UCL Debrief: Liverpool knocked out & Atleti down Barcelona

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1:25Finals as four-nil aggregate winners, two-nil on the night. In Madrid, Barcelona scored twice early on to level with power that letty, but Diego Sivione's side got goals back, and they go through as three-two winners. They will play the winner of Arsenal against sporting. That's live on five-live on Wednesday night, and we'll look ahead to that game a little bit later on. But of course, we're going to start at Anfield where Liverpool found an energy that has rarely been witnessed this season to push PSG Hardy in Dennis. They did indeed. What a high quality match, and Liverpool gave it a real go, particularly in the second half, because there was a spell when the defending champions, Paris Saint-Germain, were having to dig deep. After a first half where Debele hooked a great chance over the bar in front of the cop, they were reliant on Marquinhos to produce a goal-saving block with a combination on Van Dyke and also Verts. And sometimes in these high-profile games such as this, it's about those fine margins. And there was certainly one in the second period, where Liverpool were awarded a penalty, Pat Chojes to have challenged McAllister.

2:26The referee from Italy, Maurizio Mariani, did award the penalty. However, he was instructed by his VAR Marco Debello to look at the screen, and when he did, he then changed his mind, and that penalty was not awarded. But before that, Gravenburg had had a rising, whistling drive off target, Gomez has seen his head-a-go close, and Gatpo, a half-time substitute, produced a stretching save from Savanoff, who also kept out a fine effort from Ungamoa. But the trouble is that they were always danger of what Paris Saint-Germain could do at the other end, and despite Liverpool's best efforts, Debele's quality finished 17 minutes from the end, really not the stuffing out of Liverpool, and Debele at the double finished them off with a second goal in stoppage time. Two-nil in both legs, and Paris Saint-Germain threw four-nil on aggregate. Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock is also with us. Stephen, where did that performance come from? They've been better in Europe than they have by and large in the Premier League this season, Liverpool. But the energy, the drive, the pressing, everything that everybody's been crying out

3:28for this season was in this performance. Yeah, I think there was a real desire about the team to try and get a result tonight. They lifted the crowd, the crowd lifted them as well. They gave the crowd something to get off the seats about. There was an energy about them. I don't know where it's been, no Kelly. I really don't because if they'd have played like that for most of the season, they'd have been competing for the title. However, they still felt short and terms of really creating anything major in terms of very, very clear. Yes, Paris Saint-Germain defended well at times, but still thinking they're a little bit lacking some energy and wide areas players who are direct and I know they're borting a mower on, but you could see his naivety at times when he came on. But yeah, they're missing something at the moment, but a better performance. ESPN's French football journalist Julien Laurent is also at Amfield, a much closer game this one. Jules, very different from last week in Paris. Was this one about Paris Saint-Germain's individual quality players? Yeah, I think there was a bit of that care, certainly, but both sort of the team

4:30spirit in that second half, when Liverpool put pressure, PSG were really struggling, I think, to get out of their own box, of their own half. They were not building, passing the ball like they did in the first half. They're playing long. They kept coming back by waves, like red waves after red waves. I think they showed a lot of character. I think this is a game that maybe three, four years ago, before Losenrique arrived, they would have lost. Bernard, the experience of having won this competition last season, for example, having that kind of experience. Marquinhos today, he hasn't always been great. He's on his way out, really, he's 32 years old now. But this kind of performance, I think, also came from last season and the confidence that you gained by winning this competition before, which they didn't have in previous seasons and all those kind of remontadas that we mentioned pretty much. And I thought it made the difference, but for me, again, and I don't want to blame on the slot again, like we did last week. But that lineup to start was a complete nonsense. That second half should have been exactly how Liverpool should have started this game tonight.

5:31To get the crowd going, it should not have been east side from the start. That was, I don't even understand, Tony, what that came from. Is that before the game? He can only play 45 minutes. Why are you starting them? Unbelievable. I don't understand. And he made errors in that first half, in the first leg, sorry, in his lineup, in the way I think they set up. And again, we said before the game tonight, he cannot get it wrong tonight. It's not the game to get it wrong. You can't change a half time and expect then to turn around this game. He had to get it right from the beginning. And for me, again, he led the team down and the club down and the fans down. Andrews Townsend is where there's two Andrew strong words from from Jules on on a slots team selection at the beginning, not necessarily the changes they made in the match. Certainly that second half performance was full of all the energy that Liverpool wanted. But should they have started that way? No, I understand his reasoning. He said he's that can only play 45 minutes. So if you put him on at a half time and also a potential extra time, then he'll exceed his limits. He'd have to make an extra change. Mo Salah played with an aggression and energy, a frustration,

