Transcript
Speaker: G'day there and welcome back to the Her Game, our tech podcast and welcome to a special episode dedicated to the Women's Champions League final. I'm Charlene, your host. And I'm your co-host, Romiana.
Speaker: So by starting our podcast, we wanted to give women's football the spotlight it deserves. And honestly, it feels very fitting that we've made it all the way to the biggest game in club football.
Speaker: What a final we've had. Barcelona against Lyon. Those are the arguably the two biggest powerhouses in women's football right now. So Lyon is the most successful club in the competition's history, as we know.
Speaker: And Barcelona, this team, it has become a benchmark of the modern era in women's football. In today's episode, we'll be breaking down the game, the big moments, the final players, and of course, the nerdy part, the tactics.
Speaker: So yeah, let's get into it. Rumi, what did you think about the game? So I was excited because I didn't really know what to expect. And I think last time I actually said that Barcelona has this in the bag or something like this. And I was right. But it didn't start that way, in my opinion. Like it started with a cancelled goal for Lyon. And i feel oh I feel like none of us, or at least me personally, i can speak for myself, um expected, that first of all, the final result of this game or like where the game would go, um like this, the domination of Barcelona throughout.
Speaker: Especially the half and like after halftime, like the second half. Yeah. ah Though, of course, Lyon had their chances. Like, they even had, like, this one chance where it was one versus one. So, like, the Cata call the Barca goalkeeper saved pretty much, like, a...
Speaker: a goal like it was 1v1 so they did have their chances of course uh leon did um but uh yeah once again i'm extremely impressed by barcelona and as me and you charlie talked about earlier barcelona have absolutely dominated their domestic championship as well they have only one loss uh out of 28 like 27 out of 28 wins. Exactly. out of 28 matches. Yeah, which is absolutely insane. i mean, we we can talk a lot about the reasons why this is so and that they...
Speaker: They are one of the like richest clubs. they Of course, they have the infrastructure as well and and all these things. But i'm I'm curious. I'm wondering domestically for them because the Real Madrid are not... not poor as well, so to speak. And they also have infrastructure and all these things, but just there's something about Barcelona.
Speaker: I feel like they, like this season in particular, and now this is like the pinnacle of of their season, winning the Champions League. They just play, like, I guess the players do it in such like synergy that they've,
Speaker: Honestly, I don't know. For me, this is like part of the the magic of football, of course, like to to witness this and to witness players like doing it so well and like assisting each other. And like we saw, for example, Eva Payor, who is undoubtedly one of the the women of the match. Not only did she score like two goals, but she also got an assist.
Speaker: And same goals for Paraluelio, who I think she is, according to SofaScore, the woman of the match. She also got two of the other goals. She scored them. And she also had an assist, which is, to me, it's impressive.
Speaker: um these they're they've just been the best solidly like through and through so i think they deserved they deserve this triumph uh maybe i can very quickly do a rundown for our listeners uh before i hand over the word to you of who scored so as i already mentioned uh Eva Pajor, the first goal, she scored in the 55th minute, so shortly after the the start of the second half, and then another one in the 69th minute.
Speaker: First goal was assisted by Patri, the second one by Paragluello. And then much later, actually, so in the 19th, in the end of the game, which solidified the the end result, I think, as I was watching the game, the celebrations were the biggest for the third goal. That's what like that's what i I noticed. Third goal by Parolverio in the 19th minute, and then three minutes later the other at that time, again, again, Parolverio. So the end result was 4-0.
Speaker: um And yeah, I think Lyon fought. They did fight. I think they they did try everything they could. As I said, they had a a huge, huge chance, 1v1 for a goal.
Speaker: It just wasn't their day. ah Unfortunately, the just barcelona dominate like the finishing of of the
Speaker: for bos was insane I think that's where they got him. And I've said in previous episodes, I don't want to rely too much on SofaScore and like its ratings, but the ratings for the Lyon central backs are the lowest in in this game in particular, unfortunately.
