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details. Hello

1:08

everyone and welcome to this week's edition of the

1:10

Spanish Football Podcast. I'm Phil Kips from Aladies As

1:12

Ever. I'm joined by Sid Lowe to

1:14

talk over what's happened this weekend in the world

1:16

of Spanish football. Hello, Sydney.

1:18

Hello, Philip. How are you? I'm

1:21

okay. I'm back here again, as I was telling you off air. I'm

1:24

really quite terrible patient because I tell everybody

1:26

that I'm ill constantly and I tell all

1:28

the listeners to our lovely podcast whenever I've

1:30

got a slight little tickle

1:33

of a cough or whatever. You are the first

1:35

guys to know about it. Something incredibly sorry for

1:37

myself. And you're just a

1:39

hero who just, you know, plows

1:41

on irrespective of any kind of illness. You

1:43

cannot be stopped, Sid. The

1:47

Spanish football terminator. One day

1:49

I will be stopped brutally in my tracks.

1:53

But until that day, let's talk about

1:55

Spanish football, shall we? This is what happened on

1:57

match day 25, Friday nights. Villarreal

2:00

and Chitafe play out a 1-1 draw

2:03

Saturday, saw Atletico Madrid

2:05

rest Antoine Griezmann play Marcos Llorente

2:07

up front and beat Las Palmas

2:09

by 5 goals to

2:11

nil, very convincing victory for Asletti

2:14

ahead of their Champions League last

2:16

16 first leg within

2:18

to Milan. Osasuna beat Kadith by 2

2:20

goals to nil, Ante Budimir with his

2:22

12th and 13th league goal of the

2:25

season, he's quietly having a really tremendous

2:27

campaign. The striker they call

2:29

the swan, I don't know who they is,

2:32

we never call him the swan, apparently they call him the

2:34

swan. I've never been aware of anyone calling him the swan

2:36

and I'll be honest with you, he doesn't look

2:38

much like a swan. I mean he's got a long

2:41

neck I suppose, sort of. He's got a long neck

2:43

and he can be quite graceful in the air. Yeah,

2:47

but swans aren't really graceful in the air, they're graceful on the

2:49

water. Right. Like when

2:51

a swan flies, alright anything that

2:53

flies is grateful. Grateful, graceful,

2:56

and grateful actually. But

2:58

it's really on the water that a

3:00

swan is the epitome of elegance and

3:02

gliding and of course underneath the feet

3:04

of flapping. Well El Cidar,

3:07

that's where Budimir the

3:09

swan was graceful. Against the Kadith side,

3:11

they haven't won in five and a

3:13

half months and are looking

3:15

absolutely doomed despite only being three

3:17

points from safety. They're only

3:20

three points from safety because Celsa Vigo were

3:22

beaten 2-1 at home by Barcelona

3:24

a game that Cid was at the Estadio

3:26

Vallejdos, which you'll tell us all about in

3:28

just a moment, and then Valencia and Sevilla

3:30

played out a rather disappointing goal as draw

3:32

at Mustaya. Then on Sunday, Cidney was also

3:35

at Vallecas to see the mighty Rallo Vallecano

3:37

hold Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw, second

3:39

time this season. Real

3:41

Madrid have been unable to beat Rio

3:43

and the first game in charge for

3:45

Inigo Perez, the new Rio boss getting

3:48

off to a good start. Granada and

3:50

Almería played at a 1-1 draw, we

3:52

thought this might be finally the game

3:54

where Almería get their first win of

3:56

the season but oh no Granada equalised

3:58

in the late stages. to make sure

4:00

that it finished 1-1, both of these sides looking pretty doomed

4:02

as well. Mallorca were beaten 2-1 by

4:05

Real Sociedad at Sonmosh and Betis

4:07

and Alaves played out a goalless

4:09

draw. At the Benito Viamarin, Betis

4:11

are beginning to enter a

4:13

rather worrying period of drabness and poor results

4:16

in terms of their play and

4:18

their actual results. Monday night could actually

4:20

be the best game of the weekend.

4:23

It's Athletic Club against Girona at San

4:25

Mames, so that should definitely, definitely be

4:27

worth watching. I want

4:29

to tell you about what's going on

4:31

on our Patreon because our Patrons over

4:33

at patreon.com/TSFP, well they got a brand

4:35

new episode of Rincon Cultural last week.

