The Football Weekend

The Champions League final is upon us, the thrilling crescendo of the club football season. With no major tournament on the horizon this summer — and no, the Club World Cup does not count — this is the last big match for a while. There's an announcement along those lines towards the end of this week's show, but more importantly, we've got Rob Green on.The former England national team goalkeeper will call this game for CBS and Paramount+ at 3pm ET on Saturday alongside Clive Tyldesley, who was kind enough to join us before last year's edition of this marquee fixture. Now Rob stops by to trace how INTER MILAN got here having survived a spectacular FC Barcelona side in the semifinal and major disappointments on multiple fronts as the club chased a treble. Then there's PSG, the club reborn as a young and hungry force of nature. And of course, we get Mr. Green's thoughts on the two unbelievable goalkeepers on show here in what could be a major moment for his tribe.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you watched the Netflix docuseries Sunderland ‘Til I Die, you saw a famous old English club that looked like dying. Two straight relegations for the Black Cats put these giants of the Northeast in a precarious position, and the man often tasked with guiding the viewer through all this tumult and heartbreak was Nick Barnes. As the Sunderland commentator for BBC Newcastle, he calls every game for radio, but he's also covered this club through thick and thin, many managers and even many owners. He's seen it all.And he'll see one more thing this Saturday, when Sunderland travel to Wembley to face Sheffield United in the Championship playoff final — the $200 million game. Whoever wins will play Premier League football next season and travel to Anfield, Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, the Emirates Stadium. Whoever loses will be back in the Championship, going to Swansea.Either way, Barnes will be along for the ride. But first he joins The Football Weekend to trace Sunderland's path to this moment.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The FA Cup final is no longer the capstone to the English football season, the last match on the calendar with a weekend all its own. This one will have to share real estate with the Premier League, the promotion playoffs in the Football League, and of course everything going on beyond the shores of Great Britain.But this remains a showpiece match nonetheless, and this edition has its narratives. There's MANCHESTER CITY in their third-straight final, looking to salvage something from a season that's been almost unbelievably poor by Pep Guardiola's high standards. And then there's CRYSTAL PALACE, a club without a trophy in its history besides the hardly major Full Members' Cup. Twice the South Londoners have appeared in this final, and both times the Eagles took the lead. Both times, they ultimately lost to Manchester United.Now they've got a chance at redemption against the other Manchester side, and here to preview it all ahead of kickoff on Saturday (11:30am ET, 4:30pm UK) is Jon Champion, who will be calling the game for ESPN in the United States.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a game that needs no introduction, but there's plenty of narrative coming into this one. BARCELONA just lost the greatest cup tie of all time to Inter Milan in a Champions League semifinal. REAL MADRID are enduring a horror season by their standards, culminating with a Copa del Rey final defeat to their Catalan enemies that had them going ballistic on the referee. That makes the two contestants in El Clásico a pair of wounded animals, though Barcelona have the consolation of that cup final victory and a very good chance to wrap up La Liga with a win here. Madrid have no such comfort, and all they can do is beat their greatest rivals to keep the title race alive. Which of these two can shake off the emotional baggage in time to win the biggest match in club football?Here to help us answer that question ahead of kickoff on Sunday (10:15am ET, 3:15pm UK) is Dan Hilton of The Barcelona Podcast.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Basque region is in northern Spain — well, a bit of it's French — but most folks there just wish they were their own thing. It's home to a distinct language, culture, and football tradition, the last of those most prominently represented in two teams from two different cities: ATHLETIC CLUB of Bilbao and REAL SOCIEDAD of Donostia-San Sebastián.This rivalry, the Basque derby, has had its nasty periods. The late 1980s and early 1990s in particular were a time of discontent. But for the most part, this is a family feud, a sibling rivalry. They'll fight amongst themselves, but when outsiders knock on the door, they band together against the common enemy. That's true in football, and in heavier things. The Basque region was decimated under the regime of Spain's longtime dictator, Francisco Franco, and in the most difficult times, these folks came together in opposition to the Generalissimo and his thugs.Here to trace all that before the match kicks off on Sunday (3pm ET/8pm UK) is Christopher Evans, author of Los Leones: The Unique Story of Athletic Club Bilbao.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was crushing defeat in the Coppa Italia this week for Internazionale, and to next-door neighbors A.C. Milan no less. With that semifinal exit, the treble that Inter were loudly pursuing this season has evaporated. Now there are merely two competitions they're in a good position to win: the Champions League — if they can get past Barcelona in the semifinal — and Serie A.The latter is where they'll meet Roma this weekend for another highly difficult encounter, even at the San Siro. The visitors have not lost a league match since December, an incredible turnaround from a frankly disastrous opening period of the season, and they've zipped up the table to compete for a Champions League place. At the heart of it all is Claudio Ranieri, the 73-year-old Roman who came out of retirement to manage his hometown club for one final chapter (maybe) of a lifelong football romance.Here to get into all that ahead of kickoff is Alasdair Mackenzie, Rome-based writer for TNT Sports, Destination Calcio, Total Italian Football and more.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the German clásico, Der Klassiker, though BORUSSIA DORTMUND are not having a classic season. After a recent uptick in form, they're still eighth and just trying to get a ticket — any ticket — to Europe next season. Come to think of it, that 4-0 thrashing from Barcelona in the Champions League quarterfinals this week might have put them off the whole business.And then there's BAYERN MUNICH, back to being Bayern domestically. They're six points clear of current adversaries Bayer Leverkusen at the top of the Bundesliga, and they seem to be on pace to secure Harry Kane his first career trophy. But there are still questions swirling around manager Vincent Kompany, and a recent spate of injuries — especially to thrilling young star Jamal Musiala — might have just created an opening for Dortmund here.Joining the show to chat about all that and more is Markus Fjørtoft, a former professional footballer who now hosts The Fussball Podcast with his dad, Jan Åge Fjørtoft, who was himself a pro in the Bundesliga and beyond. Get the lowdown above before it all kicks off at 12:30pm ET/5:30pm UK on Saturday.