Calabria with the cross, Giroud! Yes! What a beauty!
A hat-trick against Sampdoria and with Milan's first real attempt at anger,
Olivier Giroud produces a gorgeous header.
Muriel goes for goal, he'll try again and it's an absolute beauty.
Safe and big ups fam! Welcome to the real deal, season 2, episode 40 of Serie A Spotlight.
We're your host Jake and Matt and you must have noticed that we have a new intro.
Yes, thank you very much to our boy Xavier for giving us the opportunity to use his music in our intro.
Guys, check him out, he's the fucking coolest.
He loves Serie A, this rapper just reached out to us and was like, yo, love the content.
It would mean a lot to me if you could use my music.
I mean, check out his music and his music is lit.
It's fucking lit and you guys should go check out his music videos.
He's repping all kinds of vintage Serie A full track suits and kits.
This guy is the coolest, his full name is Xavier Topfloor.
Xavier Topfloor, check him out on Spotify, check him out on YouTube,
check him out anywhere and show him some love guys.
He's a loyal listener, good guy as well and banging, banging tunes genuinely.
Hear me now, what a week of football bro.
Oh man, the penultimate day of Serie A, another entire season doing this podcast with you brother.
Always a pleasure and towards the end of the season, they're just my favorite episodes to record genuinely.
Because it's like we speak more on the grand scheme of things and the actual game itself.
And that can be quite enjoyable at times.
We've seen seasons that have become successful this weekend.
Exactly, exactly. Like for example, Milan is the best case scenario.
Everyone's saying what a terrible season.
Milan have had all of a sudden Europe next year, Champions League semi-final.
What a successful season.
Lecce survived for example, that's another massive thing, successful season for them.
That was the goal. Salernitana survived as well.
Absolutely. We'll get into all these details very soon.
But yes, towards the end of the season, obviously we spend an entire season, 39 episodes, talking about what could be.
And finally now we get to present to you guys exactly what went down
and we get to close this wonderful season off in style.
Our goal of the week, well two goals of the week, we've been doing that nowadays.
Do you guys like it? Do you prefer one goal of the week?
I think it gives us the opportunity to appreciate more goals.
Even if they weren't as beautiful, maybe they meant something, maybe it wasn't the last minute.
It just allows us to give props to more goals.
And it's unique, you know. I mean it's easy to just plug in Muriel's strike
because it was from a distance and it was a rocket.
But you know that finesse and the flair and just the... Giroud is a predator.
Look man, Giroud's goal, you see him hustle so hard to get to the ball.
And then just he exports this finesse when he hits the ball.
He gets there like a savage. And then it's poetry in motion, the way it hits the back of the net.
There was only one specific ball width where the ball could have gone without Shesney getting to it
or the ball hitting the post. And that is exactly where it was placed by this 39 year old veteran striker
for AC Milan, 12 goals this season. What a season he has had, man.
Incredible, incredible. You drink like fine wine, huh?
Exactly. And obviously Muriel's goal. Don't you just love when a free kick hits the wall, bounces back to the player
and the player just can't sit first time again after a failed free kick.
That's exactly what happened. A bit of help after it hit the crossbar
and bounced slightly off one another arm. But a wonderful, wonderful goal nonetheless by Muriel.
Definitely. For the betting segment, guys, we have quit betting.
I know only two episodes left. We could have kept it up, but honestly, we can't.
We have these wonderful patrons that are kind enough to be paying a subscription fee to support the podcast.
And it just doesn't feel right putting that money towards betting when we can invest it
and give you guys better quality with your help.
Exactly. It feels hypocritical to have patrons on and to be betting five euro on Verona Winner Draw.
Taking all these risks, just fucking their money away. Fuck that.
We're just going to save up and get some equipment, guys. Thanks to your subscriptions.
If you would like to subscribe and join the family and eventually tune into our lives
when we'll be streaming FIFA and other types of content,
check out the link in our bio on Instagram at, say, Spotlight or on Twitter.
You'll find the link to our Patreon over there.
Exactly. Behind the scenes content. You get featured in our question segment.
You get to witness our FIFA head-to-head streams. Join our Patreon now, guys.
Just 3.99 a month, the price of a pack of four McNuggets.
Thank you once again, Ed, for that analogy. I absolutely adore it.
So, bro, before we get down, I have a few notes. I took random observations from this week,
random pieces of news. Lots of new kits on display this matchday.
Did any of them stand out to you?
To me, it was Fiorentina's. Genuinely, it looks really, really good.
It has that vintage feel to it. The purple is in a bit of a darker tone.
It has that pattern to it. They brought back the white color.
Absolutely love that kit, man.
Gorgeous, gorgeous kit. I also like Lazio's kit.
Lazio's, it was an away kit, right? The black one.
Yeah, it was inspired by the Venezia kit two seasons ago.
I think so, too. And I also liked, so Roma have changed their sponsor to Toyota for next year.
They were sporting the Toyota track suits. The track suits look really cool sponsored by Toyota, man.
It looks good on the kit.
Toyota is a cool sponsor, too.
Yeah, absolutely. And reliable.
And reliable. You know, parts aren't that expensive. It's all good.
Sponsor us, Toyota.
For Seiya, teams have confirmed their place in next year's edition of the Champions League.
These teams are, of course, Napoli, Lazio, Inter and Milan.
Inter have confirmed, sorry, Lazio have confirmed that second place.
And third place is up for grabs, depending what happens on the final day.
It's between Milan and Inter.
Yep. You know what we're hoping for.
Yes, sir. And plus, let's not take it for granted that Juve are out of it completely, of course.
They most likely are, but you never know the way that their points have just been taken away from them and given to them.
They're like fucking, I don't know, man. What analogy would you use for something so moody?
Maybe that's a Katy Perry song, Hot and Cold. Is that a Katy Perry song?
Shout out Xavier Top Floor.
Salernitana survived, Lecce survived, Spezia and Hellas-Verne are taking it to the final day for some drama.
Do you know, before you comment, that if they have the same amount of points, there's a playoff?
What?
A relegation playoff.
No way.
That's happening in Serie A right now between Cosenza and Brescia, the first game.
Is this confirmed in Serie A?
This is confirmed.
Oh, that's mental because Spezia have the direct encounter in their favour because it was a 0-0 draw and the 2-1 win for Spezia over Verona.
So I just assume that now they're playing, and so Spezia get to play Roma away on their final game of the season.
Verona play Milan away last game of the season. I'm going to be there watching it.
Also shooting some content for you guys and for our patrons.
So I just assume they're both going to get zero points from those games and Verona are going to get relegated.
Yeah, well, that's to be honest what I was expecting as well.
But we'll see.
The last day always has so much drama, bro.
We'll see what happens.
And Verona have their nickname Fatal Verona from shafting Milan back in the day.
And do you know which stadium it's going to be played in?
This is going to be probably a neutral stadium.
I think it's two legs.
Home and home and it's over two legs, I believe.
But yeah, that would be that would be nice, bro.
Speaking of it to be very similar to the survival playoffs as our dick nice and hard.
I think he's multiple.
We are Siamese.
No, it's between Kosensa and Brescia and say and the first leg with Kosensa at home ended one for them.
But the goal coming from Marco Nasti, the baby bomber, they call him.
He's 19 years old.
He's a he's a prolific goal scorer.
I believe he's on loan from Milan.
Interesting.
OK, baby bomber, baby bomber.
Very good.
Now, in the promotional playoffs, which are more interesting, that's so crazy.
You had fun to watch.
Suttirol eliminated Pipponzaghi's Regina, thanks to an 89th minute winner by Kaziragi.
You can imagine the scenes.
And then the game between Venice and Caliari ended in a 2-1 victory for Caliari.
Thanks to an early brace by Gianluca Lapadula.
He showed that he was a cut above the rest in terms of quality of this game.
Absolutely, man.
What a game he had to I mean, not spectacular goals, but very professionally taking goals.
You could tell that this guy's got Serie A experience and I'd be excited to see him back in the league.
Or even if they don't get there, get to see him transferred maybe to a lower tier team within Serie A.
Yeah, definitely.
I enjoyed having him in the league.
He scored that second goal was all him.
Like so calm, bro.
He dispossessed the defender and just finished expertly.
So calm under pressure.
Yeah.
Meanwhile, right now, there is also a promotional playoff taking place between Suttirol and Bari.
We'll see where this goes.
And then tomorrow, there is the so tomorrow would be Tuesday, guys, Tuesday the 30th.
There's a game between I believe it was Caliari and Parma.
Two former Serie A teams, obviously very recently.
Excited to see them go head to head.
I wish there were still some of the classic names we remember for both teams in Serie A, particularly, you know,
João Pedro, for example, Graziano Pelle for Parma.
There are a few, bro.
There are a few.
There's Dennis Mann and Buffon.
Love Dennis Mann.
Dennis Mann is so good.
And even the other one, Mikayla.
I'm not sure if he's still there.
I think he had gone to Atalanta, but I think it was only a long.
And of course, Caliari still have Nathan Nandez, a fantastic player.
And they still own some great Serie A players.
And I know they had a couple of players known.
I don't know them on top of my head, but obviously we remember Marin with them.
We remember Craniot with them.
Craniot obviously needs to stay at Monza now after they confirm that they will be staying in Serie A.
But yeah, a lot of cool players will return to the league, man.
Yeah, they also have Della Novanda, finally.
Inter have communicated to UEFA that they'd like to wear their traditional black and blue home kit for the Champions League final,
despite the fact that Manchester City are the designated home team.
OK, well, technically you could tell them apart.
Yeah, you could.
It would be better than the fucking Milan-Juve game that we saw where they both had the back of the T-shirts were both black.
And we're used to Juve in white shorts and Milan in black shorts and it was the other way around in this game.
I didn't know who I was keeping my eyes on.
At times, certain runners in behind caught me off guard.
Yeah, I'm like, those three defenders.
You're keeping everyone onside!
Literally.
Run the other way, bro, where are you going?
But yeah, by the way, speaking of kids that stood out, I tried my best to like Juve.
Oh, no way.
No way.
And last time, I said it's like a child drew with yellow highlighter on it.
You told me off, you called me a grandpa.
Yeah, I was like, come on, get with it, bro, high fashion.
But then I saw it in motion and it didn't get better.
No, not at all. Not at all.
I hate Juve haven't had it good with their last few kids.
I can't remember the last one.
Well, the one this season wasn't too bad.
That was the last decent one.
Yeah, it's true.
And the Adidas have just become very, very weird.
You remember the one with I believe it was Ronaldo's final season.
Oh, where they had the pink stripe down the middle.
The ball was still there.
And then they had the jeeps with the hard black background.
And it just looked like a sticker that was slapped onto the chest of the kid.
Jesus, dog. Jesus.
Spalletti is a free man and has asked for a sabbatical year, allowing him to resign from his role as head coach with one year left on his contract.
These terms mean that he isn't allowed to join another club.
This is one of Spalletti's favorite things to do.
To just be contract bound and like on a safari somewhere in Africa.
He hustles, bro. He hustles and he takes a year out.
Don't you wish you could do that?
All power to you, Spalletti.
Obviously, we like to keep the best people in the league and we like to keep the best performers in the league.
He was the best manager by a landslide this season.
What he managed to do with this Napoli team was fantastic.
Great group of players, but it's not easy to get a fresh new team,
especially after losing some key pieces, to play that well together and to do bits,
to historically get into the quarterfinals of the Champions League, to win the league in the manner that they did.
Just a fantastic, fantastic season. Hats off to Spalletti. He deserves the air off.
Yes, apparently Napoli are going all in on Luis Enrique for next season.
He's one of the hottest names around, especially when it comes to affordable coaches.
I totally imagine him there personally.
Absolutely. Spain manager.
Former Barcelona manager.
Former Barcelona manager, known to be a man of the people.
He had his famous live streams after every World Cup game for Spain.
Just a very, very solid human being.
