Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Hello, everyone. Welcome into our studios for the latest edition of ESPN FC. I'm Alexis Yunus alongside Shaka Hislop and Ale Moreno. What a show we have for you today because today's the day we get Shaka's power ranking.
Oh, what could possibly go wrong?
Shaka spent all afternoon working on them for you, so trust me, you do not want to miss it. All afternoon. All afternoon.
All afternoon. Yes. Let's go with that.
Two minutes of the afternoon.
Let's go with that.
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Chapter 2: What happened in the Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid match?
In that case, Barcelona were able to advance over the two legs against Benfica. In this case, against Atletico Madrid, it may be a different story. He's a really good young player. But in order for him to take the step to becoming a great player, this sort of thing has to stop.
Shaka, how'd you see it?
I thought it was the right card. Listen, I get the argument, the ball is coming in behind Simeone and whatever you make of that. To me, it looked intentional, like Simeone knew what he was doing. It wasn't that he preferred the ball in front of him, but going behind didn't seem to be an issue. I thought he was adjusting accordingly, and then Kubasi catches him.
It's on Kubasi in that position to avoid the contact with Giuliano Simeone. And once he doesn't, I don't think the ref had any other choice but to show red.
Sid, what do you think? Do you agree with the boys?
Well, I think the first thing to say, by the way, is that post-game, this wasn't a zone of contention from Barcelona's point of view at all. Hansi Flick came into the press conference. He was very, very critical about the possible penalty and the possible red card for Marco Bilbao for the handball.
He was critical about the referee's management of the game in terms of how many times Mourinho was fouled and how the referee was allowing the game to go and his sense of where he was putting the bar. in terms of what counted as a foul and what didn't. But he's made no mention whatsoever of this. There was no complaint about this particular decision. The complaints were about other decisions.
And I have to say, looking at it, I think, yes, you can have the argument about whether the ball is fully under control. But for me, it's a player who's running clean through on goal and he's no longer running clean through on goal. He's taken down. So I think in that sense, given the way the rules are, I think it probably has to be a red card, yes.
I'm sorry, did I say that I thought the call was wrong? I said that there could be an argument to be made. That you could have that conversation if you saw this. My point was far more about Pau Cubarci making this sort of mistake. So if I'm focusing on Pau Cubarci, maybe that's a giveaway that perhaps I thought it was a red card as well.
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Chapter 3: Should Barcelona have received a penalty for the handball incident?
But the rules are the rules. If the goal kick is taken and you put your hand down to stop the ball and then you begin to take it again, that's a penalty and that's a yellow card. Now, there is only one thing, I think, and Simeone said after the game that he described this as common sense.
And I suppose the only thing that you could say that would justify not giving this is just what the referee has essentially done
is make the decision or make the interpretation that the goalkeeper hadn't taken the goal kick that this wasn't the game restarting this was him giving the ball to a teammate to take the goal kick and I guess the problem then becomes that interpretation as to whether or not you count this as the game having restarted now for what it's worth I look at it again and live I didn't even realise when it first happened you look at it again and think well this seems to me to be pretty clear cut
Jack, is it clear cut to you?
Yes, it is. And listen, again, I hear the argument, you don't want a game on this level determined by this kind of an error. But the truth is, games throughout, every single game is determined by one error or another, forced or unenforced. This was an unforced error by Pubella. There's no question about it. It has begun.
I find, to use the language used, common sense by Diego Simeone, the referee choosing to apply or not apply the laws written in that one situation kind of opens up a kind of worms as to what the referee determines anywhere else on the park. Now, while he's the referee and ultimately final decisions lie with him, As players, you come to expect a certain following of the laws and this was not one.
So again, for Poubile, he got away with murder in this instance. The weird thing about this to me is, even as I'm looking at it, it seems that Poubile is looking at Moussa as Moussa takes the kick. So I'm not sure... What he's seeing, what he's thinking, how he makes that mistake, however he makes the mistake, it's a mistake.
And it should have cost him, well, to Hansi Fleck's point, the penalty and the second yellow team card.
Ale, how much could this have changed the game?