Speaker: This is not to say, of course, that I would blame the central backs or whatever for for what happened and for the four goals. But still, like you could see and just watching and how the game unfolded and how the goals and assists unfolded, they couldn't keep up. Lyon couldn't. ah Just the Barca players were like,
Speaker: in in my eyes, like much faster, like the they just found the the right moments, so to speak, but yeah, Lyon, I'm Personally, I congratulate them. They, of course, are, as we know, the the team who has the most titles, eight. So reaching another final, I think, was great job from them because, as we spoke in previous episodes, there were other very good teams. For me, Bayern did very good. Arsenal is never to be downplayed. Arsenal also had a chance to reach the final.
Speaker: But Lyon beat them, so Lyon are really, really good. The Eva Payor storyline for me, I think, this player is destined for great things. Again, really, really good performance by her.
Speaker: ah She's been one of the best strikers of her generation without a shadow of a doubt, but now she's in a, like, no offense to Wolfsburg, I know that they've reached the final somewhat recently, but it's a different sort of title challenge when you fight internationally, at least when you fight with Wolfsburg or with Barcelona.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely. So I think that's pretty much shortly. I don't want to um take too much time, but this is how I viewed the game. ah Yeah, Barcelona, maybe not the first half, but the the second half definitely showed why they got this in the back and why they lifted the cup. In the end. so um yeah, over to you, Charlie. Do you think Barcelona is becoming the new Lyon? Are they going to reach them in titles? What do you think?
Speaker: I personally, yeah, I would say yes. Obviously Barcelona don't have the same number of titles yet, but I do believe that Barcelona are the dominant force currently.
Speaker: And I think you raised a very interesting point, which I personally think is the reason for their success, and that's their synergy. So Barcelona have invested in women's football in the mid-2010s before lot others. clubs did and therefore have like a sort ofyiggy of synergy on the pitch because most of the players know each other for a long time most of them are La Masia graduates and have been raised with the same style of play and therefore like it's a well-oiled machine like they know what they are going to do and when they bring in like players from outside they search very specific profiles that fit the bill like for example a finisher which La Masia historically hasn't been
Speaker: like the best ad, like they are better producing passing machines and stuff like that to to assist a player like that. But that's just an outsider's perspective. I would be very, very eager to talk to someone who's followed more domestic football in Spain about that.
Speaker: And I also think it's a tale of two halves, really. So in the in the first half, Lyon actually had 58% of possession and also really limited Barcelona's offensive output.
Speaker: Like I think had that one chance from Pajor after a long ball of Puteas. Other than that, I can't recall Barcelona having too many chances in the first half. I've only um have one more chance of note here. Both of them after very vertical passes, which is not the most characteristic Barcelona ball, so to speak.
Speaker: And they exploited that more in the second half, so definitely they put some emphasis on the halftime talk there. But it must be said, Leon a really good job in the first half. Very, like, player ah marking in defensive play and limiting Barcelona's players in the sense that they've always had like a direct oppositional pad. The midfield of Lyon with heaps Johannes and Domene was very active in terms of following a player and not giving them any space, but therefore giving up some zones.
Speaker: and In contrast to the fullbacks who did an amazing job of limiting Graham Hansen and Pardellio in the first half at least. Yeah, um the fullbacks of Leo did a really good job at limiting the wingers from Barcelona. Like, for example, Graham Hansen was close to invisible in the first half. The first time i really noticed by Leo was like 35 minutes in when she had a dribbling where she where she beat Lawrence.
Speaker: But other than that, they just really received the pass in the first place. Like, Graham Hansen in 60 minutes had seven passes that reached their target. which is an awful lot. She had one complete dribbling and that was after she was completely blank on on her side.
Speaker: So it is to be expected. And that was also the only time where she had a the shot. And in the second half, few things happened and that's that obviously it's a very intense sort of play and you can't really keep it up for over 90 minutes just because, you know, at some point you are exhausted and you are going do mistakes.