4:37

It's the podcast where Sidney

4:40

Al and I discuss the wonderful

4:42

cultural quirks of living in this

4:44

fantastic country. We also

4:46

take your questions on the cultural aspects of

4:48

Spanish society. As always there's a Q&A pod

4:51

answering your questions every Tuesday. There's a bonus

4:53

pod talking Champions League which is going

4:55

to be out on Thursday as well and

4:57

will soon be recording a new episode

4:59

of TSFP Presents. More Super Seasons

5:02

looking back at another fascinating season

5:04

in Spanish football history. So join

5:06

us, it's around 4 euros a

5:08

month and we think it provides

5:10

pretty good value. So let's start

5:12

with the two games that Sid was at this weekend.

5:15

You went up to a city that you

5:17

very much like Sid, one of the most underrated

5:19

places in Spain, the

5:21

wonderful Galician metropolis of Vigo, the

5:23

Estadio Valleidos to see Felte and

5:26

Barca play out what was an

5:29

interesting game. I mean you

5:31

messaged us during this game Sid, once again not for

5:33

the first time this season, saying

5:36

Barca aren't very good. Yeah there

5:38

was a period in the second half

5:40

after Seltre had scored and Barca went

5:42

through about maybe

5:45

20 minutes or so where it was really

5:48

dreadful, really chaotic, a

5:50

complete failure to get control of

5:52

the game. In a way it's encapsulated in a

5:55

moment when Jules Konday takes a throw in right

5:57

down in his bottom corner and just gives the

5:59

ball a shot. away and Seltre almost

6:01

score and there was just a kind

6:03

of a sense of kind

6:05

of collective collapse for about 20 minutes. Now

6:08

I'm not gonna go so far as to

6:10

expand this to the whole game but I

6:12

don't think there was a period in any

6:14

point in the game really where I thought

6:17

Barcelona were good. I thought they dominated possession

6:19

in the first half but did it relatively

6:21

slowly. I don't think they created sufficient numbers

6:23

of chances to suggest that they really should

6:25

have scored more goals

6:27

or even any goals at that point until

6:31

the 11 Dioski opener. There was a few

6:33

moments when when Vitaroque had opportunities

6:35

in his first touch kind of letting down and

6:37

you think well maybe if he gets a better

6:39

first touch there they do get in and they

6:41

do get that that opportunity that they're looking for

6:43

but I didn't think this was a good

6:46

performance at all and then I think in the second

6:48

half there was a big

6:50

chunk of the game in which Seltre not

6:52

only deserved to be level but

6:54

might have got themselves into the league and didn't and

6:57

then of course got caught with a 90 second

6:59

minute penalty. That was the story

7:02

of the game I guess Barcelona

7:04

taking the lead right on halftime Robert

7:07

Lewandowski scoring after some lovely work from

7:09

Lamina Malle Yago Aspas equalizing

7:11

just after halftime with his 11th

7:13

goal against Barcelona. He loves playing

7:15

against the Catalans and then Lewandowski

7:17

scoring in injury time with that

7:19

penalty after a pretty clear foul

7:22

on Lamina Malle Lewandowski had to

7:24

retake the penalty which he initially

7:26

had saved because we said Tegueita

7:28

was well off his line when

7:31

he made that save. Listen

7:33

I guess there are a couple of

7:36

positives here for Barcelona in so much

7:38

as Lewandowski's backscoring and Lamina Malle continues

7:40

to be a really really good and

7:42

exceptionally young footballer but but

7:44

overall Sid we we don't seem to have

7:46

seen this reaction that

7:49

Chavi was convinced that he's seen following

7:52

the announcement that he's leaving at

7:54

the end of the season we've had

7:56

four matches and they've taken ten points

7:58

from a possible 12. the actual

8:00

points haul isn't bad from those four

8:03

matches but it's a 1-0

8:05

win over Osasuna it's a hard-fought and

8:07

not overly convincing 3-1 win at Alaves.

