This week, the boys break down PSG knocking out Liverpool, Barcelona’s collapse against Atleti, and a blockbuster Bayern vs Real Madrid clash. Then it’s straight into the Premier League, where Arsenal may have just handed the title to Man City… and Tottenham are flirting with disaster.
The Champions League gave us everything this week — drama, controversy, and some serious statements from Europe’s elite.
PSG knock Liverpool out and raise big questions about their future. Barcelona fall to Atlético Madrid in a chaotic, red-card-filled tie. Bayern vs Real Madrid delivers one of the games of the season, while Arsenal quietly keep progressing… but not convincingly.
Then the focus shifts to the Premier League — where things are starting to unravel.
Arsenal may have just bottled the title after a huge loss to Manchester City, while Tottenham find themselves in an unbelievable relegation battle. Yes, really.
Across Europe, Bayern wrap up the Bundesliga, Inter take control in Serie A, and Barcelona look set to cruise La Liga — but the real drama is in England.
This episode covers:
- Champions League recap (PSG vs Liverpool, Barcelona vs Atletico, Bayern vs Real Madrid)
- Premier League weekend reactions (Arsenal vs Man City, Tottenham relegation battle)
- European league updates (Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga)
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Marko
All right, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages. Welcome back to another seven form football podcast. This is a special one. We have all three of us back here. Mark, Marco and Matteo. We're all back here on the pod right now. We're going to be talking about from a weekend we just had in European football and just a lot of the players in the games happening with this.
Marko
So we're going to go with that. First thing we're going to do is we're going to jump straight into just the last week in Champion's League because there's are some really, really amazing games. So I'm going to start this one off with, you know what? I'm a little throw this one off the mark first. So PSG passing by Liverpool.
Marko
I know this one still kind of stings. What can you tell me about back in?
Mark
Well, hi, Marco. Sorry. Womp, womp. All Marco. What can I say? I was hoping for the best, but I made it clear last week that it was going to be tough. And PSG were a stronger team. Liverpool had been in shambles. They started the game well. I thought they fought really well. But in the end, our season long deficiencies came to light and PSG, they won to nothing.
Mark
All going to say.
Marko
All right. All right, Mark, are we kind of getting closer to slot out or what do you think's going to happen right there?
Mark
So I'm hearing a lot of things. I'm hearing that upper management actually is a fan of the concept of giving a manager time. And with Salah leaving with a Robertson leaving. By the way, these two were the two best friends of Diego dropped to. Yeah, with a lot of injuries that we've had and really unable to. To have the team together and to make some necessary clear outs like Salah like Robertson, they might actually give slot one more year.
Mark
I think a lot of the fan base wouldn't be in favor of that. But from a business decision, maybe they're thinking, listen, we can pander to the fans, we run the club and we know that a manager needs time. Having said that, I think it really boils down to shabby Alonso's availability and desire for the Liverpool job. I think that if he really wants the job and makes it known, it would be kind of stupid not to go with him.
Mark
Considering that he brought out the best in Wirtz and Frimpong and he could probably do wonders with this new team gelling together.
Marko
Interesting. Interesting. So Liverpool go down in that final, so PSG moves on. I think it is a four zip aggregate. Yes. Welcome back. We're going to actually go right back in. And again, this is another kind of like shot to the stomach, but Atleti over Barcelona. Take a look at the two games there. So red cards in both games, like what are your what's your feedback?
Marko
What happened there?
Matteo
I got Marco. Glad to be back. I mean, it's a good start. Great. Ask you about a fantastic loss. But no, you know what? It was over the both the two legs obviously red cards were a major, major factor. I'm not in the camp is going to complain about referee decisions or the ones who you know want to appeal to you for a get a game overturned a few months later.
Matteo
No, we're not doing a miracle. Senegal. I'm just going to focus on the game. It's was I think Mark said something similar with his answer in Liverpool. I think Basel showed their efficiencies and deficiencies as they've had all season defensively, and this has been the way it has been ever since Hansi Flick came in. This High Line is a high risk, high reward game.
Marko
One Yeah.