Speaker: And you can't change out an entire defense, whereas you can change out like a few parts of the offense as an attacking team and therefore provide like fresh legs. And yeah, then they just overran them basically. Like the goals also were a product mostly of long balls.
Speaker: For example, the 1-0, it's a matter of... Leon not being able to track back the same way they did in the first half and Padre plays her pass without pressure. It's an amazingly timed pass onto the foot of Pajor, don't get me wrong.
Speaker: But it's like not a sort of pass that went through in the and the first half because they would build up more pressure. I mean, that only happened once in the first half. I remember like the one shot in the, I think, 18th minute.
Speaker: And it was a matter of Entler was clearly supposed to track those deep runs and not Renard of the two center backs. And in that case, like Renard tried to delegate it to Entler and due to a miscommunication, Pajor got a shot.
Speaker: And you could see that in the second half, like Pajor made herself available on the right wing. If you are Blue Sky, I've got Yash... ah the The user Audriozolide had like a um a table where you could see where Payeur received the deep passes and it was like mostly in either of the inside right space or in the right flank. So directly in the in the back of Renard. So that was the sort of place where they could feel they could attack the depth and it very clearly worked.
Speaker: Do you have got anything to say about the sort of tale of two halves, so to speak? i I agree completely with you. i think as I think I said in the beginning that or something, or maybe I thought it, but don't didn't say it. I'm not sure. But i I thought exactly this, how the first half did not signify by any means a what will happen in the second, pretty much. For example, I didn't expect this end result, like four goals I didn't expect. Maybe like 2-0, when it got up to too nil let's say I thought, okay, it's gonna like end this way, like this would be the end result.
Speaker: But no, it's actually curious to me and like what you think and why you think it happened. These two very quick final goals, because one of them was in the 90th minute and the other one was... give or take three minutes later, like these two final, like were they like the final nail in the coffin or like why, why do you think they happened? Like exactly in the end and like so quick one after the other. As much as I talked about, Leah not being the same, the same machine in the second half of the ball.
Speaker: I think you can hardly scrutinize the defense too harsh for the third goal. Cause that was just a
Speaker: like Parirea just launched a belt off her foot. Like I couldn't find any reliable data data in terms of how fast that shot was, but holy smokes.
Speaker: Like she just, she just completely um smashed that in the way. And I don't think that's like defendable ever since like sure a player could be a step closer to her. think it's Entler in that moment who should be her opposing center back.
Speaker: But she just from like 17 meters out just smashed it in there perfectly. i wouldn't blame the defense too harsh on that. And with the fourth goal, was a matter of Leon just throwing everything up front.
Speaker: And no one really there to defend. Like Entler wasn't even in the last line to defend. And it was a Pajor just had to square it to Palliweo who then has 3-1v1 and other than Chivinga on the oppositional side ah she was able to score in general like the wingers of Lyon were curious to me in this game like Diani was missing unfortunately but Brandt had, like, what I also said in the last episode, like, a few standout moments where she just creates something out of nothing. Like, that one shot where Hegeberg, unfortunately, doesn't hit the ball properly in the first half, I think, 30-something minutes in.
Speaker: And then her own shot, like, a few seconds later ah were pretty good. But, for example, and then, like, Chivinga, who got subbed in, had pretty much a very similar moment to her Arsenal match, where she also, like,
Speaker: had to run in like a half space in behind the the defense and then unfortunately can't convert the shot.
Speaker: And yeah, what I also find interesting that in the second half, Barcelona were very clearly, um like they saw what Lily Johannes was doing first half earlier because Johannes movement was pretty much that she would drop into the defense area sometimes to as like a third center back in buildup play.
Speaker: And not only through her like progressive pass quality, then once she was on the ball, that was a threat, but also she dragged out, I think it was Diaz quite a bit to create more spaces in the center. When then, like for example, Baccia moved in from left back position.
Speaker: and something something like that, or Dumonay, who also was uncharacteristically a lot on the left half channel, as well as Johannes, which, by the way, in general, how crazy is it that the freaking machine room in the midfield of Leo with Johannes and Dumonay is like 40 together?