8:09

It's a 3-3 draw at home against

8:11

Agranada side who are one of the poorest teams

8:14

we've seen in La Liga in recent years and

8:16

then it's this injury time penalty win away

8:18

to Celta Vega so it's not exactly a

8:22

set of results that

8:24

screams catalyst or reaction from

8:27

from Barcelona. Is

8:29

it a little bit jarring to

8:31

hear Chavi continue to think that

8:33

his side have done okay when

8:35

everybody else can clearly see that

8:37

they're not playing particularly well and

8:39

is it even more jarring because

8:41

obviously Chavi Hernandez knows much

8:43

more about football than you, me, everybody

8:45

listening to this podcast and probably everyone

8:48

who's even contemplated looking at a spherical

8:50

object in the history of the world.

8:53

However when he says

8:55

stuff like I think we played well I think we did

8:58

well today I'm happy and when he says

9:01

things like according to big data we'd be

9:03

leaders in terms of chance created which may

9:05

be true in terms of those

9:07

that data that he's passed and the XG

9:09

they do have the highest XG in high

9:12

sex cheaper game in La Liga and it's

9:14

in a bit jarring to hear that but yeah after a

9:16

game where they didn't create that much. No

9:19

and that's true this game they didn't really create

9:21

the chances and actually you know my first my

9:23

first thought when we were we mentioned this off

9:26

air earlier on today he listens to

9:28

us because this comes literally

9:30

three days after you deliver those expected

9:32

goals statistics which do suggest that Barcelona

9:34

are creating as much as they created

9:36

last year when they won the league. As you

9:39

rightly said that and in terms of expected goals and

9:41

also expected goals against they could well be in a

9:43

position where they were top of the table and it

9:45

is true they're missing opportunities. Now what we did when

9:47

we talked about those figures the other day is

9:50

that we And maybe this is

9:52

a cop out because sometimes when the statistics help

9:54

you, you go. Yeah, there is. There's the proof,

9:56

and when they don't match the eye test, you

9:59

kind of go well. But it's the eye test.

10:01

And let's you know, let's. Nuance these statistics and

10:03

that's modems. What we think we seeing or or

10:05

or let's say why we're not convinced by them,

10:07

were not convinced by them up as we were

10:09

some of the other day. There are elements of

10:12

Expected Goals that don't capture everything in the nature

10:14

of the kind of chances they giving up. enormity.

10:16

Of course, we talked about what happened in recent

10:18

weeks with I Watched You'd Be provides a the

10:20

Expected Goals That so that and and it's not

10:22

quite as dramatic. the collapses as I must confess

10:24

as I thought to have a meeting with the

10:27

discourse in recent weeks. If you look at their

10:29

results, they've had the. The flame the

10:31

free vomiting and sell it as okay fair

10:33

enough but I conceded five against the other

10:35

allies and I conceded changed by winning against

10:38

parties a conceded of and to against our

10:40

maria despite waiting for against your own us

10:42

out of course then we saw the the

10:44

the game against Ramage it in the super

10:46

cup where they got absolutely batshit as wealth

10:49

you looking to see this really doesn't match

10:51

what we're seeing now yells it is that

10:53

if we gonna look at it through the

10:55

prism as savvy is doing. All.

10:57

This being a reaction at a positive reactions

11:00

to his announcement that he was going well

11:02

you look at it he said well a

11:04

killer denounced as he was going time off

11:06

the back that five for against the et

11:08

al a nice dreadful but before that before

11:10

to against Isis the to wanting as Las

11:12

Palmas the free to a good summer is

11:14

the one Money and Valencia Now these are

11:17

brilliant results, but that's not massively dissimilar from

11:19

what they're doing. Now we're not seeing anything

11:21

that's not. The. British release is not what

11:23

happened before and you mention those teams are

11:25

I was looking at Cypress you mention of

11:27

and I wrote them down. Those that seems

11:29

in eleventh Twelfth Night Season Seven Things. Seem.

11:33

right? To be perfectly honest, You.