6:35which we haven't seen in a while. So if he had started, would he have had that same aggression, same energy from the start? Probably not. I think the changes at a half time made the difference. Cody Gapo, especially with his with his link up play in that second half was crucial to everything Liverpool did. So I understand the frustration from the guys and the Liverpool fans, but I think he did the right thing. He tried to go for pace, he tried to go for the record, he tried to go for that pressing ability off the ball, but it just turns out there's only the second half. Once he made those changes, the Liverpool started to see the joy. You could as opposed to Stephen make the argument for not including East Act in the beginning based on on how he played when he has made cameos coming back from injury. Based on the fact that he's not fit yet, he's certainly not match fit. Just five first half touches from him. I don't know what to say about him, Kelly. I watched him here against full of him. He was awful. He was nonexistent here tonight. He didn't want to get any physical contact alongside Marquiniar. So he was just sort of wanting to bump into him. There was no pinning him, no

7:37wanting to build a platform for his team to get on the ball and help. Gapo did more and I said it in commentary in five minutes than East Act didn't in the whole first half. He's not fit. He's nowhere near fit and that's partly due to obviously the injury that he sustained against Tottenham, but also sitting out preseason. I mean, he's not got one ounce of fitness in him this season and it tells and you're thinking that you can put him in against Paris Saint-Germain in the biggest game of your season against the best team in Europe and think you're going to get a performance in 45 minutes. You can't just switch it on and off. Andrews, that's what Andrews, I'm sorry, I don't understand why you said this is the right line up. I really don't. I can't understand you saying that East Act was right to start. I didn't say it was the right line up. I said I understood Schlock's reasoning that starting in for 45 minutes might have been better than bringing him on and potentially after making another offensive change and bringing him off if there was extra time. If you have 45 minutes, they have to be the first 45 minutes because you're not in control of there. But then if you've had two passes and those two more

8:40or five times, they played with ten men in the first half. I don't even think you could play 45 minutes. Ten are based at the end if you're pushing and you won. Maybe the 45 never in a million years and certainly not from the start. Kelly, the interesting thing is when I watch Paris Saint-Germain tonight and said it to Jules at half time, they don't carry men. Liverpool carry players and it's incredible. They carry votes. They carry Salah. They carry D-sac in the first half. But you can't carry players. You watch Paris Saint-Germain. Quite a scale is in the right back position. The left back position. Do A's doing it. Barcola's doing it. Dembele ends up there and you're thinking that's a team. That's a performance. Liverpool don't do that at the moment and that's a real concern. So are they carrying them? Sorry Ian, just to pick up on on that point with Stephen. Are they carrying them because the players aren't good enough or are they carrying them because the players are putting in enough effort? Are they carrying them because they're not being put in the right line up by on a slot? What do you think? Well, there's a mixture of everything,

9:44but I think when you look at the way the players are performing at the moment, there's got to be more of a desire. The desire comes from within to go run back and to be fair, I thought Mohammed Salah, he gave the wall away three or four times. His work rate to get back in was decent tonight at times, but then he does cheat at other times where he stays up the field. But then Isac, he didn't close down. He didn't really cause any problems. He didn't do any vets off the ball. Does he have an impact on the game? Does he does he get back into positions and really, I mean, you only have to look at João Nevers and Betinho, the size of them. They win the ball back. They know how to challenge. They know how to tackle, and that's the real difference at the moment. I just think for what did it, what did Bet cost 110 million? I don't think he's having enough of an impact. I don't think at the moment we're seeing him. And I think that is also down to the person that he plays with. I think if you put him in the Paris-Angerman team and you had two flying wingers running either side of him, I think he'd be, I think he'd flourish. I think if you had Lewis Diaz in this Liverpool team,