Speaker: Like, that's a young freaking midfield for a Champions League final, isn't it? Yeah. I think Dumonet is and Lil' Johannes is 19 or something. I think both of them have like very broad future. So he had like very, very intelligent playmakers and Domonai also with a lot of creative passing, both of them have like, had a lot of intensity. Like when you see how, how Patry on Barca's side was outside of the assist was pretty limited terms of her we're passing. Like she usually has like a high 80 percentage in passing and she had like 60% in this match.
Speaker: So yeah, I think those are definitely a few to look out for in the future. Yeah, I definitely agree with you because, for example, comparing their age to let's say, Eva Pajor, who was, as we said, like, bar so one of Barca's best players. So Eva is, like, almost 30. I think same goes for, let's say, alex Alexia Boteas, Aitana. Aitana is not 30 yet, but definitely the Barcelona players are... Most of them are, like, quite older than
Speaker: um than, as you said, Euganes and Dutourne. Yeah, and they have... much more experience which of course naturally will come will come for the younger players as well as they uh continue to grow and develop but i completely agree with you that lyon if those two stay in lyon of course lyon has they and lyon will have like a bright future so this loss is not something that
Speaker: They should be heartbroke too heartbroken about, let's say, because yeah they've they they are already demonstrating qualities that that are very good. so By the way, about Pajor, I wanted to mention that she equaled actually a club record of Alexia Puteas for the most goals scored by a Barca player in a Women's Champions League campaign. So I think this speaks for itself, because Alexia Puteas, arguably, at least for me, is a legend, pretty almost a legend status at Barcelona.
Speaker: But yeah, I think Eva Pajor, again, if she chooses to stay there like finish her career there and all that, she will also reach this status.
Speaker: for Barcelona and she's mind you she's a foreigner as in like she's not Spanish because Alexia is Spanish and most of them like half of them let's say in Barcelona are Spanish and they are part of that Spanish squad that was really really successful in the past few years but yeah Pajor I'm really impressed by her I would totally agree with you, especially with Putea's argument, like, without a shadow of doubt.
Speaker: In my opinion, she is a Barcelona legend. like what ah Like, she will win the Ballon d'Or this year. I'm convinced by it. Like, just this performance in the final and also the sort of vertical passes she she just wipes out of her out of her foot again in inver um the biggest stage in club women's football. It's just unmatched, really.
Speaker: She is, by the way, the player of the season, of the Champions League. Sorry for interrupting you. I just saw that, yeah, exactly. Alexia is the Champions League player of the season, so you may very well be right about the Ballon d'Or.
Speaker: Yeah, makes sense. um Like I said, I don't watch Barcelona domestically, so it's probably not fair. I've just seen her perform biggest stage this season, but... That, but yeah, what she's doing is unreal, and,
Speaker: um yeah, I believe that women's football needs, like, figureheads to, like, lead the movement, and, like, the famous, I think it was the EU Parliament-like speech, like, included, like, Proteus for a reason with, like, Young, you know, young girls don't have to like grow up thinking they have to be the next, I don't know, Lampert or something like that. But now they have like role models in terms of they can be the next Puteas or Bon Mati or something like that.
Speaker: yeah definitely and yeah they are like all on the the peak of their powers also physically speaking like they are in that edge bracket of a prime of like i would argue women's football is maybe tad earlier than the men so like 25 to 28. but um and leon mostly have like players either 23 or 28 and older twenty eight and older you And, yeah, so it it makes sense for this team two to have the experience down. Like, the basketball players, they've all been there, you know. Like, for example, Johannes and Dumont and have necessarily. Not to say that that was the deciding factor because, like I said, I think they were the two best players on team.
Speaker: on Lyon's side, but still, I think it is important to mention. Also, just the flexibility of Barcelona, like the trust in each other, like they, but both teams have like, well, like noticeably different than they build a play.