11:35

Bloody Well should be getting this number points against

11:37

those teams. You. Run

11:39

as soon as and. Look. Less

11:42

put the caviar said hey, let's put the

11:44

new ones in here. Which is to say

11:46

that Savvy says these things. Saying these things

11:48

is not the same, is believing them on

11:50

and Sam watch any morphine and need to

11:52

say some of the things publicly to defend

11:54

his team, to protect his players, to talk

11:57

about because obviously he doesn't want to be

11:59

such as. Help is what in truth

12:01

he doesn't want to be saying well I

12:03

announce this thing and be rubbish the kids

12:05

because because the only reason to keep him

12:07

his you were saying you got the reaction

12:09

to sit for dead in the seasons if

12:11

you're now size While to be honest we

12:13

haven't got their actions you might as well

12:15

be knocking on the porters door saying come

12:17

on Certainly not least because Laporta himself. Ah

12:21

is the word I'm looking for. hasn't helped

12:23

the think Probably they probably all the wasn't

12:25

looking for because opposing Silva said publicly. We.

12:27

Only accepted this formula because is me.

12:30

You know that's that's not a man whose

12:32

absolutely committed to keeping him to when the

12:34

seasons It is that know from the fairly

12:37

Nor is there any reading of this when

12:39

he says about the big data stats and

12:41

neither would creating all these chances are better

12:43

off sticking them away. Is there any reading

12:45

of us that he's maybe in a front

12:47

of defend his work and so criticized as

12:49

I as a nurse? Yes up some it's

12:51

you. Dell definitely. I've

12:55

I've I'm not going to push this

12:57

this version of events too hard because

12:59

I think it's true that he has

13:01

on occasion spicy point the finger the

13:03

players added quite often says post game.

13:06

And this was something we were working on

13:08

which expresses his frustration and expresses the I

13:10

did look I dealt with this. And

13:13

problem is, these bastards didn't survive Now it's

13:15

not quite as clear cut as that, and

13:18

the response has not widely thought. That is

13:20

the if you listen to what Chubby has

13:22

several seasons. Here said loads of things.

13:24

So. Yes, he can point B, C,

13:26

point the finger, the players. but there's been times

13:29

when he talked about other things like got wrongs

13:31

and so I think it's just one of

13:33

many, many, many things. the sending out over

13:35

the course the season has been so many

13:37

different elements to this obsolescent good. Paul is

13:39

just a man who athletes kind of haven't

13:41

got a huge amount to say, has to try

13:43

and say something to solve. Get himself. Ah,

13:45

the I think you're right. I think there

13:47

is implicit in Bill and we're all human

13:49

beings kind of attempt to protect himself or

13:51

to defend himself as I look. I've been

13:53

doing this words and. I. Think he's done the

13:55

other thing applies. Probably done. The pre says

13:58

very much. Ah, That's

14:00

the point of this is he kind of

14:02

incidents of what's the point of rebelling now

14:04

less you really do think this is on

14:06

fixable madness bringing someone else in, ruff a

14:09

marcus other say this stage would fix it

14:11

so I understand all of those things up

14:13

at just briefly to pick up on something

14:15

you said. He

14:18

prefaced all of this. By. Saying something,

14:20

I was more than all of us. And. Everything

14:22

we think when we look at this. Is

14:24

look brains really? we don't I think a

14:26

better him and this is one of the

14:29

you said is it not jar in This

14:31

is one of the really disconcerting things about

14:33

this. So I spoke to chile posts kind

14:35

of the weekend and this isn't about this

14:37

is part the job with with his bed

14:39

and. There. Was a moment

14:41

and you only get a couple of minutes with

14:44

the manager know snores and it really is a

14:46

real kind of rust thing and you you feel

14:48

under a personal note Nader we've got some When

14:50

they're saying talk talk talk you know finish it

14:52

does. He got speak to other people as well.

14:55

There was a moment in that when I said

14:57

to him I asked him about off the gold

14:59

this period of piles that thought mention to ready

15:01

as if we know how you deal with that

15:03

how to use kind of respond when when it

15:06

feels like things are crumbling of and said scott

15:08

us to everyone back in line again and different

15:10

kind of. Resist that precious during the minutes

15:12

when you not very good and then kind

15:14

of find your way back into the game

15:16

requesting said and. Any he looks

15:18

at me. And

15:21

this is a step up saving jarring of

15:23

beauty like you divesting a feeling that you're

15:25

complete idiots even if what you're watching just

15:28

doesn't fit with what he's saying. He was

15:30

made is a know. With.

