1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,000 You're listening to the Footglitch Podcast. 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,000 Love football, learn English. 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:14,000 How does it feel to be a Sparta Prague fan after reaching the Champions League League stage? 4 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:20,000 What would be a good result at the Etihad Stadium in the Manchester City Sparta Prague game? 5 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:25,000 How good is the new Sparta Prague signing Albion Rahmani? 6 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:30,000 And what does the phrase, if stars align, mean? 7 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:54,000 Hello everyone, my name is Denik Lukas and you're listening to another episode of the Footglitch Podcast. 8 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,000 I'm an English teacher and your host for today. 9 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:04,000 If you by any chance are looking for a podcast about football which can help you learn English, well, look no further. 10 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,000 The Footglitch Podcast is your gold mine. 11 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:12,000 Sometimes I waffle a lot. You've just heard an example of that. 12 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:16,000 But I do that by myself. Other times there is a guest. 13 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,000 And today is one of those days, one of those days that I'm not alone. 14 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:26,000 Let me welcome on the podcast Mike. Hi Mike. Welcome to the podcast. 15 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,000 Hi, Denik. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure. 16 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,000 It's a pleasure. It's a pleasure to have you here. 17 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:41,000 You are Mike, a Sparta Prague fan and a host of a great podcast, which unfortunately is in Czech. 18 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,000 I know I have some listeners who speak this language. 19 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,000 So definitely check it out. 20 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:54,000 Your podcast is called Vláci Prahy, which how would we translate that into English? 21 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,000 Yeah, you know, we were actually thinking about it the other day. 22 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:05,000 It should be taught the name Vláci Prahy, which means something like the emperors of Prague or the kings of Prague. 23 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:09,000 Basically, it's a long standing nickname for Sparta Prague. 24 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:20,000 And because I'm coming from a film business, a long time ago, I've created a movie called The Kings of Prague about the Sparta hooligans. 25 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:24,000 It never came to fruition. It never happened. It never got produced. 26 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,000 But we obviously kept the idea of the name. 27 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:32,000 So when we came up with the idea to go with the podcast, we had two choices. 28 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:39,000 We had Kings of Prague, Vláci Prahy, or we were thinking Sparta cast, you know, to make it pretty simple. 29 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:43,000 But we decided it sounds good as well, to be honest. 30 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:46,000 It's got Sparta in the name. You know, we were thinking Vláci Prahy. 31 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:50,000 If you don't know Sparta, then obviously it's going to be a little bit more difficult. 32 00:02:50,000 --> 00:03:00,000 But then Petr, the other guy from the podcast, he had this great idea and he said, look, if we call it the Kings of Prague, we'll immediately be the best podcast about Sparta. 33 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:05,000 It has a positive ring to it. You're right. 34 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:11,000 But I think Sparta cast also sounds good for some reason. It has a good vibe about it. 35 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:16,000 It kind of feels normal. You know, like anyone would come up with the name Sparta cast. 36 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:17,000 That's true. That's true. 37 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,000 So I feel we want it to be original. 38 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:24,000 It kind of sounds like a footgrish podcast, a little bit, if I'm honest. 39 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:28,000 Footgrish is great. You would never expect these two words combined. 40 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:33,000 It's a blend. The word doesn't exist. For some reason, nobody has come up with the idea. 41 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:35,000 I wonder why. 42 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:36,000 Yeah, I wonder why. 43 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,000 For better or worse. You never know. 44 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:39,000 For better or worse. Exactly. 45 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:44,000 Even some of my guests have struggled to pronounce the word, the name of the podcast. 46 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,000 So that may also tell part of the story. 47 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:50,000 That's easy. Footgrish. 48 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,000 It's easy for you. 49 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:53,000 Of course. 50 00:03:53,000 --> 00:04:02,000 All right. Well, so you are a host of this podcast, which in my opinion is now really taking off. 51 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:09,000 You're skyrocketing to some unknown heights. Honestly, it's doing really well. 52 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,000 But it's a relatively new podcast. As you said, you are a co-host. 53 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:16,000 And it is about Sparta Prague and it's for Sparta Prague fans primarily. 54 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,000 The Spartans. 55 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:21,000 The Spartans, yeah. 56 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:26,000 No, you're right. Absolutely. We started four months ago. 57 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:32,000 As everybody who started the podcast, the first idea was, look, we'll try. 58 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:37,000 We'll see if we like it. And there are some people out there who like it. 59 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,000 Then, you know, we'll keep on going. 60 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:48,000 But four months in, I have to say, I was right about thinking there is a space to be filled. 61 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:50,000 There's a niche for it. 62 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:52,000 There is a niche in business. There is a niche. 63 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:58,000 Because there are, I think, three or even four Sparta-orientated podcasts out there. 64 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,000 But I personally had issues with all of them. 65 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:06,000 So rather than complaining, I was like, you know what? I might as well start my own. 66 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:15,000 And four months in, we're very happy to say we have about 140 subscribers on Hero Hero. 67 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:20,000 Every episode is being listened by around 5,000 people. 68 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,000 So for us, it's a massive takeoff. 69 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:27,000 Yeah. You know what, Mike? You're making me feel very small right now, yeah? 70 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,000 Because the Footglitch Podcast has a slower buildup. 