Speaker: Like, but like in the first half, I noticed that both teams had they build a play done with four at the back. And both of them had it with three upper back in the other games I've watched since the, like I've watched every game over 90 minutes since the quarterfinals of both teams.
Speaker: And they've always like built up with like three upper back and usually like a three two. But this time around, both of them had four upper back, which is like really uncharacteristic and like like more conservative and more, like both of them like knew what was going on in terms of how much they used to lose.
Speaker: Yeah, i was gonna ask why you think it was You both teams build up very differently. Like, i remember a phase of Bas against Bayern where they build up with one at the back where it was just MAPI-Leon and everyone else was just yeah going ahead already because, like, they had so much trust in the build-up ability of MAPI-Leon and Rylissov, by the way. Hmm.
Speaker: Really amazing. By the way, i what what I found like amazing when I watch Leon, my name is Leon, is how similar I think she's to Lucy Bronze in terms of like her playing style.
Speaker: Interesting.
Speaker: So why do you think so? Can you like expand on that? Because Lucy Bronze is like universally recognizable name and like she's very unique in that sense. Also ex Barcelona.
Speaker: um ah yeahp Yep, also an ex Barcelona player. But yeah, so why what similarities do you see there? like ah In terms of a tactical role, like with Mappé-Léon, I went through like oh my all my notes from the season before this episode and I noticed how I described Mappé-Léon Lucy Bronze in the London derby match matchups and Leon in the Barzak-Inspire matchups similarly in terms of like both like the central player in terms of like build up like they are the ones given given the keys and when push comes to shove like both of them like have a tendency to play hero ball.
Speaker: Like both of them are like also very agile, um agile center backs and both of them like aren't afraid to just take the ball and just dribble it forward on vi on their own, which as center back is quite risky sometimes. And, you know, may um may mainly going in through the half channel and like drifting outside just a bit and like playing risky passes and like taking the game into their own hands.
Speaker: when push comes to shove like that sort of thing and and like neither of them strikes me as like the sort of like really tall centre-backs that's there for the headers but not anything else really which I just realised it's not meant like as an insult to to like Paredes or like you know the other centre-backs that they play next to but when you you know it's like a different profile you know like the Paredes and Renas of this world like I feel like Leon and Brons are lot more technical in terms of how they play and like also more more gifted and both in terms of like how they display the user. Not saying that Paredes is technically bad, but I couldn't see like her pulling out those driblings, for example.
Speaker: No, yeah, I get what you mean. I think what you're saying about like Bronze and Leon is they, like their ability to like read the game. Is is this is this what you're like um saying?
Speaker: a sense that they're smart players. Both of them both of are amazing at that, but it was more like to drive the game. I see. I feel like when Barcelona has the ball at the back, the first impulse is let's just let Marpley-Leon handle it. And when Chelsea has it at the back, it's let Lucy Browns handle it.
Speaker: Basically. Because like both of them have like an amazing feel for like what what you said, like read the game and like see what's required now. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. am I get what you mean. By the way, was Maki Leon injured for this game? Because she... She picked up like a head injury, I think, at some point, because she had like an elbow in her face.
Speaker: I think it was 60 something for a minute. Yeah, because I don't... because At some point, I don't... No, she did play the whole game. I meant not injured, but substituted. Sorry. um But no, she did play the entire game. just She had like a headband for like the last few minutes after she was hit in the head. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I do remember something happening, but but not the end result. But yeah, she didn't end up being substituted, which kudos to her for finishing the game with an injury.
Speaker: Yeah. I also find it like very interesting how this season is like the final like step in terms of bringing player marking back because like a few years ago for me player marking was like ah product like a product of like early for football in like 90s and like maybe 2000s when it was like I would say, like, less complex than Zone Marking, which then came out in the 2010s.
Speaker: But now that, you know, Zone Marking has been played for quite a while, and if they don't play 100% either it. Like, all teams nowadays are playing a hybrid. But in this final in particular, like... the way that both Barcelona and Lyon just defended one-on-one in every moment they were able to, particularly in their own half.