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the Manchester derby, UNITED against CITY, but it's certainly a strange one. Both of these clubs are in a bad way, though that means something different to each of them. City have fallen from champion grace but are still battling for a Champions League place. United, on the other hand, are 13th in the league with eight matches left to play.It's an incredible state of affairs for one of Europe's true superclubs, and on this week's show, the brilliant Carl Anka of The Athletic suggests that United are becoming something like the Dallas Cowboys: a giant global sporting institution that's lost its magic. We got into how the Red Devils spent their way into this mess, how City have become a team with a soft underbelly, and why this Sunday's encounter may be a meeting of the legless midfields.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The international break is over, and club football returns with the Gran Derbi: REAL BETIS vs SEVILLA.This is one of the most vibrant rivalry matches in world football, Spain's greatest local spat, a true expression of Seville's colorful culture: the freewheeling social scene fueled by ubiquitous outdoor dining and Sevillanos who are impressively direct with one another; the searing heat of Andalusia; the close quarters in which the two sets of fans live, including in split households; and a rich history featuring the Romans, the Moors, Christian kings of all stripes, and the dictatorship of Francisco Franco after the Spanish Civil War.This derby has boiled over at times, but more than anything it's defined by the (mostly) good-natured banter of the street, known as guasa, and a stubborn refusal from both sides to drift towards the corporatism that has come to define the modern game. They're desperate to beat each other and, perhaps as importantly, see each other suffer. In recent years, Sevilla have become the Europa League masters, seven times champions since 2006, in what is a considerable shakeup of the dynamic here. For a while, neither of them won much of anything, and the whole ethos of Real Betis is built around manque pierda — something like, "even when they lose." Betis are the better off this season, though, gunning for European football next season year behind the talismanic talents of Isco, who not so long ago had a short and disastrous spell at Sevilla. He could be the difference-maker this Sunday, though this week's guest predicts Betis could still fall prey to their own inferiority complex in this fixture.That guest is Colin Millar, news writer for The Athletic and author of The Frying Pan of Spain, a book on the history of this rivalry. He lived in Seville himself and has all kinds of insight into what this one means.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's a Super Sunday on the horizon, with tasty matches back-to-back all day long. Arsenal-Chelsea, title clashes in Italy and Spain. As always, you can get the lowdown on all the matches worth your time this coming weekend at TheFootballWeekend.com.But there's one headliner here, because there's a trophy up for grabs: It's LIVERPOOL vs NEWCASTLE at Wembley Stadium, vying for the League Cup.It could be a nice tonic for the Reds after their untimely exit from the Champions League in midweek, while a trophy — any trophy — would be extremely timely for the Magpies. Newcastle United have not won a piece of major silverware since 1969. Their victory in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup came a month before the moon landing.Here to preview this one is Laurence McKenna, Liverpool fan and sharp football observer across all kinds of platforms, not least his channel on YouTube. You can find him on the socials @Lozcast.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

MANCHESTER UNITED vs ARSENAL is the essential Premier League rivalry for fans of a certain age. These two clubs battled for titles season after season in the early 2000s in what some might call the league's greatest era. Then Arsène Wenger lost his magic touch, Sir Alex Ferguson won the war, and Arsenal fans had to listen to Patrice Evra come out after every encounter between the two and declare that it was "men against boys.” From there, it was a steady decline away from championship contention for the club from North London.When Ferguson left, United had their own downfall, and now they've sunk farther than the eighth-place finish Arsenal endured towards the beginning of manager Mikel Arteta's reign. The Red Devils are in terrible shape after a decade of self-sabotage, cycling through managers and executives and even — with the arrival of Sir Jim Ratcliffe — ownership structures. None of it's helped, and now this week's guest — Manchester United fan and host of Touchline Fracas, Morayo Bamidele — fears his team could be embarrassed at Old Trafford.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.For kickoff times and storylines on all the matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a frankly disastrous title defense last term, NAPOLI steamed back into contention over the first half of this season under their brilliant and tempestuous new boss, Antonio Conte. But after a bizarre January transfer window where they sold key attacker Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to PSG and brought in nobody to replace him, they've lost their way and dropped nine of the last 12 points available.Reigning champions INTER, meanwhile, are in unabashed pursuit of a treble, and boss Simone Inzaghi has been rotating his teams like mad to deal with the matchload associated with all of their obligations. Still, they've been grinding out those three points, like the 1-0 over Genoa last time out in the league — and they've zipped into first place just in time for this encounter, one point clear of the Neapolitans.Joining us to preview the match on Saturday (12pm ET, 5pm UK) is Nima Tavallaey (@NimaTavRood) co-host of the Italian Football Podcast (@ItaFootPod). He broke down how Napoli's mismanagement goes farther back than the January transfer window and goes all the way to the top; why it's a three- or even four-horse title race in Serie A; and whether, if this goes the wrong way, Conte might erupt like the nearby Mount Vesuvius.For kickoff times and storylines on all the good matches this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This was once the match in the Premier League, the perennial title bout, but MANCHESTER CITY have veered perilously off-course this season. LIVERPOOL have cruised to the top of the table, but they've started coughing up points in recent weeks and Arsenal have become more than just a speck in the rearview mirror. By kickoff here, it could be a five-point advantage at the top. If City find a way to dash Liverpool's dreams yet again, there could be a title race after all.Joining us to preview the big match on Sunday (11:30am ET, 4:30pm UK) is Andy Jones, a staff writer for The Athletic covering Liverpool.For kickoff times and storylines on all the matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.comIf you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BAYER LEVERKUSEN are no longer invincible. In fact, they're eight points behind perennial powers BAYERN MUNICH in the Bundesliga table.The Werkself need victory when Bayern come to the BayArena on Saturday if they want to keep the title race a race, and there are a few points in their favor: Xabi Alonso has not lost any of his five matches managed against his old employers, and the visitors have not been particularly good away