0:00

As. As

0:03

you've probably heard by now, we've teamed up

0:05

with BedMGM this season. We'll be using BedMGM

0:07

lines to make all of our picks, and

0:10

we'll have special offers for our listeners each

0:12

week. If you haven't signed up for BedMGM

0:14

yet, use bonus code theathletic and you'll

0:16

get a one-year subscription to the athletic plus

0:18

up to a $1,500 first bet offer on

0:21

your first wager

0:23

with BedMGM. Here's how it works.

0:25

Download the BedMGM app and sign

0:27

up using bonus code theathletic. Make

0:29

your first deposit of at least

0:31

$10, place your

0:33

first bet on any game, and claim

0:35

your voucher for a one-year subscription to

0:37

the athletic. See bedmgm.com for terms.

0:40

U.S. promotional offers not available in D.C., Mississippi, New

0:42

York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling

0:44

problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER, available in the U.S. Call 8778-HOPE-NY

0:46

or text HOPE-NY 467-369 in New York. Call

0:50

1-800-NEXT-STEP in Arizona, 1-800-327-5050 in Massachusetts, 1-800-BET-SOP in Iowa, 1-800-270-7117

0:55

for confidential help in Michigan, 1-800-981-0023 in Puerto

0:57

Rico. Best

0:59

bet offer for new customers only in partnership with Kansas

1:01

Crossing Casino and Hotel. Don't forget, if

1:04

you haven't signed up for BedMGM yet, use

1:06

bonus code theathletic, and you'll get a one-year

1:08

subscription to the athletic. To the athletic plus have to a fifteen hundred dollar

1:10

first that offer on your first wager.

1:16

The athletic. Good

1:20

morning! Welcome to the Daily Football Briefing

1:22

from the Athletic. It's Monday the twenty

1:24

ninth of April. I'm a a Macintosh

1:27

and on Today show. Arsenal.

1:30

hang on to beat North London rivals

1:33

Spurs and from that moment only you

1:35

knew what was coming. It turned into

1:37

on necessarily interesting game, but City of

1:40

victorious to say ball and on, the

1:42

game starts to change. That killed the

1:44

game. Rarely city were much better. After

1:47

that, Forest deflated and who will Barcelona

1:49

meet in the women's Champions League? Final

1:51

Breaks for the we on forwards basho

1:54

across them on. this

1:59

is the daily with Ian

2:01

MacIntyre. It's been another big

2:03

weekend for European football and that necessitates

2:05

another big European round-up. Hit the music,

2:08

Zim! What

2:13

a week Everton have had! On

2:15

Wednesday night they dropped a piano on Liverpool's title

2:17

hopes and on Saturday evening they

2:19

secured the opportunity to do it again next year.

2:23

Their scrappy 1-0 win over Brentford

2:25

banishes any fears of relegation. Liverpool,

2:28

meanwhile, failed to beat West Ham. They

2:30

looked destined to finish third and Mo

2:32

Salah had a massive tantrum. Toys

2:35

were flung from prams at Villa Park 2

2:37

when Chelsea got well and truly Coventry'd fighting

2:40

back from 2-0 down to 2-0 only

2:42

to see their last gasp winning goal

2:44

ruled out for a foul in

2:46

the build-up. Mauricio Pochettino was unamused.

2:48

What I can say now only

2:50

puts myself in a big problem if I

2:52

say something. Sheffield United

2:55

are gone. They were smashed 5-1

2:57

by Newcastle. Luton may be

2:59

joining them. They were beaten 2-1 by Wolves. And

3:02

Burnley held Manchester United to a 1-0 draw

3:04

at Old Trafford after which

3:07

manager Eric Tenharg described his team as

3:09

one of the most entertaining in the Premier

3:11

League. I mean, in a

3:14

way, he's absolutely right. We'll discuss

3:16

Sunday's games in a moment, but

3:18

while the Premier League title race

3:20

is lighting up, the lamps are

3:22

going out all over Europe. And

3:24

we shall not see them lit again until... well,

3:27

next August, I guess. The

3:32

Promatrids 1-0 win away at Rausocia Dade

3:34

on Friday means that they need just

3:36

four more points from five games to

3:38

seal La Liga. Girona is second.

3:41

They beat Las Palmas 2-0 on Saturday, but

3:44

Barcelona will go back above them if they

3:46

beat Valencia tonight. They

3:48

are Leverkusen have long since wrapped up

3:50

the Bundesliga, but they're still trying to go

3:52

the length of the season without being beaten. And

3:55

they survived another scare at the weekend. I

4:00

don't believe it!