10:47I think he'd flourish. But at the moment, he doesn't have players around him that are making runs off him, but you're really telling. I think the problem is, Steven, I don't know if you agree. I think slot was probably expecting this season to have more possession, more domination. So you can get the players like Florian Verts more into the game like PSG do. I don't think it's worked out that way in the way that he would have hoped. And Verts is on the fringe. He's not, like you say, he's not pulling his way out of possession. But yeah, I'd think it's the fact that they're not as successful as dominant as they were expecting coming into the season. Yeah, I understand that. But when you watch Paris-Angerman, I know what you're saying. They're brilliant on the ball. But when they need to explode and they need to be dynamic, oh, are they dynamic? Liverpool aren't dynamic. There's no dynamism in the team at all. I look at them and just think, where is it? Even in Gamau, when he came on tonight, he tried to run Hakimi a couple of times. And the last 17, it's a great lesson for him tonight. And he will have to learn from it. But you've got to look at the other team and think,

11:49that's the goal. That's where you aspire to be the level. And that's why you have to look at it again at the recruitment in the summer. I'm sorry, this is, I know we got all excited. I don't know why it is so. And if you live in Liverpool fan because it's like, and Verts, it's a critical you want. Where this, the way this squad has been structured and built, there's some quite massive lags in what this squad should look like. In terms of options, different profiles in different positions. Even you look at them, it's, I'm sorry, but my callister this season has been far too difficult. But yet, there's not really another option at a similar level. And then you can look in different positions. The fullbacks, of course, again tonight, Frimpong can only play 45 minutes because it's just not good enough. Kirk is on the other side. I'm not sure what Robert Son is not playing a game like this. I don't get it at all either. Kirk is all over the place. And you look at the money spent. And I know it's not just about the money spent, the net spend and all of that. But this squad should have far more variation in profiles in a lot of key

12:50positions than they really have right now. And what's interesting about that is, yes, the money spent. And I know I'm really not giving you the net spend argument here. But in terms of the quality of the player that, the players that left, obviously Trent Alexander-Arnold leaving the team is a huge miss for Liverpool. Then Lewis Diaz leaving and going off where he's having a great season at Bayern. Even someone like Darwin New Year's when you're looking for for like goals in games, obviously we're looking at the case of Diogo Jota as well. The players that are missing for Liverpool, on top of that, the players who are still there and who haven't reached the levels that they did last season. Like for example, McAllister, all of that in the mix means that for a team that, I think I read a stat that Liverpool started the season with more changes to their starting 11 than any previous defending Premier League champions. So it's not, it's not just about spend and net spend. It's about the amount of players who are coming in,

13:52the amount of players who are going out and the personnel who are coming in and the quality of the players who are leaving. Yeah, you're right. And you know we said last season on a Sunday show as well on Five Live, slot arrived with a squad that was already there. Nobody to integrate, nobody to accommodate. The squad was there. He did a lot of really good things and they won the title and they were by far the best team in the country. But this in a way was easy for him when he arrived. He arrived for preseason. The squad was there. You had the leaders in that dressing room that were already identified. It was this season was a proper challenge for him as a manager because like you said, Kels, half of you starting a lineup lineup was new. You had to integrate and incorporate an E-SIG, VILTS and to go back to the point we've just made about how this squad has been built. Then you ended up with two number nines. You wanted two more class number nines. You have them, but they're very similar. You ended up with VILTS, who is very good. But where does he play? Where is his best position? Can you get him in the same environment that he had by a level cousin? You look at Kerkets and Frimpong. They're great, but they're two very attacking full bugs.

14:54What's the balance there if they both play and both go forward at the same time? There's a problem. Your team is on balance and all of that and you go again and for slot, he had to find the right formula and I'm sorry. He has struggled for most of the season. Jules, do you think that the Eckertike's early form disrupted that balance a lot? Because for me, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but we go into the summer Liverpool champions by a country more the best side in the country. Then you had Florian Verge. Then you had Esak, who was the best number nine loss season the Premier League, and you're thinking, OK, back to back, Liverpool, we're going to do it again. Do you think Eckertike's early form and Esak's lack of fitness come into season, disrupted the balance, then he's got to play two of them. He's got to play Esak on the left, Esak's on the bench, then there's question marks, Salas on the bench. Do you think that disrupted things a lot? Yeah, I agree. I promise you. And I think in a way, the late, late signing of Esak derailed everything for me. You could have kept the Kittike, not spend the 150 or whatever it was on Esak, keep it. And maybe the 150 that you spend on Esak, spend somewhere else.