from home in big games recently. Bayern have rattled off seven Bundesliga wins in a row, however, and they bring with them the frankly ridiculous attack of Jamal Musiala, Michael Olisé, Harry Kane and more.Meanwhile, honorary Bayern president Uli Hoeneß is making noises in the buildup about the Bavarians luring away Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz. I asked this week's guest, Nik Wildhagen of Talking Fussball, whether this is a classic pre-match mind game from the Bayern hierarchy. Plus: as a supporter of another Bundesliga club, how does Nik feel about FC Hollywood's dominance of the competition for years on end, and is there any prospect that Germany's (relatively) empowered fans could rally to change the dynamic?If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's first against second in La Liga, as REAL MADRID lead ATLÉTICO MADRID by just a point at the top of the table. Barcelona have fallen away somewhat from their hot start under new boss Hansi Flick, and now Spain's capital quarrel may answer quite a few questions around who will be crowned champions in May.It's all happening just as managers Diego Simeone and Carlo Ancelotti—egged on by the tempestuous football media in Spain—trade barbs over refereeing controversies and Real Madrid's repeated shattering of Atléti hearts in recent times. This one goes way further back, though. It's a dispute with roots in Spanish football's earliest history and then—crucially—the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship of Francisco Franco.For much of the ‘60s and ‘70s, as now, Atléti fought their way into the reckoning at the summit of Spanish football, forcing Real Madrid and Barcelona to take notice. The Colchoneros started out as a satellite of Athletic Club de Bilbao, gained then shedded associations with the Spanish military, and then the Madrid derby took on its modern shape: Real Madrid as the establishment club, the continental giants and serial winners. Atléti as the leftist, working-class outfit that proudly embraced a spirit of rebellion.Here to trace it all and preview this weekend's encounter is Graham Hunter, storied scribe of Spanish football for ESPN.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a title clash—well, it was the last two seasons. ARSENAL and MANCHESTER CITY duked it out for the Premier League crown from 2022 to 2024, but now the Citizens have gone off a cliff and the North Londoners have had their struggles, too. Injuries have played a role for both, while poor refereeing decisions and bad luck have hampered Arsenal just as Liverpool have gone steaming to the top of the league.One of those questionable officiating moments came in the reverse fixture at the Etihad Stadium, when Arsenal's Leandro Trossard was shown a harsh second yellow card for kicking the ball away and City got back into the match thanks to their numerical advantage. A last-minute equalizer—after which Erling Haaland launched the ball at the back of Gabriel's head and told Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta to “stay humble”—made for a very contentious affair.Now they're back in battle, and Tom Canton joins the show to preview the festivities. As the chief Arsenal writer for Football.London, he also offers some insight into the North London club's desperate search for a forward as the January transfer window begins to close.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It may not be the very biggest game across world football this weekend, but consider one important factor: I'll be there.Yes, The Football Weekend will venture to Goodison Park on Sunday as EVERTON host TOTTENHAM in the Premier League. It's been a strange few years for the home side, no doubt about it. Farhad Moshiri's tumultuous ownership of the club has ended, and the Friedkin Group is coming in. The Sean Dyche era is over, too, and former stalwart David Moyes has returned to the manager's chair. Plus, it's Everton's last season at Goodison, their home since 1892.Joining us to trace all this—and tell me what I can expect to see in the Gwladys Street End this weekend—is podcaster and Everton fan Rodger Armstrong of Blue Monday, a production of The Blue Room podcast.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The glamour tie of the FA Cup Third Round is ARSENAL against MANCHESTER UNITED on Sunday, but this stage is all about the clubs who tend to get less ink.The beauty of the world's oldest cup competition is that it offers TAMWORTH FOOTBALL CLUB from the National League, England's fifth tier, the chance to host TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR of the Premier League at their 4,000-capacity stadium, The Lamb Ground. That's the first match we've chosen to highlight from this weekend's fixtures with the help of Jonathan Day, host of The Tamworth F.C. Social.Then we move to MILLWALL, the club from South East London that for all their fame from depictions in film and TV have rarely featured in England's top flight. They don't look like winning promotion from the Championship this year, either—they're 14th—but what would an FA Cup run mean to the Lions? Omer Ronayne of That Millwall Podcast joins to offer a view into second-tier life, and to preview their tie with fellow Londoners DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE on Monday.Soon enough, we'll know who might be this season's Maidstone United, who made it to the Fifth Round in 2024 as a sixth-tier outfit. That's where the Stones were beaten by Coventry City, who came within an inch of defeating Manchester United at Wembley in the semifinal. In fact, I'm still not entirely convinced that Haji Wright was offside…If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is occasionally—OK, almost never—called El Otro Clásico. It's a bit of a nod to the fact that these two clubs, BARCELONA and ATLÉTICO MADRID, have a shared enemy that they each hate more than their opponent here. Barça's beef with Real Madrid is the Clásico, Atléti's feud with their crosstown neighbors is a proper derby.This match is just a meeting of two of Spain's great institutions, a fixture that's spawned wild scorelines and decided league championships. In this case, it's a meeting of first and second in La Liga, and they're tied on 38 points.Joining us to preview the festivities is Ian Darke, the legendary commentator who's called matches across the world in the Premier League, the Champions League, and the World Cup. American fans might know him as the soundtrack to Landon Donovan's famous goal against Algeria in 2010, but he's also called some of the biggest matches in club football—like this one. He'll be behind the mic for ESPN on Saturday at 3pm Eastern Time, but first he's here with us to look ahead to the match—and look back on that time he and Steve McManaman stuck around the Camp Nou until 2 a.m. drinking beers with the locals!If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you seen the news? Manchester City are losing football matches. A lot of them. They lost to Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday, their seventh defeat in 10 matches across all competitions. They lost to Bournemouth, Sporting Lisbon, Brighton, Tottenham (twice), Liverpool. They've won just once since October 27.It's almost unspeakable turmoil for a Pep Guardiola team, unprecedented in his career across the Premier League, the Bundesliga, and La Liga. On the question of how the champions of England can dig themselves out of it, the Catalan does not seem to have the answers. He was clawing at his own nose. Now he's shell-shocked on the sideline.Of course, no City scandal can compare to Manchester United's state of affairs. They've been a disaster for a decade, cycling through players and managers and—just recently—sporting directors without much to show for it. That FA Cup victory over these opponents back in May seems a long ways away now, and the decision to re-hire Erik ten Hag on the back of it has been confirmed as a calamitous one.Now they've got another promising young coach in Ruben Amorim, but he's fast discovered the scale of the task here. The Red Devils have lost two on the bounce and slipped to 13th in the Premier League. Considering the sheer amount of money spent, the players trotting out onto that Old Trafford pitch are simply not good enough. This Sunday, they'll trot out across town at the Etihad, and their best hope is that their opponents are in their own kind of disarray.Joining us to preview this peculiar Manchester derby is Adam Monk, a presenter for FourFourTwo, DAZN, and BBC Manchester who's a devout City fan.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