4:03

It just defiles all luggage,

4:05

all belief, all we know about

4:08

football. This team just do not

4:10

know when they're beaten. Two nil

4:12

down at home to Stuttgart. They

4:15

needed a 96 minute equaliser from

4:17

Robert Andridge to spare their blushes.

4:20

That's a second week in a row

4:22

they've done there. Now that result eased

4:24

the pressure on Bayern Munich because Stuttgart

4:26

were pushing them for second place. Thomas

4:28

Tuchol's side beat Reintracht Frankfurt 2-1.

4:31

There were two more goals for Harry Kane. That's

4:34

42 for the season. And Bayern

4:36

mathematical miracles. Bayern need only

4:38

four points in three games to seal

4:40

second. Inter won Serie A

4:42

last week and kicked off an evening of civic

4:45

celebration with a nice 2-0 win over 10 Man

4:47

Torino. Juventus and AC Milan neutralised each other on

4:49

Saturday in the goal of draw. But

4:53

Roma, who you may recall struggling under

4:55

Jose Mourinho earlier this season, have bounded

4:58

up the total since his demise. They

5:00

drew two all the way at Napoli

5:02

last night and currently occupy Italy's fifth

5:04

Champions League spot. At Atlanta,

5:07

however, have a game in hand and

5:09

are just two points behind after their

5:11

2-0 victory over Emply. And

5:14

it's all over in France too. It would have

5:16

been all over on Saturday had PSG beaten relegation

5:18

haunted Le Havre as

5:21

literally everybody expected them to but

5:23

somehow they screwed up. 3-1

5:26

down midway through the first half. They

5:28

actually needed a Goncale-Raoas injury time goal

5:30

just to salvage a single point. But

5:33

not to worry. Second place Monaco lost

5:35

3-2 to Lyon on Sunday night and

5:37

so for the 11th time

5:39

in 13 seasons the title goes to

5:41

those plodky upstarts from the City of

5:43

Lien. The

5:48

North London Derby rarely disappoints and

5:50

this one was an absolute rollercoaster.

5:52

Arsenal stormed into a 3-0 lead.

5:54

They looked home and hosed and

5:56

then, well probably because they're Arsenal

5:58

and the universe expects them to. such things they

6:00

allowed Spurs to pull two goals back

6:02

and thus their fans were plunged into

6:05

nine of the most terrifying minutes of

6:07

live sport they'll ever see but

6:09

they held on. Former Arsenal winger

6:11

turned pundit Adrian Clarke was on the Totally

6:14

Football show last night here's what he had

6:16

to say. It was a strange game because

6:18

Arsenal were three and a half at half

6:20

time and it was a mediocre performance really

6:23

by Arsenal's fans I think so yeah they

6:25

started off the game okay but they didn't

6:27

really handle Tottenham's press particularly

6:29

well. Great counter-attacking goal

6:32

from Bakai Osaka two lovely set

6:34

pieces but in general play

6:36

I think they allowed Tottenham to control the

6:38

match and that wouldn't have been part of

6:40

the game plan I think what they needed

6:42

to do was get hold of the ball

6:45

and dictate and that's what

6:47

they did at the start of the second half and

6:50

at that point for me Tottenham were broken.

6:53

They'd stop pressing they'd given up I think

6:55

I think the fans were about five minutes

6:57

away from exiting the ground and

7:00

in David Raia. Welcome back to

7:02

that David Raia. Yeah he makes that big

7:04

mistake and from that moment on you knew

7:06

what was coming and it turned

7:08

into an unnecessarily interesting game.

7:10

Charlie Eccleshare was at the game

7:13

Charlie should Spurs feel hard done

7:15

by. It's a strange one because

7:17

they weren't that bad in the

7:20

first half in which they went three and down but

7:23

they weren't that good in the second half and

7:25

almost rescuing it in many ways you could say

7:27

they were better actually in the first half they

7:30

created more you know I

7:32

thought they were pretty good in part so

7:34

yeah I think they'll feel you know a draw probably

7:36

would have been a fair result but

7:39

I think when you do keep giving away set-piece

7:41

goals and keep giving away goals on the counter

7:43

there's less sympathy you know if it was a

7:45

one off maybe you could write that off but

7:47

it isn't you know set-piece has been an issue

7:51

for much of the season. Spurs have

7:53

got three massive games in their last

7:55

five fixtures they've got Chelsea, Liverpool and

7:57

Manchester City all still to come. Does

8:00

a fight back like this indicate that they're

8:02

ready for the challenge? It can certainly take

8:04

some heart from the second half. And you

8:06

look to someone like Christian Romero, the way

8:08

he I mean, the fact that he's in

8:10

that position to score. The first

8:12

goal is pretty crazy, but he really led the team

8:14

as a proper and he's the

8:17

vice captain, but it felt like a captain's performance, you

8:19

know, performance of a World Cup winner. So

8:21

I think they can channel some of that, some of his energy.