Speaker: Like Barcelona was starting at the like two-thirty, like um just everywhere outside of Lyon's third to play, to basically play woman-on-woman, which makes sense for like teams like Lyon and Barcelona with big play quality when you are basically just committing to the bet that your players will win the one-on-one duels.
Speaker: Hmm, that's so interesting. But I i feel like was it's interesting because a few years back, like you know zonal defending was the ah the shit, particularly with the whole Barcelona style of play.
Speaker: And now like even a team like Barcelona goes back to the player marking approach. Well, back to basics. I think if they made that decision, that's so interesting hearing you talk about it because you're definitely like more knowledgeable in tactics than me. um But yeah, I think maybe at some point this like back to basics, as you said, like because it it used it was used years ago, like back in the 90s or 2000s, maybe they've done it with a reason, you know.
Speaker: Like, yeah what what do you think that the reason is? Like, do you think it was because it's a final and like there's so much to lose or like, why do you think they used it exactly like now in this game?
Speaker: they've They've been using it um like all season, but like in this final in particularly, like um for me marked how bad it is both because of the stage and also with how radical it was. Because I feel like it was more radical than and like, for example, the semis or the quarterfinals.
Speaker: It's just that like, you know, every sport is like tactical trends, like come and go in cycles. Yeah. Yeah. And back in the day you needed something innovative to cure a position and then it was like zonal defending also because you can more or less do that with like less physical players and Barcelona do have like do tend to have less physical players coming out of the the Youth Academy La Masia.
Speaker: And with zonal defending, you, like, more or less have, like, every area of the pitch occupied so that, like, you can intercept passes more easily because you've always got a player who's who's closer to that.
Speaker: And also, you drive the game off ball over, like, collective spirit and less about individual, like, physicality or um brilliance in tackles.
Speaker: And, yeah, then, like, a few years ago, like, smaller teams picked up that you could... throw your position off by using a one-on-one particularly like i know that in germany at least a few years ago it started with teams like bochum and heidenheim in the men's game because in germany it's like a huge problem that germany don't produce an awful lot of one v one players like in terms of dribbling and stuff like julebrand is a complete outlier when you look at You look at like German Youth Academy graduates and so you can limit the opposition because, you know, probably they're not going to be great in one on one situations. And then like the big teams picked up on that. You can use this approach. And like I said, when you've got the better players, it's like a good bet for you to play one on one or the entire pitch and like always have someone.
Speaker: they need to press someone. And the advantage is you always know like who your positional player is. The problem is once you're beaten, you've got a huge problem. And funnily enough, it's like very similar to what happened in the the only men's football game I watched over the weekend, which was unfortunately the final loss Stuttgart, where something similar happened that Stuttgart was good in terms of defending in the first half when they still had the energy to defend Bayern 1v1 against the entire pitch.
Speaker: Because when you look at the highlights, for example, you can see how they, for example, how Jeff Chabot, like a center back, followed Harry Kane up until Bayern's third. And Harry Kane likes to drop it deep. like He's following him across the entire pitch just to limit his like his influence on the game.
Speaker: Yeah, I also watched that game, as you know. So yeah, definitely the first... I don't want to talk about it any more than we have now. No, we won't. But I agree with you that it the looked similar. Actually, it kind of reminded me of of this final because exactly because of that, the first half,
Speaker: was ah So after the first half ended, it could have gone either way. But yeah, afterwards, things escalated, but we won' to we won't get into it now. Yes. Do you have any like final thoughts or remarks on the Champions League final?
Speaker: Me personally, what I can say is that I'm excited to see... where things go next season because there definitely will be transfers, there will be like coming and going players and I'm really, really curious how things will develop in Europe next year and will Barca keep this, you know, like this hegemony and like get a fifth one or maybe someone else, like there'll be a dark horse or something like that. So I'm really excited to see how things, Shuffle and if if there's going to be any shufflings domestically for the teams as well, not only for Barca and Lyon, but of course, other big teams like Bayern in England. I'm really curious what's going to happen because as we know, Man City are champions now.