Matteo
One Throughball or one lapse of judgment can completely undermine your defense and leave the keeper stranded for an easy goal. That being said, I think in this tie over the two legs, they showed some brilliant attacking football Barcelona even with their main man Raphinha, their captain being out for both of them. The minimal I thought was incredible going forward.
Matteo
Again, nothing new. But at the end of the day, when it comes down to those fine margins of getting caught in that high offside line or whatever it may be, it results in a red card penalty. I think we're a bit unfortunate. Barcelona to lose over the two legs. Yeah, a few mis decisions, debatable things here and there, but I don't think the squad honestly as a fan, would have won the entire competition regardless.
Matteo
So as a neutral, if I were to be one, it'd be a fantastic tie to watch these two legs. Yeah. As a fan myself though, I am sad to put it lightly.
Marko
Yeah. And you know what? I'm going to throw this one at you too. So we had an interview with Diego Simeone, the manager for Atleti, and he was talking a little bit about them. He knew them all and he said, Let let me and him, I'll keep watching us on television where we play in the Champions League. So he said he key outline lamentable is that a talented a good kids good kid because but he kind of really shot down like the media hype and he said that I am trying to paraphrase a quote right now but he goes, It was players like Cristiano Ronaldo that terrified him because he'd be playing Real Madrid and
Marko
Cristiano Ronaldo, who would pop three goals. He put a hattrick in behind them because he doesn't get that terror with La Nina Jamal, even though he's playing the beautiful game. What did you think about that quote?
Matteo
You know what? I thought it was actually kind of nice of him to say what he did because he wasn't taking direct shots in this completely bulldozing. I mean, his personality limit is like a star guy. He wants the attention. He'll say controversial things or act in certain ways. They'll sit on the ball mid-game. They're not going to.
Matteo
Yes, that's who he is. I think some of his comments are basically him saying, look, just let your feet do the talking, be who you are, but just know your place. You're not the biggest in the world, not the biggest ever. Just keep growing. I thought that was the message underneath his statement. And yeah, it was a little bit cheeky saying watch at home.
Matteo
But when you win a tie like that, I think you have the right to do so. So again, all the respect for him in the world.
Mark
I think I think he was right because the minimal prior to that Marco he was yapping and he's proven nothing really. Is he a talent? Sure, but he's proven nothing. I see material in his eyes there. But really, when you compare what is the minimal done in Champions League versus the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo? Nothing.
Marko
Still early? Yes.
Mark
Yeah, I guess it was. Get your ego in check.
Matteo
Exactly. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Mark
That Ronaldo, you know, it's his personality, but his ego is backed up by his play, by his goals, by how many Champions League trophies he has.
Marko
Yeah. You know, you know, the thing is that this is like I think that it's going to be a great future podcast episode. What type of player like over the next 15 years of Living Animal, what type of player is he going to turn into? Is going to be more of a sort of a tactician. It's going to be more of a flashy sort of joga, bonito type player, right?
Marko
Yeah. You know, I think we're going to earmark that. We're going to talk about that when when things slow down after the World Cup, maybe. I think that's a good one. We'll keep a listen to this jump into the next two games really, really quickly. I'm going to go into the bye and Real Madrid, where both the home and home and away for Bob for Bayern, like I really enjoyed that series.
Marko
It was a it was a phenomenal to watch. And even that last game when it looked like Real Madrid just tied it up on aggregate and, you know, it was anybody's game. You know, we see a red card and Bayern putting it away, right? So that was this is a phenomenal one, one for all ages. And I think we were talking about this off line.
Marko
This one grew and somebody can fact check me on this semi uniform, This one we had about 900 million, 900 million our watchers worldwide. And that's for a quarterfinal match in a Champions League. That is preposterous. That's insane. But honestly, was there a better game to watch market to throw that to you?
Mark
Yeah, we were saying off line that the Super Bowl paused. Pause. I want to fact check Super Bowl TV. You 125.6. Okay. Womp womp. Yeah. We were saying off line how the Super Bowl billed as this great event. It's the pinnacle of football, American football. It only had 125 million viewers, whereas this quarter final game had over 900 million viewers.
Mark
Crazy, crazy talk. What was the rest of the question mark?
Marko
No, that's.