8:23

That was something post to Kogliu said he wishes, you know,

8:26

some of the other players had a bit more more Romero in

8:28

them. So, you know, the fact that they don't

8:30

give up, they're going to keep going. They

8:32

did that again. Can give them some

8:34

encouragement, but they they'll also know they can't

8:37

start like they did defensively. They can't give

8:39

away those goals. But, you know, they scored

8:41

two against Arsenal at home, two against Arsenal

8:43

away, three against City away, two against Liverpool

8:46

at home. So they know they can score against anyone. They

8:49

just know they've also got to tighten up defensively

8:51

as they go into the daunting final games of

8:53

this season. You're listening to

8:55

the daily football briefing from the Athletic.

8:58

Now there's every chance Arsenal fans will find

9:00

themselves in the odd position of supporting Spurs

9:02

on Tuesday, May 14th, because

9:04

they need City to drop points somewhere in

9:06

this run in. They didn't drop them at

9:08

the city grounds yesterday. And the Arsenal fans

9:11

had tuned in hoping for a double celebration

9:13

about 69 minutes of hope before

9:16

it was finally dashed out by Erling

9:18

Harland. Forrest had their chances, particularly in

9:21

the first half, Chris Wood. But Harland's

9:23

goal doubled a lead that was started

9:25

with another goal from Yosco Grazio. City

9:27

eventually won 2-0 and Sam

9:29

Lee was there. Sam, this city side

9:32

hasn't been beaten since December the 6th.

9:34

And this wasn't the finest performance

9:36

of all time, but they were comfortable winners in

9:38

the end, weren't they? After watching Arsenal get past

9:40

Spurs earlier, with all the ups and downs of

9:42

that game, City would have known as well as

9:44

ever that they just had to win here, otherwise

9:46

it would have been out of their hands again.

9:48

They'd have been relying on Arsenal to slip up,

9:51

having obviously got past a massive hurdle themselves earlier

9:53

on. So they simply had to win. It's an

9:55

absolutely massive victory, not just because of that fact,

9:57

but because. City were really wonky, probably for about

9:59

15 minutes. before half time and 15 minutes

10:01

after. In that space of time, Forrest had a

10:03

lot of chances. Chris Wood probably had the best

10:05

of them when he miscued with an open goal

10:07

pretty much. It really looked like City were hanging

10:10

on at that point. Forrest had a couple more

10:12

forays into the box at the start of the

10:14

second half, and it felt like a matter of

10:16

time before Forrest were equalised. But then of course,

10:18

City put Harland on. The game starts to change.

10:20

They have a bit more space to break into

10:23

in midfield. They started to get a bit more possession.

10:25

Couple of times, De Bruyne and May, because they played

10:27

Harland in behind, but he thought, well, actually, he'd keep

10:29

the ball here. So he kept it. But when

10:31

the pass was on to Harland, he was always

10:33

going to make it. Somehow, De Bruyne, despite missing

10:35

half the season with a hamstring injury, he's got

10:37

more assists than anybody else in the Premier League,

10:39

which is incredible in this cell. But

10:42

the fact that he put Harland through to make it 2-0,

10:45

that killed the game really. City were much better after

10:47

that. Forrest deflated. And even though in the final whistle,

10:49

it was obvious City were going to win the game.

10:51

It really didn't feel like that for a long period

10:53

of time, given Arsenal's victory earlier on, and the way

10:56

that they did it, the way that they got over

10:58

the line, City simply had to do exactly the

11:00

same thing here. And despite a few scares, they

11:02

did it. It was a huge win. All

11:05

of that means Arsenal

11:07

have 80 points with three games left to play

11:09

and a goal difference of plus 57. Manchester

11:12

City have 79 points with

11:14

four games left to play and a goal difference

11:16

of plus 50. And

11:18

Liverpool, I mean, technically, they can

11:21

still do it. They have 75 points,

11:24

three games left, a goal difference of plus

11:26

41, but yeah, never

11:29

going to happen. We

11:32

now know the finalists of this year's

11:34

Women's Champions League, and

11:36

it's not Chelsea. Emma Hayes' side were

11:39

beaten 2-0 by Barcelona at Stafford Bridge

11:41

on Saturday, and she was absolutely livid

11:43

about it. Do you feel robbed tonight?

