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The Claire Byrne Show

The big guns perform at the World Cup

17 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

1.87 - 6.257 Claire Byrne

The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.

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9.623 - 14.351 Clare Byrne

It's been another record-breaking night at the World Cup last night.

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14.371 - 29.968

Messi. Gonzalez. Back to Messi. Messi! Messi! His first World Cup hat-trick!

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Chapter 2: What record did Lionel Messi achieve at the World Cup?

29.988 - 45.244 Clare Byrne

And it's a record-setter! That's the Argentina captain, Lionel Messi, becoming the oldest ever player to score a hat-trick at the World Cup. That also happened on the night where superstars Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland led their respective countries to victory. John Bruin of The Guardian joins me now. Hello, John.

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46.245 - 47.406 John Bruin

Good morning, Clare. How are you?

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47.486 - 50.248 Clare Byrne

I'm good. How are you surviving the hours of this World Cup, firstly?

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51.37 - 69.433 John Bruin

Well, I don't think I am, to be honest. It's... Yeah, I watched the Harlan show, but I couldn't stay up for the Messi show last night. It's pushing it to stay up all night. It's tough going. If you've got a job as well, that's the difficult part.

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69.453 - 85.011 Clare Byrne

That's the problem, isn't it? That is the problem. But just let's talk about Lionel Messi. I mean, I said that he was breaking records there, becoming the oldest ever player to score a hat-trick in the World Cup. But I was just reading some analysis of the performance and looking back on the videos this morning. He's just kind of tootling around the pitch.

85.411 - 91.378 Clare Byrne

His only job is to get the ball in the back of the net if he can, if he's in the right place at the right time. And invariably that ends up happening.

92.658 - 119.839 John Bruin

yeah yeah i mean spectacular strikes weren't they just incredible uh for a man of his advancing years uh he has managed to pare down football to a series of uh yeah scoring spectacular goals though i should say it should be mentioned he probably should have been sent off before this that's right uh and um Are we to start switching the conspiracies about this?

120.36 - 136.666 John Bruin

I don't know if you saw the footage of when Messi's going for his hat-trick and has a shot saved, we cut to Gianni Infantino with a big smile on his face because Messi scoring a hat-trick, well, that washes away quite a bit of the controversy, doesn't it?

Chapter 3: How did Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland perform in their matches?

136.726 - 151.042 Clare Byrne

Well, yeah, it's like we were saying before the World Cup, you know, all of the controversies around it. Then once the football starts, everybody starts talking about the football. And if Messi scores a hat trick, that dominates the headlines today and probably tomorrow. So you can see where we're going with this.

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152.083 - 157.309 John Bruin

Yes, absolutely. So, yeah, Messi scores a hat trick and stories of the treatment of the

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Chapter 4: What insights does John Brewin share about surviving the World Cup hours?

157.542 - 180.276 John Bruin

iran team having to fly out of the us on the day of the game that drops down the the you know the sidebar of shame or whatever doesn't it and there and therefore we we talk about messy we talk about record breaking we talk about world cup legacy and stuff like that um this is it football the the brilliance of some of the football played at world cups and the brilliance of the world cup uh

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180.863 - 192.179 John Bruin

It was put to me that the sport washes itself, doesn't it? It washes away quite a lot of ills, but ills that we shouldn't forget. I think it would be irresponsible to do that.

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192.259 - 194.121 Clare Byrne

And did you think that Messi should have been sent off?

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195.203 - 225.103 John Bruin

Yes, yes, I do. Yeah, if that was an Algerian, he'd have been sent off for it, you know, and that's it. You can't do that. And in an era of VAR... you know, that's a red card. Messi knew he'd done it as well. I don't know if he did it deliberately, but he knew that he committed the offence. It was nasty. It was nasty. But, you know, he's a crotchety old man, isn't he? That's the thing.

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225.163 - 226.947 John Bruin

But he's also a brilliant footballer as well.

227.067 - 228.049 Clare Byrne

What is he, 38?

228.772 - 230.895 John Bruin

I think he's 39 during the tournament. Okay.

231.675 - 241.988 Clare Byrne

He mentioned something, didn't he, John, about personal problems at the end of the match and thanks to everybody for helping me get through it. We don't know what he's talking about, though. He didn't elaborate.

242.028 - 257.807 John Bruin

No, no. And this is the thing with Messi is he's unknowable, isn't he? That's the thing. He keeps himself... He's a superstar who no one really knows. That's it. There is this... There are occasional flashes of personality.

Chapter 5: What analysis is presented about Messi's hat-trick performance?