Mark
Okay. Womp womp.
Marko
All right. So let's actually jump in the last one. I think this was the most boring of the four, you know, give it to Sporting. But Arsenal having a millennial tie with draw with the with sporting but having a one goal aggregate from the from the week prior. Where are Kai Havertz what in the 93 minute goal and put the put them forward but it looks like Arsenal sort of kind of limping into this which is weird because at this point I believe they're still the unbeaten team, right?
Marko
So they went in the group stage, they had eight wins, they had a draw with Leverkusen one one. But I think they've won every, every single game since that. So this is another draw. But again, no losses for Arsenal yet. So sneakily, maybe they are going to make some some steam in this tournament and I don't know, I haven't really looking forward to the next few games.
Marko
Yeah, I'm still shaking his head. I don't know. Anything can happen in these games, but ATLETI might take the whole tournament. But just that next two games though, I'm really, really excited to see PSG environs and I want this is something. So I have I have a work mate at work who lived in Paris for a good chunk of his life and he's a huge PSG fan and we talk about it respectfully between each other, Byron and PSG.
Marko
But what I really, really love and I love both of your input on this, is the rivalry between the two franchises, right? Like the Bundesliga and the A-League going on in France, just, you know, having like one team that really kind of dominates the rest of it looks like that's PSG and look like that. But honestly, since I think the coverage kind of messed up 2020 were Bayern beat PSG.
Marko
I feel like right now the tradition trajectory of both teams are maybe at the same level or so. Like I see quality a lot of quality on both sides. Like whether it's like the crazy Portuguese, Portuguese on, on PSG or, you know, on the wingers of all to say and Luis Diaz and Kane just being able to score at will like, I don't know, I think this is like a matchup they can kind of keep the teams intact for the next few years.
Marko
I like the rivalries matter. What do you think about that?
Matteo
I think you some of them are really well, actually, I didn't realize the comparisons and the similarities. Both teams have very, very expensive teams. Yeah. The first thing I think of when I hear PSG, Bayern is the 2020 final. And you're right, ever since then it's been kind of an ongoing theme. I think personally, whoever wins this time, semifinal will win the full tournament because I mean, similar to the past World Cup, it was just like one juggernaut side versus a little bit lower, like respectfully athletic Arsenal.
Matteo
I don't think either of them have that much of a chance in the final. Yeah, That being said, it's a chance. No.
Marko
No. You know, honestly, in a two legged sort of playoff, I get it. You know like the the better team should prevail but in a one game.
Matteo
Exactly Yeah. Yeah.
Marko
Well who knows any given Sunday any stuff like that happens. So we sat in the World Cup all the time right. Where how did that team go Through 23 shots. I keep mentioning this one, but Brazil and Croatia, I think it was something like 23 shots and Croatia out of one and in the back of the net that Brazil's going Exactly.
Marko
That happens. Okay. Anyways, the.
Mark
Only difference, Mark sorry, the only difference is we're talking about a possible arsenal in the final. So that's not going to happen. But just going back, I want to mention something earlier during that Bayern Madrid game, that whole quote you always say you just kept bringing through my mind, you can't keep Madrid out. You can't count them out.
Mark
And really, it boiled down to that 86 minute red card that they got because shortly after that Diaz gets that goal. And then again, my Ballon d'Or pick, Michael Olise, a beautiful goal, just absolutely beautiful. But for those who don't know, go watch the game, go watch the replays. It's every little deft touch that he makes, just the way he receives the ball, the perfect amount of weight on a pass.
Mark
The no look passes everything he does.
Marko
Yeah, yeah, no. And what's the what's it called? My work mate says he's a traditional then playing in a winger position like a wide opposition and with Bayern. But you're right, Like, I don't know, like if you remember ten years back, 12 years back with a robbery in Robin and Franck Ribery in Bayern like, Yeah, link ups, right.
Marko
Like we're almost having the same thing. Right? And I love how Louis Diaz Diaz's playing as well, but I remember watching the commentator say with with that all they really needed to do at that last play of the game was hold the ball and they probably would have run out the clock. But he scored and he put it, he put it in the top shot.
Marko
It was what a quality player he is and honestly, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised that Ballon d'Or some at some point I one thing last thing that I do want to point out is just again not just looking at Bayern but looking at Real Madrid in that game how good killing Mbappe is. Well, just timing of his runs, the speed of his runs.
Marko
I still think Kylian Mbappe is probably one of the best players on the planet. Again, you'll link him up with the right players. I think Real Madrid have him and Benny together. It's not always, however, how this guy runs. This guy receives balls. I it's beauty, right? So I don't know. Don't sleep on that. Right. I still think killing him.
Marko
Mbappe is one of the biggest class in the world.
Mark
And I respectfully disagree.
Marko
All right. Right.
Matteo
It makes you wonder, though, why he's 27 this year and hasn't had one Champions League yet, especially with the clubs he's been at.
Marko
Yeah, you know what? So honestly, I talk to my work mate again in LA or PSG, and I felt like PSG last year was addition by subtraction, right? So he kind of moved on. So it was less the Kylian mbappe issue and they focused on a lot of their French talent, you know, whether it was Barca, whether it was in ballet, whether it was like, I don't know, losing player and then adding Chelsea in the January trade deadline just to really beef up that that speed and the talent and the ball handling and the wing on top of that.
Marko
I think that was just like, you know, huge helping. You know, I don't know. RAMOS really, you know, playing his socks off to get them that far. So I don't know. That's that's a crazy thing. But I guess honestly, I love that PSG and Bayern, I think this is going to go on for a few more years. Let's just keep those teams intact, then let them keep killing each other, but that it's good.
Marko
It's good because you talk about this in the prem, you talk about this in La Liga in Spain, right where these amazing teams. Right. I'm like, Hey, you know what? Why not Bundesliga and league aren't like having a really great challenge going back and forth. So I don't know. We'll see. I think this this upcoming tie is going to be phenomenal, right?
Marko
This way.
Mark
I'll tell you what would be a crazy front three Haaland in the middle Mbappe on the left and all the Z on the right.
Marko
And you know what? I wouldn't see that's not out of the question. Like, you know, at Real Madrid's been chasing all these, you know, hollowness meters. I guess his intentions clear that he would he would want to go to Real Madrid at some point in his career. So yeah, that's almost the Chico right there.
Mark
All right. What's next, Marco?
Marko
All right, so we're going to jump back in. We spent a lot of time in the Champions League, but we're going to jump back into the week. That was the weekend that was here. And in the in Europe last weekend. So, you know what? Honestly, we got to jump straight into the Premier League. So one of the most highly touted games in years had Arsenal and Man City facing off and with the premier, with the world, with the Premier League, with the with the winning in in grasp.
Marko
So what happened there, Mark? I'm going to I watched this game and I was rooting for Arsenal. But Mark, what happened there?
Mark
Well, all right. So like I said, the pressure gets to them. I think that prior match between City and Arsenal for the Carabao Cup, I said that if City won, it was going to chop down the confidence of Arsenal. It'll rattle their cage. And then shortly after they got knocked out of the FA Cup by Southampton, then as you mentioned, they had some boring games against Lisbon.
Mark
I think that was a tactical decision by Arteta.
Marko
Yeah.
Mark
You have that one goal, not one goal lead. That's just, you know, defend, defended. It'll be boring will avoid injury. Okay so that's not the the mindset of a champion coming in against city you could tell that they were nervous you can see that they were nervous and how did they deal with those nerves? They started off kind of well.
Mark
And then city scores, city scores, defensive lapse, good goal there by Turkey, then. Sure, he does a throw in in his own end to Donnarumma. Why you do that to a keeper who doesn't know how to use his feet and is only good? We've learned that stopping penalty kicks when he has his notes is beyond me. And so Donnarumma what was he thinking?
Mark
Although lots of credit to Kai Havertz.
Marko
For picking up on that.
Mark
Yeah, for picking up on that and for running hard and getting a foot out. Okay, Lots of kudos to him on that. That's the way every arsenal player should have been playing. You get the tie, but city just dominated. I think after that they.
Marko
Had a better game.
Mark
Yeah, and quite the battle between Holland and Gabrielle Gabriel who should have been tossed from the game for the headbutt on Holland. But I'll say kudos to Holland for not going down. He said it in the interview after. He's like, I'm not the person who's going to go down. I'm actually glad because you don't like to see that sort of play acting as well, or that embellishment.
Mark
So yeah, they come back and regardless that Gabriel's holding onto him, Holland gets some service. It's a great cross. He extends himself, puts it on that. And when you put things on that, that's what happens. Yeah. And so city go off two one winners. It's not going to bode well for Arsenal. Don't want to get ahead of this but they're still in Champions League they're probably their best bet What it should have been to lose to sporting and concentrate on the prem.
Mark
Now they're going to lose both. I know you can't do that, but if you're going to play for the Champions League, play for it. Don't play a00 draw. Play for it.
Marko
Yeah, it it. But it's hard to win with your head stuck in two different huge, huge competitions. Right. So exactly what do you what do you think Like like what are the chances now for for Arsenal to win it, for City to win it. Like did Arsenal just give it away with this loss or was it really give me in the last few games were they they'd lost points in games where they really should have taken away.
Marko
Three.
Matteo
Oh yeah. That's not even debatable. This was Arsenal's league to lose. I think we all knew that. And it wasn't a matter of them being brilliant. I think it's more so been a year of everyone else being so bad. And that being said, but their ten points, 12 point lead, you still managed to throw it away with stupid losses and draws at times you shouldn't.
Matteo
And now they find themselves potentially falling behind Man City. That's entirely their fault. Entirely. In the past two weeks I've heard talks of a quadruple, a treble, a double, a single and a prayer at that. So it's if they go trophyless this season, I can't even imagine, first of all, the jokes you can make your arsenal friends. And second of all, the pressure Arteta and his players will be under for letting this thing go.
Mark
And if you have Arsenal friends.
Marko
You know what? You joke about that. But I think that they have the biggest fan base in all of England, tell you the truth, like, like you're a London based team. Like I think our Arsenal fan base is probably one of the largest, right? So we're seeing that it is I guess it's one of the ones that is challenged the most.
Marko
Like they haven't seen any kind of success in 20 years. Right.
Mark
So I was going to say they may have the largest hands, but that's not helping.
Marko
Yes.
Matteo
Yeah. I think Arsenal fan TV definitely helped globalize the fan base, partly because they get enough that quite a bit. But, you know, to answer your question, though, in terms of odds of winning, I think it's gone down substantially. If I were to give them a percentage chance of winning one either or, they're not going win both chambers.
Matteo
The Premier League, we know that it's not going to win either or. It's up like a 28%. And right now, for me.
Mark
There's no way that winning Champions League. Come on, guys. No way. That's not of it. That's out of the question.
Matteo
Yeah. So realistically, that's 28% on the Premier League. But you never know. You never know. Things can happen in the Champions League knockout football.
Mark
So the numbers on poly market a month ago today was that Arsenal had a 91% chance of winning the EPL and then City had a 9% chance today and Man City has a 56% chance of winning. And Arsenal's chances are down to 44% are.
Marko
All right, you know what? Let's go to the other end of the table. Let's go to Tottenham. And I'm a throwback to Mateo. So Tottenham, look kind of what are they secured there right now in the third last spot. So they are in relegation mode. I think that's I don't know. I don't know which of what's been a big bigger story this year in the prem Tottenham like a short franchise potentially going down to the championship or arsenal just bottling the first place like so Tottenham what would you say is their chance of actually being relegated.
Matteo
Oh boy. You know what, it actually it's funny because I asked you guys this off the pod and I was debating what's more likely to happen. Arsenal won the Premier League or Tottenham to get relegated and I'm going to explain why or the spot Tottenham are in right now to understand the severity of it. They have five games left in the season.
Matteo
They're currently sat 18th place, 18, 19, 20. All go down currently ahead of them are West Ham one point ahead Nottingham Forest who are five points ahead and the rest above them are all eight and above ahead. West Ham have a game in hand. Assuming they win, which they might, they will be four points ahead. Tottenham. Tottenham will be four points back of safety with five games to play.
Matteo
Even though this is a team with the likes of Bobby Simmonds, Mikki van der, then world class players, there's a keeper rated overrated for tens of millions. They still find themselves in this spot.
Mark
Overpaying, overpaid.
Marko
How many managers, I may add, this year, like with Roberto Janabi right now kind of leading the squad.
Matteo
Is that I think they're on for no. Yeah.
Mark
Thomas managers No Thomas Frank and then.
Matteo
An interim tutor and then this guy.
Mark
Tudor Yeah. So this is the third manager.
Matteo
Third hired manager, not including interim Dasher, but regardless though they're in a serious about spots. Not easy games schedule the games they have coming up.
Marko
Yeah and then I can't put the exact number but the amount of money that they're throwing away by leaving a lot to go with the Premier League and going, Oh boy, it's significant, right? So I think that's what they have to do. They have to prioritize getting their way back up or actually not even going down the first place.
Marko
Right. But that would be a huge blow.
Matteo
Yeah, I didn't even cover that because the financial flows they have to the club will be huge, especially with the investment they have with the stadium. The fees and the wages their players are on. This would be colossal and it might even make them stay down the championship for a few seasons assuming they go down there. So this is a really bad spot.
Marko
Yeah, I don't know. We've seen other clubs in the past kind of follow that like, you know, clubs that have won it all. Like, I don't I don't know. And take a look at Bundesliga or Hamburg. I think hamburger has what's it called the two Champions leagues like in the seventies and eighties and they haven't they haven't been significant in the Bundesliga in the longest time.
Marko
Right. So, you know, what happens is if there's a fall from grace, then, okay, awesome. So we got Mark.
Mark
On the results of that up. The time that you've was I guess, put in the Serie B Yeah, yeah.
Marko
Yeah.
Mark
They came back different issues of course.
Marko
Yeah. That was, that was referee and tampering and everything. Yeah. And you know what. Hey you know what? We haven't talked about this in the plot for a while, but city actually looking for the points deduction as well. Right. So have no clue where that added. I don't I don't see anything happening to tell you the truth. Right.
Marko
That's just my take on that. Mark. Mark. Liverpool. Liverpool had a derby with Everton.
Mark
Yeah. Great game because it was a win. Obviously. A couple of key moments though. Memory loss really was playing in for it, not for the injured Alisson and he got injured. At first it looked kind of minor. Guys slid into him with his cleats. I was wondering how serious it was when they brought the stretcher out. Then towards the end of the game, I had heard that he was been he was rushed to hospital.
Mark
Actually, because it was quite a gash on his knee. So third string making his debut, Freddie Woodman came in, looked shaky. I mean, you do this for a living, Freddie. You're in practice with the boys. You've been a goalkeeper your entire life. Shouldn't be looking that shaky. But we eked out the win. Salah was on point, and then our late hero, Virgil van Dijk, in the 99th minute.
Matteo
So that's pretty cool. Actually, even myself, I'm not a Liverpool fan, but I think it was a pretty just historic win in the sense that this is the first, I think the first Merseyside Derby at the Etihad that gets second.
Mark
To.
Matteo
Liverpool. One is there are two biggest heroes of the past, I'd even say decade in Salah and van Dijk, really Goalscorers. So I think it'll be used on a high for a season that has been full of lows, but it's a pretty cool game to watch.
Marko
Amazing. Okay, you know what? I'm going to go through to the other leagues right now. Bundesliga Bayern wrapped up the Champions Championship. This this, this weekend the 15 points on Dortmund just having a phenomenal season came scoring it well like I said in our Champions League talk we talked about that frontline how well they're doing. Alphonso DAVIES scored.
Marko
I don't know if anybody would have paid attention to the game, right So.
Mark
I felt that I that.
Marko
Yeah, no, no, honestly, I love that. And I love the fact that, you know what, he's he's he's getting a little bit more healthy going into the World Cup. So, yeah, you know, knock on wood. Let's see, let's see how we kind of pull through. So Bayern nailing the championship. So it's all about Champions League for them. So this is the best thing for them.
Marko
And again, you know, of the teams remaining in the Champions League, you know, they have one kind of singular focus with that. Now looking at Syria inter pulling ahead 78 to 78 points. So they have 12 points ahead of a title, Milan and Napoli. Now what was an interesting there was a few interesting games on the weekend and two games that I really, really enjoyed were lots of beating Napoli two to nil which was a great game but not new Napoli really needing those points that kind of ice second spot and Roma Atalanta now they were looking to grab European spots but this was a really hard fought game Roma played phenomenal but it was
Marko
a11 draw so a said I was very interesting this weekend again with the win and everything to to nail over Bologna but yeah those that's how those two came through Mateo How about La Liga in Spain. Anything really interesting that that cools things out?
Matteo
To be honest, at the risk of sounding cocky, I think the league another year is over because Barcelona are, what, nine points clear of Real Madrid. Apart from that, there's a few spots up for grabs, especially in the relegation battle. It's a close one. I think there's five points separating last place and maybe 11th or 12th. So very, very tight.
Matteo
But on the upper end or most people care about, it's pretty predetermined. Barcelona first, surprise, surprise Real Madrid second and then Atletico third and whoever else below.
Marko
Yeah okay. There was. Yeah, Villa Villarreal's in third spot.
Matteo
Oh, sorry. Villarreal. Either way, the top four is essentially the regular teams.
Marko
No, I mean, I'm just surprised at Villarreal kind of making that. Like, I remember them at the beginning. Yeah. You know, maybe they are going to Europe more as a five, six, seven spot or so. But for them to kind of be not comfortably in third spot, but, you know, having a little bit of a lead over Atlético is pretty interesting.
Marko
And I like I like having a little bit more parity. So it's not always the same team winning it over and over again.
Mark
And the other big no.
Matteo
I personally don't. But you know what?
Marko
Yeah. All right.
Mark
The other big story in Laliga Marca would have been the Copa del Rey final where Athletico and real Sociedad squared off, went to penalty kicks where athletic's two best scorers in Julian alvarez and saul off. They both missed the kicks did not score and sociedad won the Copa del rey.
Marko
Yeah interesting. Again like I said parity itself with sociedad right now picking up there in seventh spot and holding onto the last spot in Europe so.
Mark
And yeah I think this you could look at it two ways how does it hurt Athletico or does it fuel them which I think it it, it will especially with Simone there, I think it actually adds more fuel to their fire to, to beat Arsenal.
Marko
Yeah. Yeah. No, it's funny with that I've heard a lot of people say if they're a total neutral in the Champions League going forward that people are pulling for it, not just for us. Going to be honest. So. Oh yeah, I guess I could respect that. However, with both PSG and Bayern firing on all cylinders, that's that. That's really interesting.
Marko
But anyway, you know what? I think what we did, we did a great job just kind of wrapping up this week. We did. Yeah, we did. And Gini and Champions League and everything like that now. So going forward, Mark looking I'm really looking forward to this next round of Champions League. So we'll have another episode just kind of prepping that and then talking about the stories kind of leading into that.
Marko
I can't imagine PSG and Bayern being very, very quiet and kind of going to that. We're going to hear a lot of things. One thing I remember hearing before I was even with Bayern and Real Madrid is just that a lot of loud music played outside of the hotel. But I guess that's that's regular kind of banter we've seen between clubs and for her, there's not a lot in the past, so that's some interesting stuff.
Marko
So again, looking forward to just getting further into the champions, the Champions League, you know, finally finalizing the the European leagues as they kind of go into the last few weeks and also kind of getting prepped a lot for the World Cup where, you know, it's not that far away. Right. So we're we're we're we're we're getting closer.
Marko
We're like we're closing in on that. So amazing. Thank you so much, both of you, for coming on the show today. This is very interesting discussion. Again, I want to thank everybody for listening in. I think we had some really, really great growth in the podcast over the last few weeks. So thank you so much. Again, recommended to friend, family or anybody that be interested in listening to what's happening in the great world of European football or even just kind of getting a recap of, you know, some the great storylines that are that are happening in the game, you know, and listening to our, our, our quality commentary or semi informed decisions anyways.
Marko
So with that said, Mark Matteo, thank you so much for coming on the show and we're keeping you semi informed. Yes, sorry, that was going that went long. 35 minutes