11:46

Yeah, of course. And I think

11:48

that that is probably the worst

11:50

decision in the way for Women's Champions

11:52

League history. The Catalans will be joined

11:55

by Leon, who vanquished Paris Saint-Germain and

11:57

a real thriller on Sunday. Jesse

12:00

Parker Humphries. The Barcelona team will

12:02

be facing Lyon in Bilbao

12:04

at the end of May

12:06

after a pretty controversial weekend

12:09

in the Women's Champions League semi-finals. Barcelona

12:11

obviously trying to come back from that

12:13

one goal deficit after Chelsea became the

12:15

first team to beat them at home

12:17

in five years. They did that, they

12:19

won 2-0, but the game was not

12:21

without controversy. The condition we can get

12:23

in a second yellow card and being

12:25

sent off, switched the game a lot.

12:27

Emma Hayes, as you heard, calling it

12:29

the worst decision in Champions League

12:32

history. It did change the

12:34

game a lot. I think Chelsea

12:36

clearly struggled against a very good team when they

12:38

were having to play with 10 players. Barcelona eventually

12:40

got the second goal they needed thanks to a

12:42

penalty. That was also pretty soft, although

12:45

you can understand why it was

12:47

given at the time. On the

12:50

other side of the draw, PSG

12:52

had already managed to fumble a

12:54

two-goal lead. They were 2-0 up

12:57

against Lyon in the 80th minute in

13:00

their away leg. Lyon actually

13:02

came back to win that game 3-2

13:04

and add back the prompts in Paris.

13:06

Lyon also won their 2-1. Lyon

13:09

getting through convincingly to the

13:12

final. In a game, though, that wasn't

13:14

without showing that PSG knew what

13:16

they could do to cause Lyon

13:18

problems. It will be a fascinating

13:21

match-up between Lyon and Barcelona. That

13:23

was the 2022 final in Turin

13:25

in a game which caused a

13:27

lot of surprise when Lyon went

13:29

and won it pretty convincingly after

13:31

scoring three goals in the

13:33

first half. It's a big moment for

13:36

both Jonathan Girodez, the Barcelona manager, and

13:38

Sonia Bompastour, the Lyon manager. Girodez

13:40

is confirmed to be heading to the

13:42

Washington Spirit for the start of

13:44

the next season. Bompastour heavily linked to

13:47

that Chelsea drop. I mean, it

13:49

will be interesting to see whether those

13:51

links become clearer over the next couple

13:53

of days now. Chelsea are out

13:55

of the Champions League. But yeah, a

13:58

fascinating between two

14:00

real titans of Europe that

14:03

will be taking place in Babal at the end of May. And

14:05

for more on that, check out our

14:07

women's football podcast, Full-Time Europe. Sophie Penning

14:09

on the team recorded live from Stanford

14:12

Bridge over the weekend and it's a

14:14

fantastic lesson. And that's

14:16

all for today's daily football briefing. If

14:18

you need something else to listen to,

14:20

that other fresh episode of Totally Football

14:22

Show we spoke about earlier is out

14:24

there. Adrian Clarke, Charlie Eccleshire and JJ

14:26

Bull are with James Richardson. If you

14:28

need something to read, can I recommend

14:30

Adam Crafton's account of his meeting with

14:33

Anna Slott? That is on the athletic.

14:35

If you enjoyed this show, lovingly craft it

14:38

for your delicatation late on a Sunday night,

14:40

why not leave us a review? Maybe a nice one.

14:42

Like the one from Easy 8 Sherman who said that

14:45

this podcast made for a great start to the day.

14:47

That was lovely, thank you. Just don't

14:49

leave a nasty one. Not like Lenny 8

14:52

digit number who called us weird for discussing

14:54

women's football. Those crazy

14:56

incels. He won't have enjoyed the last

14:58

three minutes. I've

15:00

been Ian McIntosh, your producer was Michael Zimmerman. Michael

15:02

Bailey will be with you tomorrow. And in the

15:04

meantime, have an absolutely splendid

15:06

Monday. Shh. Be

15:12

awesome, Ian. Looking

15:17

for the best place to buy tickets for any of

15:20

your favorite teams or sporting events? We've got the spot.

15:23

Our partner, StubHub, has been the leading ticket

15:25

marketplace in the world for over 20 years,

15:28

providing a 100% providing a 100% guarantee

15:30

with every order. From a

15:32

worldwide selection of live events, the widest

15:34

choice of tickets and industry leading partnerships,

15:36

StubHub has what you need to purchase

15:38

with confidence. StubHub, an

15:40

official partner of The Athletic.