EVERTON host LIVERPOOL at Goodison Park for one of the great old rivalries of English football.Liverpool are flying coming into this one—or at least they were. Top of the league (and the new Champions League table), they did have a blip in midweek with the draw at Newcastle. Everton are reeling as usual this season, though they did smash Wolves 4-0 on Wednesday. Can they take heart from that, and learn a bit from Newcastle's approach against these opponents just a few days ago, to disrupt Arne Slot's title-chasers and snatch the points for themselves? After all, it was defeat in this fixture seven months ago that derailed Liverpool's last title challenge.Joining us to muse on that question is Stephen Warnock, an analyst and co-commentator for the Premier League on NBC here in the U.S. and for Sky Sports and more over in the U.K. An accomplished left back at the top level in England, he also started his career in the Liverpool academy and broke through into the first team, so he's walked out onto that pitch at Goodison for this very fixture. He shares some derby memories and some insight into how this one might shake out.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word about our little show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A.C. MILAN host JUVENTUS at the San Siro on Saturday for a big-fish encounter in Serie A, though these two are currently sixth and seventh in the league table. Milan in particular need a result to ensure they're not left behind by a Top Six pack that's tightly packed: just two points separate Juve from resurgent leaders Napoli, but the Rossoneri are already eight points back.Alasdair Mackenzie joins the show to preview this one and explain where it fits in a league experiencing remarkable parity from top to bottom. A writer based in Rome for TNT Sports, Eurosport, FourFourTwo and more, he also helps us trace the remarkable American influence on the fixture: Christian Pulisic has become a talismanic force for Milan, where he often shares a team sheet with Yunus Musah. Weston McKennie has played his way back into the Juventus team more regularly under new coach Thiago Motta, and Tim Weah could play up front as the #9 against the team for whom his dad, George, put in a decent shift back in the day. Plus, we kick things off with some chat about the turmoil at Roma in Alasdair's backyard.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word about our little show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

MANCHESTER UNITED host CHELSEA in a vintage Barclays encounter that happens to be the first Premier League match since Erik ten Hag's dismissal as United manager. The Dutchman is the latest casualty of the club's disorder and decline since Sir Alex Ferguson's departure a decade ago, but how much is down to his poor decision-making? How much is down to the players? And will the new ownership and football executive structure be the platform new manager Rúben Amorim needs to change the plot? Of course, Chelsea have been a bit nutty too over the last few years, but they might just be getting it together under their own new boss, Enzo Maresca. Are the Blues from West London a bit of a model for United as they try to get back on track? Joining us to answer that—and try to digest the madness of this week and the last few years—is journalist and United fan Usmaan Akhtar. We also took a minute to reminisce about the glory days of this rivalry, when these two English heavyweights were battling at the top of the European game.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Arsenal-Liverpool, the Derby d'Italia, Le Classique…it's a serious Football Weekend. But all that takes a back seat to the big one: El Clásico, REAL MADRID vs BARCELONA, the premier grudge match in world football. Nobody does technical quality and steaming spite quite like these two, and the storylines abound heading into this 258th meeting of Spain's great powers.One Brazilian from each side—Vinicius Jr. for Madrid, Raphinha for Barça—scored a hat trick in the Champions League in midweek. They're two of the form players in Europe, with Vini a strong bet to take home the Ballon d'Or in a couple months' time, but there's also the 17-year-old sensation Lamine Yamal and some guy named Kylian Mbappé playing his first Clásico. It's an embarrassment of riches in the forward positions for both these sides—and in midfield, too: Barcelona have added EURO 2024 standout Dani Olmo to academy starlets Pedri and Gavi in the engine room, and could we see 39-year-old Luka Modrić in there on the other side next to Fede Valverde and Jude Bellingham?The matchups everywhere are mouthwatering, and joining us to preview the match is Paco Polit of La Liga Lowdown. He explained how Barcelona have changed under new coach Hansi Flick and how the German has got Robert Lewandowski firing again, with 12 of their astonishing 33 goals already this season; how Madrid remain inevitable in the Champions League, if not La Liga, under Don Carlo Ancelotti; and why fans of Los Blancos aren't overly taken with Mbappé's performances after so many years of speculation that he'd join the club. We also spared a minute to discuss the reports this week that La Liga is angling to stage a Barcelona-Atlético Madrid match in Miami, and the unfortunate fate of Paco's Valencia CF.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