15:32

Played okay, that didn't happen. honest

15:35

i have met at us have this many times

15:37

pitchside behind the gold is not great view of

15:40

the game not it's not it's on it was

15:42

picked sob behind the gold the goal that filter

15:44

attacking some maybe the sense of a threat is

15:46

is heightened does your right in front of it

15:48

magically all that cause the consumer math and nice

15:50

not clear cut the they can shoot you think

15:52

to is what is it happened as one pass

15:54

by the way the hospice trust the thread for

15:56

a gap of free plasma six or box at

15:58

his passing of straight out mates And

16:00

I saw him do it and thought, you genius. And

16:02

it just got cut out the last minute. So that

16:04

made me felt more dangerous than it really was, because

16:06

I must admit, when I watched it back on the

16:08

replay, I thought, ah, that was never really getting through

16:10

there. But when I watched it coming at me, I

16:12

thought, oh, that's amazing. And it didn't happen. But

16:15

when Chambi said, no, it didn't happen,

16:17

I must admit, I kind of shriveled

16:20

up a little bit. I thought, oh,

16:22

OK then. All right. Yeah.

16:25

And yet afterwards, of course, talking to colleagues, and

16:27

again, we're journalists. We're not the best judges of

16:29

this. All of us have were kind of saying,

16:33

does he believe this? Is

16:35

this real? And I suspect that

16:37

part of it, he does. Part of it, he doesn't.

16:41

And I think in part, we just have

16:43

to accept that a manager has a discourse.

16:46

Even if we can't say it, he's got to try and

16:48

avoid certain questions. And I think that's what's happening now, to

16:50

be honest with you. A

16:58

quick word about shelter as well, who saw Barry ask us come back

17:00

into the starting

17:28

11, having been on the bench for the

17:30

last couple of games. He produced a really

17:33

brilliant performance off the bench last week at

17:35

Kecheche to create shelter as two goals, was

17:37

rewarded with a starting birth and scored. I

17:39

mean, it does seem quite obvious

17:41

for Rafa Benitez listening. I don't know if

17:43

he's an avid listener of the podcast. Rafa,

17:45

play your best player. Come on, you got

17:47

it, Barry. I

17:50

mean, this is, to be honest, what I

17:53

think every time, I mean, because that's

17:55

changed everything. Now in Rafa Benitez's

17:57

defense. Yes, they've got some good

17:59

results. No, well that actually wasn't going

18:01

to be the defence I was going to offer up, but it

18:03

is true. They got the free nil without him at Osasuna,

18:06

which is I think probably their best result of

18:08

the season. The best result, maybe not their best

18:10

performance. On the counter attack, really, really

18:13

incisive, very good indeed. No, the defence I was

18:15

going to put forward is the following. We're

18:17

in week 25. Aspos

18:20

has had a red card, so he could only be

18:22

available for 24 weeks of the season. He's

18:24

actually started 20 of them. So

18:26

this idea that we have, and I must admit

18:29

I have it too, that Benitez isn't playing him.

18:31

To be fair, he actually is for the most

18:33

part. He usually plays every single

18:35

game for the fact he's missed

18:37

four. Exactly. I would play him every

18:40

minute of every game as well. One thing I will

18:42

say about watching Barry up close, by the way,

18:44

is he does lose the ball a lot.

18:47

But he loses the ball a lot because

18:49

he's trying to make passes that others don't

18:51

even see. And I think his overall

18:54

contribution is so great that, yes, personally I

18:56

would back you on this and I would

18:58

say this to Rafa every time, put

19:01

this guy in your team because he's the best. Good.

19:05

I'm glad we're on the same page there. Let's

19:07

move on and talk about what happened at

19:09

Bayekas with Real Madrid dropping two points to

19:13

be held. 1-1 by Ray Vallecano, potentially,

19:15

Ligue, as you said. And we didn't

19:18

even touch upon this. Aeliga, is

19:20

there league? Is there league? Because Real

19:22

Madrid are only six points ahead

19:25

of Girona who, if they win

19:27

tonight, could cut the

19:29

gap to three and could still be

19:31

on and pass her only eight points. But

19:33

it doesn't feel like there is a huge

19:35

amount of league, but there is still essentially

19:37

some league. There is in theory. And it

19:39

did make me laugh when El Muna Deportiva

19:41

went for the Aeliga this morning. I just

19:43

thought that's brilliant. It takes so little for

19:45

that one to come out. And

19:48

actually, Ancelotti said post-game after the Rio game. So look,

19:50

a one-one draw here is a good result. And

19:52

I think he's right over the course of a season. Obviously

19:54

in the short term, you do have that thing where you

19:57

go, wow, Girona could be back within one game of them

19:59

if they win tonight. tonight. Now here's some reasons

20:01

why not. Durana won't win tonight.

20:04

Hmm. Right, I'm not saying they won't. Okay, I

20:06

just said they won't. I mean, you did just say that. I

20:09

literally just said. I mean, they might not. It's a way. It

20:11

is a way, isn't it? Or is it home? It's a way,

20:13

isn't it? Athletic. It's a way

20:15

against Athletic, who I'm facing at home since August. Yeah. So

20:18

it's not very likely. I also

20:20

think if it goes to three points, it's still

20:22

three points, plus the head-to-head goal

20:24

difference in Real Madrid's favour, which is obviously unassailable

20:26

now. Seven-nil aggregate score over the

20:28

two games between them. I

20:30

also think it's just look at Real Madrid and the

20:33

quality of the players they've got. Vanishes is back and

20:35

admittedly didn't play well this weekend. So, yeah,

20:37

there's a bit of league. Yeah.

20:40

But I personally wouldn't be going

20:42

for the iLiga headlines, albeit. They're

20:44

not the only ones, to be fair. I think

20:47

both Ass and Marker did variations on

20:49

a theme. Not quite, but variations on

20:51

a theme. I think Ass's was Madrid

20:53

sleeper, Siesta, La Liga wakes up, something

20:55

like that. Well, let's

20:58

talk a little bit about this game, Rio 1, Real Madrid 1. Now,

21:00

Sid, I want you to imagine a hypothetical scenario here. So

21:04

imagine there is a

21:07

podcast hosted by an

21:09

extremely charismatic and very

21:11

attractive Hellenic man. Yeah.

21:14

And coming on that podcast,

21:16

there's also an extremely intelligent, erudite other

21:18

man, non-Hellenic. No, no, it's me today,

21:20

not Al. But... And

21:24

imagine if in this hypothetical scenario that

21:27

the Hellenic man had missed

21:29

this game, he wasn't able to attend despite

21:31

having season tickets for

21:33

the aforementioned match. What

21:35

would the erudite and intelligent

21:37

man say to the Hellenic presenter about

21:39

how this game went down? Yeah,

21:42

there's a completely hypothetical situation. Yeah. In

21:45

this hypothetical scenario in which a

21:47

forementioned erudite man borrowed a forementioned,

21:49

attractive Hellenic man's season tickets and

21:52

took his son, he might say, well,

21:54

funnily enough, my son said, that was a

21:56

good game, I really enjoyed it afterwards. And...

22:00

I mean, I wasn't actually as convinced. It wasn't

22:02

great. I did actually watch the game subsequently of

22:04

the sort of fly back today And I saw

22:06

it. I mean it wasn't amazing It

22:09

wasn't amazing. I didn't know there wasn't there wasn't

22:11

a huge amount of chances I think the response

22:13

from Raya was really good for a couple of

22:15

reasons Obviously one of them is

22:17

just the context and the context is this

22:19

is a team That's only one one in 14 that's

22:22

lost six of the last eight that had lost the

22:24

previous three in a row But has

22:26

only won once at home all season. That was what back

22:28

in September Now I don't want

22:30

to overplay this and they're under new management But

22:32

with under old management they also got a point

22:34

at the Bernabeu so it can happen and they've

22:36

got a pretty good record At home against Vayakas

22:38

hence Ancelotti saying that actually one one's alright But

22:40

where I'm gonna go one the lap after three

22:42

minutes with a chance for Raula Thomas Who just

22:44

takes too long to get the shot away? Would

22:46

you get the ball clear within eight seconds there

22:48

at the other end and they score? And

22:52

then you think ah, this is it

22:54

They better them now and actually for about

22:56

15-20 minutes, I thought Madrid were pretty good.