He's had some success as well, so it would be exciting to see him in the league.
Yes, Daichi Kamada will most likely be joining Milan as a free agent after they secure Champions League qualification.
The Japanese Czechos had a pretty good season with 14 goals and 7 assists in all competitions.
Yes, exciting. Six-foot tall attacking midfielder, known for his finishing, even good in the air.
He looks very, very good. But as a Milan fan, I'm done looking at highlight reels
because that got me hyped for players like the Keita Lare, who obviously is talented, but he hasn't hit the ground running.
So I don't want to get too hyped before I see him in action.
But he does look promising. 27 years old, so he does have experience.
Plays in the German league.
Plays in the German league for Frankfurt.
And it is going to be good seeing Milan sign someone who is in their physical prime.
Definitely, bro.
So the next point I have is Kante was spotted at the Juve-Milan game.
For who, bro? For who? Jesus.
That's precisely my question. For who?
For who, dog?
Perhaps for no one. Perhaps for the love of the game, no?
Perhaps to fucking stir shit up, bro.
Like we know that Juve have pledged their loyalty towards Allegri, despite the entire team probably wanting him out.
Despite the unsettlement there is in the club, a lot of it isn't his fault because of what's going on behind the scenes.
A lot of it is his man management, which he has seriously struggled with.
He's really struggled with keeping players happy for a number of years.
That infamous falling out with Bonucci in the Champions League final that derailed them against Real Madrid losing 4-1 in the fucking Champions League final all over an argument between a veteran player and a manager.
It was with Dani Alves, I believe, the argument though.
I think Allegri did actually get involved.
But I believe the original argument was between Dani Alves and Bonucci because Dani Alves actually knows how to win while Bonucci thinks he knows how to win.
Bonucci did this really cool thing where he joined Milan, then scored against Juve, celebrated, then cried and wanted to join Juve again.
But yeah, respect the veterans.
Respect. Now, Gasparini, his future with Atalanta is now in serious doubt, bro, for the first time in seven years.
I can't imagine Atalanta without Gasparini. Weird.
I can't either, but maybe it is time for them to freshen things up a little bit.
I can't think of a man that could handle Atalanta in a better manner than he can.
But if you look at the past two seasons, they have been a bit of a failure for him.
Other teams have been slipping up and they slipped up too.
They didn't take advantage of any slip ups.
It would be a step down for him and considering the season he's had, probably it wouldn't warrant a step down.
But Simone Enzaghi also plays a very rotation based brand of football with three at the back.
He might be a good fit for Atalanta.
Yes, if you're saying that he's leaving Inter.
They made it very far in the Champions League.
I mean, we had to ask Inter fans about Simone Enzaghi before they made the Champions League final, before they even played Milan in the Champions League semi-final.
Most of them would have said Enzaghi out, Constantin, very narrow minded with the fact that a yellow card will take you out.
He will rotate players recklessly in their opinion, lose vital games in the league.
Well, they did lose around 10 games this season in the league.
But the fact of the matter is they're third.
Now that brings us to the great debate, the great debate of Piole, the great debate of Simone Enzaghi.
What's going to happen? What should happen?
Just because they finished high up, is it a successful season or where their performance is not up to par?
Who knows? These are for the teams to discuss.
Do you factor in the fact that a political decision was the reason you finished there, for example, in Milan's case?
There's a lot to think about, a lot to talk about.
We'll leave that up to the professionals, I guess.
Paolo de Balac was the sigh of relief, a collective sigh of relief all around Rome.
When he joined Mourinho and his Roma teammates in a training session today, he will probably be available for the Europa League final.
Very good, very good.
You need your best players when Roma have been riddled with injuries.
They still manage to use Mourinho's tactics in order to get themselves to another historic European final.
Last year it was the Conference League, this year it's the Europa League.
They need their best players.
If they win this, they get another trophy, second in a row in two seasons, and they get Champions League next year,
meaning we'll have five clubs in the Champions League next year.
Beautiful.
Bro, shall we give them a rundown of what happened in matchday 37?
Absolutely, brother.
So Milan only needed one point away against Juventus, but they got three and they won 1-0 away from home,
meaning Milan have secured Champions League football.
Juve will need to fight until the last day to ensure that they get Europa League,
because as it stands, they are getting Conference League.
It was Inter 3-Atalanta 2, leaving a nice big gap between Milan and Atalanta,
which subsequently confirmed Milan's place in the Champions League.
Fiorentina 2-Roma 1, the battle of the Conference League finalists against the Europa League finalists.
Surprise, surprise, it was the Conference League finalists that prevailed two goals to one.
It was Lazio 3-Cremonese 2, a mad, mad game, including a last-minute goal by Sergei Mlinkovic Savic,
a very emotional Sergei Mlinkovic Savic, as Lazio confirmed their place in second.
Bologna 2-Napoli 2, fantastic game of football over there between one of the hottest form teams right now in Serie A and Bologna versus the Champions in Napoli.
Verona 1-Empoli 1, Verona thought that they had it done, but Empoli gave them a nice little shush towards the end of the game.
Spezia 0-Torino 4, meaning that Spezia have to fight till the last day after Verona's draw.
Monza 0-Lecce 1, a historic victory for Lecce as they confirmed that they will be in Serie A next year.
The scenes in this game were immaculate, the manager couldn't even look at the penalty being taken.
It was the last kick of the game, oh my god, genuinely I get shivers even thinking about it.
Salernitana 3-Udinese 2, last-minute goal by Truste Kong against his former club.
Absolute scenes once again and a couple of great goals in this game by Salernitana.
Sampdoria 2, Sampdoria play better when they're not under pressure.
Bro that's just a nice menu of games to discuss.
It really is bro. Juve, Milan, Inter, Atalanta, Fiorentina, Roma, Bologna, Napoli.
Empoli are full of shithouses bro, I love them.
So last week they had Henderson mocking Vlaavic to his face, he's going like, wow 80 million?
Wow! After every mistake he's saying that to his face.
And this time he had Stajanovic scoring a late goal, potentially relegating Verona.
And he just runs back staring the players in the face and shushing them.
They're such pieces of shit, I love them man. I love the Sampdoria team, Jesus Christ.
Have fun with it dude, fuck it.
Absolutely bro, this is the shithousery, I think it's kind of friendly, shithousery.
There's a lot of negativity in football, we'll be addressing some racist chants
that went on during this matchday, unfortunately, once again this time aimed towards Juric.
You know there's all this negativity in football, a bit of friendly shithousery isn't the end of the world.
You look at for example the World Cup, I believe it was the quarterfinals between Netherlands and Argentina.
That was brilliant shithousery. That's competitiveness bro.
That's it, that's it, that's it.
Because there's no reason for these athletes to repress their competitive nature.
Exactly.
And there are different types of people, there are people who are humble in victory
and there are people who will rub it in, there are the Jamie Vardy's of this world.
Exactly.
And honestly the Martinez's of the world. I love to watch them. Love it.
Same here man, same here. As long as they don't cross the line, I'm thrilled to see that
and actually my truth for the bad guys.
But I think we should just jump into it. We're obviously going to start by the staple match of this matchday.
It was Juve nil, Milan won. Milan get the double over. Juve after the previous encounter was Milan 2-0
which included that mental solo goal by Ibrahim Diaz.
Milan get champions league through this game. They only needed one point but they got three.
This was practically a playoff for the final top four spot and that point would be enough for the Rossoneri
thanks to their superior head-to-head record winning 2-0 in October.
Danilo and Juan Cuadrado returned from suspension but Dusan Flahovic had a muscular issue
with Paul Pogba, Nikola Fadzoli and Mathias Sule unavailable.
Ben Nasser, Dest and Zlatan didn't make the trip either due to their injuries.
I realize that I repeated myself loads, please don't hate me guys.
Juve lined up in a 3-4-1-2 formation with Cesny and Goal and the back line of Danilo, Bremmer and Gatti.
Milan had Kostich out on the left and Cuadrado out on the right with a midfield two of Locatelli and Rabiot.
Di Maria played behind Moise Keane and Chiesa.
This occasionally did look like a 3-4-1-2 and it occasionally looked like a 4-3-3
but we typically did see Chiesa and Moise Keane up front together with Di Maria just behind them.
For Milan it was a 4-2-3-1 formation with Mike Manean and Goal and the back line of Calabria,
Chiao, Tomori and Hernandez. Midfield double pivot of Krunich and Tonali with Diaz just ahead of them.
Messias out on the right, Leao out on the left and the little bomber Giroud up front.
Now early on in the game Cuadrado had a pop at goal from distance which was well saved by Manean
and Di Maria skied an opportunity from inside the area which could have left for Kostich who was in a better position
and would have more than likely scored with Manean tracking back in position.
But Di Maria just does whatever he wants. He's being heavily criticized. He was booed at the end of the game.
Yep, I have some notes about that as well and we will get into it.
Juve had the most opportunities towards the start of the game. They had the Allianz Arena behind them.
But in the 40th minute it was Milan that opened the scoring through Giroud.
Calabria delivered a precise early cross for the Frenchman who outjumped Guti and headed into the bottom corner.
Sensationally an inch perfect header. He did so well to get contact to it in the first place
and the way he guided it into the bottom corner was absolutely gorgeous. What a striker.
He scored a hat-trick in the last match against Sampdoria and now an important goal like this, this guy is just unreal.
Milan could have made it 2 in the 70th minute but Giroud opted to pass it to Salamakas who was in a tight angle
rather than Brahim who was in acres of space in front of goal.
He did end up apologizing to Brahim. It was the wrong decision but you can't hate on Amanda.
Just got a sensational goal like that.
And then the dying moments of the match. Juventus had a chance to equalize when Danilo had the scoring opportunity in a goal.
He got a mouth scramble. However, I believe it was Kallulu who got a pivotal touch to it.
Not sure he knew much about it.
Suddenly, is it a positive season for Milan? They make Champions League with all the scenes, them celebrating with Piolli at the end of the season.
Brings tears to my eyes to see them surrounding Piolli like that who was under so much criticism.
All the players were under so much criticism.
But at the end of the day, Milan made the Champions League semifinals and got top 4.
They get the Champions League after winning the league last season.
It really has been a good couple of years to be a Milan fan.
It has. Finally.
After 7 years of a fever.
7 years of not understanding what's going on.
7 years of Berlusconi, he's going to sell, he's not going to sell, he's not going to sell, he's not going to sell.
He found the seller, he didn't find the seller.
7 years of saying is this the new Milan? Are Milan ever going to be back?
Chinese fucking taking over and then splashing so much money.
Andre Silva, Luis Adriano, Biglia, KSK Honda.
Financial ruin, elimination from Europe.
Montari, SCN, Tarap.
Oh bro, we've seen it all.
Erby Emanuelson.
Fernando Torres joined Milan during the fucking...
You were so hyped for him dog.
You were so hyped.
Honestly, I think it would be better if we brought him in now.
Have you seen Torres recently?
He would be a centre back. He'd be like Basquerotto.
He's like Basquerotto level Jack.
He is Jack.
And he is the manager of Barcelona's under something.
Who recently played Real Madrid's under something at Arbeloa.
Arbeloa is known to be an absolute shit house ambassador for Real Madrid.
I said Barcelona. Sorry, I meant Atletico Madrid obviously for Torres.
And these two are just going at it on the touchline being held back.
Arbeloa is quite a scrawny small guy.
Torres is a big buff guy, but Arbeloa has balls of steel.
Someone mocked him from the stand. Someone mocked Torres.
And Torres just looked at the stand and was like, I'm coming up there.
Where do you think I'm going?
Is Giroud Milan's MVP for the season?
We had a short conversation about this recently.
I know in January I said he was.
You said Ben Nasser was. What's your verdict now?
Matchday 38.
I'm going to go for Leo.
You're going to go for Leo.
Come on Leo. Come on Leo.
No, I'm going to go Leo. Right?
I mean, you have to go Leo.