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of Barcelona's formal complaint to UEFA?
Because common sense to you may be different than common sense to me. And that's the truth. That's very true. That's in real life.
But you know what they say, common sense is not common.
No, no. Let me stay out of this.
Chapter 5: What did the analysts think about the red card decision against Pau Cubarsi?
Let me stay out of this for a couple of minutes. But the point being that interpretation of common sense is different. I'll tell you what's not different. The laws of the game. And the referee is there to execute. the laws of the game, and to impart the laws of the game. That is his role. He is the adjudicator.
He is the guy that should be making this decision regardless of whether he thinks, well, that's common sense or not. That is not the bar. The bar is, was the law broken? The law was broken, and in this case, the referee decided to go with it. It's all right, guys. Let's use common sense to referee now. Yeah, not quite the case.
It's all relative. And Sid, with something so clear-cut as this, let me ask you this, because as you've said, Barcelona have filed a complaint. What could come from this?
To be perfectly honest with you, I suspect that nothing. I think what could come from it is that maybe the referee gets punished, that maybe the referee doesn't do X number of games over a certain period of time. One thing I should just probably point out, just very briefly on what Ali was talking about, common sense is what Simeone said it was.
We haven't heard the referee say it was common sense. So the referee's defence hasn't been whether it was common sense. That's what Simeone is interpreting.
I think the only thing that can explain this, and this speaks to what Ali was saying about the ball moving or not moving, is if the referee has interpreted that the goalkeeper hasn't taken the goal kick, that the goalkeeper has indeed just given it to a teammate to take it, the ball hasn't been put back into play.
And that's the thing, as Ali's saying about the ball moving, the goalkeeper takes two touches. And the way it seems to me is he takes one touch to put it in place, and the other touch is him taking the goal kick. And so at that point, I think you have to interpret that the game has restarted and therefore it's handballed.
The only thing that can justify not giving this is if the referee has interpreted that the game hadn't restarted. And it restarts with Mark Poole-Beal taking the goal kick, which of course is what ends up happening. Anyway, to your question as to what happens now, I think nothing. And let's go back, shall we, to the Champions League.
Last year, when the rule was wrongly applied to the double kick penalty from Julian Alvarez, that was even more decisive than this because it directly put Atletico Madrid out against Real Madrid. Eventually, a very long time later, UEFA admitted that that had been got wrong. What happened? Nothing. So to be perfectly honest with you, I suspect that nothing will happen this time around.
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Chapter 6: How did the commentators evaluate the performance of the referees?
If they get one, then maybe the psychological makeup of the game changes. I think the fact that they played that Copa del Rey two-legged tie, where you have a 4-0 win for Atletico in the first game and a 3-0 win to Barcelona in the second, when Atletico start to think, oh my goodness, this could happen, I think that affects this as well. I think it changes the way they approach it.
And so I just think it's very, very difficult indeed. I don't think it's impossible, but I think the chances are very slim.
Not impossible, but as Sid said, Ale, I mean, we do believe Barcelona can score goals, but it's them going away from home and not conceding, that's what makes it tricky.
Well, what's clear is that Sid is not a believer.
No, he's not a believer. Sid's a very pragmatic realist. 5% for you two? Or is that too Sid Lowe for you?
I'll say 80-20. 80 that Atletico Madrid go through and 20 for Barcelona. And the reason I give 20 to Barcelona, it's not so much for Barcelona. It's much more about Atletico Madrid. And this is what I'll say. Before the Zorloth goal, when he was 1-0 and there are men out, I don't know about anybody else.
I was yelling at the TV and Atletico Madrid that they were taking this posture as if they were hanging on to a result and allowing Barcelona to have all the initiative in the game, even being a man down. Yes, but it... it did not make me very happy, I'll just say that. I was thinking, here's an opportunity.
Now, it ends up working out, they end up scoring the second goal, Barcelona don't score any, and so it feels like it's very much Barcelona with, according to Sid, 5% chance. I give Barcelona more than that because Atletico Madrid had an opportunity to really deliver the death blow and they chose to be conservative and I'm just not on board with that approach, just in general.