15:59Another center back, we mentioned Gae, we haven't mentioned Gae, but how did Gae not end up here is ridiculous, really. Maybe another midfielder. Maybe one of those wingers, like Wonnie was saying, with that kind of drive, with that kind of pace, with that kind of energy as well, to just add to Kieza, Osala, or Gakpo, or even in Gumoa. And yet for me, that Esak arrived, but I know they really wanted him. I know, I know, but I'm not sure that was really necessary. But what really derailed Liverpool was the tragic loss of Jogo, Joseph. Of course, of course. And I don't think we'll ever realize the ramifications and the impact that that had behind the scenes. The other thing that I was going to say before Kelly is about Ekkertike, we haven't touched upon it about the game. Exactly, about the injury. The injury, after 31 minutes, where Salah comes on to replace him, if Steven with his BDI is right, and it is an Achilles injury, he'll be out for the season, and he'll be out for the World Cup for France, damaging blow for both club and country. Absolutely. And next stop for Liverpool, and we don't know yet what the prognosis is on Ekkertike,

17:02but again, it could be, it could be really worrying, but the next stop for Liverpool, obviously without Ekkertike, certainly for that game, is the Merseyside Derby at the weekend, Alon can E-Sac play for in that one. Do we know yet? No, that's the question. Ekkertike injured. E-Sac not fit. Well, the big thing is, I do a podcast with my friend who's a former fitness coach, and we talked about it straight away when he came in and said, he is not going to be fit for the rest of the season, because he hasn't trained, he's trained individually, and it's not good enough. You cannot buy a player for 140 million, and watch him sit there and not do a preseason for nine weeks, and then bring him in and think, do you know what, we'll accelerate his preseason, it will never happen, and that is a massive problem for him, and then obviously he's picked up his other injury. But the other side of it is, and I know I'm going off a little bit here, but when you watched him for Newcastle, he played with two flying wingers, well, where's the two flying wingers in this team? So that there's a completely different match of what you're trying to achieve

18:07on the football pitch. Looking forward to Sunday, Kelly, I look at that forward line, I think will he go with Ingemoa? Will Ingemoa's confidence have been hit a little bit tonight, because I thought he looked like it was getting drained out of him a bit by Hakimi, because Hakimi defended him so well. Gapo, possibly through the middle, Salah will probably play on the right hand side, or maybe a two up top. It's going to be fascinating, because I said it in commentary, they go into that game now as underdogs, because Everton will fancy the chances against them, and it's not often we go into emergency side, Derby feeling that way. Steven, would you not say now with your four points clear of Chelsea in sixth? Obviously, Hakikaze looks like he's picked up a serious injury. Would you not give ESAC right now, six games, you're the number nine for six, or maybe five of them, go and show everyone what you can do, go and get your fitness up, so then you can go into the summer ready for next season to really get going. Yeah, the problem is, though, Andrew, so you know what it's like when you haven't played, and you've got an injury record like him, the possibility is, is that you're going to pick up

19:07another one, he picks up so many calf injuries, hamstring injuries, he is quite brittle in a way, when you look at him, and he's got that record, but Liverpool obviously spent big money, thought that they could manage that, and make sure that he was going to be ready for the season. That might just be the Evertonian saying that he wants a not fit ESAC to start. The first Merzyside derby at Hilldeckinson Stadium, look, that could be a huge game, let you say, Everton may well fancy their chances in that one, so Paris Saint-Germain are through. Let's hear what Anna Slot had to say. I think we made a lot of progression compared to last week. I have to give a lot of credits to the players, how hard they work, I have to give a lot of credits to our fans, how they help us tonight to execute our game plan, and that means if we have a high press, it's so helpful if there are fans behind you to keep pushing, you're pushing, you're pushing, you're pushing. That's what they did. Unfortunately, it's one of the many examples of this season where we weren't able to score from the many chances we had. Again, we were so far

20:10underperforming in terms of XG, and that is just an ongoing thing with us throughout the whole season and add to that as it seems to be a bad injury, we don't know sure yet, add to that another intervention of the VR which was not in our favor, and that's also not for the first time this season. Then of course we are very disappointed because I think there were parts in the second half where you could just feel if we can score now, this is going to become a special light. But the future looks very bright for this team, for this club, because we've shown that we can compete with the Champions of Europe in our stadium. To be the dominant team, not many teams can be dominant against the Paris-Enjemy and generate so many chances as we did. But yeah, chances is one thing, scoring is a second. Liverpool's Premier League title defence faulted early on in this season. There will be no Champions League progress from this point onward for them.