He's got more goal contributions than Giroud.
He links that fucking defence to the attack almost perfectly.
Like you give him the ball at the halfway line.
He's going to charge towards the area. Super unpredictable. Super strong.
Like, you know, he's the type of guy you can purely rely on.
With Giroud, you need to give him service, granted.
But I think this season Milan have been inconsistent on all fronts.
Right? And Leo was also inconsistent.
Giroud also had a dry spell.
I couldn't remember the last time he scored before he scored that hat trick at Sampdoria, for example.
I don't think he would be the player of the season for me.
For me, I would go for Leo.
I'm going to say Giroud because the same argument that I had back in January,
I think from a consistency standpoint now, you just said that obviously had a dry spell, which is true.
You could argue that the service wasn't there.
You could argue that Giroud isn't a striker that gets you over 15, over 20 goals a season.
He's a striker that plays with his back towards goal, looking to set up his teammates, looking to lay the ball off to his teammates.
I think when the stage was big, Giroud was the guy to get the big goals for Milan.
That's always the case, right?
It is. And Leo did have a very, very long spell this season where I'm just like, sell him.
Absolutely lovely.
He's definitely by far the most talented player at Milan.
He is the game changer at Milan.
He's the X factor at Milan.
I just think that the most vital points came through Giroud this season.
Okay. Okay. Fair enough.
Let's move a bit to Juventus.
Obviously, their season was quite disappointing, although technically they were the second best team in Italy for a long time.
Had it not been for the 10 points deduction, they would be two points ahead of Milan at the moment.
And you could argue that the past three games shouldn't have counted because they were going through all this turmoil of the 10 points, the 15 points.
Is it going to be given? Is it not going to be given?
Them finding out 10 minutes before the end of the game and then getting trashed for one and then their fans booing them and them losing 1-0 to Milan.
Had that not been the case, I think Juve would have finished second.
Yes, of course.
Genuinely.
Now, look, they were very unlucky because, of course, they had many injuries in midfield and they had to play all these fringe players.
Allegri's style is woeful and usually it's hard to watch.
You know what I mean? It's boring.
And fans can easily turn against this when they go and get stuff because it's boring to watch.
But usually they find comfort in the fact that they would be high up in the table, perhaps first, second, making it quite far in a European competition.
They had that. They were in top four.
They should be in top four on the pitch.
The problem is they're not because of off the field issues.
And that just leaves now.
Fans are looking at Allegri's boring style and Allegri's fucking how depressed they were watching Juve.
They're looking at the table. They're getting even more depressed.
They're looking at their European performances.
They're getting even more depressed.
For sure.
So it's just a disaster.
It was a very, very hard season for Juve fans.
And honestly, it aches for you.
My heart goes out to the players, obviously the fans as well, because of this absolute fucking roller coaster that they've been in this season.
It's not fair on them.
It's not fair on the players either, man, who played their hearts out for a lot of it.
A lot of them are unhappy with Allegri, but they remained professional for the majority of the season.
They managed to get pivotal points.
They went those nine games without conceding a single goal.
They did some great things, man.
They went through that unbeaten run as well.
They got all the way up to second.
And for what? For what?
For them to be seventh in the league by the end of it?
For the fans to turn on them?
For the fans to booty Mario on his last performance at home for Juve?
For the fans to turn on Allegri, obviously, because he's a terrorist of football?
What was all that effort for?
If I were one of the players that'd be so pissed off, wasted a year.
Wasted a year.
Played out of position for a year.
And for what?
For what did they do all that?
To play in the Conference League next year.
Enjoy.
All right.
That's what passion is wrought.
No, because it pisses me off because at the end of the day, it's rich people fucking with the sport.
It's rich people trying to get a coup.
It's rich people trying to commit crimes.
And at the end of the day, they're putting Juve's history is so much bigger than fucking Agnelli.
And it's so much bigger than Paratici.
And these are the guys that are just fucking it for everyone.
Yes, they brought them all the success, but look at the turmoil that they put them through.
Juve improved so much from last year.
Last year, it went down to the wire to see if they'd get Europe and the year before and the year before.
Now, they played so much better for the majority of the season.
They're about to finish second, but all this bullshit caught up with them and they're down in seven.
So for what, man?
Look, I just think that it was very reckless to sign Cristiano Ronaldo.
Now, honestly, honestly, honestly, like they couldn't have known that the world was going to end when they signed him.
Right.
Like COVID-19 pandemic fucking Allah.
They can't make money from their own stadium, which they own, which is a rare advantage to have.
And suddenly it's providing zero revenue and they've got this fucking guy that they're meant to be.
And they're like shit, shit, shit, shit.
They're like, we can't we can't pay anyone.
We're not making any money.
What the fuck are we going to do?
They're like, Kelley, come, come, come.
Listen, I need you to talk to the guys.
But isn't it, isn't it the basics of business to ensure that you have enough to pay people not for the next month, not for the next two months,
but you have to ensure that the money that you have and the profits that you have are sustainable.
Now, sure, obviously, the profits of the stadium was projected to make them.
Exactly.
That's the thing.
It's hard to criticize them.
Yes.
And I think at the end signing Ronaldo wasn't even it was less for Juve than it was for Anielli.
Because I remember Anielli had said when they bought Ronaldo.
I remember three years ago, I said in three years time, we'll be signing players like Christian Ronaldo.
Oh, wow.
Well done.
Well done, Anielli.
And look what happened, bro.
That's the ego.
That's an ego signing.
That's a shirt sale signing.
Sure.
Maybe they wanted to go all out for the Champions League.
And there were two seasons where Ronaldo actually performed well in the Champions League for them.
That famous hat trick, I believe, against Atletico Madrid that he scored.
Sure, man, you got your laughs out of it.
It's just wild that Anielli will buy Cristiano Ronaldo for his ego, but he won't do something about his monobrow for his ego.
Is the reception that Di Maria got fair?
I mean, he was quite selfish this game now, and he's been a little bit selfish.
His last game for the team at home.
I know, but I mean, fans were super frustrated at the time.
And they took it out on the guy who didn't get them the points this game who who fucked up that opportunity by attempting to strike the ball when there was a man completely open behind him, Kostas, I believe.
Yeah, it was.
So, yeah, I mean, I don't think he deserved to be booed more than anyone else.
But, you know, you understand that at the moment.
Yeah, I think when he wasn't injured, he was nothing but an asset.
There was there was a time when Chiesa wasn't playing with Vlachovic wasn't on it when Mille wasn't even in the team yet.
Where Di Maria was absolutely everything for you.
Quick to forget that.
It's just the second the second is got weird of the pitch.
Di Maria stopped performing.
That's the reality of it.
Absolutely.
Put him off and you can tell by his body language that he's put off. Yeah. Or he's old one of them.
Yeah, I agree.
I think there's a lot more we can cover in this game both about Milan and both about Juve.
But I guess we'll get into that in the obviously the entire season rundown that we'll do in the next episode.
So I think we're happy to move on now.
As we said, Milan confirmed them fourth place, 67 points now, six clear of Atalanta.
So there's nothing even God could do to get Atalanta into that space.
Maybe you will be given the points back with a fuck knows what's going to happen.
But you are in seventh in the conference league as it stands on 59 points, one behind Roma and two behind Atalanta.
Speaking of Atalanta, we have Inter three Atalanta to enter secured their place in the next Champions League with a 3-2 victory over Ladea.
Inter have done the league double over Atalanta for the first time since the 2014-2015 season.
This goes to show how good Atalanta have been.
The fact that Inter couldn't get the double over at Atalanta is wild for that long.
Atalanta have lost 66 matches against Inter in Serie A with only Juventus having defeated them more times in the competition.
So definitely a dark horse.
Well, not a dark horse because the dark horse is a team you don't expect to beat the other one.
So white cow.
Atalanta had failed to score in five of their previous eight away games against Inter in Serie A.
The most away matches they had been goalless against any team in the competition.
So this goes to show Inter against Atalanta bad, bad, bad.
No, Atalanta against Inter. Sorry, bad, bad, bad.
The Nerazzurri derby, no?
Nerazzurri derby. Oh, we're going to leave you black and blue.
Now for this game, Inter had Correa, Mkhitaryan, Gagliardini and Skriniar unavailable.
Skriniar unavailable, what?
Atalanta had Zapata, Boga, Hattabur, Palomino, Sopi and Ruggeri all out injured.
Inter lined up with a 3-5-2 formation with Onana in goal, Bastoni, Acerbi and D'Ambrosio at the back.
Di Marco out on the left with Dumfries out on the right and a midfield three of Tchalanoglu, Brozovic and Barella with Lukaku and Lautaro.
Martina is terrorizing the Atalanta defense all on their own up front pretty much.
Then you have Sportiello in goal for Atalanta in their 3-4-2-1 formation with Tuloi, Tulloi, Gymsity and Scalvini at the back.
Joachim Meili out on the right and Zappa Costa on the left with Pasalic and Derun in the middle.
Hoiland playing in front of Kupminers and Ederson.
In the first minute, a few seconds in, Inter took an early lead as Lukaku was played through by Lautaro Martinez.
He rounded the goalkeeper and slotted it in.
Two minutes later, on the third minute, Inter doubled their lead with Barella scoring a volley after Sportiello parried Di Marco's attempts
after Lautaro Martinez played a crazy through pass.
A very powerful through pass.
Two very good strikes from an awkward angle by Di Marco who got shots away brilliantly there.
He's become such a direct left wing backman and terrorizing that left flank.
In the ninth minute, Cialanoglu had the ball in the net after gathering a deflected shot from Francesco Acerbi,
but he was deemed offside and the goal was therefore ruled out.
In the 36th minute, Atalanta managed to pull one back with Pasalic finding the net from close range,
but in the 77th minute, Inter pretty much confirmed the victory when Lukaku set up Lautaro Martinez for the winner.
But in the 91st minute, Atalanta had something to smile about as Luis Muriel, who's done virtually nothing all season,
smashed his free kick into the wall and just smacked the rebound.
Wacked off the crossbar into the back of Anana and into the back of the net.
I'm sure Muriel would be fuming that was given as an own goal.
I find it ridiculous that that's given as an own goal.
Well, technically if Anana didn't get attached to it, it wouldn't have been a goal.
You know what I mean? I do get it. It's just unfortunate because it was such a lovely strike, man.
Yeah, that's a fair point. Yes, no Anana, no goal there.
Exactly.
So yes, Inter will finish the season in the Champions League spot
and have the advantage of preparing for the Champions League final on the 10th of June
while Pep Guardiola and Manchester City have the FA Cup final against Manchester United to worry about.
How big of a factor will this be?
It will be a big factor, of course.
When you look at City that are gunning for the treble at the moment, they got the league confirmed.
And now they have not only an FA Cup final, but an FA Cup final against a very hungry Manchester United,
who I believe they won the Carabao Cup already this year looking for a double.
And they're their fierce local rivals, of course.
So United will be hungry to spoil City's party.
City are going to go into that game very hungry for the victory.
But with the squad that that team has, man, they could pretty much go in with most of their second team players.
Their second team will kill most teams in Serie A at the moment, unfortunately.
City are head and shoulders above anyone else at the moment.
They'll field their B team and they'll have 100 million Euro men playing.
Exactly. It's wild.
Inter, bro, started this game so hungry. They're looking motivated.
They're looking so good at the moment. Props where it's due. They look fantastic, man.
So direct. They're so swift to change from defence into attack.
Their counter-attacks are fierce.
Let me tell you what a massive factor of this is Barella, man, that work he puts in the central midfield area.
The way he carries the ball forward from the fence is ridiculous.
He even got a goal to his name in this game.
Fantastic game by Barella once again showing how pivotal he is for this team.
Definitely, bro. What's up with Atalanta, man?
They played a high press against this Inter side and really beat them in the ass early on, dude.
Yeah, I think the decision making when it comes to what approach Atalanta are to take this season has been a little bit off.
They started in this very pragmatic approach that we mentioned quite a bit
because it was such a massive change from how we're used to seeing Atalanta.
Atalanta are the team that will put five against any team that are inferior to them.
This year, they kind of tried to understanding that they lost a lot of their key pieces.
They tried to take a different approach and it worked out for them for a while, got a bit figured out, tried to change it up again.
But you come up against a side like Inter who have all their shit together versus Atalanta who pretty much don't have their shit together and haven't had it together all season.
Then it's only going to go one way and Inter like to kill games early.
And for them to be 2-0 up by the third minute was a massive kick in the ass for Atalanta.
Let's not forget that Atalanta were in the running for a Champions League spot.
Still are. Well, no, not anymore. But they were until this game.
Exactly. So this was a big team and a big game for Inter.
And as we learned this season, Inter do show up in big games.
Absolutely, 100%. That's one thing we can't fault them for.
I know early on in the season they were losing against, you know, they lost against Lazio, they lost against Roma, they had lost against Milan.
So they did suffer against the top teams towards the beginning of the season.
But we know the shift in momentum that they had, especially against the top teams.
And yeah, this was courtesy of that.
Yes, Lukaku has been in impressive goal scoring form with a turnaround for the Belgium giant.
He has scored seven goals in his last six league appearances.
I wish him the best with whatever he does next, man.
It's no secret how highly we think of Lukaku.
Obviously, we gave him a bit of a bit of stick because I believe that, well, with his form that he had for the majority of the season,
especially after how hyped the move to Inter was, it was impossible not to point out what a disappointment he was.
And people were saying he was going to be the Capo Canoniere, he was going to get more goals than Lautaro Martinez.
There was a lot of hype surrounding him.
He really managed to turn things around.
It's even harder to start off shit and then improve things rather than just have a good season all around.
And he showed his mental strength, he showed his toughness and respect to him.
I hope whatever is next for him, he'll have great success.
Yes, he has made it clear that he wants to stay at Inter.
We'll see if Inter can actually accommodate that.
Yeah.
Inter's win against Atalanta marked the anniversary of their first Serie A title win on May 26, 1963. Fun fact over there.
Very fun fact. Thank you, Jake.
Yeah, no problem, buddy.
So I'm just going to run you through where they stand in the table as I buy time using this extended speech.
Inter are currently third with 69 points, while Atalanta are in fifth with 61 points.
They will have to fight to earn that Europa League spot as a loss in their last game might mean that they will fall to the Conference League spot if Roma and Juve win.
Yeah, still an improvement from last year where Fiorentina will be Conference League ahead of them as they finished in eighth.
The next game we're going to be covering is Fiorentina 2-1 Roma.
The previous encounter was a 2-0 victory for Roma, so one apiece this year.
As I mentioned earlier, it was the Conference League finalists against the Europa League finalists.
Now Roma fumbled an early lead and conceded two late goals courtesy of Luka Jovovich and Jonathan Icone, ruling Roma out for the race of top four, giving Fiorentina a morale boosting victory.
The Viola were beaten 2-1 by Inter on Wednesday in the Coppa Italia final and are now preparing for a Conference League final against West Ham on June 7 while the Giallorossi play Sevilla and the Europa League decider on May 31.
So naturally these both have a very tight schedule, particularly Fiorentina who just lost out to Inter in the Coppa Italia.
It was Paolo Deballa, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Nemanja Matej, Andrui Patricio that were left behind with the season already over for Marash Kumballa and Rick Carsdorp.
Kumballa, my lord. Kumballa, my lord, bro. Kumballa, obviously.
For Fiorentina it was a 4-2-3-1 formation with Ciro Foligni in goal and a back line of Biragi, Igor, Martinez and Venuti. They had Mandrago and Duncan in the double pivot with Saponara on the left, Icone on the right and Barak playing behind Luka Jovovich.
For Roma it was a very experimental 4-1-4-1 formation with Svilar in goal and a back line of Missori, Smolling, Lorente and Zalevski. Tahirovich in that defensive midfield role with Solbakken on the right, El-Sharawi on the left, Bove and Wijnaldum playing behind Bellotti.
I don't remember Missori, what did she used to teach?
Geography.
In the 11th minute El-Sharawi opened the scoring as Solbakken headed Bellotti's cross to El-Sharawi who finished into an empty net 1-0 to Roma early on.
You know that typically means good news for Roma.
In the 25th minute Solbakken's rebound from Wijnaldum's strike was cleared off the line by Martina Skvarta keeping Fiorentina in the game.
Late in the first half Ciro Foligni denied both El-Sharawi and Bellotti with two solid saves once again keeping La Viola in the game.
In the 54th minute Jovic had the opportunity to equalise after a shift in momentum, it was Iconi who put it on a plate for him but he lost his footing and failed to make any significant connection with the ball.
In the 85th Jovic redeemed himself after Kouames' cross from the right was knocked down by a towering Mandragora header finding Jovic to tap in from close range making it 1-1 late on in the 85th minute.
Two minutes later in the 87th it was Iconi that got the winner for Fiorentina, third-sitch cross from the left found Kouames header down and Iconi finished it from point-blank range.
Three very similar goals over here, classic cross to the far post, header down and the big man gets the ball into the back of the net.
Now typically this season we're used to seeing Roma playing that three in the back formation.
I know that they've been going through a lot of squad rotation, a lot of injuries, a lot of competitions but Mourinho's decision to opt for a four at the back formation was obviously and naturally quite risky and this was always going to be a factor,
especially them being such a defensive side, they didn't manage to show their defensive strength over here.
Do you think it was the right decision by Mourinho to try something like that so late on in the season?
So Mourinho almost got away with murder again, under the goal and then just holding out the lead or trying to hold on to that slender lead and going all the way but at the end they just fucking caught them off guard,
they managed to get an equaliser, Roma were frustrated, they're like oh no we've just let it slip and then bang they hit them again.
And Fiorentina play a lovely brand of football and I don't know, I don't really see a problem with how Mourinho has been setting up.
I mean he's often fielded these guys, now it's a team, it's a squad like we've seen Tahirovic, we've seen Saul Backen, we've seen Bove, we've seen them all season, Miss Sorry is the only one.
Llorente, we haven't seen much of this season.
But when he played he was okay.
He played decently, I think it was more the system that kind of let them down in one way rather than let them down I just think Fiorentina did a great job towards the end of the game to go so direct against this back four,
the way they were knocking the balls into the middle knowing that there weren't those three giants in the box just heading the balls away.
Obviously we know Mantrini, Smalling and the Banias are very good in the air and this time they had just Llorente and Smalling so they really tried to capitalise over there.
Mourinho has been talking about moving away from the three at the back formation.
Has he?
Yeah, he likes playing with four at the back but he believes it requires more quality.
Which is true.
Yeah it is true, I think the three at the back suits Roma right now but maybe long term he's looking to change things up, maybe he sees more success with the four at the back.
If you look at how thin the squad has become with injury and form issues a three at the back formation would probably suffice.
Yeah I think it could. Obviously I'm not criticising Mourinho for starting with four at the back, we know he put all of his chips in the Europa League table,
we know that long term that might not be that sustainable, they are playing Sevilla in the final.
He was filming when he found out that you were docked points and they had a chance the entire time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You were imagined.
Like he's right.
You can't say that Mourinho wasn't right about that, he was intelligent to say, alright ditch this, go for this because we're not going to make this.
Why are we going to keep training our asses off getting more injuries, getting more fatigued players on the chance that we'll miss out on both of them.
He put his chips in one basket, at the end of the day it's what a manager has to decide.
One positive that Roma fans can take away from this result is that once again El Sharawi found himself on the score sheet.
How good has he been in the past few games for Roma bro?
Look, he's been productive.
Good, I'm not sure.
Good, because I don't really watch El Sharawi and think like, wow, this guy is really making the difference.
I think he's a cog in Mourinho's system and his productivity isn't bad.
But for example, I've seen links with him returning to Milan on a boss man, on a free transfer.
And that is something that I think would not improve Milan greatly at all, El Sharawi.
I think it would be a messias level.
I think messias could be doing what El Sharawi is doing at Roma, for example.
I think I disagree a little bit, man.
I think he has a bit more quality about him, El Sharawi.
He has way more experience in the league as well.
And I think he's shown his quality in the past few games.
He's very versatile.
He's been playing as a left wing back.
He's been playing as a left winger.
We see him cutting in a lot and finding himself in front of the goalkeeper in dangerous areas.
I think as a squad player, he's an asset to anyone, to be fair, especially if Milan, for example, are getting rid of Rebic.
Then he's a good guy to get in on a free.
Perhaps.
It just depends on who else there is, because what we've learned, bro, from supporting Milan is that you might have Leo, for example.
But these guys get hurt, bro.
These guys play all the time, you know, and they will get hurt.
So your reserves are people that at the end of the day, if you are facing someone in a Champions League semi-final, you're going to have to rely on them.
Because coming into the season, I thought Milan have great squad.
They've got Pobega, they've got Rebic, they've got Origi.
But once Ben Nasser got injured, Leo got injured, Jeroz unavailable, and you're lining up with these guys.
You come to realize they're not good enough.
It's one thing if they're young, like Pobega, you know, he's young, you give him time, whatever.
But at this point, like Rebic and Origi, like they're dead weight.
And you look at El Sharaoui, but I wouldn't want to be going into a big game with El Sharaoui as my winger personally in any situation.
Yes, I know.
As a second choice, again, I think having a versatile backup choice is ideal.
Like we saw Mourinho managed to utilize him very well this year.
I think it's a fact that he was utilized well this year.
He had a good season and he did his job.
Be it when Spinazzola was injured, he stepped in as a left wing back.
Be it him stepping in as a left wing when they were playing with one striker.
I think to be honest, it's a good job. Would it be my first choice for Milan?
No, but if the choice is him or Rebic, I know who I'm choosing with all due respect to Rebic who's given us many good moments.
But I don't think it'd be a bad shot for Milan and El Sharaoui.
Interesting.
Yeah. Shout out to Toyota, Roma's new sponsors.
They have a fantastic, a really, really beautiful full tracksuit that I really want to get my hands on.
What up Toyota?
What up Toyota? Sponsor us.
But these teams both find themselves in European Cup finals.
Fiorentina obviously in the Europe, sorry in the conference league playing West Ham.
Roma in the Europa League playing against Sevilla.
Do you predict any success for either of these teams?
Mourinho has never lost a final. He's played in five finals and won them all.
Sevilla own the Europa League. What a game that's going to be.
It's going to be beautiful man.
For the conference league, okay so I'm backing Roma to the Europa League.
Okay.
Conference league.
I think Fiorentina beat West Ham.
I think West Ham might just edge it.
Who gets the goal?
Our guy?
Our guy. Who's our guy?
Former Milan, sorry, future Milan number nine.
Wait, future Milan number nine? West Ham?
Yes.
Scamaka, he's injured.
Oh he's injured for the game.
Start Jonathanito bro, come on.
Fucking, no.
Then they're done bro.
They've got that guy, no Antonio?
Yeah, yeah.
I heard he cuts hair really well.
Antonio's barber shop in Malta in case, I don't know, you guys took it a certain way or some shit.
No, I don't know, I really hope that Fiorentina get it done.
And I think they will be fired up because that loss against Inter in the Coppa Italia final which we forgot to mention.
I mentioned it though.
Oh you did? Nice, you're the man.
Language fit.
Yes, the loss will have pumped them up.
They don't want that to happen again.
West Ham on the other hand had a terrible domestic season so they're going to want to do all they can to get their hands on a trophy.
Yeah, we'll see.
But before I get into exactly where they are in the table, great season for Fiorentina.
I know they started very, very slowly in the league.
It was very disappointing.
Who would have thought right?
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
They made two finals, they could have gotten the double man.
They could still get one trophy.
Italiano, Fiorentina, what a brand of football they play.
I'll be rooting for them for as long as that guy is there.
I need to get my hands on that kit.
Amrabat?
You know man, I just might go for Saponarek.
No, I'm kidding.
I've already got a Saponarek kit, I can't do two.
I quite like Mandragora for example, bro.
I really, really like Mandragora.
Beragi.
Honestly, I don't even know who I'd go for.
Barak, man, maybe.
Barak's a cool one.
Even Bonaventura actually, a Bonaventura Fiorentina kit would be cool.
Or Arthur Cabral.
Igor.
It's quite cool.
Igor, number 98.
But anyway, I'm going to stop reading the entire squad list.
Roma are in sixth on 60 points while Fiorentina are in ninth on 53.
Level on points with Torino who are in eighth on 53.
Just so you guys know, this race for eighth is a potential European spot.
Because if Juve get seventh, or they get sixth or they get fifth,
and they are excluded from Europe next year, that might open a slot in eighth place.
So this eighth place is a little bit of a Hail Mary at the moment.
So these teams are suddenly really, really pushing.
There's Monza with 52 points, Bologna with 51 points.
This is juicier than you think, guys.
Yes, it is.
Like the pomegranate.
Lazio 3, Cremoneze 2.
For Lazio to confirm second place.
Lazio have won both of their seasonal meetings against Cremoneze and Seia,
marking the second time they have achieved this feat after the 1929-1930 season.
I love these statistics that involve these obscure teams that are never in Seia
as you go all the way back to the 30s.
My nun right now will be like, I remember that one!
Who was it? Who was it?
For my memory, so shi- I hate my memory!
I hate my memory!
Shout out, nun, to Joe.
Your mind isn't going backwards.
It was the 20s, my friend.
Relax, take it easy.
You don't remember.
Because it was a long time ago.
It's normal.
Now, in Seia, Lazio have a very strong record against Cremoneze,
winning 6 out of 7 of their home matches and scoring a total of 19 goals,
an average of 2.7 goals per match.
They have an impressive unbeaten streak of 36 home games
against newly promoted teams in Seia.
Lazio have always destroyed these minnow sides.
They always blow them off the water and they struggle against the bigger sides.
Opposite, like Milan, for example, and Inter,
who tend to struggle and drop points against the lower sides and then beat the bigger sides.
Injuries and suspensions.
Lazio's cataldi was sidelined,
Marisic underwent surgery for a sports hernia.
If you add the word sports, apparently...
Sports hernia.
Alright, you have a hernia?
Sports hernia? Okay.
Cremoneze had De Ceres, Kyriakis and Benassi out on the treatment table.
We forgot to mention a massive, massive congratulations to Lautaro Martinez,
who just got married today, guys.
He just got married.
Congratulations, bro.
What a year it's been for him.
What did the commentator say again?
Lautaro Martinez!
He's getting married on Monday!
So funny, bro.
But the honeymoon starts today!
But honestly, bro, World Cup winner,
even though he didn't have the best performances in the World Cup.
Fuck you, World Cup winner.
Champions League finalist.
Champions League finalist, finalist,
and gets top four this year in Serie A and won the Coppa Italia.
Lautaro Martinez, my friend. Congratulations.
Oh yeah, and he's been playing very well, man.
He has been.
A new kind of element to his game as well.
He's dumping deep with Lukaku back there.
Now, for Lazio, it was a 4-3-3 formation.
Classic Maurizio Sarri, Providel was in goal with Hisai on the left
and Lazari on the right.
It's literally a spectrum with Hisai scoring the goal.
Going all the way to Lazari, who scored the no goal.
Now, Romagnoli and Ciasale were the centre-back partnership.
Luis Alberto Vecino and Milkovic Savic were in the middle.
With Zaccani out on the left, Pedro on the right,
and Ciro Immobile up front.
For Cremonese, it was Sar in goal,
Ser Nicola on the right, with Valeri on the left,
and their 5-3-2 formation, the three centre-backs being Ferrari, Bianchetti,
and LaCrosse Ville, fuck your name, Piquel, Meite, and Galdamez
were in the middle, with Saju and Cioffani up front.
Lazio took the lead with El-Said Hisai scoring from a tight angle.
The goal was a result of a quick combination play involving
Luis Alberto, Ciro Immobile, and El-Said Hisai,
with Hisai finishing confidently.
This early goal allowed Lazio to settle into the match
and to control the game.
In the 37th minute, Serguei Milkovic Savic doubled Lazio's lead
with a flick-on from Pedro's cross, a very smooth goal,
and potentially Serguei Milkovic Savic's lost home game
for Lazio ever.
In the 54th minute, this is when Lazio began to chill
and Cremonese switched up gear.
Galdamez pulled one back for Cremonese with a powerful
right-footed strike from outside the area,
and then in the 57th minute, there was a comical own-goal
by Lazio's Lazari bringing Cremonese level across game in.
Lazari literally got a touch on it and it happened in the back of the net.
Slow motion.
Back of the net own-goal.
Lazio panic. They were like, we have to score now.
We have to score, we have to score.
They're pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing.
Wasteful, wasteful, wasteful, wasteful.
89th minute, Serguei Milkovic Savic scored the second goal of the game,
securing a late victory for Lazio.
It was a header this time, and, you know,
there aren't many better people to cross-dude it into Serguei Milkovic Savic.
That's not actually the last important thing that happened,
as in the 95th minute, Lazio gave away a free kick.
Lazari flipped out.
God knows what he said. That guy, that guy, that guy can say some things.
And he has said some things, man, that guy.
Honestly, Google Maurizio Lazari controversial statement.
Google that.
I'm going to Google one right now.
Let's do it, let's do it.
Lazari controversial statement.
I'm going to read the first one that comes up.
2016 Napoli manager Maurizio Lazari calls Inter Milan manager a woe.
You can't say that.
He called Mancini something related to his sexuality.
Let's just put it that way. That's back in 2016.
Yes, and then he made statements later on saying,
I am not sexist, homophobic or racist.
Like the fact that you have to say you're not all three of those things.
Just saying here, no accusations being made.
Nothing, nothing, no accusations. Anyway.
Bro, man, Lazio's pre-match celebrations included a parade of the 2013 Coppa Italia winning team
and a tribute to Stefano Radu who was retiring after 15 years at the club.
So Radu, they were really sad scenes, bro.
And Radu is actually a legend for Lazio.
You know, he's played over 500 games over the last year.
He's played over 500 games.
Over 400, 400 games. Sorry.
How many games does Radu have for Lazio?
He's got 427 games for Lazio, including five goals.
And he was on loan with them for 11 matches. So that's 438.
Yeah, dude, he's been there since 2008.
Radu, so it's very emotional. He was very, very good.
He brought a new dynamic when he joined and has still been deployable in recent years.
I mean, growing up, I watched Lazio, there's Radu.
Yeah. And they only signed him for one million for Dynamo Boccaresti.
But then the permanent fee was 3.5 million.
And they signed him for one million on loan and then an additional 3.5.
So 4.5 million. Back then it was a little bit more, but you know, very, very worth it.
You got yourself a legend.
Absolutely.
Shout out to Radu.
So you can see his teammates throwing him up in the air at the end of the game.
Nice, nice scenes and happy to see him leaving on a high.
Yeah, the best season Lazio have had in a very long time since 2013 when they won the Coppa Italia.
And it's good to see that that was Radu's last season. He gets to leave on a bit of a high.
Do you think they got complacent Lazio and that's why Cremona is a for the back for this game?
I mean, absolutely.
We know that Cremona is never down and out in a game because every goal is a goal.
And again, because every goal means the world to them.
Their next objective is just to get a goal in the game, especially against a big team like Lazio.
That, you know, it was pretty much confirmed that they were getting Champions League already.
So a bit of complacency from Lazio as Cremona is a continue, continue, continue.
Perhaps they weren't expecting that level of pressure.
And then obviously after one goal is conceded, it put a bunch of pressure on Lazio, which led to a comical own goal by Lazeri.
So that's the way it went down.
And then thankfully they managed to get one at the end to make Radu sending off even more special.
And Lazio have actually secured second place, meaning that they will be playing in the Supercoppa Italiana.
The Supercoppa Italiana is being played God somewhere in the Middle East.
OK, OK, and basically somewhere in the Middle East.
And it's between four teams.
I think it's because they introduced that new structure rather than it being just the winner of the Coppa against the winner of the league.
They introduced a preliminary game of the Coppa and of the league precisely.
So they will be traveling to the Middle East to play.
Napoli will also be going.
Inter and Fiorentina will also be there, I believe.
And the games are being played in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia becoming quite a spectacle for football, obviously signing Cristiano Ronaldo doing quite well in the World Cup after they beat Argentina in the group stages and then got knocked out.
And Karim Benzema might be on the way there, by the way, he's being linked to the move to Saudi Arabia.
So they are becoming quite a stage for football and they have got magnificent stadiums over there.
Yeah, I'm really pleased to see Cremones' valiant effort in trying to get something out of this game instead of giving up when all hope is gone for them anyway.
And they're basically out and they have nothing to fight for.
Lazio, it's worrying to see a lapse in concentration, but perhaps it's forgivable looking at the situation over here.
And they actually managed to pull it back.
They managed to actually turn their fortune around in this game.
Now, Lazio are in second with 71 points.
Excuse me if I've previously said that they've confirmed second spot.
It's still up for grabs, of course, as Inter have 69 points actually, so they can nick it out from them.
Cremones on the other hand have no hope of achieving anything at all.
They are in 19th spot with 24 points.
The next game we're going to be covering is Bologna 2-Napoli 2. The previous encounter was a 3-2 victory for Napoli.
The Paritonope were still hoping to beat Maurizio Sarri's club record of 91 points, but Elmas was suspended with Poletano, Lozano and Rui out injured.
The hosts wanted eighth place for the European potential with Orsolini setting out a ban, Roberto Soriano and São Mauro on the treatment table.
Bologna lined up in their 4-2-3-1 formation with Skorupski in goal and the backline of Cambiaso, Lukumi, Bonifazi and Posch.
Double pivot of Dominguez and Schouten in the middle with Barrow on the left, Abishev on the right and Ferguson playing behind Arnautovic.
For Napoli it was their classic 4-3-3 formation as Gollini started in goal with a backline of Berezinski, Rachmani, Minge and Oliveira,
and Gwisalobot-Kanzielinski were in the middle with Zerbin, Ossimen and Gvaratzkelia playing up front.
In the 14th minute, Ossimen opened the scoring, the ball was put on a plate for the Nigerian as Skorupski passed the ball directly to the Nigerian who finished easily.
It genuinely looked like a match fixing scandal.
That looks like match fixing, alright there bro, that's what I was about to say.
It's honestly one of the worst blunders I've seen and it's uncharacteristic of Skorupski which makes it all the more concerning because he's so good with the ball at his feet typically.
That's very out of character for him.
Moments later, the Polish shot-stopper denied Ossimen with a spectacular one-handed save from a volley and later on in the game where he got down well to deny the Nigerian from a point-blank header.
So maybe he did make up for it, but maybe letting in a goal like that, there's nothing you can do to make up for it.
In the 54th minute, Ossimen got his second of the game, Annapoli's second, it was Berezinski's through ball that found him and he finished expertly through the legs of Skorupski.
In the 62nd minute, Ferguson pulled one back, the Scotsman finished into an empty net after Golline denied Sansone with a great save and in the 84th minute, substitute de Silvestri rose highest to capitalize from a very well-delivered corner by Sansone.
Bologna becoming very dangerous from these corners, from these set pieces as well.
They have Sansone, they have Orsolini, they've got Soriano as well, they've got a bunch of guys that can whoop it in and whoop it in they did, de Silvestri.
I knew he barely got a sniff this season.
Literally, literally, and he's aged into a center back and a three at the back formation.
There's no way he'll bomb down the right way he used to back in the day, but still pulling the strings over here and getting Bologna a good point.
Sansone had the ball in the net during stoppage time, but Berezinski had stopped the run to catch him in an offside position, very good defending there by the vice of di Lorenzo.
Great reaction by Bologna, Napoli could have killed the game off earlier and they had many an opportunity to do so.
But Bologna stayed in the game, a couple of good saves by Skorupski after that blunder, and they stayed there and they're always dangerous to play against Bologna no matter what minute it is.
Great reaction from them.
Yeah, totally. They played a very good game, bro, against the reigning champions who must be playing constantly hungover now nowadays.
Gavradskelia hasn't been, like since Milan played against Napoli in the quarterfinals, I don't think Gavrara has had a goal or an assist.
Literally, literally, literally.
Ossimen still playing.
Ossimen still playing, well, I wanted to also say, bro, because De Silvestri has a special place in my heart, I love them in his Torino days.
Very happy for him, he's a great man and a great figure in the locker room, everyone says, great leader, humanitarian apparently as well as a lot off the pitch.
And you can see how much that goal meant to them, like in the celebration, and that's so pure, you know, it's what we love about football, these emotions that you see like coming out of people out of nowhere.
Like who would have thought, this guy probably thought the season was terrible, I didn't play, I didn't even do anything, and then boom, matchday 37, he scores a goal against the league winners.
Exactly, exactly, and yeah, with the crowd all there at home to celebrate his goal, to celebrate our goal quite late on as well in the 84th minute, it's a special moment for him and really happy to see that.
I love it when good things happen to good people, man.
We mentioned that Victor Ossimen is still playing, obviously he's in a strong position for the Capocannonia title.
And aside from that, according to Galzetta dello Sport, the Nigerian will earn an additional 260k euros if he scores 30 goals for the Parte N'Opé in the 2022-2023 season.
He is currently on, how many goals is Ossimen currently on?
20 something.
I'm going to find out right now, don't you worry, don't fret.
He's currently on 25, so he does need to score five goals in the last match of the season, so boohoo, he's not getting an additional 260k.
He'll score four and De Laurentiis will make a phone call to have him subbed off.
Exactly, literally, literally.
Napoli were aiming to beat Maurizio Sarri's club record of 91 points, obviously Sarri got that with Juve when they won the league, but they fell short.
Though their 87 points under manager Luciano Spalletti equaled Spalletti's personal best achieved with Roma in 2017 when they came second to Sarri's Juventus who got 91.
So a lot of, we tend to forget these little personal battles that the managers would have that want to outdo these records that aren't typically spoken about by pundits because all the focus is on the 22 players on the pitch.
But there are these interesting little side battles that we see and I think Spalletti will still be happy with 87 points, although I think the Napoli side, had they taken the end a little bit more seriously,
they could have been the team that won this area with the largest points possible, but they didn't manage to do that this year.
I thought they would.
Same, same. I mean, you know how dominant they were for the first fucking what, 33 games of the season.
Then obviously they won the league and they got a bit lax-y-daisical. Maybe if the competition was a bit higher, they would have gotten it funnily enough.
The gap? Maybe they would have gotten 91 points if there was still everything to play for.
Maybe if Milan were stronger or Inter were stronger or Roma were stronger, Juve didn't get the points that keep trying.
Bologna's race for eighth place is looking pretty difficult now after Torino and Fiorentina both secured victories.
As I mentioned, eighth place may be quite pivotal in case Juve get excluded from European football.
I wonder if they would have been aware of that since Juve got docked those 15 points back in the day, back in I think it was like January or February,
where these teams would have known that that eighth spot could potentially get them something.
Do you think they were aware and do you think that's really the beginning for that eighth spot?
I mean, these guys know how Italy is more than we know how Italy is, not when it comes to the shit.
The fact that bureaucracy is so bad and they're so reckless with these penalisations in the middle of the season and just revoking and giving them again.
I'm sure people have been aware that eighth spot is very important. In fact, you see Torino, Fiorentina, Monza and Bologna are really pushing for it.
Yeah, then you see teams like Udinese who took their foot off the gas so hard man after that spectacular start of the season.
They ran out of fuel immediately like it's crazy.
Literally. Not much to add about this game. Obviously, we have Napoli that are the league winners, so props to them.
Bologna fighting for that eighth place even though it's not looking very likely for them with Torino, Fiorentina and Monza all ahead of them.
OK, by one point and two points for Torino and Fiorentina.
But Napoli win the league on 87 points, Bologna on 11th on 51 points.
Verona won, Empoli won is the next game we are going to be discussing.
Stojanovic managed to shaft Verona at the death.
OK, he had no business scoring.
It really didn't matter for Empoli, didn't matter for him, but he took it upon himself to to fuck these guys and to stop them from achieving safety against his club.
Because he was having it at the end, shot after shot and his pressing and driving. He really wanted to end their joy basically.
Verona and Empoli have accumulated the same number of points in Serie A in 2023 with each team earning 25 points from 21 matches with six wins, seven draws and eight losses.
However, Empoli have actually scored seven more goals than Verona during this period, finding the net 24 times compared to Verona's 17 times.
That's actually super interesting. I had no idea they got the same amount of points in 2023.
Hey, it's all about that Hellas-Verona great start to 2023 where they climbed those bottom positions a bit and Empoli super slow start.
Yeah, with Lazovic's form and Gonç coming in.
Verdi couldn't even feature this game. Weird. Why? Why? Why don't you play?
Must have been fucking living hard on the bench waiting to go full of testosterone.
Hellas-Verona and Empoli have a closely contested head to head record in Serie A out of the 11 previous meetings.
Each team has won four matches and three matches entered and draws.
The two most recent encounters both ended 1-1.
Now for injuries and suspensions, there's a myriad for Verona.
Their injury list stretches from the likes of Lazovic, Lasagna, Doik to the likes of Thomas Henry, Davidovic and Andre Duda.
They also had Bandinelli and Parisi out injured while Empoli had Marin de Winter injured and Caputo was absent due to flu symptoms. Flu symptoms.
Classic man, classic. There's always one every week that has these flu symptoms. Flu symptoms?
He has a runny nose like. You have the flu. You don't have flu symptoms.
Well to be fair bro, these are all hangovers. These are all hangovers. After that 4-1 victory against you.
And Caputo was the first one. He probably didn't play because he might get drug tested.
Bro, he was doing cocaine. I'm gonna take that back. People think I'm accusing him of taking cocaine, but he would have partied his guts out definitely man.
Rightly so. Rightly so.
It's part of the banter that comes along with this podcast.
Exactly. Love Caputo.
Love him.
Verona, 3-5-2 formation. Monte Poingole, Cabal, Hien and Mannyani at the back. De Pauli was the left wing back. Terracciano was the right wing back.
Tameze, Veloso and Sulemana from Love Island Malta were in the middle.
I was about to say.
In Gange and Jurich were up front. Vicario was in goal for Empoli.
Bueh on the right. Kakache on the left. Luperto and Ismaili were the center back. Partnership, the OGs will remember Kakache and how much we struggled to figure out how his name is pronounced.
Liberatore Kakache.
C-A-C-A-C-E.
Kakache.
Cacace.
Casace.
Kakache. Apparently we used to call him Libby.
Yeah. Akpa Akpro was the right winger. Kambiagi was the left winger and Fazzini was playing behind the selfish Piccoli.
You were going to say formidable, weren't you?
No, I was going to say selfish. Because he's selfish, dude.
Now, in the first half basically there were just a bunch of missed opportunities. There was in Gange who missed a chance after Luperto made a mistake.
In Gange had another attempt on Vicario. Montepo denied Kakache and Kabal. In Gange missed another header. Ebué, he had a free header.
It was a bad miss. He headed it down to the ground.
Unlike him.
And then in the second half they decided to bring on Gaić, former Benevento man, Bayern Munich youth product. And he scored in the 60 second minute after rebounding Vicario save on Gange's powerful long green shot.
Gaić was fueled with adrenaline, took off his top. Everyone ran onto the pitch. It was a 60 second minute.
Relax, relax. There's still a lot to play for. And I think that's what fueled Stojanovic with this vengeance.
They were defending well, not to be honest. They were defending very well. But then Empoli's late pressure was just too much for them. 96th minute equalizer by Stojanovic who shoots it.
Quite powerful but mostly well placed. It took a slight deflection of Maniani and it ended up in the back of the net. It's listed as a Maniani own goal.
For me that's not really an own goal. Yeah, then I would agree with you there.
Verona bro, they missed a great opportunity to secure safety.
I mean yes bro, but isn't it the classic tale of Verona who really struggled to get three points in any game that they play? I mean they did pretty much with what they have available and with their lack of quality this year.
They literally did the best that they could. They got that goal. They defended to the best of their abilities.
Then it took a slight deflection to get Empoli back in the game in the 95th minute. Very, very unfortunate for Verona.
But that's football man. That's football. And I really don't think Verona have been good enough this year.
They could still survive. You never know in football. But wow, this season should be if they survive a massive, massive wake up call for Verona.
Honestly though, there isn't a better team to play than Empoli right now. The Smash, the Maj 37. In two weeks they confirmed survival and then they beat you 5-1.
4-1, 4-1. Now, these guys, not to mention, okay, so they had those two feet they must have partied like crazy, right?
They must have celebrated, you know, and had days off, you know, their award, their reward. They also had their key players out, man.
Look at this. They had Bandonelli and Parisi unavailable. They had Baldanzi out, Marlin and De Winter out, Caputo out.
Like you have to beat these guys. You have to get the win here if you want to play in Serie A. And I'm sorry, they don't deserve it.
And probably Spezia, who are woeful, deserve it more to be in Serie A.
Yeah, probably, man. Probably. Verona have been abysmal this year. All season. All season.
Because Spezia have done it against Stalhards, transfer, ban, relegation favourites for three seasons in a row.
They survive every year. One, two, three. Can they do the fourth? Verona are definitely making it easier for them. To be honest, I hope that Spezia stay up.
Because Verona are very infuriating. Not the individuals on the pitch. Because there's only so much the individuals could do.
With the replacement in manager, with them losing their key personnel, losing Illich halfway through the season,
losing players like Caprari and Simeone. And there's the classic list that we always forget a player or two because there are so fucking many.
But honestly, the businessmen that are behind Verona deserve this financial burden of them getting relegated.
Definitely, bro. The final round, of course, we have Verona against Milan. Spezia against Roma. Who do you think? Who do you think goes down, bro?
There's one match that they have to go. Who do you think goes down? It depends if it goes to that two legged playoff, man.
If it goes to that two legged playoff, it's 50-50. It's as simple as that. And that two legged playoff, it could be Verona get it done.
I don't think Verona get it done. I think Spezia are simply... They're both so rubbish, man. They both really are bad.
Because when Spezia have enough, I think if it goes down to if they finish equal on points, Verona get it done over Spezia.
Probably. I mean, they have more quality. I think so. Yeah. And that's the really good.
Don't get me wrong, but I think if it goes down to this two legged match, Verona get it done. It totally depends on what Enzola does.
Exactly. I think if a team in the final match, they are capable of getting one point between Spezia against Roma away and Verona against Milan away,
then Spezia are more likely to get points against Roma who are focusing on the final coming up.
That's a good point.
Empoli are in 14th with 43 points while Verona are in 18th with 31 points. Level on points with Spezia in 17th.
Crazy, crazy, crazy.
And speaking about Spezia, they just lost 4-0 at home against Torino.
The previous encounter, however, was an away victory against Torino with the score of 1-0 as Jake has correctly pointed out.
Spezia level on points with Verona ahead on a direct encounter.
But obviously this change in system means that if they do end up both getting a loss or both getting a point or both getting a victory
and they have the same points, it will go down to this two legged playoff.
The hosts were a point above Verona in the drop zone and had Amian back from suspension.
Mattia Caldara joined the mill home, João Mutinho and Jacopo Sala on the treatment table.
Toro were still in with a shout of 8th place and a potential conference dequalification but Radonjic was out injured for them.
For Spezia, it was a 3-5-2 formation with Drangowski in goal and a backline of Nicolao, Ampado and Wisniewski.
Reka started on the left with Amian on the right and a midfield three of Ekdal, Esposito and Borabja with Inzola and Gjasi playing up front.
We hadn't seen that in a while, Gjasi being played anywhere in the midfield and it's refreshing to see these two up front together
just because of the history that they have up front together.
Torino lined up in a 3-4-2 formation with Vanja in goal and a backline of Schuurs, Bonjurna and Rodriguez.
They had Shingo out on the right, Voivod out on the left and Illich and Richie in the middle.
What a lovely midfield too that is. Mirantchuk on the right, Vlasic on the left and Sanabria up front.
That is actually such a nice team man that Torino have.
In the 14th minute Mirantchuk almost opened the scoring with a lovely left-footed curler which hit the woodwork.
In the 23rd Torino got the first goal of the game as Wisniewski scored an own goal.
Illich's well-delivered corner found Shingo who strike deflected in off the arm of Wisniewski going down as an own goal.
Spezia were awarded a penalty in the 34th minute when Bonjurna pulled back Inzola by the arm.
However, after a VAR review the penalty decision was revoked as there was a prior handball by Gjasi before the foul on Inzola.
As a result the initial penalty decision was overturned and instead a free kick was awarded to Torino.
In the 46th minute still in the first half Voivoda hit the post after some trickery and a long-range low drive.
Would have been his first goal in more than two years and it would have been nice to see him get it.
In the 71st minute it took until the 71st minute for Torino to make it too and it was Ricci this time a magical goal by Torino.
Brilliant work by Sanabria to skip past his opponents and give the ball to Vlasic.
Vlasic found Ricci intelligently centrally just inside the area who finished into the top corner leaving Drogonovski rooted to the spot.
Just four minutes later in the 75th minute Illich got a goal.
Vlasic found Illich from the byline who finished in the bottom corner of the near post. Ex-Verona player doing his former team a solid.
That's two assists by Vlasic in a row by the way as well a great performance by him.
In the 96th minute Karamo made it four thanks to a Sanabria assist.
A Torino counter-attack resulted in a 3v2 situation where Sanabria played Karamo through who finished into the bottom corner.
Now pretty much unfortunately the talking points are all revolving around what we just spoke about about Verona and Spezia and formerly what we said about the race the eighth spot.
So the only thing I have really to mention in this game is another unfortunate incident that happened in Serie A.
Once again it seems like it's happening week after week. We saw it happen in Spain with Vinicius Jr. as well.
We've seen it happen in the Premier League as well this season with all these racist chants and racist banners and whatever taking place in the pitch.
I was happy to see that in a Premier League match certain individuals who were shouting racist chants so on so forth to certain players were identified and they were handed lifetime bans.
They did it in Germany as well and they did it in Spain they did it in England. Come on Serie A.
I'm sure you have the technology to identify the offenders banned them from the stadium for life and that will stop people from doing it because people want to go back to the stadium.
They could give us seven angles of how the ball didn't cross the line. You can't identify some guys in the pitch.
The players are pointing at them. This is what happened. So during the match an unfortunate incident occurred as some Spezia fans behind the Torino bench.
Behind the Torino bench so very close to the stadium directed racist abuse at Torino coach Ivan Juric.
The match was temporarily halted just before halftime and Giassi, a player from Spezia approached his own fans and urged them to stop the abusive behaviour.
A statement was read over the loudspeaker addressing the incident and play eventually resumed.
This incident highlighted the ongoing issue of racism in football and its negative impact on the game.
Hopefully these individuals will be identified banned for life and maybe even spat on.
Because fuck these motherfuckers why do you go to games? Why do you go to games?
You're a Spezia fan and you expect not to see your team lose 4-0 against Torino who are miles miles ahead of your club this season.
Miles you're gonna go there and you're just gonna hurl abuse at one of the most talented managers in the league, an absolute gentleman as well.
You're gonna direct abuse towards him.
Yeah it's unacceptable and it's hypocritical because when it comes to racial abuse you can find every race in every football.
Exactly.
It's so stupid. Like if you're racially abusing the opposition then you're racially abusing your own boys.
The boys on the field, the boys representing the club you love.
So it's hypocritical and it's dumb.
On the topic of, okay so Torino are really good season, much improved, great project they have going on, signing decent young players.
I like the way their project is going.
Spezia, do you know how much Robert Platek born to a Polish family, American owner, bought Spezia for in 2021?
A monthly payment of 399.
Patreon.
The price of...
Behind the scenes content, FIFA content, come on I'm gonna be...
You get to see the process of me drawing the cover art.
Oh man it's just 399. Like get yourself off of McDonald's and get yourself on our Patreon.
But no, tell them bro.
You want to guess? 2021 you bought Spezia.
2021? I don't know bro, I'll honestly throw the most random figure out.
24 million euros.
Not that much.
24 million euros.
That's how small Spezia are on the grand scale of things.
24 million euros he bought the club.
24 million euros you buy a player, not a club.
Literally.
Just goes to show the levels over here.
And Verona should not be anywhere near these guys.
And that's why I want them to go down because they deserve to be punished for the mismanagement of that team.
Exactly.
Just for context, you get 25 million if you get promoted from Serie A to Serie A.
In the Premier League you get 100 million by the way just for comparison sake.
And Inzala is worth more than Spezia.
Literally. No no no, 100%.
Nowadays I think their price would have gone up.
Well it depends because they might be a Serie A team.
And they don't have Saponara anymore.
Or any of the great managers that they had before man because they...
They had a few. That's what they have.
They've always managed to recruit the right people.
Semplici, not a big fan, but Motta and Italiano were fantastic.
Yes yes yes. And come on to own a team in La Spezia.
Such a beautiful beautiful space in Italy man.
That should to be honest increase their value.
That's where the 24 million came from I think.
Totally.
Torino 8th place, 53 points.
Current leaders in that race the 8th place.
While Spezia 17th place on 31 points.
Level with Verona in 18th.
You confused me. I'm going to have to start the podcast all over again now.
The next game we're going to be covering was the...
Dramatic. Exciting. Incredible.
Monza nil, let's you one.
This is why you have to listen to our entire episodes.
These games.
It's so tough to choose which ones come first.
If it were up to us this might have been the first one bro.
It is up to us.
It is up to us. But you know bro sometimes you just have to do stuff.
Sometimes you have to do things to keep everyone happy.
There's been a go.
I have the first minute.
Suiteroll.
Suiteroll man. I've scored. Is that Rover?
Oh my god.
It's Rover. It's Rover dude.
This is my dog.
Rover. I found him in the dust bin.
6 goals in 28 games.
For Suiteroll.
So Suiteroll have taken the lead against Barre you guys.
My god.
In the semi-final of the playoffs.
Suiteroll dude.
They had their chances as well dog in this game.
Jesus.
Nice.
Nice. What a story.
Sorry to interrupt the show like that.
But we've got the game on and it's been nil nil this entire time.
Of course there's still the second leg that needs to take place in Barre.
Yeah. Yeah.
What massive step in the right direction for Suiteroll.
Yes. This match had high stakes.
By the way going back to Monza-Legia.
Monza nil Legia 1.
There was last minute penalty drama for both teams.
Okay let's get down to it.
Of course Monza were looking at that 8th place for the potential conference league qualification.
While Legia are fighting for survival as we've discussed many a time.
So injuries and suspensions affected both lineups.
Calderola was out and Dermacu was out.
And Hülmend had to play for Legia with a muscle injury.
He came on in the second half.
But they were desperate. They need their main man.
You know Hülmend is the guy.
He's the guy over there.
He's the gloy.
Now Legia took quite a defensive stance in this game.
Of course Monza dominated the possession.
They had 74% ball possession.
But Legia were tight knit and they barely let any shots through.
So it seemed like they were going for anything.
Even a point.
Just to distance themselves from those two rubbish teams.
Yeah that's it.
So we have Monza lining up with their usual 3-4-1-2 formation.
With Di Gregorio on goal.
It's Omari and Marlon were at the back.
With Carlos Augusto on the left and Churi on the right.
Pessina and Ravella in the middle.
With Danny Mota playing behind Caprari and Petania.
For Legia it was usual 4-3-3 formation.
Do I even need to say the back line?
It's the usual guys.
It's Falcone, Jean-Drey, Basquerato, Omtitigallo, Askelson, Blin, Udin, Streffetza on the right.
Banda on the left and Cissé up front for this one.
So yes it was a tight game.
Of course Legia shot up shop well.
Monza tried to attack.
They dominated the possession.
74% to Legia's 26.
But they barely had a shot.
The real action and penalty drama started in the 91st minute.
When Basquerato mistimed his tackle on Colpani giving away a penalty.
It needed a VAR review.
Gitkier stepped up and Falcone saved the penalty.
What a hero.
Massive moment.
Legia like oh my god we can still get a point.
We can survive.
Little did they know that in the 101st minute.
Gitkier would give away a penalty by handling the ball in the area.
Lorenzo Colombo the youngster speaking of baby bombers.
That's a baby bomber right there.
Lorenzo Colombo on loan from Milan.
He stepped up.
Lots of pressure with the fans right behind the goal.
A long wait as usual man.
He shoots and he scores to confirm Legia's safety and the scenes were immaculate.
You see the manager collapse to his knees.
He couldn't even watch.
It was just an amazing spectacle to watch.
I'm very happy that Legia have stayed up because they've been good.
They've been organized and there's clearly potential over here.
With a few installments in the team I like the fact that they have consistency.
They have the personnel that they rely on.
Now all they need is to bring in a few pieces and try to hold on to what they have.
They've got a great goalkeeper.
It's no secret as well.
I'm a massive fan of Falcone.
I thought he should have been Sampdoria's number one ahead of Audero.
That's how good I think he is.
Audero is a fine goalkeeper.
That back line, Jean-Drey Basquerotto, Umtiti and Gallo.
I mean it's not easy to just get promoted as a team and show all your faith in four guys
with only one real installment in Umtiti.
Jean-Drey Basquerotto and Gallo led your players through and through.
Even Askelsson, Blin and Oudan.
Oudan was the only player brought in.
Streffetza, Banda, Sissade.
Not to mention Hülmend.
They did it with their guys.
Hülmend, they did it with their guys.
Di Francesco.
So that's why I like them.
And they were super solid.
Very good from set pieces with Basquerotto towering over everyone.
And they just did what they had to do.
They had a very tough time in the second half of the season.
They had a very good start to the season.
That first game against Inter where they had all those injuries in defense
and Inter only managed to find a late goal to get the victory over them.
They had shut up shop really well.
They did a great job after that.
Gave everyone a tough time.
And they got their special moment.
It took a depressing couple of moments for one of the Monza players in Guitkier
who didn't have many chances this season.
Man of the match for Aletschia.
Definitely missing the penalty and then giving away a penalty that they converted.
What was the video Monza had put up on social media?
One kiss is all it takes.
Fall in love with me whenever Guitkier scores.
Aletschia have actually never conceded more than two goals in a game.
Douglas goes to Shahogat.
Their back line is a few offensive changes and they'll be good to go
if they manage to hang on to everyone.
So yes, after this intense dramatic encounter, the current standings are...
You're so good at this.
Thank you very much.
I'm sure everyone knows that.
Look at this guy buying time.
Aletschia are in 16th with 36 points while Monza are in 10th with 52 points.
That 8th space is still up for grabs for them depending on what Torino and Fiorentina do of course.
The penultimate game we're going to be covering was Salernitana's dramatic 3-2 victory over Odinese.
This is what we fucking left for the end, man.
All these bloody bangers.
It was a 3-2 victory for Salernitana over Odinese.
In Salerno, the previous encounter was a 0-0 draw between both these sides.
Because of this victory, Salernitana confirmed that they'll be staying in Serie A for their third consecutive season.
Yeah, I mean, there was no doubt over there.
I think from both our ends they've been so good.
But the fact that they got a victory in this manner over Odinese just fucking confirmed that, to be honest.
The hosts had Nilulic and Gjomber suspended plus Fazio, Valencia and top scorer Bula Edea injured.
And then as well, Lovato pulled out in the warm-up adding to the issues.
So everything was against Salernitana coming into this game.
Udolgier set out a ban for the Fruilani with Isaac's success, Ebosse, De La Feu, Ezeebwe and Pafundi unavailable.
Salernitana played a 3-4-1 formation with Fiorellongole and a backline of Pirola, Trusteckong and Bron.
Madzocchi on the left, Castanos on the right with Koulibaly and Villene and the middle.
Bothheim started on the left of Piontek and Dreva on the right of Piontek.
And guess who was up front? Piontek.
Udineze played a 3-4-1 formation with Silvestri in goal and a backline of Peres, Bijole and Mazina.
Pereira on the right, Zieglar on the left. Good to see Zieglar.
And a midfield three of Samardzic, Wallace and Lovric with Thuvan playing behind Nesterovski who features in the last four games of every season.
Zieglar opened the scoring for Udineze in the 24th minute.
It was Samardzic's strike that played ping-pong with two Salernitana defenders before falling to Sandy Lovric who intelligently tripped the ball through to Zieglar who finished well.
There even seemed to be a handball in the ping-pong moment on Bron but advantage was played and Zieglar netted.
In the 30th minute, just six minutes later, Nesterovski made it 2-4 Udineze, Salernitana finding themselves 2-0 down at home just 30 minutes into the game.
Thuvan unleashed Pereira with a super through ball and the captain unselfishly squared it to Nesterovski who finished into an empty net.
Just before half-time in the 42nd minute, however, Salernitana pulled one back through Castanos.
Castanos left Silvestri rooted to the spot with a spectacular left-footed curling strike into the top corner from just inside the area after being found intelligently by Candreva.
In the 57th minute then, it was the assistor that turned into goal scorer as Candreva scored.
It was Mazzocchi who laid off a free-kick to Candreva who struck the ball cleanly with power into the keeper's direction and into the back of the net.
Fantastic goal, it's not easy to beat Silvestri in that manner.
In the 78th minute, Arslan had the opportunity to put Udineze back in front but he missed an open goal, skying it after a square ball by Beato.
In the 86th minute, Ziegler received the second yellow after losing possession and pulling Lervolino to the ground.
Who would have thought that a red card in the 86th minute would change the game?
It was the 96th minute that former Udineze player Troust Ekong scored after a Sambia assist.
The scenes were absolutely immaculate, you are here watching the game with my good friend Adam Ryan who works with me, he's a beautiful soul.
I was showering because I had an all nighter the night before and I was absolutely disgusting.
Similar to now bro, because you smell like shit.
Ah come on bro, I had a tough day.
A wonderful deep in-swinging cross by Sambia fell perfectly into the path of an oncoming Troust Ekong who guided the ball in off the post to secure a last-minute victory for Salahinitana.
Against this former club. I doubt they would have been in any danger but they celebrated as though they were in danger and that they got three points that secured survival for them.
Man what a comeback, what a comeback. The Salahinitana team this season has once again proven all the haters and all the doubters wrong.
At the beginning of the season I was re-listening to our first episode of our predictions.
I had Salahinitana to finish in that last relegation spot.
Oh you idiot.
It was between them and Spezia on my prediction.
And I just edged Salahinitana because of Spezia's street smarts to actually survive.
I'm very happy to see that I was wrong because I have fallen in love with Salahinitana.
They're one of my favourite teams to watch. Their stadium is amazing, the fans are amazing, the vibes are impeccable.
Through Stekong's goal at the end it just shows the passion of Salerno and all the people of Salerno and this team.
And the storyline is just incredible.
Because he was there right?
He was there and not only was he there but he had that whole Watford, Odinese, Potsatien going on.
So I think people that leave Odinese and leave Watford typically have a bad taste in their mouth because they're just used as pawns for these businessmen.
I've been saying this a lot in this episode going after the businessmen.
But literally they give opportunities for players to typically play in the top flight of Serie A and the top flight of the Barclays Premier League.
But they'd have other opportunities elsewhere that I'm sure they'd be keen on exploring.
Here's through Stekong exploring one of these opportunities and just shoving one up Watsa's ass with that last minute goal.
Beautiful.
Candreva's goal, Candreva's assist, I mean Candreva just when the stakes are high.
Candreva's a monster, isn't he?
I let him go on fantasy football and he exploded.
And for who? Tell them.
I took Lauriente instead.
And he dipped.
And he didn't get me a single goal or a single 5.5 after 5.5 after 5.5.
The worst Fanta culture trade I've ever made in my life.
But anyway, you bottled that Fanta.
I took that third place ahead of you.
This is the first Fanta that Drake and I have participated in together that none of us won the league.
That's true.
That's funny.
Yeah.
But guess who won the league on our Fanta?
Luke Mintoff.
It's always a Serie A spotlight guy.
There we go.
We have to be careful who we bring on the podcast next year because we want to win it, bro.
Yeah, true. Fair enough.
But that's pretty much it for this game.
I could go on all day about how much I love Salernitana and how Udinese have been bottling it recently.
I mean, to be 2-0 down in the 30th minute and to go down the way that they did is quite disappointing for them,
especially after they shut up shop so early.
You'd think that they could control the game, but it did seem like there was a massive lapse in concentration.
Udinese had nothing to play for, while Salernitana in their minds, they had something to play for.
Because even though it wasn't mathematically confirmed, it doesn't mean that they shouldn't give it their 100%.
And you would have thought that the 1-1 would have been enough in the 57th minute,
but instead of shutting up shop and playing it safe, Ziegler gets a red card in the 86th and they just fucking go for it, bro.
These deep balls into the box.
Finally, it was Truste Kong that found it and got the three points.
Salernitana confirmed safe in 15th place on 42 points and only 4 points behind Udinese in 12th place.
That's how tight it is in the bottom half of the table.
Totally, bro. Sampdoria 2, Sassuolo 2, a match that not many cared about this matchday.
Literally nothing to say here.
We'll just close off.
Thank you very much.
So Sassuolo have actually won 8 Serie A matches against Sampdoria.
If you subscribe to our Patreon, you'll stop hearing planes in the background.
And that's one they won't realize, bro.
Sassuolo, yes, have won 8 Serie A matches against Sampdoria.
That's the most victories they have achieved against any team in the competition.
Sampdoria have won their last 2 Serie A matches against Sassuolo, even though they had previously won only 3 of their previous 17 encounters.
You're putting every number in bold that you're saying.
Sampdoria have kept a clean sheet in 3 of their last 4 home games against Sassuolo and Seira after failing to do so in the previous 5 matches.
Here we go.
Stankovic, Sampdoria lined up with their 3-4-1-2 formation with Turk from Tarzan and Golc.
Amjone, Noiting and...
Oh God!
Oikonoumo.
We'll go for Oikonoumo.
I want to lock in those lyrics.
Wrong, it was Aisharon.
Augello was the left fullback, Zanoli was the right fullback, stacked in that department.
Rincon, Harry Winks and Larius in the middle.
Then you start to understand why they're a bit...
And then Qualiarella and Gabiadini up front.
Once again, it really paints the picture, they have no mobility, they really can't stretch the defenses with Qualiarella and Gabiadini up front.
Bro, once you said Harry Winks instead of Harry Winks, you've never said it again, but it was...
What a moment that was.
That's funny, bro.
That's Harry Winks, dude.
Harry Winks, but thus he wank.
Consigli was in goal for Sassuolo under 4-3-3 formation with Zortea as the right back, Erlich and Ferrari as the center backs,
and Gereo as the left back.
Just look at the screenshot from WhoSquared, bro.
You've got Erlich with a red ball on his head and Ferrari with a red E on his head.
Like, do these guys... Are they cursed? What's up with their center?
Erlich isn't even bad, like, and he scores own goals, makes mistakes.
I don't get it.
Objong, Thordeswet and Henrique were in the middle with Berardi on the right, Sady on the left, and Pinamonti up front.
The match started with Sambedoria putting some early pressure on Sassuolo.
They were in two corners in the first two minutes with Oikonomu's header going wide on the second attempt.
In the eighth minute, Gabiadini took advantage of a mistake by Ferrari to give Sambedoria the lead.
However, just moments later, Berardi equalized for Sassuolo on the ninth minute with a well-taken effort.
Sassuolo quickly turned the game around as Henrique scored in the eleventh minute, putting them ahead just goal after goal after goal.
Both teams had chances throughout the first half with Gabiadini hitting the post and Berardi hitting the crossbar.
The second half saw fewer clear-cut chances but Sambedoria managed to equalize in the 78th minute through an own goal by Erlich.
The match ended in a 2-2 draw, meaning that both teams will share the spoils in a draw.
Yeah, absolutely nothing to play for in this game, brother.
Nothing to play for, nothing to say, it just almost feels like these teams are testing out their players now.
I mean, you see Sassuolo fielding the likes of Saides or Thea at the back, O'Biang in the midfield,
while Sambedoria are just, I think, trying to get some value out of their players by hoping they get a goal at the end and they can be like,
he's worth five million, not two, because he scored against Sassuolo at the end.
I mean, I don't really have talking points, bro, to be honest with you about this one.
I'm not surprised, again, this game had friendly written all over it, didn't it, man? Genuinely.
Just a bunch of guys hanging out, playing some football, you know, both teams start with an S.
Derby, obviously the classic Sassuolo need, need, need to invest in defenders.
While Sambedoria need, need, need investors.
And apparently, apparently the Leeds guy is buying Sambedoria, bro, the owner of Leeds.
And apparently he's been given the green light and this must happen.
Yeah, he's that Radridzani guy. Apparently the Leeds supporters want him out anyway because they got relegated this season.
So maybe it's an opportunity for him to take a new venture in Italy, get this very historic, beautiful brand, beautiful team that Sambedoria are
and try to guide them back into Serie A, inject some funding in them and, you know, just do his best to make them a consistent Serie A team again.
I miss the team Sambedoria used to be. Same, bro.
Our boy TACO on Twitter tagged us and told us that he started a career on football manager 2023 with Sambedoria.
And I'm going to read what he said. Okay.
I started a career in FM23 with Sambedoria and I'm going to prove that it's easy to do well with them as long as we don't play Gabiadini on the wing.
I think salvation is guaranteed pretty much with Gabiadini playing up front.
You see what happens when you play him up front, he becomes the top scorer of the team.
I think he has 75% of the goals that Sambedoria have this season. I genuinely wouldn't be surprised.
And Augelo probably has half the assists. Honestly, they've barely got anything, man.
Augelo is being linked to be Teo's vice for next year at Milan. That would be very nice.
Hopefully he's done studying physics.
That's actually true. He was studying physics for a while.
But yes, guys, that's it. Where they are in the table. Oh, yes.
I mean, so I think I think everyone knows Sambedoria lost. I have to piss, dude.
That's why I'm fucking so you can do it.
Yeah, that was a bit Sambedoria are dead last with 19 points.
Confirmed last. There's nothing they can do about it.
Well, Sassuala are 13th with 45 points. 13 the unlucky number for the unlucky team.
Yeah. Well, thank you very much for tuning in once again, guys.
The penultimate episode of season two.
Well, actually not really the penultimate because we'll have the next episode where we'll talk about all that happened in matchday 30 in 38 of the of the season.
The last matchday naturally will be talking about my stay in Milan to watch Milan Verona,
which is going to be a bit of a party now rather than a fight for top four.
And then we'll obviously do our our classic full rundown of the entire league with our tops and flops last year.
It was a four hour episode. I don't know if it's going to be more hours again this season.
We'll see. But thank you for tuning in, guys.
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Don't be stranger, baby. OK, time for the outro music. Yep. Here we go.
It is.