71 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:37,000 But mate, if we are a niche audience, then you are like extreme super niche. 72 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:38,000 It's true. It's true. 73 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:44,000 Because honestly, you know, you have to find people who want to learn English via football. 74 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,000 That's not all of Spartans. 75 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:48,000 I'm OK with it, though. I like it. I like it. 76 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:53,000 I think when you find the people who are into your niche, as you said, 77 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:58,000 then I think they will stay for a long time. I'm pretty sure they will. 78 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:05,000 The advantage you will have over me is you will always remember the names of all your listeners. 79 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,000 It doesn't sound like an advantage, to be fair. 80 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,000 I was supposed to be a little confident, but it was a joke. 81 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:17,000 Anyway, moving on, basically, one of the reasons I reached out to you is that while listening to your podcast, 82 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:24,000 and I have to admit, I'm one of your, how many thousands it was, I can't remember, listeners, 83 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:33,000 is that I noticed that both you and your co-host seem to use a lot of English words, Englishisms. 84 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:38,000 And then once you also mentioned on the podcast that you used to live in England, 85 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:45,000 and I knew that I had to contact you and invite you to be a guest on the Footwish podcast, 86 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:48,000 because this is exactly the kind of person I would like to talk to. 87 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:53,000 And on this podcast, we cover different things. 88 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:59,000 I talk a lot about the Premier League, but because I'm Czech, like yourself, 89 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:05,000 I also talk about the Czech League a little bit, Sparta Slavia, the Czech teams in the cup. 90 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:11,000 I did some stuff about the Czech national team. So let's talk about Sparta today. 91 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:18,000 Fantastic. If you want, we can always talk about Premier League 2. That's as good as well for me. 92 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:22,000 You know, if you enjoy this, then another time maybe. 93 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,000 So Czech League for today. 94 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:31,000 Yeah, well, specifically Sparta. I think the main thing we have to start with is I should congratulate you, 95 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:39,000 your team, Sparta Prague, on finally getting to the Champions League again after I can't remember how many years. 96 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:42,000 Has it been 20 years? 19 years. 97 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:49,000 We keep saying 20 because it sounds cooler in our podcast, but technically it was 19 years. 98 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:58,000 So I was barely legal. I was 18 the last time Sparta was in the Champions League. 99 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:07,000 So for us, it's massive. And the most interesting thing to understand is there are a couple of generations of Spartans 100 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:14,000 who's never experienced it before. So like you have two generations of fans for whom it's the first time. 101 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:23,000 Yeah. Well, you might like the fact that I actually went to the Arsenal-Sparta game at the Old Highbury. 102 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,000 I was there too, Zdeněk. 103 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:28,000 Are you kidding me? 104 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:34,000 I was there too. And I'm pretty sure we were next to each other. No, actually we weren't because I was amongst the English fans. 105 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:44,000 I was too. I think I was too. I was sitting next to a fan and we were talking about Karol Poborsky because they asked me, 106 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:50,000 this fan, it was a man. He asked me about Karol Poborsky, like why he's not in the team anymore or something. 107 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:59,000 And I think at the time there was some kind of issue and he had gone to České Budějovice or something. I can't remember it exactly. 108 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:07,000 He got sacked by a text message, if you remember. The owner of Sparta Praxe sacked him by a text message, which he was an icon. 109 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:15,000 He still is an icon. Karol Poborsky, everybody will remember him from the Euros where he lost his Portuguese goalkeeper, 110 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:23,000 one of the most famous European goals of all time. And he got sacked by a text message. So that was not long after that. You're right. 111 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:32,000 It was towards the end of his career. He was not the same player as he used to be. He was, by the way, he once played for Manchester United. 112 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,000 Was it Sporting or Benfica? I can't remember. 113 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:39,000 I think for a moment he was in Benfica, but he was for sure in Lazio. 114 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:41,000 Lazio, Rome as well. 115 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:48,000 You know, Sir Alex Ferguson, he once said that Karol Poborsky would have made it massive in Manchester United. 116 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:54,000 He had only one problem and that was David Beckham. David Beckham, yeah, exactly. 117 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:58,000 He was starting out the very time Karol went there. 118 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:04,000 So we just found out that we actually went to the same game. And I'm going to surprise you one more time, Mike. 119 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:08,000 Okay. It happened twice. 120 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:13,000 I also went to the Jablonec Sparta game. 121 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:17,000 The recent one. 122 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:22,000 Well, you know, Jablonec Sparta, Sparta Arsenal, it's so similar, isn't it? 123 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:31,000 Yeah. So to be fair, I don't want to reveal everything on this podcast. I will say this. 124 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:36,000 Some of my students were there. That's why I went there. 125 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,000 Okay. I believe it at that. 126 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:41,000 And I'm not going to ask any more questions. 127 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:45,000 Yeah. Well, I can tell you in private, but I don't want to say these things. 128 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,000 Once we're finished, you tell me more because it sounds intriguing now. 129 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:54,000 Yeah. But anyway, so basically Sparta Prague in the Champions League. 130 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:57,000 That's massive, right? That's amazing for you guys. 131 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:59,000 Crazy. Yeah, absolutely crazy. 132 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:08,000 And to be honest, we planned for this podcast episode, especially because we sort of knew we're going to go over Malmö. 