's basically Qatar 2022 on

whatever Ben Johnson was taking in Seal.

And

there will be, of course, focus on the human rights and the cost because these stadiums are also built by migrant workers.

The other elephant in the room is the environmental impact of those competitions.

FIFA keeps telling us that it wants it is aware, it is woke

to the fact that human activity produces carbon

dioxide, which is causing global warming, to put it in very simple terms.

And they've even said that the 2022 World Cup would be the first carbon-neutral World Cup, which of course was complete

bullshit, actually.

Let's bullish.

Yeah, bollocks.

I was hesitating between the two, but it was complete bollocks, as every study since then has shown.

No, it was not carbon.

Well, as we're on the subject of cattle, you could say bullocks.

Yes.

It was complete bullocks.

And

well, it's nice to laugh about things like that from time to time.

But anyway, so, and what are we doing this

when we see this governing body, which is telling us that he's trying to work for the good of the game, the good of humanity, blah, blah, blah, is very aware of what is happening with climate change, global warming, and so forth.

And on the other hand, the response to that is to make the tournaments even bigger, to have more tournaments added to the calendar, adding to

the frenzy of

fuel consumption, and at the same time, choosing as the main sponsor, a company which is one of the biggest polluters on the planet.

And this is not a problem.

I mean, come on.

It should be a big problem.

And unfortunately, it's not talked about anymore or enough because for some reason, anything goes.

And that I think we're so inured to the way FIFA has been working under Jenny Infantino that we take this as being just another proof.

Yes, that's exactly what they're like.

And we don't do a thing about it.

And that's really, really, really more than irritates me.

It angers me and makes me actually quite

irate towards our own lack of reaction and the lack of reaction of the football world to that.

Nobody has said a word about it.

Come on, let's have the biggest oil producer on the planet as our main sponsor come on guys be serious yeah the guardian reporting in 2019 um that uh aram co is both the most profitable and the most polluting company of all time which i guess is a it's a win of sorts isn't it uh dan says not a question just keen to see if any on the panel can guess the answer to this uh cian had tweeted you'll never guess what the full-time score was and posted uh a tweet from cardiff cities academy going 85th minute we equalize at mill wall to make it 4-4.

If you have seen it, don't mention it.

Otherwise, would anyone like to guess what the final score was between Cardiff City Academy and Millwall Academy?

7-6.

88 minutes, Millwall score, 5-4.

91 minutes, Millwall extend their lead, 6-4.

93 minutes, the host score again, 7-4.

95th minute, goal, 8-4.

96 minutes, defeat, 8-4.

Hashtag city as one.

Neil says, read Daniel Sturridge's punditry.

We were complimenting it the other day.

While commentating on a game, I can't remember which.

Dave Jones asked him if this was a potential banana skin, and he replied, they're not playing Mario Kart, Dave.

It's a very good line, isn't it?

And finally, George says, hi, Max Barry, producer Joel, and everyone else, are you aware that vasectomy chat has spread to other podcasts?

I was listening to the BBC Rugby Union Weekly towards the end of last week, and at the end of the episode, they read out a message from a man who was listening to them while undergoing the operation.

Are you happy to be trendsetters or do you want to be the sole choice of vasectomy patients?

Cheers, George.

Can imagine, Barry, that, you know, a vasectomy is a sort of punishment in a drinking game at the rugby club, isn't it?

That kind of thing.

You drink wee from this shoe.

You don't

drink your lagers through a dirty sock quick enough.

Exactly.

How was the game, Dave?

Oh, well.

Well, you know, we won, but I did have a vasectomy in the bar afterwards.

There we go.

Anyway, that'll do for today.

Before we go, if you listen to Politics Weekly UK, you might be interested to know that The Guardian is introducing new episodes with Pippa Crera, the Guardian's political editor, and political correspondent Kieran Stacey.

They're bringing you all the insight you need from Westminster to kick off your week.

The first episode out this Sunday, where they'll be chewing over the fallout from the local elections.

Subscribe to Politics Weekly UK, wherever you're at your podcast, new episodes published every Monday.

Please listen to Football Weekly before you listen to them

in order, please.

And that'll do for today.

Thank you, Archie.

Thank you.

Thanks, Baz.

Thanks.

You just reminded me I have to tip around the corner and cast my vote.

I thought he was going to to say I need to go get a vasectomy.

I think that ship has sailed there.

Thanks, Philippe.

Thank you, Max.

Purple Weekly is produced by Joel Grove.

Our executive producer is Phil Maynard.

This is The Guardian.