21:11PSG will face the winner of Bayern Munich against Real Madrid. They play on Wednesday night and they'll be updates on five live during commentary of Arsenal against sporting. The winner of that game will play Atlético Madrid, who had another night to remember in the Champions League against Barcelona. Conor McNamara. Yes, it finished on the evening, Atlético won Barcelona too, and that is good enough for a three-two progression on aggregate for Diego Simeone's team. And that's so often these knockout ties proved to be pulsating in the latter stages of the Champions League. Barcelona, who had turned it up from the first leg, you'll remember that Barcelona played with 10 men from more than half of that game at home. Again tonight, Barcelona picking up another red card, this time for Eric Garcia. But all the same, it was a brave performance from the young Barcelona team. The younger side, Barça had every named for a Champions League knockout game. But as so often with Atlético, it was beauty against the beast and they were able to dig in, and they had the strength, and they were able to progress through to the semi-final. In terms of

22:13the game, Yamal scored after four minutes to give Barcelona hope. Ferran Torres equaled up the tie at 2-2 after just 24 minutes. It was a blistering start from Barcelona. But then the key goal, Ademola Lukman scoring for Atlético Madrid, and that's the goal that sense of through. And Ross, if Arsenal get through tomorrow night, against sporting, this could be a tough draw for them in the semi-final. I mean, the look, it's the Champions League semi-finals, it's going to be difficult, but Adeletti in particular with the way that they set up. Yeah, and I think now they've sort of evolved from the semi-only low-block football. Even tonight, they were one goal ahead, we thought they were going to pop the Barça. They started really aggressive, really high line, playing out from the back, and they actually got caught on the first go. I think long-lade got dispossessed and the Barça got back into it, but it's going to be a difficult, if Arsenal do get over the line tomorrow, it's going to be a very, very difficult game for them. But it's another massive European win, Jules, over Barcelona, for Diego Semyonis, don't it three times now? Incredible, Card is really incredible. It's 29%

23:15of the ball at home. I think they made 70%, 70% passing accuracy. I'm not out of three times, less passes than Barcelona in the whole game, and yet they're there. The impact that Adeletti lookman has had on this football team since he joined in January is incredible. We talked a lot here about City and Cementu and Ghehi, and how much they've improved City. Lookman has had a very similar impact on Atlético, and tonight he was at the right time at the right place to score that goal and to change everything, because Barça had the momentum back then, and still to be fair, Barça had many, many chances to go and score that third one. They probably should have at some point, I don't know, right at the end. As a header, we were watching with warning, just down the little screen that Gary gave us, and he has to score, at least hit the target, instead of going over the bar. So I think Barça and I, over the two legs, would have a love regret. Yeah, and going down to 10 men, Connor, made a big difference. In both games, I mean, they paid more than half of the match in the first match with 10 men. Atlético Madrid winning that by two goals to Nile. In terms of the late pursuit of this one, it was in the 79th minute,

24:20when Eric Garcia was dismissed, to reach in the on-field decision was to show him a yellow card. Then there was a question as to whether he was, the attack he played was offside. So at one stage, even the yellow card had been cancelled out, but V.A. or looked at it all. They decided that CERLOT was on-side, so then it became a question. Was it tonight, got these goalscoring opportunity, and the referee haven't gone over to the monitor, sent him up. So from that point, you sort of felt it was over from Barça. I still felt they looked back at the game. They had so many chances. We know the genius that that Yamal is. They'll obviously come again, but for here and now, they'll be disappointed to be exiting the competition with such a group of talented youngsters. Connor, thank you very much for joining us. Thanks, Kelly. Bye, life sports. So here's the first ball of this season. All the cricket units are safe, Robbie W. Actually lives on BBC Sounds. Fast, straight back down the ground, this girl. A ball-by-ball coverage of the biggest competitions on the domestic and international circuits. It's a ball-fringing, and it's the huge one.

25:22Two swish, settle down, settle down, settle down. Cricket on five-life sport. Oh, living every ball to this. Listen, on BBC Sounds. And Doug. There's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show. Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date? Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Need a human, him to a bird. Yeah, the bird looks out of your league anyways. Only pay for what you need at Liberty Mutual.com. With Kelly Cates. We mentioned that Arsenal will play at Letty if they can get past sporting on Wednesday night. They'll eat sporting one meal from the first leg, but it's been a tough month overall for Michaela Tetaside.