22:58

They controlled the ball They created a couple

23:00

of semi chances not really good chances, but

23:02

a couple of opportunities and you think

23:04

yeah, okay This is only going one way, but I

23:06

felt that Ryo Recovered I

23:08

felt Ryo were prepared to press quite high. There was

23:10

a little touch of the Andonia dollar Ryo there I

23:12

don't want to overplay that but a little glimpse of

23:15

it at times then in the second half I think

23:17

what we saw and actually this was borne out by

23:19

what Inigo Perez said post game Was

23:21

a Ryo side who had decided that some

23:24

risks are not worth taking And

23:27

had decided to play a little bit deeper and

23:29

actually Inigo Perez described the game

23:31

as Sufio literally dirty But it doesn't mean dirty

23:33

I don't think he meant it dirty in the

23:35

sense of kicking people but that in the sense

23:37

of stop start You know get your

23:40

hands dirty have to fight for the ball make it

23:42

about George Have the intensity and

23:44

the aggressiveness to stop around Madrid To

23:46

play a little bit deeper if you have to and then

23:48

occasionally go longer rather than try to bring the ball out

23:51

from the Bag and it was noticeable for example that Ari

23:53

Danny wasn't playing the ball out The only

23:55

one of the two was led you in and he was tending to go

23:57

diagonal and quite long And so I think what

23:59

you saw was was a really good response from

24:01

Ryo considering where they've come from. And

24:04

so I think there are definitely reasons to be optimistic from

24:07

their point of view. I think from Ryo's point of view

24:09

this is kind of chalk it off as a draw that's

24:11

okay, get on with it and forget it quite quickly. Okay,

24:15

yeah I think it was also kind of, kind

24:17

of like to be expected

24:20

really. Well not to be expected but it felt

24:22

like this game sort of was a bit, was

24:24

over after when Ryo equalised. That was it. I

24:26

mean not a huge amount happened afterwards. No,

24:29

and that's something to say, that second half thing

24:31

of it being really stopped start. And it was

24:33

almost like everyone accepted that that was the case.

24:37

Yeah, I mean without Tony crossing the starting

24:39

11 and without Jude Bellingham, I mean they're

24:41

two very important players for Real Madrid in

24:43

terms of creativity and goal

24:45

for it. And yeah, they

24:47

were missing. Danny Carverhal is going to be missing

24:49

for the next game as well. He's suspended after

24:51

getting sent off right at the end. Kama Vinga

24:54

is also going to be suspended as

24:56

well. Let's see if they recover. Any

24:58

kind of centre backs for this

25:00

game because they were still playing with

25:02

Aurelien Tramini as an

25:04

auxiliary centre back alongside Nacho.

25:08

And their injury problems continue but

25:10

yeah, overall not a terrible result

25:12

for Real Madrid in

25:15

the grand scheme of things. Aliti,

25:17

this 5-0 thrashing, Sid, no Morata obviously

25:19

in the starting 11, he's injured. No

25:22

Griezmann who got a little bit of

25:24

a rest given that they're

25:26

playing in the Champions League. And

25:29

yet Marcos Llorente scores twice, playing

25:31

alongside Angel Correa. Correa who was

25:34

also very, very good indeed. So

25:36

just generally a fantastic day

25:38

for Athletic Real Madrid. Great result.

25:40

And once again, we're seeing this

25:42

ludicrously stark contrast between

25:44

their home and away from. Yeah,

25:47

I quite liked actually Garthia Pimiento's response

25:49

post-game which was to say that every

25:51

season you have one stupid

25:53

game, one parti d'or tanto. And

25:55

I'm just with our stupid game. I

25:58

think there's an element of truth in that. I think

26:00

Las Palmas aside who dominate possession and actually had quite

26:02

a lot of possession in this game Not as much

26:04

as maybe some days but a lot of it, but

26:07

we're very very open The

26:09

the Yolente thing is really quite interesting.

26:12

Obviously, he did it and field and score

26:14

twice And now he's done it again and scored twice doesn't

26:16

play there very often I think

26:18

it was designed basically because of the injury

26:20

to Maratha who actually is back in training

26:23

So I think there's a half a chance that he

26:25

plays in the Champions League this week. I don't think it

26:27

will happen I think there's half a chance But

26:29

it was Champions League this week. It is this

26:31

week, isn't it? Surely not. It's Wednesday, isn't it?

26:36

It's it's on Tuesday. Oh, it's Tuesday. I think it's probably not

26:38

very you know If it was Wednesday, I would have said there

26:40

was half a chance because he joined in

26:42

the full session on Sunday after this game But

26:46

I think probably not and I think obviously what Simione

26:48

is looking at is a you've got to give Griezmann

26:50

a break at some point It's quite nice actually because

26:52

both came Simione said well, yeah, and it was still

26:54

probably be pissed off that he didn't play this one

26:58

But he needed a break and I think we saw

27:00

that in recent weeks and actually Simione who'd complained a

27:02

little bit about the Fixture list had said that he

27:04

wanted to prepare this game by resting players rather than

27:06

by working them. I think Your

27:10

end to playing up front is really just an experiment. I

27:12

think it's an experiment that he might think okay I wonder

27:14

if we can repeat this. I wonder if there's moments when

27:16

we can do this again Correa's

27:18

the obvious level choice and really it's about protecting

27:21

DePuy who came on and played a little bit and

27:23

scored really quite nicely taking goal and Making

27:26

sure that everyone is fully fit for the Champions

27:28

League and Hongriezmann in particular very good performances. They

27:30

say at home They

27:32

are genuinely a really good team, which makes it so

27:34

hard to judge what's gonna happen in the Champions League

27:38

Because I think Inter could do them over

27:40

But I also think I think this is the

27:42

only Champions League tie of all of

27:44

them this round Where I genuinely don't have a

27:46

sense of who the favor is Mmm,

27:48

okay. Yeah, yeah Go

27:51

along with that. Yeah We'll

27:54

see how I let you get on in in

27:56

Italy. They have been really really quite

27:58

poor on the road but at

28:00

home they've been excellent, not just winning games,

28:02

I mean they're unbeaten all season in the

28:05

league at home. They've been scoring goals as

28:07

well and entertaining, generally being pretty

28:09

good to watch. So let's see how they

28:11

get on in the Champions League this week.

28:14

This week it is Inter against Atleti

28:16

on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, Napoli against

28:18

Barcel. A monumentally big game

28:21

that is for Barcelona. Fortunately for them

28:23

they've potentially been drawn in the last

28:25

16 against the only side who are

28:28

in a more challenging

28:31

position than them. I think

28:33

with Napoli dwindling

28:36

and doodling in ninth position

28:38

in Serie A Sydney, the

28:40

current Italian champion. So let's

28:42

see how Barcel get on.

28:44

In the second division, leaders Leganes beat

28:47

Alcorcon 3-0. They're four points clear of

28:49

Eibar 2nd, they drew Nille Nille, Elce

28:51

Español 3rd, they beat Miranda 3-0 and

28:54

there were no other

28:56

results of nothing. Definitely not, no. Ofiello

28:59

definitely didn't score five. I

29:01

mean Ofiello beat Burgos 5-0, have they

29:04

ever won a game 5-0? I don't think I've

29:06

ever seen them score five. I think

29:08

the most I've ever seen them score live is four.

29:11

I do remember in Cibon 1-B they put eight past

29:13

someone, was it Betting Daddy or one of those teams?

29:15

But I don't remember them getting five. I mean they

29:17

must have done that at some point, but I can't

29:19

think of one. Yes, yes.

29:21

Okay, well we'll see if

29:24

that ever happens again. Thanks for your congratulations

29:26

to Allvi at Istas after

29:28

enjoying that manita. Listen, we're

29:30

going to leave it there. Thanks very much

29:32

for listening. We're going to be over at patreon.com/GSP

29:34

for the rest of the week. Loads of terrific,

29:37

even if we do say so ourselves, Spanish related

29:40

content, Spanish football related content. So come and

29:42

join us there. If you fancy it's around

29:44

four euros a week and if you don't,

29:46

we'll be here next Monday as always with

29:48

a free pot. Adios. Cheerio. Thank

30:03

you.