The game presents you with opportunities, go and take advantage of those opportunities. Diego Simeone and Atletico Madrid chose to be far more conservative. I didn't like that.
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Chapter 7: What are the potential consequences for Barcelona in the Champions League?
So Sid, do we agree with the odds that is?
Well, I think there's no doubt that if you look at this in terms of logical analysis and you try and look at the way the two teams are set up and the fact that Bayern Munich have an advantage away from home at the Bernabeu and then go home to either protect that advantage or maybe even to extend it, then of course Bayern Munich are favourites. I thought what we saw in this game...
was actually, in a way, kind of a really good portrait of Real Madrid. We saw some of the things that we've seen all season that tell us that they're really not a very good team. And for a lot of the game, they're really not a very good team. I mean, I thought Bayern were exceptional and I thought Real Madrid just looked a level below Bayern Munich in every department.
But then you saw a reaction and you started seeing the quality of some of the players. You started seeing the ability to make things happen. And even in those periods of the game, funny enough, even those periods of the game where you were watching it thinking, Bayern are a better team here.
Madrid were still getting themselves chances and actually bizarrely, and it is a bit bizarre to say this about Kylian MbappƩ, but his finishing wasn't that good. Now we're talking about one of the greatest strikers in the world, possibly the greatest striker in the world and his finishing wasn't that good.
And you do sort of look at him and Vinicius and the performance of Bellingham and some of the players that Real Madrid have got and you think they will get chances. There will be probably at some point, a moment during this time when you think maybe it could happen. then it's true. You look at Bayern Munich and you think, well, they're at home. They should find a way through.
But it's Real Madrid. And if ever there was a club that has warned us not to believe the logic in front of our eyes, it's Real Madrid.
100%. I mean, we keep talking about it. And as much as it may annoy some people that once the Champions League starts, Real Madrid is just a completely different beast, Xhaka. In terms of this one, because as Sid said, you know, Real Madrid grew into this game. I think they forced Manu Neuer to make about nine saves. That's the most saves he's had to make in a single game for Bayern since 2020.
So they have the ability, but can they do it?
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Chapter 8: How do Shaka Hislop's power rankings reflect current team performances?
Pavlovic can be better. And this guy's... Is that scary? No, no, no. Next level. I don't know that he can be too much. Don't think we're ready for that. No, no, no, we're not quite there yet. He was outstanding. But there were a lot of performances from Bayern Munich that were good at times, but not throughout the 90 minutes. You think of Dayo Pamecanos, a good example of that.
He may have been solid over the course of 90 minutes, but he almost had the assist of the day and assist of the week to Vini Junior. And he has some mistake in them. Manuel Neuer made a bunch of stops. Yes, he did. But he also had awful mistakes in the distribution of the game, which then allowed Real Madrid to take a step forward.
I think Vincent Kompany, if you were to ask him, yeah, we went into Santiago Bernal, we won the game, but we can be better. And that's the scary part if you're a Real Madrid fan, is that I think we played really well, Real Madrid. And it looks like Bayern Munich can actually be better than what they have been, and they're going to play at home.
Real Madrid playing as well as they did, being as dynamic as they were at times in this game, still lost the game at home in the magical Santiago BernabƩu, in a magical night of Champions League. They still lost.
Let me also say, just in terms of the probably strongest argument for Real Madrid is Manuel Neuer and his performance. And it was a man-in-match performance. But I'll say here, this wasn't superhuman Manuel Neuer.
No.
This was just Manuel Neuer being Manuel Neuer. My point being, if that's what you're holding on to when this is run-of-the-mill Manuel Neuer performance... He's going to do that again in the second leg. He's going to do that next week in the Bundesliga. That's who Manuel Neuer has always been. So it's not as though his level is going to drop any in the second leg because this is his usual self.
I just don't see that as being something that Real Madrid can reliably bank on.
And as a last thought, what I would say is it is more likely, more likely that Bayern Munich destroy Real Madrid in the second leg than Real Madrid coming back in the second leg. That's the way I see it.
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