Speaker: And Arsenal were left quite disappointed. So, yeah, I think I'm really looking forward to next season and how it turns out. But one last time, congratulations to Barcelona, of course, for a great season.
Speaker: What you said, like, I'm also interested in Barcelona, given the financial situation. Like, if they have to sell more plays. And I believe that's the, like, obviously the stepping stepping so stone going forward. Because they had to sell some some depth earlier this year.
Speaker: Like, for example, Rolfo. And I'm interested as in like how they that will shape up like this summer, if they still have to to get some revenue in. Because you would have to do that yeah with player sales. yeah like getting I think they i pay they'll be selling. Also, like they've got some contracts. I don't know who yet. they saw I saw some rumors. Boutellas and Lyon, for example, have but have a contract for next season, I think.
Speaker: Yeah, I saw, I was going to say that I saw rumors even about Boutejas, who, as we established, is a club legend. I also saw rumors about Oma Batye going to England. I mean, she's she's played in England before, so it wouldn't be a surprise, but going to Arsenal, I think, I'm not sure. But so far...
Speaker: It's only rumors, so we'll see where it goes. But yeah, Barcelona's... I'm curious how we didn't mention it earlier, actually, the financial situation at Barcelona.
Speaker: Yeah. So, yeah. What I see, ah yeah, Mapilion doesn't have a contract for next season and now it is Puteas. Welcome in Stuttgart.
Speaker: Well, Barcelona should definitely be... After the all the celebrations ended now, after the final, they should like sit down and figure out some stuff with their players. Because, yeah, losing if they lose Lyon, if they lose Puteas, I think this will be... My personal opinion is this will be a huge hit.
Speaker: And not only... um Not only football-wise, but just mentality-wise. Yes. And like also the the um effect on the image of Barcelona probably also. Because when you lose the biggest star in women's football on a free and the probably but probably upcoming Ballon d'Or winner.
Speaker: Yeah. Whoa. well Yeah, I just... Grateful that I'm not part of Barcelona's administration and bosses right now. Yep. i just I just fear that because of Barcelona's financial woes, I believe that just England will go grow stronger as a whole. They've got like the biggest contracts in terms of TV revenue and stuff like that. And they are like the richest clubs already. Yeah. Outside of like a few other European top clubs like Lyon and
Speaker: maybe buy-in yeah i just believe that england will be the the english clubs will be the one to profit from from the situation and Yeah.
Speaker: Hate that. Let's see. But basically will be like a... Because like we see that in in in football as a whole that like England due to the contracts and ah with TV broadcasts and also given how easy it is to to export in the sense of like due to the lack of a language barrier to for example the United States it's easier to market like the the English league and...
Speaker: I just fear that we've got a basically Super League situation on our hands in the future. And i mean, it's as is, it's a wonder that English teams aren't better than they are.
Speaker: But quote unquote, only one of them reached the semis. but yeah But we had ah we had ah an all English team. game like an all English quarterfinal yeah so if they I'm not sure with the pots and the seeding and whatnot but if they hadn't now I'm thinking if they hadn't been like opposed against each other so early on maybe we would have had two teams in the semis maybe we would have we would have have ah I don't think we would have but like an all English final I don't think so but we
Speaker: could have had two English teams in the semis and from then on perhaps one in the final but what ifs what ifs you one should not dwell on them for too long so I think that's all from us for today Charlie if you don't have any final final remarks I do not okay so Yeah, I think this wraps up our Women's Champions League journey this season. What a journey it has been. um
Speaker: We followed the from the quarterfinals on all the way to the final now. This tournament gave us everything. So much drama, comebacks, huge performances by some players.
Speaker: And most importantly, I think, what we are all here for, some incredible football Yes, and thank you all for tuning into this small show of us. And yeah, we are very excited to talk about women's football and give it some more attention. And yeah, see you next season.
Speaker: Yay.