133 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:15,000 It would have to be a massive disaster for Sparta to lose because we were 2-0 ahead after the away game. 134 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:19,000 And we went for the rematch in the home game. 135 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:26,000 And so it was sort of heading there. So even we managed to get a Sparta legend on our podcast. 136 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:31,000 And we prepared this massive, massive episode about all of that. 137 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:34,000 So imagine imagine Sparta collapsed. 138 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:37,000 Yeah, you know, but would have gone nowhere. 139 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:40,000 You know what you could have done? There is a way to deal with it. 140 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,000 You know, Boris Johnson, what he did before Brexit. 141 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:51,000 He wrote to he wrote two articles, one like one if Brexit failed and one if it didn't or something. 142 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:54,000 And then he chose based on what happened. 143 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:57,000 He chose how he would behave. So he became a Brexiter. 144 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,000 Right. Sounds exactly like Boris. 145 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:02,000 You know, the less I have in common with him, the better. 146 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:05,000 No, no, sorry. Sorry. It was before the referendum. 147 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:08,000 I think referendum before the before. 148 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:13,000 I can't remember. There was an important moment in British politics. 149 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:17,000 And he basically there was like he was on a crossroad and he wrote two articles. 150 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:21,000 Right. And he did it in a way that would suit him the best. 151 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:25,000 He was like this opportunistic person. You know, it sounds like him. 152 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,000 But you could have done the same. 153 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:32,000 I've been talking about British politics for a long time because I'm British too. 154 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:36,000 I have two passports. Oh, yeah. 155 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:39,000 So you could you could have done the same thing, though. 156 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:46,000 Right. Because you could have recorded two episodes, two different episodes with your with your with your friend. 157 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:51,000 And you're forgetting one important thing. Our episodes are usually two hours long. 158 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:56,000 So imagine two hours. I heard one that was three, three hours long. 159 00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:58,000 Yeah, that was an extreme one. Yeah. 160 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:05,000 I think you think our record our record is three hours and twenty four minutes or something like we are not planning for that. 161 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:10,000 It just happens. OK. And every time we do that, I'm like, mate, we really crossed the line here. 162 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:18,000 We can't be honest anymore. But every time we release an episode like this extremely long episode, usually we get most positive feedback. 163 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:21,000 It's crazy to be honest, Mike. 164 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:29,000 I can already feel it's happening here as well, because I only asked you the first question and I didn't even get the answer yet. 165 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:33,000 We are almost 30 minutes into the episode. I think that's fine. 166 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:37,000 That's fine. I'll just reduce the number of questions. That's cool. 167 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:45,000 So Sparta in the Champions League, right. So you had to go over a few opponents in the qualifier rounds, I think three, three beat three opponents. 168 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:49,000 Right. Great. Great stuff. 169 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:59,000 Well, to be completely honest, when I realized we will have to go three, three legs of opponents, I was pretty sure that Champions League is not on the cards for us. 170 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:05,000 I couldn't see us beating three because Sparta is on the rise after a long darkness. 171 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:10,000 After a long time of darkness for 19 years, we've been a mediocre club. 172 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:15,000 In the Czech Republic, we are sort of up there, but we were never really competitive. 173 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:20,000 We got beat by Slavia for a long time. We got beat by Pilsen for a long time. 174 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:26,000 So for us to go over three legs was very like testy. 175 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:30,000 So the first round, we got Shamrock Rovers from Ireland. 176 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:35,000 And OK, I was like, yeah, we're going to make that happen. That's not a problem. 177 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:41,000 But the second round, we got FC SB, which is the old Czech Republic. 178 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:43,000 The Romanian team, yeah. 179 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:50,000 The Romanian champions. And now I could easily say, yeah, I was I was confident, but I wasn't. 180 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:55,000 I wasn't. I could see a struggle. And we sort of did, you know, we sort of did. 181 00:14:55,000 --> 00:15:02,000 We really had troubles with that team because mentally we we wanted it a lot. 182 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:08,000 That was quite clear. But mentally, we are not on the level of mentally of the Real Madrid. 183 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:15,000 You know, I always say if you want to win, go and be the Real Madrid fan because it doesn't matter 184 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:20,000 if they play well or don't play well, they win because the mentality they have. 185 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:23,000 Do you mean do you mean the player like a Real Madrid player? You mean? 186 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:27,000 Yeah, I mean the team. Yeah, I mean the team, the whole team coached by Ancelotti, 187 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:31,000 especially at the moment, they don't understand the concept of losing. 188 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:38,000 OK, so even if they if they play shit, if they play really bad, they usually tend to win the games. 189 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:43,000 Look at them at the Champions League. They won Champions League like five times recently. 190 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,000 Were they the best team in Europe? No, but they were the Real Madrid. 191 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:53,000 If they can do that in their heads, then we can make things happen. 192 00:15:53,000 --> 00:16:00,000 I think but you used to have that you used to have there were times when Sparta were dominating the Czech League. 193 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:06,000 But the question, the real question is because my my listeners know that I'm not exactly a Sparta fan. 194 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:10,000 I'm I'm Czech football fan. Right. I support Czech football, Czech football teams. 195 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:18,000 I'm not even sure it's the best thing for for for that league if one team is just winning everything left and right, left, right and center. 196 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:23,000 You know, I I would rather Sparta win it once than Slavia, maybe Pilsen. 197 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:27,000 But of course, you are in a different position. But no, no, I'm not. I'm not. 198 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:36,000 You're absolutely right. For the for the best thing that can happen to Czech football is you have we keep saying in our podcast five competitive teams. 199 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:43,000 The worst that can happen is what you get in Scottish League. All right. You got Celtic or Rangers. 200 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:46,000 What is that? That league is so boring. OK. 201 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:51,000 And Celtic and Rangers are nowhere near as good as they could be if they played in premiership. 202 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:54,000 OK, of course. Same things with Pata here. 203 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,000 Of course, for me, I wouldn't mind Sparta winning every time. 204 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:02,000 I wouldn't mind it at all. Would it be the best for the football here? No, of course not. 205 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:14,000 You wouldn't make you better. It wouldn't. No, it's it's like we have a saying in Czech, like when you are your king amongst amongst like people that have only one eye or something like it's like that. 206 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:21,000 Like you can be the king where you have competition. You are the best, but no one is making you better anymore. 207 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:26,000 You know what I mean? I think it's called one eyed king in the UK. Right. OK. 208 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:33,000 Yeah. You're dead right. Yeah. We need we need Slavia to be good. And they are. I think they're not going to be soon. 209 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:40,000 But at the moment they are. You get Pilsen, which is being brilliantly managed by whoever is in charge. 210 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:47,000 And then we need teams like Liberace and then we need teams like Olimo or even Hradec Kralove to step up. 211 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:58,000 OK. And once they reach the levels of, I don't know, Pilsen or Slovácko, then made, you know, like if you're battling for it. 212 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:01,000 Wow. They will push each other. The teams will push each other basically. 213 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:06,000 That's how you get the best out of Sparta. Right. And any anyone else, to be honest. 214 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:12,000 And it check football will benefit from it. And so this is this is great stuff. 215 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:20,000 So now you are in the Champions League and your last opponent, you mentioned the Stjava Bukurešća FC. 216 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:24,000 What is it? FCSB? Well, FCSB. 217 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:32,000 You're speaking Romanian to me now. It's not this is not a Rom-Glish podcast. This is the Rom-Glish. I'll make it happen for you. 218 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:41,000 OK. Sure. So then your last opponent, Malmé FF, the Swedish champion, they just they had no chance. 219 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:46,000 It was it was between Malmé or Pauk, which is the Greek champion. 220 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:50,000 And everyone favoured the Greek champion to go through and play us. 221 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:54,000 Even I did. So it was a massive surprise when Malmé beat them. 222 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:58,000 But it's important to to see the context here, because Malmé beat them. 223 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:02,000 The first game was, I think, 2-2, two each. 224 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:06,000 And the return game was three each. 225 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:11,000 And then we went into extra time where Malmé scored for the fourth time and they progressed. 226 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:18,000 So Malmé scored seven goals against Greek champions in two games. 227 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:22,000 And they're a highly attacking team. And Sparta is an attacking team. 228 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:26,000 If anything, what Sparta is lacking at the moment is the defense. 229 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:33,000 So going against the Swedish champions, I was OK, we can make it happen, but it all depends on the tactics. 230 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:36,000 And I'll tell you what, mate, I didn't even say this in my podcast. 231 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:43,000 So here I can afford it. I believe, I believe if Brian Priske, and I'll say it next time because it's actually interesting. 232 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:49,000 I believe that if Brian Priske, our previous coach, was still in charge, we would struggle with Malmé. 233 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,000 OK, so let's just let's just explain to our listeners. 234 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,000 So Brian Priske, a Danish, a Danish manager. 235 00:19:55,000 --> 00:20:02,000 It was it was a revelation in the Czech League because we didn't have many successful foreign managers. 236 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:05,000 Was he even the first one, maybe a Slovakian manager or something? 237 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:10,000 He wasn't the first foreign for sure, but he was for sure the first successful. 238 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:14,000 One of the first ones. And he did so well. So he helped Sparta. 239 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:18,000 He basically came, won and left twice. 240 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:26,000 He came out of nowhere to make Sparta the best team in the Czech Republic within two years. 241 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:32,000 And then he's left under sort of debute circumstances for Feyenoord, Rotterdam. 242 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:36,000 Feyenoord. He's struggling now. He's not doing really well. 243 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:40,000 Well, he struggled with us at the beginning. So give him time. Give him time. 244 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:45,000 But we were left with this assistant coach. His name is Lars Fries. 245 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:49,000 At that time, he progressed to our main manager, the first team coach. 246 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:52,000 And I'm a big fan of Lars. OK, I think Lars is really good. 247 00:20:52,000 --> 00:21:00,000 But it's starting to show that tactically, tactically, I feel he is even better than Brian Priske. 248 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:06,000 OK, so that's why with the two-legged game with Malmö, we didn't concede. 249 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:11,000 We won 2-0 each of those games. And to me, this is OK. 250 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:15,000 Wow. This to me is the biggest achievement. 251 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:18,000 No, I watched the games and you are absolutely right. 252 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:22,000 It was about tactics and he just outclassed or outsmarted. 253 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:28,000 Outsmarted, yeah. He was a chess game and he was better. He was better at everything. 254 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:32,000 Now I wonder what's going to happen in the group stage. 255 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:35,000 It's not group stage anymore. It's called the league stage, actually. 256 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:42,000 So we have a new Champions League format. So you're going to face eight different opponents, each of them only once. 257 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:47,000 And well, shall I read your opponent? 258 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,000 You know what? Make me cry, of course. 259 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:54,000 So I will read them in the order you face them. OK. 260 00:21:54,000 --> 00:22:01,000 Salzburg at home, Stuttgart away, Manchester City away. 261 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:09,000 This is your favourite. Brest at home, Atletico Madrid at home, Feyenoord away. 262 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:13,000 So you're going to play against your old coach. Our ex-coach, yes. 263 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:20,000 Yeah, exactly. And then Inter at home, Inter Milan and finally Bayer Leverkusen away. 264 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:28,000 So, oh my goodness, that doesn't sound like Sparta has any chance whatsoever in that tough. 265 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:33,000 Look, I don't think we're going to win the Champions League this year. 266 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:34,000 Are you sure? 267 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:39,000 I don't think that's going to happen. I'm going to be objective about that. 268 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:46,000 I think we have a small chance, small chance of progressing if we handle our home games well. 269 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:56,000 All the away games, especially the one at Etihad at Manchester City, mate, can you imagine our defence against Holland? 270 00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:02,000 Well, I saw what happened when he played against Liverpool. So you conceded five goals each time or something, right? 271 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:05,000 Home and away. Or was it six? 272 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:07,000 I think it was five at home and six away or something like that. 273 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,000 So can it get any worse? 274 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:22,000 But that was under Priske, you see, that was under Brian Priske who thought, who tested whether we can play an open game with Liverpool. So no, we can't. 275 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:26,000 So are you going to park the bus then? Is that what you're telling me is going to happen? 276 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:34,000 And Fris is different. I think we're going to play counter-attacking football, which basically means parking the bus, but he's going to go for the goals as well. 277 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:45,000 All right. So look, against Man City. Are you kidding me? I'm sorry. I have to laugh because it's like no one can play against Man City. 278 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:56,000 No one's expecting anything. But I'll tell you what, if Sparta can go 3-1 in Manchester, like losing 3-1, then we're going to be the happiest bunch in the world. 279 00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:02,000 You mean losing by a small margin is a tiny victory for Sparta basically? 280 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:11,000 Small margin and scoring. So 3-1 Manchester, 3-1 City. And I think we're going to go like, look, this team is really making progress. 281 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:14,000 And stopping Haaland from scoring. How about that? 282 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:16,000 No, it's going to be Hat-trick Haaland, of course. 283 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,000 Another challenge. You think it's going to be Hat-trick? 284 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:19,000 He's unstoppable. 285 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:35,000 Don't you think he's going to be arrested? Don't you think when Pep Guardiola sees Sparta, I'm sorry, I like Sparta, but when he sees this kind of opponent, don't you think he's just going to naturally rotate a lot and not play Haaland? 286 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:43,000 No, because don't forget that's where the new league system comes in. And we are playing the third game of that league system. 287 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:55,000 If it was one of the last games, maybe they would be easily settled by then. But it's the third game and for them it's going to be first or second game at home. They need points. They need to make it happen. 288 00:24:55,000 --> 00:25:07,000 So they're going to be playing full squad for sure. And if Haaland is playing, and to me he's my favourite player in the world now after Ronaldo, because the Ronaldo era is over, so for me it's Haaland now. 289 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:20,000 If he scores three times, I'm not going to be surprised. His strength, his speed, his dominance against the defence we have, and we have a very good defence, but not on that level. 290 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:30,000 No one does. It's so hard to play against City. We see the games in the Premier League, we watch them, so no one can really play against them. 291 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:48,000 West Ham was recently playing City, and they've got two Czech players in there. So they were interviewing one of the Czech players and asking them about Sparta chances against Haaland, because he scored three times against West Ham. 292 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:52,000 And he just smiled and said, they're going to have their hands full. 293 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:55,000 That was Vladimir Koufal. 294 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:58,000 Koufal, as they call him in the UK. 295 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:03,000 Vlad, Vlad they say. 296 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:09,000 Right, so you think there is a tiny chance, you see the light at the end of the tunnel there. 297 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:18,000 Of progressing? A tiny chance, yes. Of progressing easily? No, of course not. But that's Champions League for you. 298 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:32,000 And I keep saying for the Czech system, the best way is exactly what is happening this year. One team in the Champions League, just to test it out and get the money, and the two teams in the Europa League to actually play competitive games. 299 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:45,000 Because if stars align, Spalavia or Sparta, in a few years' time, they could be looking to go into the last four in the Europa League. If stars align, in a few years' time. 300 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:53,000 You mean in the semi-final they would be there? We could go as far as that, not in Champions League of course, in the Europa League. 301 00:26:53,000 --> 00:27:01,000 So two teams in there, and one team in the Conference League, I think is the great setup. Four teams like that is the best thing. 302 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:06,000 I don't want two teams in Champions League, what for? 303 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:14,000 I was rooting for Slavia, but they played really well against the French team. 304 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:25,000 So you sound like a reasonable fan, because I know a lot of Sparta fans wouldn't say the things you are saying basically. So you support Czech teams, even if it's Slavia, right? 305 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:30,000 In Europe. Of course not in the derby. 306 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:44,000 In Europe, I am all for the Czech teams, and I love watching Slavia play in Europe, because they are really interesting out there. And the great example was their second leg against Lille, where they were 2-0 down after the first leg. 307 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:54,000 And if they had one good attacker in there, like our attackers, they would beat them bad. They were actually very close to beating them. 308 00:27:54,000 --> 00:28:04,000 I mean they beat them, but it was 2-1, so it was not enough after all. But they played so well, and then I enjoyed it very much. But in the league, I can't stand them. 309 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:18,000 Every weekend I have two passions. One is will Sparta win? And the second is will Slavia lose points? And it's equally passionate for me. 310 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:32,000 I understand. I understand. So you have some new signings now as well. Rahmani Albion, his first name is Albion. I quite like that name as an anglophile. 311 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:40,000 Albion sounds like a cool name. I would love to have that name, to be fair. So he seems like a real deal, doesn't he? 312 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:50,000 Well, he played all together for 47 minutes. He scored in Champions League, progressing us into the main stage. And he scored in the league. 313 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:59,000 The goal, I haven't seen anyone score for a long time in the Czech league because it was so messy. It was just like a messy goal. Very precise. 314 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:13,000 Very slow and precise. Incredible goal. And then he also assisted for one goal. So he started incredibly. It's quite obvious that physically he's not up there yet. 315 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:24,000 But imagine if physically he's not up there and he already scores goals. So what happens when he's physically up there? It might be unstoppable in the Czech league. 316 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:36,000 It might be. And for the money we paid for, and he came from Romania again. So the money was in Romania. He's Kosovan. But did he come from Romania? Yes, I think so. 317 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:44,000 Yeah, from the Romanian league. I don't know exactly which team. But I should know. I should know. I can't remember now. But he was the main striker. 318 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:57,000 He was the best striker, best player of that league. So there are big expectations. And so far, wow. The funny thing is that he was the top target for Slavia as well during the transfer window. 319 00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:05,000 But then something happened. They got Hori instead and they let him go. And instead, Sparta signed him, which is interesting. 320 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:16,000 When it was released, and it was actually after the game with Jablonec that you went and I went and the news got released that he's already on his way to Prague. 321 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:28,000 Honestly, my first emotion was not, yes, we are getting a great striker. My first emotion was, oh, we got one over Slavia now. Like we beat Slavia in the chase for the player. 322 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:39,000 That's how bad I am when it comes to the competition. But yeah, I mean, I would I prefer him million percent over Hori because I think Hori is a great player. 323 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:49,000 But I don't understand Slavia thinking that I don't get it. Also, I was thinking about how we actually should pronounce Hori because in English there's no sound. 324 00:30:49,000 --> 00:31:01,000 So you have to say Chori. Well, we can call him ill or sick because that's what it means, right? Which is the translation for those of you who don't speak Czech, which is the translation of his Czech name. 325 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:12,000 It means ill or sick. He's like one of those tall players with good hold up play and obviously aerial threat. 326 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:20,000 And we used to have some of those in the Czech national team, Jan Koller, Lokvence, your ex. Well, both of them played for Sparta Prague. 327 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:28,000 And now there is this Hori who professed his love for Sparta in a video, Instagram video or something. 328 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:41,000 And then and then it was a he was in trouble when Slavia were signing him because the Slavia fans couldn't still I think a lot of them still can't stand him because he said in a video, I don't know, 329 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:51,000 10, 20 years ago that he is the team of his heart was always part of. Now he went to Slavia, the biggest rival. 330 00:31:51,000 --> 00:32:06,000 So it's not great, though, when when when this got released, found and released again, because we have a tendency in our podcast to create like a song for the ending of each episode, which kind of talks about the current affair. 331 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:11,000 So we made a song about him professing his love for Sparta and his unhappy. 332 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:16,000 It was a ballot and his unhappiness that he has to go to Slavia now. 333 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:21,000 It got many hits and views and a lot of hate from the Slavia fans. 334 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:29,000 But you're right. There are a lot of Slavia fans, the hardcore fans who who don't celebrate when he scores even now. 335 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:38,000 So so obviously you also got this player. Let me let me find his name. Elias Elias, Elias, Cobb. 336 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:43,000 I think it's Kabu Kabu who also looks. 337 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:46,000 Does he look a little bit like you? He has a beard, right as well. 338 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:53,000 Yeah, he looks as threatening as me. But he says he said in his first interview that don't get me wrong on the on the pitch. 339 00:32:53,000 --> 00:33:00,000 I'm a bit of a demon. I'm really interested what that means. But in my private life, I'm absolutely a nice guy. 340 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:04,000 I'm like every demon says that. It's like you. 341 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:06,000 You're also a demon on your podcast, I'm sure. 342 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:13,000 And in real life and when you are a guest on other people's podcast, you are also now a nice guy in my podcast as well. 343 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:20,000 It's the opposite with me in my professional life. I'm a nice guy. But when it comes to my personal affairs, I'm a demon. 344 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:23,000 Actually, we have something in common there. 345 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:30,000 There you go. There you go. I think so. Possibly, possibly, possibly. 346 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:35,000 The one thing we need to do with you is to tell you in Sparta fan, you can't be a fan of football. 347 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:42,000 You need to choose, you need to choose. And you are in heart. It's quite clear. 348 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:53,000 I'm not sure. Well, if if you asked me to which stadium I went more to let now, which is the Sparta Stadium or Eden Eden in my life, 349 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:57,000 I think I went to the Sparta Stadium more often. There we go. 350 00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:02,000 Maybe like 10 times or something. Eden, like three times. So there you go. 351 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:08,000 I'm not sure, though. I'm still not convinced. I like the Premier League too much for that. 352 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:15,000 That's not mutually exclusive. You can like both. I like both. I'm watching both of course. 353 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:20,000 But Sparta and Slavia are mutually exclusive. You cannot be a Sparta and Slavia fan. It's impossible. 354 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:24,000 Impossible. Yeah. 355 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:30,000 OK, then. And then so let me ask you about one more player, which is an interesting story there. 356 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:41,000 Jan Kuchta, a player that also used to play for Slavia Prague, then he went to Russia or something of all countries. 357 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:46,000 And then he ended up at all war. I know it was. I know it was. I know it was. 358 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:55,000 But still. And then he ended up at Sparta and great two years. 359 00:34:55,000 --> 00:35:00,000 He's also known for being a bit of a troublemaker and unfaunter. 360 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:05,000 How do we say that? Unfaun is like a there's a French word unfaunterable or something. 361 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:12,000 Unfaunterable, yeah. Yeah. So. Yeah. OK. You see, I didn't know that. 362 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:17,000 I don't have an English passport like you do. Yeah, there you go. I'll help you. 363 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:25,000 Thanks. Thanks for that. So but I think it was enough for him. He didn't want to for some reason didn't want to play the Champions League. 364 00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:31,000 Now decided to go to Michelin, a Danish team. So what do you think about that? 365 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:42,000 Look, I think, first of all, from from the opposite end, Michelin was in the Champions League playoffs as well. 366 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:47,000 OK. And they play against Slovak Bratislava, the Slovak champions. 367 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:51,000 I think it was for them. It wasn't even a competition. 368 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:55,000 So when they were thinking about the Ancarta, they were like, OK, we're going to be in Champions League. 369 00:35:55,000 --> 00:36:02,000 So we're going to pay a big money for this striker who's going to have great two, three years with us before he ends his career. 370 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:09,000 But then they got beat by Slovak Bratislava, which was to me was a shock because don't forget, 371 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:16,000 Michelin is one of those teams who are high tech. They've got like 17 million coaches for everything in Slovak Bratislava. 372 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:22,000 They pride themselves on having a guy who is a coach and a guy who cleans their boot. 373 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:27,000 And that's it. They're like three people in there. OK, so they beat Michelin. 374 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:32,000 They went to the old school, old school, better rather at the end of the style. 375 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:41,000 Exactly. And now now Kuchta is in in Denmark and he's going to play in Europa League. 376 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:46,000 I guess it's OK for him. I don't get it that much. 377 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:50,000 But I think the biggest problem for Kuchta here is Rahmani. 378 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:58,000 I don't think it was so much his his wish to go elsewhere, but he realized with signing someone like Rahmani, 379 00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:02,000 there's going to be no space for him in Sparta Prague. That was the only reason. 380 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:07,000 I don't think I don't think he would have gone if Rahmani didn't arrive. 381 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:11,000 Yeah, I mean, if he still has the ambition to be in the national team as well, 382 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:17,000 which he didn't get into the nomination now because he wasn't really playing for Sparta in the recent games. 383 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:23,000 So I think it was probably the right move from that point of view, because he still is a good player. 384 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:26,000 There is something about him, right? He has got some qualities. 385 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:29,000 If you can use him right, he's a massive player. 386 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:33,000 And look, he's been with us for two years and it's interesting. 387 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:39,000 Like some people now call him a legend. No, no, no. Let's let's calm down, everybody. 388 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:44,000 OK, you can't get a legendary status in two years. OK, you can't. 389 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:50,000 Can you can you also get a legendary status as an ex Slavia player? 390 00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:52,000 You can. You can. That's not the issue. 391 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:56,000 But you have to you have to sort of be different with the club. 392 00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:57,000 You have to be with for me. 393 00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:05,000 The word legend is reserved for people who are with the club for a long time and they really become the club. 394 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:09,000 You know, like people like Claudia Creci, who's went to Girona recently. 395 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:14,000 He came young guy from Brno. He became out of nowhere. 396 00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:19,000 He became a captain, leader, you know, the icon of the team of the change. 397 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:25,000 So for me, even Brian Priske, who is the coach who turns Pata around, he's not a legend. 398 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:30,000 He's not a legend. OK, he's a great guy who I always love for what he's done for my team. 399 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:33,000 But he's not a legend. And Jan Kuchta is not a legend. 400 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:39,000 He is a guy who's played here for two years and there were months where he was incredible and he really pushed the team. 401 00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:43,000 And then there were months where he was totally useless. Let's not forget that. 402 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:49,000 OK, but I like guys like Jan Kuchta, these sort of like twisted, you know, bad boy. 403 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:54,000 He's a bit of a bit of a character, as we say in English. 404 00:38:54,000 --> 00:39:00,000 OK, Mike, I also have to say you've been an excellent guest on this podcast. 405 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:05,000 I, you know, I kind of expected that. So your English is amazing. 406 00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:09,000 We want exactly that on this podcast. Thank you very much for featuring. 407 00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:17,000 I'm very happy to be back with your Vladsiprahi podcast, the Kings of Prague and all the best. 408 00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:22,000 Hopefully I may have you on again at some point to talk about the Premier League. 409 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:25,000 Which team do you support? Oh, yeah, I'm not. 410 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:30,000 I'm not secretive about it. I'm a Chelsea supporter. Oh, my God. 411 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,000 Too many of those. I know too many of those. 412 00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:39,000 It's a tricky one because in my defense, I supported them before they got bought by Abramovich. 413 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:43,000 When they got bought by Abramovich, I didn't complain, I must say. 414 00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:47,000 Are you like me? Did you start supporting them because of a Czech player, Petr Čech? 415 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:52,000 Because I started supporting Arsenal because of Rosicki. I'm not going to deny it. 416 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:58,000 I understand that. No, no, because don't forget Petr Čech when they're already in the Abramovich era. 417 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:06,000 I like Chelsea from the Gianfranco Zola era. He was the Italian guy who played really well. 418 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:10,000 That was the first time I sort of... and I liked their underdogs. 