LIVERPOOL vs CHELSEA is a modern classic, a rivalry born when Roman Abramovich bought the Blues into prominence and kicked off 20 years of tumultuous encounters: The Slip, the Ghost Goal, the feud between José Mourinho and Rafa Benitez, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, Jamie Carragher and John Terry, Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba. There were transfer sagas, wars of words, Champions League semifinals.But most of all, this one is an argument about what's important in football. For years, Liverpool fans would sing, "You've got no history," at their Chelsea counterparts, an ode to their many decades of trophy-stacking when the West Londoners were irrelevant. But now Chelsea have two Champions Leagues—some history, that—and have won enough to wonder whether it matters how they got there at all.Joining us to preview this one is Beth Lindop, football writer for Reach PLC and a bona fide Merseysider. We got into all of the above and how Liverpool have changed in this young season under a new manager, Arne Slot. Plus: Jürgen Klopp's legacy, the Cole Palmer problem, and did you hear England have a new manager?If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a meeting of two old enemies in Guadalajara, two years before they co-host a World Cup, but this international friendly wouldn't mean much without big news on the American side: the U.S. Men's National Team has a new coach with serious pedigree at the top of the European game. Mauricio Pochettino took Tottenham to a Champions League final, he's coached Chelsea and PSG, and now he'll try to lead this young USMNT squad to the promised land—or at least a World Cup quarterfinal.One man who knows a bit about all that is Kasey Keller, who represented the United States as a goalkeeper at four different World Cups. He was also among the first Americans to forge a serious career in Europe's top leagues, helping to pave the way for Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie today. Now he's an analyst at ESPN, and he took some time to offer his thoughts on Pochettino's appointment and the financial implications, including for women's coach Emma Hayes; the state of this U.S. squad and just how many more breakout players they'll need to compete in two years time; his own time with the national team and how the game has shifted Stateside over the last couple of decades; and how he nearly had his whole kit stripped off him during a pitch invasion at The Den, the cauldron where he kept goal for Millwall when he first arrived in Europe.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one's named for a region named after a road—the Via Aemilia—that the Romans built after they took this chunk of northern Italy off some Celtic tribes back in 189 BC. A bunch of towns grew up along the new thoroughfare, and now there are a number of football clubs scrapping over this turf. The two biggest and most decorated are BOLOGNA, from the medieval masterpiece known for its food, architecture, and the world's oldest university; and PARMA, another ancient town that's…known for its food. This is Italy, after all.These two clubs have enjoyed very different histories: Bologna were a big deal in the early decades of Serie A, at a time when Parma were looking up at them from a league (or multiple) below. Then, in the 1990s, the Crociati (Crusaders) of Parma rose to the lofty heights of the Italian league when it was the greatest in the world, fielding a parade of famous names—Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Lilian Thuram, Hernán Crespo, Gianfranco Zola, Juan Sebastian Verón—thanks in part to some very rich and very volatile ownership. When the multinational dairy and food corporation with a controlling ownership stake, Parmalat, collapsed early on in the new millennium, it decimated the club. Now Bologna are back on top again, playing Champions League football again after a fine season under Thiago Motta, now departed for Juventus. They lost a couple of key players in Joshua Zirkzee and Riccardo Calafiori, but they just played their biggest game in maybe 60 years at Anfield on Wednesday. You can hear all about that in this week's episode with Christine Cupo, reporter and analyst on the CBS Sports Golazo Network and for Attacking Third, the hub for coverage of the women's game on CBS Sports.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're headed over to Germany for an early Bundesliga title clash, and Derek Rae is our guide before he calls the game for ESPN. It's BAYERN MUNICH vs BAYER LEVERKUSEN in a meeting of the perennial powers and the fresh-faced upstarts, with Bayern looking for a return to the normal order of things after Leverkusen posted a scintillating unbeaten domestic double last term, taking the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal without losing a match. They nearly won the Europa League, too, but Atalanta was a step too far in the final in Dublin.How have these two teams changed since last year, particularly Bayern under new coach Vincent Kompany? Have Leverkusen lost the air of inevitability that carried them through last season and helped them grab late goals to rescue results? Derek offered all that and much more from his vast reservoir of knowledge when it comes to German football. Plus, on EA Sports FC 25 release week, he offered up some of his favorite lines from his role as a commentator for the world-famous video games.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review! It will help spread the word to more fans who might like a big match preview to start their Fridays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are few feuds like the 111-year-old dispute between Arsenal and Tottenham over who exactly owns North London. These two first met in 1896, but that was when Arsenal were in Woolwich, south of the River Thames. It wasn't until the Gunners crossed the waterway in 1913 and set up shop in Tottenham's neighborhood that the trouble began, and it hasn't let up since. Though as an Arsenal fan, I feel obligated to weigh in on who owns what: the red side may be seeking a first league title in two decades, but Tottenham haven't won the first division for 63 years. They've won two trophies in the last 30, and they were both League Cups.There might be just a bit of Arsenal partisanship in this episode, because joining the show to preview this North London derby is Andrew Mangan—blogger, podcaster, and proprietor at Arseblog, the foremost Arsenal fan channel. We delved into his path to The Arsenal as a Dubliner, Arsenal's rather disastrous injury and suspension situation coming into this one, those frightening times when Mauricio Pochettino threatened to win Spurs a trophy, his memories of the Sol Campbell transfer—an all-time North London flashpoint—and why he wants bad things to happen to Tottenham, everywhere and all the time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the battle of Glasgow, one of the most combustible matches in world football. CELTIC vs RANGERS is a fixture like no other, a vehicle for ancient blood feuds and sectarian strife. In the beginning of the 20th century, these two sets of fans marked the final whistle of a cup final by attempting to burn down Scotland's famed Hampden Park. After the 1980 final, supporters from both sides rioted on the pitch, fighting hand-to-hand and flinging bottles and more at each other until mounted police charged in to rescue control of the situation. This is a match that carries questions of what it means to be Scottish, baggage tied up in The Troubles of Northern Ireland and the quest for Scottish independence from Great Britain. And it's also, partly, about football.Joining us to trace this history and preview this Sunday's match is Chris McLaughlin, Sports News Correspondent at BBC Scotland and a man of Glasgow. He also covered the Scottish national team at EURO 2024 and offered some insight into a raucous atmosphere and an ultimately disappointing campaign.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review! It will help spread the word to more fans who might like a big match preview to start their Fridays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