257.827 - 277.257 John Bruin

I don't know if you recall... back in the 22 World Cup, there was him speaking, being quite abusive actually towards the Dutch players, a side of him that we've never really seen. Obviously there is this deep competitive edge, there must be if he's continuing on like this, but yeah, we're not sure.

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277.726 - 302.667 John Bruin

And it probably won't come out, or the back channels will reveal it perhaps, but that's just Messi. We don't know him. He's different to Ronaldo, isn't he? Ronaldo... almost presents the sort of Stepford Wives version of himself, doesn't he, with all the social media stuff. Messi is on lots of adverts, but even in adverts, he sort of is unknowable there too, isn't he?

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302.687 - 316.548 John Bruin

He's just an unspeaking guy, you know. Only David Beckham is more present, from what I understand, of all the advertising out there. Beckham is advertising everything. Chainsaws, I think I saw at one point.

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316.808 - 317.73 John Bruin

Yeah.

317.97 - 337.585 Clare Byrne

That in itself is extraordinary. And there's a whole story to talk about there, which we won't go into now with him and his family and all the rest of it. But I want to talk to you about Iraq and Norway. I mean, Norway haven't been in the World Cup for 28 years. Iraq for four decades. I heard a gorgeous interview on the BBC World Service this morning with this journalist.

337.565 - 362.256 Clare Byrne

American Iraqi fan who travelled six hours on a plane with his family to get to that game and he said it was such a joy to have people talk about our footballers and not our problems that we've experienced in our country for decades and just the pure joy that they had from that experience and this interview had taken place after the match when they were defeated 4-1 by Norway but such a joy for them to be there in the first place.

362.843 - 389.104 John Bruin

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, 1986 was the last time they were in the World Cup. And the Iraqi team actually has been quite decent. I remember them winning the Asian Cup at a time when the country was at its worst during the conflict, you know, back in the mid-2000s. So there's a lot of footballing legacy there, but the same for Iran as well in that region. They're very strong teams, but it feels like,

390.164 - 419.209 John Bruin

Again, we go to the sort of soothing balm of the World Cup, don't we? That nationhood can be expressed in a slightly different way by football. It's not military. It's a national pride that a team can bring. And, yeah, to people from the diaspora of a country can go and watch their team play and enjoy them. And even when they lose, just to be at a World Cup feels so precious. I mean...

Chapter 6: Why is there controversy surrounding Messi's conduct during the match?

489.153 - 510.984 John Bruin

He's from South London. We regret that he chose to play for France because he is such a fantastic player. And he was a real talent at Crystal Palace. But since he's gone to Bayern Munich, we've seen what a brilliant player he is. That's it, isn't it? In the World Cup, they were not great against Senegal in the first half. Senegal were very good. They're a very talented team.

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511.064 - 537.216 John Bruin

And then they can just turn on the afterburners and be... brilliant Mbappe can be that guy that perhaps he isn't for Real Madrid he scores a lot of goals for Real Madrid but his image has been tarnished a little bit and the things with Mbappe is below the Ronaldo Messi I mean these two guys are still knocking around he's probably the world's best or most famous player but we just

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537.618 - 548.584 John Bruin

He's never quite got to their level. That's the thing. And that's it. Messi and Ronaldo did set, Messi in particular actually, set such impossible standards for those to follow.

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548.925 - 553.315 Clare Byrne

And listen, we have the big one tonight. England, Croatia, nine o'clock. How are you feeling ahead of it, John?

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554.712 - 579.184 John Bruin

A certain amount of trepidation, of course. Yeah. And, you know, the whole thing about a World Cup is most people experience it at home, don't they? And this is it. We've had to wait a long time. It feels like the World Cup's been going on for weeks and there's been no England. And, you know, my sympathies go to my colleagues that have had to cover...

579.164 - 603.147 John Bruin

essentially nothing for weeks while England don't play and everyone does. And so we enter the tournament. We're up against a Croatian team who are very familiar opponents. So familiar. I mean, they've got a 40-year-old. I think some of the players have played like 130 games together and stuff like that. It's incredible. But expectation in this country is...

603.127 - 610.297 John Bruin

is high but I don't think we've quite got the John Bull thing of a few years ago of just we're going to win this, we have to win this.

610.317 - 628.763 Clare Byrne

It doesn't seem to be there and this will be an interesting match because England have won six times out of 11 meeting Croatia but Croatia's taken three and drawn two so we will wait and see what happens. John, we have to leave it there but good to talk to you and I'm sure we'll chat again over the course of the World Cup. That's John Bruin there from The Guardian.

629.722 - 632.514 Claire Byrne

The Clare Byrne Show. With Aviva Insurance.

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