26:23The Arsenal boss has been reflecting on the weekends defeat by Bournemouth and how they can bounce back. Well, obviously it was a big disappointment and a hard one to take, especially losing at home when we have the opportunity to make that gap bigger and bring more certainty and get into this week in the best possible manner. But yeah, what we are trying to achieve is difficult. It's challenging. It's bumpy at times and it's supposed to be like this. So you have to confront it. So we value a lot where we are. We have the opportunity tomorrow to go to a semi-finals. We are competing to win the Premier League and win a really strong position after 22 years without doing it. So we know the difficulty of that, but the beauty of it is that it's difficult, that it's challenging, and that's where we are so willing to do it. What do you want from the team tomorrow in terms of performance and from the crowd? Because it feels like it was a little bit stressed and on Saturday. So there is so much at stake, there's so much excitement, Champions League call to final.

27:24What would you like to say to the crowd and the players really about what you want? No fear. Pure fire. That's it. Me the first one. Pure fire. That's what I want to see on the players and the people and myself. That's it. Go for it because the opportunity is unbelievable. We are in April. We have an incredible opportunity ahead of us. Let's confront it. Let's go for it by really putting absolutely everything into it. That was Michaela Teta and our football correspondent, John Murray, will be at tomorrow's game. John, do you think that sporting might think they've got a chance here because of their performance in the first leg? And they will obviously be aware of Arsenal's recent form? Yeah, I think so. And I think they showed enough to us last week when we were in Lisbon to show us that they are a very good team and a very well coach side. And as we were saying last week, they have a brilliant home record. Yes, they lost that match, but David Raya made some crucial saves during the course of the 90 minutes. And it was only that Kai Havett's goal at the end.

28:26Now, their away form is not as impressive, but they are still capable. You know, so far in the Champions League, they lost in Naples against Napoli. They drew in Chirin against Juventus. They lost in Munich against Bayern. There's no shame in that. But they did win away against Athletic Bilbao. All of those matches in the league phase before they then lost on the artificial pitch, remember, in Buda in Norway and then turned that time around quite spectacularly. So they are not to be underestimated. But at the same time, clearly Arsenal will be considered favorites even though they have lost three of their last four matches in all competitions. But, you know, interesting hearing Mick Alartetta today and George Cummins who we heard there asking Mick Alartetta the question. You know, George speaks to Alartetta a lot. He's been in a lot of press conferences and George was telling me earlier that he thinks that's just about as passionate of Mick Alartetta that he's seen in that scenario.

29:26He said, you know, it had a touch of defiance to it, what he said today. And we heard him there talking about how there should be no fear, pure fire. I don't know whether you've seen it, Kelly, at one stage, Mick Alartetta actually says, I'm on fire. He did. Yes. Which is a spring season. Andros Townsend is where there's Aziz Julien Laurent. Andros, this idea that Mick Alartetta is issuing this rallying cry ahead of the game at the Emirates. They kind of did this a little bit Arsenal for the game against Bournemouth at the weekend. They said they wanted all the fans to go there, bring everything to that match and ended up losing it. The fact that it's at the Emirates, the fact that Alartetta is as intense as George was saying that he's maybe has ever seen him. Is that what Arsenal need right now? I think they probably do. They do need that fire from the manager. I'm Steven Spugg before the game about honest luck being the opposite and being very negative and being very downbeat. Whereas Alartetta is the opposite.

30:28Alartetta is full of energy, full of fire. Trying to fire up the fans, trying to fire up the players. Because he knows how hard it is to be successful, to win a Premier League, to win a Champions League. He knows how tough it is. So he's trying to get everyone going. But I watched that game last week and Arsenal were the better side against sporting. If they had come away with a nil nil, I'd probably go into this game tomorrow, fearing the worst for Arsenal. But the fact they got on the goal in the last minute, they're ahead going back to the Emirates. I think this game tomorrow night is the least of their worries. I think the Premier League now is a big, big fight on their hands. But this game tomorrow night, I think they'll be right at the Emirates. Jules Hallett, how important do you think this game is in terms of Arsenal's Premier League season? As Andros said, that's the main aim. That is the focus for Arsenal this season. But does this game, do you think, given recent results, have an impact? Yeah, I think it's massive. I won't lie. I think when you go on Sunday through the 80 Harding, in what is or should be, or would probably be, the final of the season, the league final of the season,