La Liga is back and so is one of its true classics. BARCELONA and ATHLETIC CLUB have been duking it out in this division for as long as it's been around. Along with Real Madrid, they're the only clubs who've never been relegated. Like Barça, Athletic represents a part of Spain—the Basque region—with a serious independent streak, but that hasn't always made them allies off or on the pitch. In the 1980s, especially, these two clubs entered an explosive feud, one that culminated with none other than Diego Maradona launching into a flying kick at an Athletic player in the final of the Copa del Rey. That's the competition that has revived this rivalry more recently, too, as these two clubs have a habit of running into each other in the king's cup final.But the biggest story going into this league fixture might just be Nico Williams, the electric winger who starred for Spain at EURO 2024 this summer, who appears to have turned down a move to Barcelona to stay in Bilbao. What does that say about the state of the Blaugrana at the moment, about Athletic, and about Williams?Here to offer some insight is Graham Hunter, who's covered Spanish football for decades and now does so for ESPN. He also hosts a podcast of his own, The Big Interview. He helps us trace the history of this fixture and its politics, explains the origins and consequences of Athletic's policy of only fielding Basque players, and offers a look behind the scenes of Spain's camp at EURO 2024. He followed the champions up close throughout the tournament.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review! It will help spread the word to more fans who might like a big match preview to start their Fridays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Premier League is back following a breathless summer where we scarcely had any break from football at all. Still, it's a new season brimming with possibilities, and CHELSEA vs MAN CITY is a fine marquee fixture for the opening weekend. These are two teams making considerable news off the pitch, with Chelsea's freewheeling—some would say "chaotic"—transfer spending and City finally (maybe) facing the music on those 115 charges. Could this be Pep Guardiola's last season in Manchester regardless of how that inquiry turns out, or whether the Citizens take a fifth-straight Premier League title? And what will Cole Palmer do to his former employers under the tutelage of new manager (and Guardiola acolyte) Enzo Maresca?Joining us to preview the match and the Prem season writ large is SANNY RUDRAVAJHALA, reporter for Sky Sports News and beyond who hails from the Manchester area. He zoomed in from his back garden to assess Chelsea's 40-something-player squad, the new-look Manchester United under the same old ten Hag, whether Tottenham could be a dark horse to compete at the top of the league, and whether Darwin Núñez is his dark-horse pick for this season's top scorer.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review on this podcast platform! It will help spread the word to more fans who might like a big match preview to start their Fridays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The EURO 2024 final is upon us, and DAN BARDELL of Sky Sports and TalkSPORT returns to the show this week to preview ENGLAND vs SPAIN. Together we make the case that Gareth Southgate is among the very best England managers of all time, and Dan describes the unique joy of watching Ollie Watkins' winner in the semifinal as a lifelong Aston Villa fan. We also discuss the stress of watching players from your club team play international tournaments, Xavi Simons' wondergoal and the Netherlands' fine tournament, whether the French will be kicking themselves—and Didier Deschamps—about how they approached this competition, and of course Lamine Yamal's thunderbolt to crack their vaunted defense. Then there's some talk about how England might deal with the threat of Yamal and Nico Williams, the midfield battle between Rice and Rodri, and our unrelenting FOMO having missed out on a trip to Germany.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review on this podcast platform! It will help spread the word to more fans who might like a big match preview to start their Fridays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The quarterfinals kick off at EURO 2024 on Friday with SPAIN vs GERMANY and FRANCE vs PORTUGAL, before ENGLAND and SWITZERLAND meet Saturday and the NETHERLANDS face TÜRKIYE shortly after to round out the last eight. Joining us to preview this sweet schedule of seismic sporting encounters is CARL ANKA, a staff writer for The Athletic. He covers Manchester United during the club season but was deployed to Germany for the group stage of this competition and has some wonderful stories to tell from on the ground at the EUROs. We also covered Cristiano Ronaldo's tearful and torrid time in the Round of 16, the largely disappointing performances from Kylian Mbappé's France and Gareth Southgate's England, the exemplary coaching of Murat Yakin for the Swiss national team, Cody Gakpo's transformation when he represents his nation as opposed to his club, and Türkiye's distinction as this tournament's great entertainers. If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review on this podcast platform! It will help spread the word to more fans who might like a big match preview to start their Fridays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Copa América quarterfinals begin Thursday with Lionel Messi's ARGENTINA against ECUADOR, while the marquee match of the round comes last: BRAZIL vs URUGUAY.Joining the show to preview both—and the two other matches in between—is ALEXIS GUERREROS of The Cooligans podcast and Morning Footy on the CBS Sports Golazo Network. We also spared some time for the USA's disastrous group-stage exit from the tournament and Gregg Berhalter's future with the U.S. Men's National Team, COLOMBIA's fine performance at this Copa and their fans traveling in force, Jesse Marsch's revenge tour with CANADA, and the general vibe that Copa América is the EUROs after dark.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review on this podcast platform! It will help spread the word to more fans who might like a big match preview to start their Fridays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The EURO 2024 group stage is done and dusted, and the tournament's sudden-death phase is upon us. It's the Round of 16, with SWITZERLAND vs ITALY and GERMANY vs DENMARK on Saturday, ENGLAND-SLOVAKIA and SPAIN vs GEORGIA on Sunday, FRANCE vs BELGIUM and PORTUGAL vs SLOVENIA on Monday, and finally, ROMANIA vs the NETHERLANDS and AUSTRIA-TURKIYE on Tuesday.Joining us this week to preview the knockout rounds is @RoryTalksFootball, who returns to the show to offer some of the same insight he serves up to hundreds of thousands of followers across TikTok and beyond every single day. We of course touched on England's woes and the trials of Gareth Southgate, the power of Germany and Spain, the weakness of Belgium and France, the value of quality coaching for Austria and Switzerland, and whether a lack thereof could cost the Netherlands and Portugal. Or is Cristiano Ronaldo what will hold the Portuguese back?If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review on this podcast platform! It will help spread the word to more fans who might like a big match preview to start their Fridays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What a time to be alive as a football fan, as COPA AMÉRICA joins EURO 2024 on our television screens. Here to preview the Western Hemisphere's championship is STU HOLDEN, who played for the U.S. Men's National Team and was one of the first Americans I ever saw play in a Premier League midfield. Now he's a co-commentator and analyst for FOX Sports, which will be broadcasting the Copa América here in the United States along with the EUROs.We touched on how American players have gone to a new level in Europe since Stu's days, Jesse Marsch's appointment as Canada's head coach, Lionel Messi and the mighty Argentines' clash with nemesis Chile, the North Americans getting torched by the South Americans in pre-tournament friendlies, how the USMNT should line up, the major threats posed by Colombia and Uruguay, and whether there's a mismatch between Coach Gregg Berhalter and the current crop of American footballers.