419 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:18,000 Because I was raised in the Czech Republic, so to me, the English league was... I had no connection. 420 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:24,000 But then Gianfranco Zola, I liked him and I liked the team because they were sort of second best for a long time. 421 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:30,000 When they got bought by Abramovich, I didn't complain. 422 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:35,000 But I was undecided when Rosicki arrived to Arsenal. 423 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:44,000 And I have a great story about Rosicki coming to Arsenal because I met him at the time in the UK on a very strange event. 424 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:51,000 But I'm planning to tell that in my podcast as a Christmas story. So we need to tune in some other time. 425 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:55,000 Okay, okay. Well, that's a nice... Me and Tomas Rosicki, we go way back. 426 00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:59,000 That's a nice way to attract listeners to your podcast. 427 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:04,000 Okay, Mike, thank you very much for being on the podcast and hopefully speak to you soon. 428 00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:06,000 Thank you. Thank you for having me. 429 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:07,000 Take care. 430 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:26,000 I don't think it can be any surprise to anyone that the episode I recorded with Mike from the podcast called Emperors of Prague or Vláci Prahy, if you want, was very long. 431 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:35,000 It always happens to Mike. And I guess in combination with me, it's, you know, it's bound to happen too. 432 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:41,000 But we have the language corner and I'll try to keep it short because we don't have so much time. 433 00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:46,000 And I also want to do a song because we had Mike on the podcast. 434 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:51,000 So I have to have an AI song in this episode as well. Of course I do. 435 00:41:51,000 --> 00:42:03,000 So Mike said, if it stars align, Slavia or Sparta in a few years, they could be looking to go into the last four in the Europa League. 436 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:20,000 Right. So basically what he was saying is that if things work out well, if things pan out in a favorable way, then it's possible that Sparta and Slavia will be in the Europa League semifinal. 437 00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:26,000 OK, so it was let's say it was some sort of optimistic prediction from Mike. 438 00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:36,000 But what I'm looking at here is the phrase if stars align, which I really like a lot. And first of all, the verb to align. 439 00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:44,000 So it basically means to arrange certain objects in a line. Yeah. In a straight line. 440 00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:50,000 And we often talk about stars and so-called constellations. Right. 441 00:42:50,000 --> 00:43:00,000 We can talk about stars aligning, right, if you are sort of using telescope and you're observing stars, you can see the stars in a straight line. 442 00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:06,000 And then people study it and they give it names and whatnot. 443 00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:19,000 OK, so we also use this phrase in a metaphorical way. If the stars align, right, if the stars are arranged in the right way or in a straight line, then things can happen. 444 00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:24,000 Then things can pan out or play out in a favorable way. Right. 445 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:35,000 For example, I don't know, you were about to play a football match against a really tough opponent, I don't know, for example, at Santiago Bernabeu. 446 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:40,000 And you're not exactly a favorite, but you have a plan. You have a strategy. Yeah. 447 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:47,000 And you could say something like if this if stars align, we could get a draw there. 448 00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:53,000 Right. So it's like if things work out in the way they should. Right. 449 00:43:53,000 --> 00:44:00,000 There's a chance this could happen. OK. So this is the phrase if stars align. Very good one. 450 00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:06,000 I have to praise Mike for excellent English once again, because it was rather impressive. 451 00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:12,000 I listened to the episode again, so I had a chance to notice the sort of vocabulary Mike uses. 452 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:17,000 And yeah, it is impressive. But anyway, enough of compliments. 453 00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:25,000 Now what I have to do is to basically encourage you, the listeners of the Footgrish podcast, to subscribe. 454 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:33,000 Where can you do this? Well, you can do it wherever you get your podcasts. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the usual places. 455 00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:38,000 It's also on YouTube. But my YouTube channel isn't called the Footgrish podcast. 456 00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:42,000 My YouTube channel is called Teachers Denek, and I have some other stuff there as well. 457 00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:46,000 So don't be surprised. So please subscribe. 458 00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:55,000 And now what remains to do is to play you this AI song, which I have dedicated to Mike and his friend, Petr. 459 00:44:55,000 --> 00:45:01,000 And hopefully it's not the last time we hear of them here on the Footgrish podcast. 460 00:45:01,000 --> 00:45:05,000 Thank you, everyone, for listening. And I'll speak to you soon. Take care. Bye bye. 461 00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:09,000 And good luck to Sparta in the Champions League. Cheers. 462 00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:38,000 We just run Stuttgart. Let's catch a wink. 463 00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:46,000 Rest is not what you think. It's a team from France. I think we stand a chance. 464 00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:51,000 Sparta is back again. Champions League for all our men. 465 00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:57,000 Mike and Peter cheering loud. Glotzi Proffy feeling proud. 466 00:45:57,000 --> 00:46:03,000 Atletico Madrid has got no flaw. Feyenoord Rotterdam want to draw. 467 00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:08,000 Brian Priske knows our name, but we won't play his game. 468 00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:14,000 Leverkusen with Patrick Schick want to draw. It's just sick. 469 00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:18,000 Holland de Bruijn and Rodri. Man City is tough for everybody. 470 00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:24,000 Sparta Proffy is back again. Champions League for all our men. 471 00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:40,000 Mike and Peter cheering loud. Glotzi Proffy feeling proud. 472 00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:46,000 Eight giants in our way. Our best football we must play. 473 00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:51,000 Red Bull Salzburg and Inter Milan. No need for wings, we just run. 474 00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:56,000 Stuttgart. Let's catch a wink. Rest is not what you think. 475 00:46:56,000 --> 00:47:01,000 It's a team from France. I think we stand a chance. 476 00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:06,000 Sparta Proffy is back again. Champions League for all our men. 477 00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:24,000 Mike and Peter cheering loud. Glotzi Proffy feeling proud. 478 00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:38,000 Thanks for watching.