31:30you need to get that confidence back a bit. No, so the result, of course, and qualification, but if you lose one nil and qualify on penalties, for example, tomorrow, that won't have the feeling that if you play really well and you all build the phase is much better and you're forwards, whoever they are, you know, Madwiki, Domen, I don't think Sakal will be back. But your carers have as Trosar Martinelli, whoever plays and whoever comes off the bench has that kind of impact. Your style is better, the flow is better, the fluidity is better, then you can take that to the 80 Hard. If it's a narrow qualification, if it's again a bit tricky, if you're under pressure, if you make mistakes again, if you consider a bit too many shots or chances, then I think that will also have kind of an impact on that game at the 80 Harding Sunday, because you won't be there in the best of conditions, where the city would have watched you playing on the sofa, by the way, tomorrow having a good week of training and resting and the approach to the game on Sunday would be very different. Ian, Steven, Jules and Andrew, I want to ask you one final question.

32:32Arsenal won nil up against Sporting, there's been the going to the Emirates, Arsenal having by their standards, bit of a wobble so far this stage of the season. Do Arsenal progress to face Athletico Madrid? Yes. Ian, thank you. Yeah, Jules. Very well, I think it's too strong for Sporting. I will also say yes. Full House, Andrews? Yep. Yep. Full House. Full House, so it will, according to the guys, be Arsenal against Athletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals. Thank you very much to all of you. Thank you very much to Ian Dennis, Steven Warnock, to Julian Laronne, and to Andrews Townsend. Earlier, England's women took top spot in their World Cup qualifiers group after a 1-0 win against Spain at Wembley. Lauren Hemp scored in the third minute in a repeat of the Euro 2025 final. A significant 100th cap for Kira Walls, then. Yeah, I mean, it was an unbelievable feeling. I was a little bit shy to be fair. I think, obviously, in front of that many people, yeah, I don't always like the attention on me. So, yeah, I was a little bit shy, but I think, obviously, for my family and the people

33:32who were watching at home, it was a nice moment for them. And, obviously, it was nice to share it with Serena because she's gave me a lot of those caps and, yeah, I wouldn't be able to do it without her and my team mate, so yeah, really grateful for that. And what a perfect start to the game. Then you end up with the three points, holding onto that 1-0 lead. You're top of the qualifying table. I mean, would you describe it as a perfect night for you? Yeah, I think it was a good night. Obviously, trying not to get too carried away because we've got another game in this window. And, obviously, tonight was a very, very tough game. They're a great side. And I think we know that we can't go to for possession because they've got some unbelievable players, but I think we executed our game plan really, really well. And, obviously, there was some moments at the end that are a bit now biting, but I think that's what we've got those defenders there. And, obviously, Hannah did an excellent job in goal as well. So I think it was a really, really good team performance tonight. England manager Serena Vigman was pleased with her side's discipline. Of course, we're really happy with the results. And I think we made it a fight. Of course, we know that Spain is so good on the ball. And we had to defend really well and stay really compact

34:32and trying to take the tempo out of the game and their spaces. And I think we did that really well. And I think at moments when we had the ball, yeah, we did create some great chances. Of course, we scored a goal. We would love to press them at moments a bit higher, but that was hard. And we also wanted to keep the ball sometimes a bit better that we took a little more time and then create the chances. But overall, of course, I'm really happy because, yeah, we need to be very disciplined and very compact and together to get this across the line. And, yeah, as you saw, to, of course, Spain is also very dangerous and got some chances, too. That is it for this episode of The Football Daily. Thanks for listening, as always. Hello, I'm Tyler West. And I'm Alfie Watts. And this is the detour, the official companion podcast to race across the world. This is the post-episode checkpoint where you'll hear the latest chat around each episode from us and our race superfan special guests.

35:34Plus, I'll be joined each week by a resident travel expert, Alfie. That's you, man. I'll be revealing my optimal way to travel through each leg, including visits to all of those unmissable detours along the way. And we'll also have some not seen anywhere else exclusive content at the end of every episode cannot wait. The detour will land straight after each episode of Race Across the World. You can watch on iPlayer or listen on sounds where you'll also find extra bonus content. We'll see you then. And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show. Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date? Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Need a human, him to a bird. Yeah, the bird looks out of your leg anyways. Only pay for what you need at Liberty Mutual.com. Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty.