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Free Weekly Episode - Historic Napoli Beat Juventus & On Brink Of Scudetto, Lukaku Is BACK, Leao On Fire, Inter vs Juventus Preview & Much More (Ep. 317)
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From Giacomo Raspadori's late winner putting Napoli within a whisker of the Serie A title after a dramatic win against an unlucky Juventus, breakdown of state of play of JuveGate points deduction, Rafael Leao wows the San Siro for AC Milan, is Romelu Lukaku back after scoring brace and assist when Inter Milan finally win again the Serie A as well as Coppa Italia semifinal return leg previews involving Inter, Juvem Cremonese and Fiorentina and much, much more as Nima and Carlo break down all the talking points from an absolutely action packed weekend of Italian football.
Every Monday episode of The Italian Football Podcast is free for all.
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Transcript
Napoli's Historic Victory
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast.
00:00:06
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Italian Football Podcast. I'm Carlo Garganese, joined as always by Nimat Tavale. So Napoli are nearly their historic win in Turin against Juventus, means that Napoli could win the Scudetto this weekend. We'll be reviewing today a dramatic weekend in Serie A. Milan and Inter celebrated their Champions League successes last midweek by both winning as well.
00:00:33
Speaker
Romelu Lukaku finally rolled back the years and is he back or is it another false start? Rafael Liao was unstoppable while Lazio had a surprise defeat.
00:00:45
Speaker
On the back of Serie A having five teams, incredibly, in the semi-finals of Europe, we've got a segment looking at whether Italian football is back or whether this is just a one-off season. NIMA will also run us through some of the legal questions from Juventus getting their 15 points provisionally back last week. So there's lots to talk about in today's show. For all our first-time listeners, this is our free weekly episode, which we do every Monday review in the weekend.
00:01:13
Speaker
Seria action and all the biggest talking points in Italian football If you want to support the Italian football podcast and receive all our content that we do throughout the week Including our weekly Q&A episode every Tuesday where we answer all the questions sent in from our patrons plus the weekly
00:01:29
Speaker
Thursday, midweek review show, plus interviews, post-match reaction, and much, much more, then go to patreon.com slash T-I-F-P, and you can become a subscriber for just $2.99 a month plus VAT. And for all of you listening on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Podcasts, and so on, we'd really appreciate a five-star rating. Give us a follow and subscribe to us. We're also on YouTube as well. Do all that, and it really helps us to grow. Okay, Nima, let's get into it.
00:01:59
Speaker
Right, let's start off with the big Sunday evening game. Juventus vs Napoli. Napoli winning 1-0. They're on the brink of the Scudetto now. 1-0 victory thanks to a respiratory goal in injury time. They've done the double on Juventus this season, only the fourth time.
00:02:15
Speaker
in Napoli's history. They've done the double on Ube which again underlines the historic nature of this season for Napoli. They are 17 points clear in Serie A with seven games to go and if Napoli beats Lenny Turner on Saturday they will be champions if Lazio then
00:02:36
Speaker
only managed to draw or if they were to lose to Inter, that's it. That's it basically would have to beat Inter in order to keep it going for one more week. But whatever happens, it doesn't matter. Nima does it because Napoli are going to be champions very, very soon.
00:02:51
Speaker
Napoli are champions of Italy elect. It's only a matter of time. And we've known this for quite some time. And I've been saying for a few months that I think match day 32 against Salerni Tana that weekend is when they will clinch it. And I think that is when they will clinch it. I think this we're going to a historic Sunday.
00:03:11
Speaker
that will see Napoli win the Serie A for the third time in the history in the year 2 AD after Diego, both Argentina and Napoli.
00:03:24
Speaker
put turn the page after Diego and win their third successes, World Cup and Serie A. It's a fully, fully deserved scurrito. They have been, without a doubt, the best team in Italy.
00:03:45
Speaker
this season, no matter who you support or where your bias is in, where your bias is lay or your allegiance is lay, to deny that Napoli have been the best team in the Serie A consistently this season would be on par with denying that the earth
00:04:01
Speaker
would be arguing that the earth is flat because it does not correlate with reality.
Spalletti's Mastery
00:04:06
Speaker
Napoli have been by far the best team consistently and they have played some of the most exciting and beautiful football that we've seen them we've seen any team in Europe play this season and I think just this the way that the tide turned I mean Napoli
00:04:25
Speaker
coming from that negative result against Milan, coming from that negative atmosphere, suffering in this game against Juve, which I thought this was a really good game, by the way. I thought it was exciting. It had drama. It was crazy. And to do it the way that they did it at the death, you know, five years to the day almost, if I'm not mistaken, to
00:04:49
Speaker
to Kooli Bali's header at the same stadium that didn't win them the Scudetto. Raspadori kind of secures it because that will be the moment that people will remember, even if beating Salah and Itana at home is something that Napoli expect to do.
00:05:09
Speaker
But beating Juva away at the death after all that drama with Raspadori of all people who's had a very inconsistent season. We spoke about it on the pod a few weeks ago about what is his best role. And he comes on and he scores the winner in that fashion.
00:05:24
Speaker
that will be kind of the icon, you know, the photo of the scoreto is him at, you know, celebrating the event to celebrate, sorry, Napoli celebrating on the way from, you know, back to Naples and the fans, Napoli fans greeting them, the motorcade that we've seen the Anguisa put on his social media. All of these things are now iconic imagery in Napoli's history. And it's truly
00:05:51
Speaker
It's so deserved. I'm so happy for Luciano Spoletti, a coach who I think has been one of the greatest coaches in Italian, in any of his generation, and has always been so poorly treated and kind of been given this kind of loser stamp, which I think is so unfair, because if you look at the coach, the teams that he's coached, coached, whether it was Roma or Inter or this Napoli, he has always, or Udinese or whatever, he's always gotten
00:06:20
Speaker
the maximum out of every single team he's coached at club level. And he's developed players. He's got so many players have been kissed by Spalletti, one could say, you know, the magical touch of after Spalletti gets his hands on them, they take that next step. There's so there's too many to mention. And it's it's so incredibly well deserved and it coronates a career.
00:06:47
Speaker
which I hope it doesn't end here for him. I think this would be would be beautiful if he could enjoy this ride for for a while. But I mean, we'll get to that in later episodes. But no, I. It was a very good performance overall, I thought I thought the attack was clicking again in the link up play between Ossiman and Calatrelia, Lausanne or the midfield was just at times it was as good as it's been all season.
00:07:17
Speaker
Yeah, I think the real Napoli started to return in this game. I think the first half, I mean, we've seen Napoli's form, you know, has dipped in April. And that has resulted in them going out of the Champions League. And they go into this game against Juventus, had one winning five games, three of those games, they didn't score in. And other of them, they only scored at the 93rd minute against Milan, you know, in midweek last week.
00:07:39
Speaker
And I think I felt like the first half against Juventus in this game followed a quite similar pattern, you know, controlling possession, but looking quite toothless. Like, I thought Juventus were pretty comfortable in defending them. We'll come on to Juve. I thought Juve defended them pretty comfortably, even for the first hour of this game. But then I think everything then really, we started to really see the last, the real Napoli in the last half an hour. And they created, I counted four big chances for Osseman.
00:08:06
Speaker
in the second half, which he didn't score. And then, of course, they won it at the death with Raspadori. It was the real Napoli again. I know you've had those two goals disallowed. You could say they were goals, but they were disallowed. But Napoli, in terms of offensively in that last half an hour, that was the real Napoli returned in it. And that was the Napoli that's won in the Scudetto.
Juventus' Struggles and Legal Issues
00:08:32
Speaker
And they had a 1.98 XG in this game, which is very impressive.
00:08:36
Speaker
away at Juventus to have an extra year of basically two.
00:08:39
Speaker
So I think that I think that we saw the real Napoli again. And, you know, Napoli, like you said, they showed heart, they showed balls to come and win here after the disappointment of midweek, because that was a big blow. And with everything that's gone off the pitch with the fans and everything, I think that this this showed them showed everyone that there is a mental strength to this to this fleet. Yes, they showed naivety in that Milan defeat, no doubt about it. They showed their inexperience. But
00:09:08
Speaker
They also showed here that, you know, they do, you know, they do have the mental strength that is required to become champions of your country. And yeah, De Lorenzo, I thought was fantastic, led by example, as captain, and he got the assist. Claret Scaler was brilliant in the second half. Absolutely brilliant. And he made a mockery of those that were just saying a few days earlier that he's overhyped.
00:09:34
Speaker
Oseman was a pain in the ass again. He was wasteful in front of goal. That if there's one criticism, he was very wasteful. He missed some really huge jobs. That's what we can say about him generally this season and that is an aspect of his game that he can improve and must improve on. And Khvara as well. I look Khvara a little bit different than Oseman because Oseman has been at this level for a few years now. We're playing at Napoli for a few years at the top of the Serie A.
00:09:58
Speaker
This is Clara's breakout season. Of course, you can improve on everything when you're a breakout star. But with Osseman, I feel that he's so complete in every other aspect that I feel his finishing being clinical, that's the final step that he needs to take. If he can become more clinical and bury more chances and have a conversion rate of 60, 70%, we are talking
00:10:24
Speaker
top, top world-class striker. There's no doubt. For me, he's already world-class. For me, he's already world-class. It's just a difference between scoring 30 goals a season, which he'll get this season, and scoring 40 or 50. Harlan is just going to score. That's what I mean, because he's up against Harlan. He's up against Mbappe.
00:10:44
Speaker
You know what I mean? He's up against Lewandowski. You know, these are the people he's going to be compared to. And I think that he deserves to be compared to them, given how he plays. But in order to fully... Yeah, to take the final, final step and become a Ballon d'Or strike. Yes, that is. That's what I mean. That's exactly what he needs. That's what he needs. Yeah. And I mean, yeah, the party, the Scereta could be won this weekend and it's going to be the party of all parties. I mean, anybody...
00:11:11
Speaker
Anybody that was old enough, and I wasn't old enough to remember the 1987, but I've seen all the videos and all the parties that went on. The party went on for weeks, months actually. This is going to go on for months as well. Some of the stuff you're going to see, because there's one thing about Italians and Neapolitans especially, is they know how to party.
00:11:37
Speaker
They're not out to throw a party and they're very creative with how they go about it. And some of the stuff, if you have a look at some of the stuff that went on in 1987, when they won the Scudetto in 1987, I mean, just to give you a couple of examples, absolutely brilliant. You know, they put a banner and held it outside the biggest cemetery in Naples and the banner read, you don't know what you're missing.
00:11:57
Speaker
Yeah, I remember that. Which is just brilliant. I mean, they're going to do another one of those. They held, and this is pertinent to beating Juventus. You know, the coffin of Juventus. That's classic. That's classic. That's old Italian. Like, that happens all over Italy. I remember interviewing Thomas Nouda, the son of the great Milan.
00:12:15
Speaker
Stryker Gunnar Nordahl and he spoke about growing up in Milan every time Inter B1 the Derby or Milan 1 the Derby they used to have a funeral procession for the in the city for the With with a coffin empty coffin draped in the colors of the losing team. Yeah, so that's brilliant Italian thing. Yeah, brilliant Yeah, it's gonna be amazing. It's gonna be absolutely incredible. So
00:12:36
Speaker
Yeah, we look forward to that. Let's talk from Juventus' point of view. In terms of the overall performance, I don't think it was terrible. I thought you were okay. I thought the overall performance was okay. They were organised, they competed well. Of course, they had those two goals disallowed, which I think were correct, but it's a little bit of bad luck. The second one, I mean, the ball is out of bounds. What are you going to do? It's out of bounds, out of bounds.
00:13:06
Speaker
But the first one, I honestly don't know what the correct decision is there, because having looked at that situation a hundred times now, I genuinely feel that both have a legitimate grievance, both Napoli and Juva.
00:13:24
Speaker
I really don't know who what to do here because yes, he first, he tackles the vodka first, but is the tackle strong enough to warrant a free kick? Yeah. I mean, it's like, I really don't know what the right decision is. I'm so happy I'm not the referee because it's one of those situations where you're damned if you are, you're damned if you don't.
00:13:43
Speaker
Yeah, my feeling is that I generally favor the defender in these instances because I feel like a goal. This is why I moan so much about penalties and I think they're too much of a reward because scoring a goal is so sacred in football.
00:14:01
Speaker
You know, I feel like the referee should always should always on the side of the defender if there's ever in any doubt because a goal is just so important in football, not basketball or tennis or or even rugby or, you know, the sports where you can come back and high scoring. Yeah. High scoring game. You know, so I feel like if they're ever in doubt and I feel like whenever it's a 50 50 like that, you know, I feel like you should on the side. But I think my issue with this, I am kind of large in agreement with you.
00:14:30
Speaker
My issue with this is, and I'm saying this to somebody that hates this idea of what's the saying they use when VAR should only change a decision if it's a clear and obvious error. So I think that's the biggest issue here is, was this a clear and obvious error? If the referee originally, I mean, in my opinion, that's a stupid thing to say. I think if it's a free kick, if it's an infringement, it should be an infringement, whether it's clear and obvious or not.
00:14:58
Speaker
We know what the rules are. The rules are that the VAR shouldn't overrule unless it's clear and obvious. Now, for me, is it clear and obvious? I would say it probably isn't. So that's my only issue with it. But I mean, personally, if I was making a decision,
00:15:14
Speaker
He does touch him first, and then he gets the ball. But like you said, was the touch enough? Yeah. It's a tricky one. The thing with the laws of the game is that even if you take the ball first, it goes both ways. Even if you take the ball first, if the challenge is too rash, it can still be a foul. And the opposite is true as well. Yeah. It's like Rafael Liao, wasn't it? Laffer Liao last week. He won the ball and then took out the player.
00:15:43
Speaker
I mean, it's like, I honestly, these are such tight decisions. I, this particular, I, I honestly don't know what the, what the answer is. I really don't know. And I think that it's, it's, it's, it really is 50 50. It really is just where you, what your perspective is. You can't say that it's a scandal or the wrong decision was made because it really is 50 50 based
00:16:05
Speaker
Yeah, my only issue with this in terms of what are the actual rules is that having already given it, I don't see it as enough of a clear and obvious error. That depends, Carlo, if the referee saw, if the communication with the VAR, the referee says,
00:16:25
Speaker
he took the ball first before touching the player. The videos show the exact opposite of that because the referee didn't see the situation clear enough. Then that is a clear and obvious error and he has to look at it. Well, the referee was pointing at the ball on the field. There you go. He obviously thought that he took the ball before the player, which is not true. He touched the player first. But again, then it becomes a question of evaluation. Did he touch him enough?
00:16:54
Speaker
I don't know. I think you can argue it both ways, honestly. And I understand that you would feel aggrieved, but equally, I would have understood if that goal was given in Napoli fans. I see, I really don't know. I think that's a fair way. I think that's a fair analysis of it, to be honest with you. Well, I'm glad we cleared that up now, because now we can talk about the stuff away from the record. You can have a hate fest on Allegri. Isn't that what you mean? You cleared that away so I can hate on Allegri.
00:17:24
Speaker
First of all, I would say that whatever your view of that, to concede a goal, having had two goals disallowed and then to concede the night in the injury time, whatever the legality of that first goal, Di Maria, there's still a little bit of bad luck involved in this game to lose the game.
00:17:42
Speaker
And that brings me on to the biggest issue here. The issue isn't about how you anticipate, because I think Juventus were competitive in this game. And as a team, they were organised. And I think the one thing that you definitely have, even through this bad run of form they've gone, is that they are, from a mental point of view and a physical point of view, they're doing okay. There's no issue there.
00:18:02
Speaker
The issue is the same problem for Juventus that we've had for two years under Allegri now. Juventus cannot create chances. They cannot create. And I've been going on and on about this for weeks now. This game, Juventus had, wait for it, and XG, wait for it, 0.28. And XG, 0.28. And yet that scored twice that was disallowed. I mean, doesn't that tell you how what a genius Michael Allegri is?
00:18:28
Speaker
He has, he barely creates, his teams barely create and yet they had two goals disallowed. I love him. The more I fall in love with him.
00:18:43
Speaker
No, no, no, no. Because the thing is, if I hated Juventus, I'd wish for dessert before Juve. And I hope you get your wish, because that would be, that would be, that would be, I would love to see that, that absolute steaming dumpster fire. But from a hating Juventus perspective, I think if you hate Juve, you want them to get rid of anything. Don't get me started. Don't get me started.
00:19:04
Speaker
I mean, naught point two eight, that's Juventus' lowest XG of the season. The entire season, that's their lowest XG. Now, bear in mind that this XG of naught point two eight came in a game where Juventus actually didn't play badly. There's been some games this season where Juventus have been absolutely horrific. They've been disjointed, they've been structurally a mess. I don't think they were structurally a mess in this game. They were very sound structurally. I thought structurally they were okay.
00:19:34
Speaker
but they don't create chances. They had an XG of 0.28 and they don't create chances at all in open play. As I said a couple of weeks ago, I haven't double checked this since, but it definitely wouldn't have improved because their last two games they had the next year, the next point G gets a swallow of 0.7 something and they've had the next XG of 0.28 in this game. So they've actually probably gone further down the table, the XG table since then, but they were 10th when I checked this about 10 days ago.
00:20:00
Speaker
10th in Serie A for XG from Open Play this season. And their XG are their last games. Napoli 0.28, Sassuolo 0.65. Sorry, I gave a little bit too high there. Sporting... Hold on, calm down. Don't get excited.
00:20:18
Speaker
The sport in the first game against sports and they had an extra year of 0.86 and they had an extra year of 0.2 or 0.3 in that game. Inside the game that they won, they had an extra year of 0.65. I mean these numbers are just unsustainable but you just can't win with these kind of numbers. You can't be successful.
00:20:39
Speaker
And yet, inventors could have won yesterday if they weren't a bit unlucky. This is what I mean. He is building, and I mean, for that goal, it's Fajoli who doesn't do the work back. And that's the second time. Well, I actually think you can go as far back as Quadrada doing that stupid dive, doing that stupid ridiculous dive. What was that? Well, it's ridiculous, because we live in the VAR age now, where you can't win penalties for that anymore. You can't
00:21:03
Speaker
Yeah, you can't run into someone. You can't kick a player and get penalty. He's back to you, you idiot. He came from Quadrado because Quadrado dived, didn't get the penalty, laid on the floor and rolled around and then they went up the other end and his right back position was vacant and that's where he scored. He scored in Quadrado's vacant. Okay, you can say Fagioli should have reacted and come. Yes, he should have done.
00:21:28
Speaker
But it's part of the Percorso, that's part of the growth, that's part of understanding. And Fagioli's learned that. He's made two significant errors where Juve have been punished. And I think that's part of the growth process, because I think that if he's going to make it as a Juventus player, if you're going to make it at Inter, Milan and Juve, this is part of the growth. You have to learn from your mistakes, especially when you're a young player. And this is just part and part for the course. And I think
00:21:58
Speaker
Because I believe in Fagioli. I think Ravella, Fagioli, Miretti, Locatelli. I thought Locatelli, by the way, was brilliant yesterday. I think this is how Juventus need to be. I'm still not completely sold on Fagioli yet, I'll be honest with you. But at the same time, I'm not saying he's not going to make it. I'm just saying, I'm not... I think he deserves a chance. I'm not sold on him yet.
00:22:19
Speaker
Now I understand why, I understand what your thinking is and I kind of to a certain extent agree with it. But I do think that the Juventus are doing the right thing in building around this group. Oh yeah, absolutely. I much rather than try to build and develop a player like Fagioli rather than go with someone we just know is not good to them. Well yeah, all like they did in the first half of the season with McKinney, players that you know are not good enough are never going to be good enough.
00:22:46
Speaker
But, Joly, he might not become good enough, but let's wait and see. Let's try and develop him and see if we can get him to be good enough. I'd rather them go that route than just... Me too. I'm like that with all Italian clubs. I'd rather they do that than go with this kind of, you know, so-called... Try and test it, but not going to be good enough, kind of. Exactly. Formulae. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.
00:23:06
Speaker
And so Juventus losing this game, and this is a big concern now for Juventus, because we're now into the home stretch, the seven games left in Serie A, and Juventus are in the two cups, and they've got massive games coming up in the semi-finals coming up. Juventus' form is terrible. They've fallen apart at the worst time possible, because like I said, a few weeks ago, a month ago, Juventus were going on this good runner form, they put a string of wins together, and
00:23:34
Speaker
I mean, I wasn't ever going to say, all right, I, you know, Jesse, Max Allegri, I was never going to single shout that out from the rooftop. But, you know, at least, you know, I was I was seeing the improvement, certainly in the results anyway. But now, I mean, they've now gone
00:23:50
Speaker
three straight Serie A defeats in a row. They're going to make, and everything is going to be good when they make Interpay on Wednesday and go to the Copa Italia final. Like they were going to do in the first leg. Yeah, I mean, the last seven games you've entered have won one
00:24:07
Speaker
drawn three, lost three, scored five goals in the seven games and that one win was a fluke against sport in Lisbon, they got played off the park in that first leg. So Juventus are in a critical position now because their form has completely fallen apart and if they don't
00:24:23
Speaker
you know, find themselves again, in immediately, their whole season will fall apart. And getting the 15 points back, which we're going to come to in a minute, will have been completely irrelevant. All the fuss and the crying from both sides about Juventus getting this result have been completely irrelevant. They might as well not even we might as well have not gone through all this process, because it will be completely irrelevant if Juventus don't get their form back, because the top four race is now very tight again, because at least at their official list, for goodness sake, of course, Juventus are going to finish
Allegri's Uncertain Future
00:24:52
Speaker
in the top four.
00:24:53
Speaker
Well, they've lost to Sasuola last week. I mean, they're three points. They lost to Sasuola last week. That's a fact. So only three points above Milan in fifth now. And they still have to play Milan in the run in second from last. I think it's a second from last game or third from last game. They've got Bologna away, Lecha at home, Atalanta away, Cremonese at home, Empoli away, Milan away, Udinese away. They can afford to lose against Atalanta and Milan and draw against Bologna, win the rest, which they are good enough to do.
00:25:21
Speaker
And then they'll finish in the top four? Well, they have to improve their form. I mean, the top four race is very tight. They've only got a three-point gap over Milan. And the point is, they have to find their form again. That's true. Immediately. They've got internext in the Coppertalia semi-final second leg, one off in the first leg, second legs at San Siro. They're rightly considered underdogs to go through. Well, no, because they've rested pretty much all the players, all the staff. Well, so did inter. Exactly.
00:25:50
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. But my point is exactly this, that Iyue and Inter are going into that game fully rested and fully fired up. So, you know, he's coming for Inter. He's coming for Inzagi. The base on their form and performance is the worst thing that could have happened for Inter. I don't know if I'd agree. The point is they have to get their form back because they've completely fallen apart in this month.
00:26:19
Speaker
Of course, they haven't got Sevilla in the Europa League semis, which is a golden chance in the Europa League for them to end this long European trophy drought that dates back to 1996 or 1997, if you include the European Super Cup, which they thrashed PSG in.
00:26:37
Speaker
and 9-1, I remember that very well. And so they want to end this long European trophy. They've got a golden chance and Sevilla not that man united, which was fantastic. But on form, I mean, Sevilla have suddenly hit form now. And Sevilla in fantastic form all of a sudden. They haven't been dreadful all season. So Juventus have to find themselves. They can't afford any more slip ups now because every single competition is now
00:27:03
Speaker
on the line. Look, I want five teams. I want five Serie A teams in the Champions League next season. And there's no doubt in my mind that Juventus are going to go to finish in the top four. So I hope they get to the final. And I hope it's an all Italian Europa League final. And I hope Roma win because I don't think Roma are finishing in the top five, especially with Chris Smalling out as long as he's going to be out.
00:27:24
Speaker
That is a huge. How long is he going to be out for? Well, he's going to even miss the intergame now. This talk of, you know, because when they took him out, so when he when he came off against Feyenoord in that insane game. So Roma's chance, I think, to finish in the top to playing the Champions League goes through the Europa League.
00:27:43
Speaker
I mean, they're scheduled to play Inter on the 6th of May, so Romain is going to miss Atalanta tonight, we're recording this on a Monday, Milan at home, Monza away, and Inter at home. That's four Serie A games. This is matchday, so he'll be back earliest for matchday 35.
00:28:05
Speaker
So, for me, Roma are out, and he is that important to Roma. I mean, we saw it against Feyenoord. The minute he came off injured, their defense just fell completely apart, because Roger Ibanez is just not good enough. I will say, listen, the point is, Juventus, if they don't
00:28:24
Speaker
improve massively then they're not going to get the points needed and their season is going to fall apart and the last seven games show it. The bigger picture though is away from what's going to happen between now and the end of the season is regardless of what happens between now and the end of the season and I really hope you at least win a trophy but I want them to win the Europa League, I love them to win the Europa League, it's been so long without a European trophy.
00:28:48
Speaker
regardless of what happens between now and the season, Allegri has to go at the end of season. This is just, you know, I've given you those numbers before, but this is just unsustainable. I mean, eight defeats in Serie A now this season, 13 defeats in all competitions, 13. And, you know, for all those that say they see improvement of
00:29:07
Speaker
with Allegra this season. Well, I'm sorry, the numbers totally say the opposite. There is no improvement. He's now on course for 72 points this season on average. That's included in the 15 points they got back for the points penalty. And that number is falling each week, that 72 points that they're forecast to get based on the points average.
00:29:27
Speaker
because of the form they're in. Now, to put that into context, Pierlo got 78 points in his one disaster season. So he's six points off that at present. Now, Allegri got 70 points last season, which he rightfully got widely hammered for.
00:29:44
Speaker
So he's on course right now to only get two points more than last season. He's had the same number of losses in Serie A this season as he had the entire of last season and there's still seven games to go. He's on course to score 57 goals this season in Serie A on the goal average per game.
00:30:02
Speaker
That's the same number again that you meant to score all of last season. So he's not improved the attack. The attack hasn't improved at all. It's exactly the same as last season. The only thing he has improved is the defence. He's on course to concede 31 goals, which is five less than the last season. So, you know, I know there's been all this shit off the pitch. No one's denying that has played a role. We've discussed about that at length.
00:30:26
Speaker
But in terms of the numbers, this isn't evidence of improvement. And that is the end of it. I think he's going to win the Copa Italia. I've said it before this season and I had Roma actually. I was looking through our season predictions and I had
00:30:44
Speaker
Roma as my dark horse to win the Europa League and demanded that Fiorentina get to the final of the conference league. And I have Juventus winning the Copa Italia, and I think that's what he's going to do. I think that is they're going to finish in the top four. They're going to win the Copa Italia and and then maybe even the Europa League if they can get past Sevilla. But you have to be careful because Sevilla in this competition, it's the Sevilla League. I mean, it doesn't matter how awful they are. They always reach the semi in the final and they always end up and they usually end up winning it.
00:31:13
Speaker
So you can't underestimate Sevilla. And in the Europa League, it's their competition. So, no. Absolutely. I mean, I'm a hope. I hope they're right. I hope you're right. I hope they do go all the way. But even if they do, even if they win both trophies, I just think this is this is not sustainable. And even Allegri said at the end of the game against Napoli that Juventus will challenge for the Scudetto next season.
00:31:44
Speaker
I think they will. I think he's right. I think he's right. No, I don't think it's automatic. I don't think it's automatic, but what I base that on is that he's sorted out the defense.
00:31:57
Speaker
And next season will be the first summer where we will have caught up after the pandemic. No international tournaments, no nothing, just three months of mercato. And I don't count the Nations League. Please stop. That's a friendly at the end of the season. So it's.
00:32:17
Speaker
Gonna have three months off they're going to the players are gonna have a much needed rest this you can plan the season you're not gonna have the interruption in the middle of it with the World Cup and so on and so forth and you're back to normality after the pandemic for the first time in four years so I think that's that that's what he's basing it off of and also he's also basing it off of
00:32:39
Speaker
what they're going to do off the mark, you know, what the plan is out the window, you know, Paredes is going to leave, you know, who's going to stay. I think he's basing it off on that next season is when they're going to have a normal season. And but again, we don't know what will happen in these other things, even if Allegri, even if you were to finish in the top four, even if Juventus were to win the Europa League.
00:33:05
Speaker
even if they were to win the Europa League
00:33:21
Speaker
if what UEFA are going to do to Juva, you know? If they throw Juva out of European competitions and give them transfer bans, we don't know. That could actually happen. No, no, you could. Well, that brings us on nicely then. Just quickly, Neymar. Give us, well, I say quickly. We'll try and make it quick. This is not a quick thing for you. So on Thursday, it was announced that Juventus have had their 15-point Serie A penalty revoked pending
00:33:47
Speaker
depending on the new trial in the capital gains case. And the case will now go to the FIGC federal court of appeal for the last final judgment. So that- Well, it's not the final judgment because- Well, if the judgment goes against and they could appeal, Juventus could appeal. Yeah, exactly. For what will hopefully be the final judgment, but maybe won't, might not be. So this pushed Juventus at the time up to third place in Serie A,
00:34:13
Speaker
The bands for Andrea Nieli, Maurizio Alevi-Babena, Federico Gerobini and Paparazzi were not revoked, Neved and some other members of the board were cleared. So Nimr, right, I'm going to ask you a few questions. I want you to answer these questions just as a kind of like simple
00:34:35
Speaker
straightforward, no opinions, just simple legal Q&A questions. So first, because we know the Italian law is just a total joke and a total mess. So this might help explain things for the layman. So first of all, when will this final appeal be heard? And will it be finished to affect the final standings this season? Or could the points penalties be pushed over to next season? This is specifically in the capital gains case.
00:35:03
Speaker
The answer is all options are on the table, honestly, because what is going to happen is we're going to have a retrial for Juventus point deductions. As you mentioned, the Arivabena, Kirubini, Angelis, Paratici, their convictions were upheld.
00:35:29
Speaker
This is just Juventus for the points deduction for capital gains. That trial needs to be redone completely. And when that is and how much that is, look, UEFA will demand from the Italian FA to speed this process up because they have a break-off point where every league has to be decided.
00:35:57
Speaker
in order for the next season to begin. That's just how it is. UEFA are going to demand that this is sorted in some manner. They won't go in and tell the FIGC what to do, but they will tell them we need a final decision on the league table for this season that's completed so that we can start next season. That's just... What's the deadline for that?
00:36:17
Speaker
I can't tell you with 100% certainty, but it used to be somewhere around mid-July, but things have changed a lot in the last 10-15 years. The last time I was looking at this was in 2006.
00:36:33
Speaker
for obvious reasons, but since then a lot could have happened. But there is a break-off point at which UEFA will tell people, we need to know what the final league table is, because we need to move forward, because we need to know who's going to be in our tournaments and competitions.
00:36:49
Speaker
So that's just going to, that'll put pressure on them. So that's going to have to be sorted. But what it means in terms of points penalties, if it's pushed to next season or go to this season, I couldn't tell you that right now. No one can. Every option is possible and plausible right now.
00:37:08
Speaker
OK, what do you expect to happen? Well, this is something where I've got to say I've changed my mind because of what Corny, because of Corny's verdict, because of the fact that they did uphold the convictions of Arriba, Arriba Bena, Aniele, Kirubini and Paratici. I think it's more likely now than not that there will be some form of point deduction for Juventus for the plus Valenza case. How much that will be, I can't imagine that it's more than six, seven points.
00:37:37
Speaker
I really can't because it's clear that they felt that the 15 points were far too harsh and that they weren't as they and the way that they worded it.
00:37:47
Speaker
not just the judgment, but the prosecutor said there was a lack of clarity with regards to the justification of the 15 points. So that suggests to me that they were not happy with how this decision was reached, but at the same time, they also upheld the convictions and bans of Aniali, Arivabena, Kerubini, and Paratici, which again,
00:38:12
Speaker
Article 4, ethics, if you act in a way, whether or not you succeed with something that's not allowed, just trying to do it is in and of itself an offense. And them holding those convictions and upholding them to me suggests that
00:38:32
Speaker
they are moving towards a situation where they will give Juventus a few points. I don't think it's going to be anywhere near 15. I'd say around somewhere between three to six. That's what I would guess that this ends up. But of course, Juventus can then appeal that, and it wouldn't surprise
Legal Proceedings and Consequences
00:38:48
Speaker
me that when all is said and done, Juventus don't get anything at the end of that appeal. And if they do appeal,
00:38:54
Speaker
then that could be pushed into next season anyway, right? Do they get the points back before the appeal or does it stay? Well that remains to be seen because it depends on the process. If it's going to take such a long time then the FIGC will have to just confirm and say this season is finished and then we'll push it to next season. Again, all those options are on the table.
00:39:17
Speaker
Okay, right. Yeah. Total mess to shambles. That's going to be my final point. So the third question is, the other more serious case, in my opinion, it's my opinion, on Juventus. Everyone's opinion. I mean, that's the one. It's just a distraction. Yeah. Juventus paying players under the table. Will that case or judgment happen before the end of the current season? And if there is a judgment against Juventus with a points penalty in
00:39:47
Speaker
in the wages case, and there is an appeal, would the punishment still affect the table this season? That has to happen before next season, because of the fact that it goes to the previous seasons in such a serious way that it might even affect the license that Juventus, because they used
00:40:09
Speaker
allegedly falsified financial statements to having cleared the license to play in the Serie A that every club has to do. That is far more serious. That has to be decided before we reach that breaking point. That depends on what the deadline is. I think we're one and a half weeks. I expect Juventus to send their reply in by the end of this week or mid next week.
00:40:39
Speaker
because the FIGC's investigation was concluded about two weeks ago, and then Juventus had two weeks to send in their reply to everything. And once that's done, it's going to be litigated and then ruled on. I think there is a serious risk here. This is where I think there is a serious risk that Juventus could be relegated.
00:41:01
Speaker
This is the one that I think people... And this will be sporting punishments, not just... This is the FIGC. Not just criminal. No, no, no. They're not connected. This is the Italian efface investigation. The criminal case, that's separate. That'll take years, I think.
00:41:17
Speaker
that's going to drag on for years, because that's such a serious issue. And also, it's a criminal case, and criminal cases have, because of the fact that the penalty in criminal cases have prison, meaning prison time, you take away another human being's liberty and movement in society, ergo, those things will take longer.
00:41:41
Speaker
and there's a higher evidence threshold that has to be met. It's beyond reasonable doubt, usually, as opposed to balance of probabilities and stuff like that. We don't even go into that. That's for them. And also, the people charged, they're not even at Juventus anymore.
00:41:59
Speaker
So it doesn't really concern us. This is about the FIGC ruling. This is about the Italian FA and what they intend to do. And this is the one that I think is the one to watch out for. And this is the one that could potentially see U.A. in their own investigation suspend Juventus from European competitions and give them a transfer ban.
00:42:23
Speaker
Right, and if Juventus appeal to this one, then what happens? Well, they can appeal it as much as they want, but then there is always a final appeal in this, and I think we will reach that point pretty quickly. It could be a situation where they, like in 2006, send Juventus to Serie A, and then they appeal it and get to Serie B.
00:42:45
Speaker
That is a real possibility. And I'm not saying it's going to happen. I'm just saying that that is a real possibility. Okay, right. Final point that I'm going to make a point here. This is just my own personal point. This isn't to do with who's guilty or who's not guilty. This is just to do with the whole process and everything. The whole Italian legal system and everything. And I'm going to say what drives me mad about this and then you can tell me
00:43:11
Speaker
tell me what you think of this in terms of from a legal point of view. So yeah, again, just to underline without going to who is guilty on any either of these cases, and who is not what the punishment should be for every case. One thing that is insane to me is how everything here seems so arbitrary with these cases in terms of the actual process, you know, it's almost like they're making things up as they go along this, there's no actual system to follow, you know, for example,
00:43:37
Speaker
when the trials will be, where they will be, when there will be appeals. Will it be this season? Will it be next season? We need to do it by this deadline. How much the penalties will be? Will it be for this season or will it be for next season? It all seems like they're not basing on anything. They're not basing on any precedents. It just seems all so arbitrary to me. For me, this is what generates so much mistrust from all sides, for and against, in this case, Juventus. Is that a fair answer?
00:44:05
Speaker
No, I think the issue is this. The issue is that Italy, just like all countries that are, I don't want to use Banana Republic, but that have that kind of ludicrousness around their organization and state, are incredibly bureaucratic. Italy is incredibly bureaucratic.
00:44:28
Speaker
And that's what takes time. Whether it's new stadiums to be built, or whatever it is, the bureaucracy kills. It clogs everything up. That's the issue here.
00:44:42
Speaker
That is why, no, they're not making it up as they go along. They actually have a protocol to follow. The problem is that it's incredibly bureaucratic. It's incredibly old-fashioned and it's incredibly, it takes forever for everything to get rolling. And we live in an age where time is of the essence and everything is instantaneous. So that's the issue. It's the administrative process that takes forever because it's not been modernized.
00:45:11
Speaker
And this is a problem all legal systems really have to some extent. Well, I would say I hear what you're saying, but I actually think it's the opposite here in terms of the bureaucracy, because, you know, if you're telling me something as serious as the wages case and is incredibly serious and the punishment, the punishment, if it is going to be potentially very serious like you say it is, you can't possibly expect an appeals process to be done in a couple of weeks or a few weeks.
00:45:38
Speaker
The thing is, the right to a fair trial also involves that it's quick, that it doesn't take too long. So there's two ways of arguing that. I understand what the issue is. The issue is that you've got a season to finish and you've got to be ready for the next season. I understand that completely. But I mean, if you're talking about really serious punishments, you cannot have an appeal.
00:46:02
Speaker
The appeal is not the main trial. The main trial is the main trial and they're going to have that main trial. The main trial is where all of the time takes place. That's fine. But if you have an appeal, you need to give it the proper time. And it will be given a proper trial. But again, the process of appeal is, is there a question of law or question of procedure where the defendant, if it's a matter of question of law, what was the mistake or what was the wrong interpretation?
00:46:30
Speaker
And if it's not, if it's a question of procedure was the rights of the defendant infringed upon, those things are minor compared to the actual main trial, which is did Juventus and their directors illegally and deliberately pay players off the books to make their finances look better? That's the main question. That's the main trial. And that's what's taking time. The appeal will be whether or not in that main trial
00:46:59
Speaker
administratively, the rights of the defendants was respected and followed, or if it's a question of law, what is the question of law that they're appealing it on? Is there anything in that trial that legally speaking was not followed or if there's something that's unclear? That's what you appeal on. An appeal court can never take as long as the main court.
00:47:24
Speaker
It doesn't do that in Italy, it doesn't do it in Sweden, it doesn't do it in the UK. It's just not possible. That's just not how it works. The main trial is when the main issues are litigated for and against and then a verdict is produced.
00:47:37
Speaker
Yeah, no, I hear you. I just think for something that potentially as serious as this, you can't rush them. You can't say. Well, you can't say that they've rushed. I mean, I wonder if if the criminal trial happens before they might not rush it. The point is the season ends in a month. So they obviously want to get it done by the end of the season.
00:47:57
Speaker
too, because it's been going on for nine months, seven, six, seven months. Look, and it's been, you know, and you have to understand the process has been going on, Juventus lawyers have not stopped working, you know, you know, everyone is working. It's just that we don't hear about it. I just find even like if you've got four, because there's four cases and they're going on, I mean, who decides whether one of them is done this season and one is done next season, or they're all done at the same time? Because if you do two at the same time. No, no, no, no. Hang on, hang on, hang on.
00:48:24
Speaker
If you do two of them this season, then obviously you add the two points together. That is more significant. Whereas if there's some of the points where this season and some of the points for next season, then that changes the dynamic in one way or another. So who decides that? Do you know what? This is what I mean by it being the timeline, being arbitrary. That's what I mean.
00:48:40
Speaker
No, but that's the thing though. I mean, if you decide to separate the two, the capital gains case, capital gains case, and the wages thing, that to me is a weird thing. I would have combined and had both trials at once, but the fact that they separated them. That's enough. That's enough point. That to me is strange. That's kind of my overall point. I'm not arguing to separate. No, no, no. Who makes the decision? I can't answer who did what, but I
00:49:10
Speaker
It seems to me that Juventus had no problem with separating these two cases, which I think is crazy. I think they should have been together because they're all within the same legal framework, meaning it's the FIGC, which goes under the Italian Olympic Committee. So it's a sporting issue, right? I think they should have concurrently had one trial because it's all the police, my investigation.
00:49:31
Speaker
But they decided to break it up, one on capital gains and one on the so-called salary maneuver. They decided to do that. And that is what I think is bizarre. And I read a really good article by this from Il Solvente Quatro journalist Marco Bellinazzo, who exactly was arguing this point.
00:49:50
Speaker
The sporting system needs, the judicial system of sports in Italy needs a reform because breaking this up like this is absurd. There was no need to do that. You could have saved, it would have probably, you could have saved a lot of hassle and drama back and forth by having one trial because they're all relating to the same investigation, the priest my investigation. Now the counter argument to that is, is that
00:50:16
Speaker
Actually, the Plusvalenza case was already an open case, meaning Juventus had been cleared of wrongdoing, that ruling was then appealed, then the priest of my investigation broke and new evidence surfaced, and that was on basis on that that they were convicted with the 15 points which was then appealed. Do you see what I'm saying?
00:50:39
Speaker
You do understand their point because the priest my investigation was completely
Milan and Inter's Aspirations
00:50:44
Speaker
unknown to the Italian FA when they were prosecuting the capital gains case, which Juventus won in the first instance. But then the priest my investigation broke, new evidence came to light, that was then used in the court of appeals and Juventus were given a 15 points back. Do you see what I'm saying?
00:51:01
Speaker
So there was a process ongoing before that, but yes, I do believe it is my firm belief that they should have somehow tried to put them both together because this is ridiculous.
00:51:13
Speaker
Yes, it is ridiculous. Anyway, we must move on. We're on the 15-minute mark, so the rest of the show. Apologies if you don't care at all about Juventus. Do you know what? We could have just done this first and not debated about Juventus getting in the Champions League, because it's probably going to be irrelevant. It's going to be irrelevant anyway, because the Laker is not going to get the points with the Champions League. I honestly don't know what's going to happen. I've never been... Honestly, everyone I speak to in Italy,
00:51:42
Speaker
regardless of who they support and where they are. They don't want to go on the record, but they all say they're expecting CEDI-B for the salary manoeuvre. I don't know. I think it's a real risk. I wouldn't be so sure. I think the salary manoeuvre is incredibly serious. I think that is a real risk, yes, but I wouldn't be so sure to say that, yes, they're definitely getting relegated.
00:52:05
Speaker
But that is incredibly serious. I don't want to lie to people. I think people should expect
00:52:13
Speaker
They should be be prepared that we could have an absolute. It is serious. It is serious. I don't know what the punishments would be for that. I just know it's very, very serious. That's all. If you and I did that, if you and I did that, we'd spend the rest of our natural lives, even if we were Hindus who were reborn three times over in prison. Like it's it's incredibly serious, if convicted. Yeah, yeah.
00:52:38
Speaker
Well, yeah, well, I'm sure they'll be trying to discuss that anyway. Milan Lecce, Rafael Liao's show, a great week for Rafael Liao. He scored both goals to win 2-0 against Lecce. It was Lecce, wasn't it? I'm going mad now, too much discussion. Rafael Liao, two goals. He scored a header, which was only a second header that he's ever scored for Milan.
00:53:03
Speaker
But that was straight off the training ground, that move that they did, Milan, that corner. You could tell because the idea was play a short pass in, then play it out.
00:53:19
Speaker
and then overload the far post, because there were three Milan players on the far post. That was straight off the training ground. So it was a lovely work move by Milan. Lecce were good. They created chances. They should have scored if, what's his name? I think Bandar hit the post.
00:53:39
Speaker
But Lao is just, he is a star. He is a superstar. Big players win new games and he is a big player. He was a difference between a draw and a win in this game. Maybe even a loss, we don't know.
00:53:54
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, I would say one thing I would say, though, it's good to see for a header. He needs to score more headers because somebody that's one meter 90, he's not good enough in the air. If you remember, Ibrahimovic was not very good until the latter stages of his career in the air as well.
00:54:10
Speaker
And this has been part of my issue with Raphael playing as a striker, is that I don't think he's good enough for his back to goal. He's not good at protecting the ball and he's not good enough aerially, which is part of that game as well. And he's certainly not good enough when the ball's coming to the air, attacking the ball with headers, which you need to do as a central striker as well. So, you know, he said after the game, this is something that he's been working at out for hours after training on his headers. And I think
00:54:37
Speaker
Peoli spoke about that as well. So that's something definitely for him to improve in his game. Second goal, we know it's a trademark goal, you know, running with the ball and then from the left and scoring. And yeah, it's been a great recovery for Liao this month. Since the international break, he's got four goals to assist in four starts this month. And if he carries that on,
00:55:02
Speaker
then Milan have every chance of rescuing the top four. This is the business end of the season. This is the business end of the season. This is when you need to be good. This is when you need to deliver. And this is when Rafael Liao turns up. It's the second season in a row when he turns up from March-April onwards into May.
00:55:23
Speaker
That's when it matters. This is when it matters. And he's turning up. But yeah, no, we'll see. I mean, the thing is a lot of what people aren't talking about is that Milan reaching the semifinal of the Champions League could actually could actually lead them to affording to pay
00:55:39
Speaker
his liao in the contract talks to, you know, because it's extra money they didn't budget for. They could use that extra money to sign a contract extension with him, pay off that fee to sporting that he owes and even pay taxes on it as of as a wage. They can afford that now in the semifinal. So it's it's so that's a very good thing for for Milan. But on the negative side, they don't know if they're in the Champions League next season.
00:56:09
Speaker
So they can't do that until they know their destiny there. Because if they don't go to the Champions League next season, they absolutely can't afford to extend his contract and they will probably have to sell him this summer. Not because they can't afford his wages, but they can't afford to pay that 16 million. Because that's a wage expense. That means that'll cost me about 32 million just that alone.
00:56:29
Speaker
Yeah, nice spot on. Talking of attackers rediscovering themselves, Romelu Lukaku in this emply nil into three game. Now, I know he's had a lot of foul starts, but this was the old Lukaku. If I was in one game, yeah. The second goal for sure. That was vintage Lukaku. The first half was vintage Lakaka. He was unwatchable. All of into, they were just, they barely, they didn't create anything.
00:56:59
Speaker
They were just walking around on the pitch like it was a training game. There was no intensity, there was nothing, just sideways passing of the ball. Roberto Galliardini got the most chances, and obviously, naturally, he squandered them, but he was all right, you know? So, no, it was in the second half, this was for once, Inter behaved like a big team. Calm, composed, cool, didn't rush things, didn't create one million chances.
00:57:27
Speaker
They realized that the game was 90 minutes. They didn't push too much in the beginning. They kind of played off the first half. And then in the second half, that's when they decided that they were going to turn up the heat and work their way into the game. It was brilliant game game management. The rotations were all spot on.
00:57:49
Speaker
I think this is how Inzaghi should have approached this season. Inter would not have 11 losses if he had approached it like this. And I think this completely lands on his doorstep. That how you manage games, you don't need to bum rush into games. The game is 90 minutes long. You don't need to pedal to the metal for a minute, one create a hundred million chances, then have missed them and then it becomes a mental thing. No, this was more of the kind of mature coaching
00:58:19
Speaker
big club coaching that I want to see from inside. I'm glad he did at this moment. But again, Lukaku, the first goal, good goal, but the second goal, vintage Lukaku. That was fantastic from him.
00:58:39
Speaker
Yeah, it definitely was. It definitely was. And the question is, you know, is it a one-off or can we expect this of Lukaku for the rest of the season? I mean, he's he has improved recently, six goal contributions in the last six games. I mean, numerically, he is improving. Look, my position is the same as it was a few months ago when we spoke about this. I don't think he will ever become as good as he was under control of those two seasons. I just think that's impossible.
00:59:05
Speaker
physically, technically, in terms of killer instinct in the box. I don't think he'll ever be that player. And by that, I mean, I don't think he'll ever become world-class because he was world-class those two seasons. He was mentioned, but he was one of the best number nines in the world.
00:59:20
Speaker
I don't think he will ever become that again, but I think he does have a level or a role to play, scoring his 15-20 goals, something like that overall in the course of a season. Yes, I think he will. But the 30 that he was on two, three years ago, I just don't see that.
00:59:38
Speaker
You want to hear something funny, though? And this says more about Chelsea than it does about Lukaku. I think everybody will agree, anybody that's watched Serie A this season will tell you that Lukaku has had a largely disastrous season, both in terms of form and in terms of fitness, right? That's correct. I'm correct, right? Oh, yes. Fair enough. Just wanted to clear that up. Well, Lukaku has 12 goal contributions
01:00:06
Speaker
this season. So that's goals and assists, right? Now that is more goal contributions than any player at Chelsea Football Club this season.
01:00:19
Speaker
I love how you say Chelsea Football Club. Chelsea Football Club, yeah. Well, I don't know if it's a football club, actually, to be honest with you. You're specifying what you're talking about. I think it's brilliant. Not Chelsea the circus, but Chelsea the football club. Yeah, the players at Chelsea with the most goal contributions this season. I did an article on it yesterday. I was doing a bit of research and I just found it just hilarious. I thought there must be somebody that has more goal contributions than Lukaku's 12. And 12 is not a good number for an attacker.
01:00:45
Speaker
Kai Havertz has 10 and Raheem Sterling has 10. Havertz has nine goals and one assists and Sterling has seven goals and three assists. I'll just read out some of the other numbers just because it's funny and I just want to laugh at Chelsea. Noni Madewerke, who joined in January 00, zero goal, zero assists. Jael Felix, who joined in January 20,
01:01:07
Speaker
Pierre-Emerick Aubouilland, 3-1. Amanda Broha, 1-0. Dachau Fofana, 0-0. Mason Mount, 3-4. Mount has the most assists in the Chelsea squad with four assists. Two in the Premier League is the most, by the way. Poulasic, 1-2. Ukrainian Dan James, 0-2. Hakim Ziek, 0-1.
01:01:32
Speaker
Well, soccer's LeBron James Christian Pulisic won too. Yeah, do you remember that? That makes me these comparisons. I find that quite amusing that as bad as Lukaku has been this season that he still has more cold contributions than anyone at his parent club, which is pretty hilarious.
01:01:52
Speaker
But I mean, if we're overall of this game, for me, the most positive thing from an intro aspect was, aside from, as I said, how they approached the game, controlled, it was Lula. Lautaro and Lukaku together. That was Lula. That was the old Lula. The way that they moved together, the way that they understood each other, the way that they linked up, not just for the assist to Lautaro, but just generally the vibe around them was Lula.
01:02:20
Speaker
And here's a golden chance for both of them. From now on until the end of the season, if they were to bring Inter to a Copa Italia title, to a Champions League final, regardless of what happens in the league, look, remember Fernando Torres at Chelsea? That goal against Barcelona deleted everything else. He will go down as the guy who took Chelsea to the Champions League final, which they eventually won.
01:02:47
Speaker
This is where Lukaku is now. If he were to lead Inter and become the focal point of an Inter that wins the Copa Italia, that brings to the Champions League final, if he were to play it by some miracle of God, Inter were to win that, everything the last two years would have been erased, completely forgiven and forgotten, because he would have won the Champions League and he would have been the reason to win it.
01:03:15
Speaker
So, this is an opportunity now. Yeah. No, it is. It sure is. It's become legends for both all the interplays and the Milan players. Lazio, surprise loss for Lazio. And they struggled badly against Torino. Lost 1-0. I watched this game and I thought Torino was a better team, created the better chances. They were well-organized. They were physical, very physical. They bullied Lazio.
01:03:39
Speaker
and they cause all problems into the latitude of defense, which we know that they have the best defense in Serie A this season. Sanabria caused all kinds of problems and I thought they were very good at the back. Von Jono, Schurz and Gigi were comfortable. Milinkovic Savage, I think quite underrated goalkeeper actually, he's grown on me. I wasn't a big fan of him.
01:03:59
Speaker
until recently, but he's grown on me. And Illich, obviously, he scored the winner. It was a big mistake from Probodale, but I like him. I like Illich as well. I thought Torino absolutely deserved their win, and Lazio should be fine. I mean, they've got such a big gap there, but they just left the top four door open slightly because
01:04:22
Speaker
They're now four points above Milan, and they're seven points above Inter, but they play Inter this weekend. If they lose to Inter, that's four points.
01:04:34
Speaker
Yeah, and Milan, they then play Milan not next week, the week after, or in two matchdays time, they play Milan away. That defeat against Torino is not good. I mean, I think they will still be fine because I just don't see the other teams putting together consistent enough for us to catch them up. But they've left the door slightly open, that's the point.
01:04:56
Speaker
I don't know, man. I don't know. I think we'll know by the end of this weekend, like the next weekend, because if they were to lose to Inter and be four points ahead of Inter, and they have to play Milan, who will play Roma on this weekend as well, if I'm not mistaken. Don't Milan and Roma play this weekend? And Roma, I think, are going to lose that because of the injury situation with Smalling. If that were to happen, if Milan and Inter both win,
01:05:25
Speaker
Lazio are in a dogfight now, and then they have to play Milan, who, I mean, this is... I'm nervous here for Lazio. Yeah, yeah. Just a word of criticism, more than criticism. Another racism incident with Lazio fans, Singo, and was it Radonnic as well? Did Radonnic suffer a racism, or why am I making that up? I think I saw something about that. Yeah, but Singo, definitely, anyway.
01:05:52
Speaker
Yeah, but I mean, what do you expect? I mean, the way that Italian football handles these issues, I mean, the whole, the entire theatrics surrounding this weekend where Romelu Lukaku's suspension was the second yellow car was pardoned by the FA, president of the Italian FA. I mean, he was given a pardon.
01:06:16
Speaker
And I have people telling me, there you go. It's like, what would you want me to do? Would you want me to do cartwheels? You think this is good? The fact that they couldn't make the right decision at the third attempt, and the president of the Italian FA had to come in and pardon Lukaku, it just tells you everything you need to know. It's like, the bar is so, it's not even on the floor. It's under Satan's balls in hell. That's how low it is.
01:06:44
Speaker
It's embarrassing, this entire thing. And of course it's going to keep on happening. How are we surprised at this? It's going to keep on happening because they don't know how to handle it properly. And the new president of the Italian referees association coming out saying, well, it's
Lazio's Setback and Coppa Italia Preview
01:07:01
Speaker
right to give Lukaku the yellow card because when you celebrate in a provocative manner, it's like this is not going to go away. This is going to happen again and again and again.
01:07:13
Speaker
So, and it doesn't matter. And again, it's not Lazio's fans. It's not Inter's fans. This is an Italian football problem. And Italian football does not handle it. It's as simple as that.
01:07:23
Speaker
Yeah, fine. Okay, we've gone way over today. We were going to do a segment on Italian football with the five teams, five of the 12 semi-finals from Serie A in the semi-finals of Europe to get it out. We'll save that for Thursday and I want to do a real deep segment on that and discuss whether Italian football is back.
01:07:45
Speaker
And yeah, it deserves more time than we can give it. Now, the rest of the Serie A weekend match calendar, I'm just going to read out the results. We haven't got time to talk about it. Verona two, Bologna one, Selenetana three, Sasualo and Niels, Sampdoria one, Spezia one, Udeneze three, Criminazi and Niels, Monza three, Fiorencina two, and then as we said, Atalanta play Roma. Tonight we're recording this on Monday.
01:08:09
Speaker
Afternoon just before we finish off a bad jumper and face of the week. So we've got the Coppa Italia semi final second legs on Wednesday we've got Inter at home to Juventus one all from the first leg in Turin and then Fiorentina at home to Cremenza. They need 2-0 from the first leg away. So they're out in Florence in the second leg. So everything to play for. We were going to go into a little bit more detail on this on these games, but we've run out of time.
01:08:38
Speaker
But obviously, we'll do a full review of the Interuve game on Thursday's show. So we'll go into a lot of detail. I'm sure that's going to be an eventful game probably with more controversy. Without a doubt. I mean, the Interuve thing is like it's heated up so much because this is really the Serie A we grew up with, isn't it?
01:09:02
Speaker
this Serie A with so many teams in the top of Europe, so many competitive teams and controversy and every single game ends in a brawl. This is the Serie A I grew up with and it's a bit nostalgic to be honest. Yeah, it certainly is. Right, let's finish off with Bad Joe and Prem Face of the Week. Right, Bad Joe.
01:09:27
Speaker
I've got, I think we've got two, don't we? It's Serie A teams in Europe for the first time ever. Five teams at the semi-final stage in the three competitions. That is unbelievable. But I want to give a little shout out to, but for me, the badger of the week is someone who's been on the show. We interviewed him. We were very grateful and happy that we were able to interview him. Alessandro Diamante, who has today, when we're recording this, announced that he's hanging up his boots.
01:09:57
Speaker
He's going to end his career. He really had a magical left foot and he's such a cool character and guy. Hilarious guy. Yes. He's got this surfer vibe, chilled out, relaxed, funny guy vibe. We interviewed him about a year ago. Well, pretty exactly. I think it was March 2020. No, two years ago, it's 2023 now, Jesus.
01:10:25
Speaker
Two years ago, in March 2021, we interviewed him. So go and check that out. I remember from that interview, as I asked him a question, I said, who's the craziest footballer that you ever played with? Is it either, is it Cassano or is it Balotelli? And he got a coin out.
01:10:43
Speaker
He got a coin out during that, because we did it on video, and he tossed the coin to see who it was. It was just brilliant. I love it. He's so funny, he's so funny. Amazing left, amazing free kick, one of the best free kick takers of his generation. I don't know how many goals he scored from the corner, directly from a corner, as well. He's truly, truly, truly a wonderful player and happy retirement, Alino.
01:11:11
Speaker
Yeah, yeah seconded right prim face of the week. I've got two. Do you have any? No, I think yours I think yours are are so good. Okay, right James Madison Leicester City play an England player. I'll read out his tweet. He said
01:11:29
Speaker
Aaron Wan-Bissaka is ridiculously good at 1v1 defender. Probably the best in the world, Bar none. Bar none! So many wingers run out of ideas when playing directly against him. So, Van Bissaka, the best in the world at 1v1 defender. Thank you.
01:11:44
Speaker
I was, I was, I was, he must be joking, right? Like, come on. Like, come on. I mean, listen, to give Van Bessaka credit, he is really, really good at one-on-one defending. Like, when you, when you have wingers that go at him, he is really, really good at one-on-one defending. He's dreadful at everything else he does on the football pitch. Like, horrendous at everything else. But a one-on-one, he is ungenerally, he is outstanding, one-on-one defender, and he's outstanding tackler.
01:12:11
Speaker
But yeah, to say he's the best player in the world, a one-on-one defending. I mean, that is something. And the second one I've got is our friend... Tim Sherwood. I should say that that was sent in from Samuel Ventress, the van Bissackelman, just to give him his credit. Our in-house prim face hunter. Yeah, our prim face hunter, yeah.
01:12:35
Speaker
We should get him to deliver these actually. No, he might as well. He does a lot of work for us. But this is Tim Sherwood when I found myself. So this is Tim Sherwood on Anthony Martial and I read out his quote and he says, Martial drives me mad. If I was a manager, he just annoys me looking at him, his miserable face. If you look at the video of that, it's just so unhinged.
01:13:03
Speaker
It's like what, like, cause some mate, you know, did you forget to eat your Flintstone vitamins that morning, Tim? Like, what's wrong? Like, did you, like, what's happening? You all right, mate? It's just, it's just random. He just loses it from- What a way to, what a way to analyze a player, right? It drives me mad. His face annoys me. It's like, well, well, Tim, I don't, you know, if we're talking about people- That is, but that is a hallmark of the premise that you rate a player based on their emotional, emotional,
01:13:31
Speaker
qualities, you know, if a player, you know, if a player shows loads of effort, runs around the pitch and charges around like a headless chicken, well, that makes him a good player because he's showing loads of emotion. But if you show the wrong type of emotion, you know, like your head's down or, you know, you're miserable, you know, that makes you a bad player. Fantastic. The hallmark of the prem face. Yeah.
01:13:53
Speaker
Right. Okay. Right. Let's leave it at that. Thanks, Tim Sherwood. I'm sure we'll be back next week. He's really like, it's like he just came from nowhere and turned into like, he's having the prim face version of Snyder in 2010, where he was like the best player in the world, won five titles, won the treble with Inter and almost a World Cup with Holland and became top goal score of the World Cup. And it should have been the back. That's the kind of season, that's the
01:14:19
Speaker
weeks of Tim Sherwood, he's having a... Sherwood, Sherwood will be consistently, we'll show consistency there. I'm certain of that. Well, maybe. I mean, yeah, we'll see. I'm certain. If they don't kick, if he doesn't say something really stupid and gets kicked off. Get cancelled, yeah. That would probably happen. That wouldn't surprise me because he's really been working up for it. He's like, he's having a Snyder 2010-esque in terms of prem faceries. The blood is starting to boil now, isn't it? Yeah, it really is. He's going to boil over soon. I think Tim is about to have one. He's about to lose it soon.
01:14:47
Speaker
Yeah, the prim-faced thermometer. It's Snyder 2010. That's where we're at now, with Tim Sherwood.
01:15:17
Speaker
a lot of preparation for that. And that's Patreon only, so make sure to go to patreon.com slash TIFB, $2.99 a month, excluding VAT to get all of that. Yeah, please do. Okay, we'll see you on Tuesday, guys. Until then, ciao ciao.