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review on this podcast platform! It will help spread the word to more fans who might like a big match preview to start their Fridays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's EURO 2024, the European Championships, and it all blasts off on this opening weekend with GERMANY vs SCOTLAND, CROATIA vs SPAIN, and ENGLAND vs SERBIA. Dan Bardell of Sky Sports and TalkSport joins the show to preview these matches and the tournament in general, and as a devout Aston Villa fan, he found a way to get John McGinn and Andrés Iniesta into the same sentence!If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review! It will help spread the word to more fans who might like a big-match preview to start their Fridays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With men's football in a very brief offseason, it's time for a change of pace. How does a football club get started in the first place? Maximilian Mansfield can tell you first hand. He's the CEO of Brooklyn FC, a startup club that's sprouting out of the asphalt not far from TFW HQ here in New York. Max joins the show to chat about where BKFC fits in a football ecosystem that already boasts two MLS teams, finding a home court in the borough—they've signed up to share the Brooklyn Cyclones' Maimonides Park on Coney Island—and what items are top of your To Do List when you launch a brand-new professional outfit. He also shares his own story growing up in Brooklyn after he was born in Dortmund, and how he got here from a job in finance and a stint playing non-league football in England.You can check out Brooklyn FC at their website to learn more, and the same goes for Two Bridges Football Club, a wonderful project Max also spearheaded that will now become the formal academy for BKFC.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review! It will help spread the word to more fans who might like a big-match preview to start their Fridays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the Champions League final on Saturday at Wembley Stadium, where REAL MADRID will seek a preposterous 15th title and BORUSSIA DORTMUND will play the David to Madrid's Goliath.CLIVE TYLDESLEY will call his 30th final in this competition for CBS and Paramount+ in the United States, but first he joins the show to run through some of the biggest moments to which he's borne witness—from Manchester United's last-gasp treble win over Bayern Munich in 1999 to Zinedine Zidane's wondervolley to defeat Bayer Leverkusen in 2002 to Barcelona's tiki-taka destruction of United in 2011—as well as some of his inspirations as a commentator, drinking champagne out of the European Cup at a Parisian nightclub with the victorious Liverpool team in 1981, parallels between the two Manchester trebles he called, and the mystical power of football heritage in this competition.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and leave a review! It will help spread the word to more fans who might like a big-match preview to start their Fridays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

MANCHESTER UNITED and MANCHESTER CITY will contest the FA Cup final on Saturday at 10am Eastern, and Jon Champion will be calling the game for U.S. audiences on ESPN. He also graciously joined the show this week to preview the match, look back on the Premier League season just passed, and offer his favorite stadiums to commentate from—including Goodison Park, where you've got to navigate multiple ladders to get to the commentary position.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please give us a rating and review! It will help spread the word to more fans who might like a preview of a big match to start their Fridays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the Premier League's final day, and the title is still on the line. Arsenal have won 15 of their last 17 league games, but it may not be enough to topple mighty Manchester City. The Gunners must win at home to Everton and hope West Ham can get a result at the Etihad Stadium.The last time City and Arsenal went head-to-head, Robbie Earle joined the show to preview the match and mentioned he might like to come back at the end of the season. He's on location in London, where NBC will provide wall-to-wall coverage of Championship Sunday. For our American listeners, all 10 matches will stream simultaneously on Peacock with coverage beginning at 9am, and you can also catch Man City-West Ham on NBC and Arsenal-Everton on USA Network. For his part, Robbie will be watching pitchside at the Emirates with Rebecca Lowe and the rest of the NBC crew.We talked the title race but also the relegation stakes this season, the points deductions for Everton and Nottingham Forest, Wolves' proposal to scrap VAR, Ange Postecolgou's Tottenham discontent, how Liverpool's season has changed since Jürgen Klopp's midseason announcement that he would depart the club, and the twisting fates of Chelsea and Manchester United.If you're enjoying the show, kindly give it a rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts! It will help others find us and properly pregame their football weekends. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Arsenal head to Manchester United on Sunday, and only victory will suffice. Mikel Arteta's side are locked in a title race with Manchester City, and even a draw here will mean their race is run. Manchester United are in dire straits: they've crashed down to 8th in the Premier League table after a 4-0 thumping from Crystal Palace on Monday night, and the calls for manager Erik ten Hag to be sent packing are growing louder. Still, United always seem to show up against the Arsenal: of their last 16 visits to Old Trafford, the Gunners have won just one match.Here to preview the match is Chris Wittyngham, a play-by-play commentator for CBS and Paramount+ who called both legs of the Champions League semifinal between PSG and Borussia Dortmund over the last couple of weeks. He also calls matches for the MLS on AppleTV+ and features on The Football Show on SiriusXM FC.If you're enjoying the show, kindly give it a rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts! It will help others find us and properly pregame their football weekends. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bayer Leverkusen are six matches from immortality. The German champions have won 39 games of their 47 played. They've drawn eight. They've lost zero. This young team led by Xabi Alonso has already won the Bundesliga, and they're in the final of the DFB-Pokal, the German Cup. They're also locked in a Europa League semifinal with Roma, two matches away from a European crown. In the end, they could go farther than Arsenal's famous Invincibles of 2004 and play an entire season—53 matches across all competitions—without defeat. It is a phenomenon.Joining the show to discuss this remarkable run is a man who's borne witness to it firsthand: Derek Rae is the lead commentator for ESPN's coverage of German football and for the Bundesliga world feed. He's also the voice of the FIFA video game series, now doing business as EAFC. We spoke Wednesday, ahead of Leverkusen's first-leg meeting with Roma, about this spectacular season for Xabi Alonso's side. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The loathing and disgust that Tottenham and Arsenal have for one another is truly uncommon. It all began in 1913, when the Gunners moved across the Thames to Tottenham's neighborhood. The locals never forgave them for it. Through the years, Arsenal have enjoyed far more success, but this rivalry has always simmered beneath the surface. At times—like when Sol Campbell made a shocking move from Spurs to Arsenal on a free transfer—it's bubbled over. Here to discuss the North London Derby this Sunday is Rory Talks Football, who covers the top-level European game across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter for an audience of hundreds of thousands of followers. He's also an Arsenal fan, so expect some heavy Arsenal chat along with some decent analysis of what Spurs have brought to this Premier League season. Plus, Rory explains why he hates Tottenham more than any other club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the glamor match of world football, the grandest stage for the biggest stars. This was Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane vs. Ronaldinho, Raúl vs. Carles Puyol. And then there was Luís Figo. It's a fixture known for its legendary names and a consistently exquisite level of technical play, but the disagreement between Real Madrid and Barcelona has roots that run deep into modern Spanish social and political history. These are two outfits from different regions with clashing philosophies who have competed with one another for the biggest trophies for a long time. They really do not like each other.ESPN's Spanish football writer Graham Hunter joins the show to offer his insight on this rivalry from decades living in Spain and covering La Liga, including:the legacy of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime with regard to both of these clubs; how commercialization and marketing have changed the rivalry; the legend of Alfredo Di Stefano; how Florentino Perez used Figo to rise to power at Real Madrid, and how Zidane became the Galáctico archetype; the severe mismanagement of FC Barcelona in recent years and the role of player power; how Xavi's departure will be a dark day for the Spanish press; and Carlo Ancelotti's legacy as one of the all-time greats of football management. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Roma vs. Lazio is not often a contest for silverware, but the locals aren't fussed. This is a battle to determine who controls Rome, and fans are often more concerned with who takes this game than who takes the Scudetto. These two share a stadium, the Stadio Olimpico, and a history tied up in the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. This one is known for the colorful signage and tifos that rise up in the Curva Nord (Lazio) and Curva Sud (Roma) of their shared home, but it's also gotten ugly through the years with racist chants in the stands and banners referencing the Holocaust. Above all, though, it's a fight over what it means to be Roman.This week's guest is Patrick Kendrick, lead commentator on the world feed for Serie A and the Coppa Italia and a press conference interpreter of some distinction. He helps us break down the history of this disagreement, why the Roman clubs have flagged behind the powers of northern Italy in terms of on-pitch success, the tumultuous seasons that both of these clubs have endured, and some of the secrets of the craft of commentating. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Etihad Stadium has not been a place that Arsenal like to go in recent years, but they travel there on Sunday with an opportunity to strike a massive blow against a fellow title contender. Manchester City will fear no one at their citadel, but Pep Guardiola's respect for his former assistant coach has surely grown this season as Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has twice defeated his former employers. This will be a complex tactical encounter and—more than likely—a match decided by the smallest margins.Here to discuss it is Robbie Earle, a former Premier League pro with Wimbledon who's been a studio panelist for NBC Sports' coverage of the Premier League for more than a decade. He offered his measured insight on the battles that will play out all over the pitch, whether Pep could surpass Sir Alex Ferguson's managerial achievements with yet another title win, and whether this could be the moment where Arteta's Arsenal announce they're for real. Plus, there are a few stories from his days in a wild Wimbledon dressing room with Vinnie Jones and Co. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the EURO 2024 playoff round, where teams that failed to finish first or second in their qualifying groups (but made it to this stage through a very complicated formula involving the UEFA Nations League) must win two more matches to earn a ticket to Germany this summer.One of those teams is Ukraine. More than two years on from Russia's full-scale invasion, qualifying for the EUROs—and lining up next to the Germans, the French, the Czechs, and the rest of Europe—could be deeply symbolic and bring the Ukrainian struggle back to the fore at a time when other conflicts have come to dominate the news.First up for the Жовто-Сині is Bosnia and Herzegovina. If the Ukrainians are victorious in Sarajevo, they will play one of Iceland and Israel in the playoff final for a place in the EURO 2024 group stage. The Ukrainians have an impressive array of footballers to call on, their best team in history, many of whom play across Europe's top five leagues at a time when the Ukrainian Premier League has been decimated by the war.Our guest this week is Andrew Todos, a British-Ukrainian journalist and founder of Zorya Londonsk, the home of English-language Ukrainian football coverage. He joins the show to discuss all of the above—and how the sports-diplomatic blockade of Russia may be just beginning to crack. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mexico's most historic rivalry features the two most supported teams in Liga MX. Chivas de Guadalajara — the team from a quintessentially Mexican city known for Mariachi and located in the state of Jalisco, the home of tequila — has a policy of only fielding Mexican nationals. Club América, from the swanky and cosmopolitan capital of Mexico City, rose to prominence spending big money on foreign players, a master plan from the club's TV magnate owners not just to compete but to create a football telenovela, a soap opera in which their club could play the villain.Ramses Sandoval, a commentator for TelevisaUnivision, joins the show to discuss the rivalry, the two clubs, and the current state of Mexican football. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Liverpool host Manchester City on Sunday in what could be a Premier League title-decider. But what impact will Anfield, the Reds' famous citadel, have on the proceedings? John Williams, author of Liverpool histories Red Men and Red Men Reborn, joins the show to trace the history of the ground from the birth of the Kop as a cultural force in the 1920s through the days of Bill Shankly and The Beatles in the '60s to that famous Champions League night against Lionel Messi and Barcelona. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.