Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / DAZN's Chris Sharples on the UWCL Final | Arsenal v Barcelona | 2025 UEFA Women's Champions League

Transcript

DAZN's Chris Sharples on the UWCL Final | Arsenal v Barcelona | 2025 UEFA Women's Champions League · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:03
Hello, Kate. Welcome to Inside Channel
0:06
podcast primer about wins football.
0:08
I'm host Dean of de Suspense. Today we're joined by a very
0:11
special guest as well as my coast, Mr. Grant Angle.
0:15
What's up, man? I'm feeling fantastic, buddy,
0:18
and that's because our guest today is one of our favorite
0:21
broadcasters in media. You may have heard his work
0:23
calling games for the International Hockey Federation
0:25
or perhaps calling Bundesliga matches or the Vanorama National
0:29
League matches on the men's side of football.
0:31
But for the purposes of today, we're going to talk to Salford
0:34
University's finest graduate about his work in women's
0:37
football on his own, which includes Europe's top domestic
0:40
leagues and of course, the UEFA Women's Champions League, where
0:43
he called the epic final between Arsenal and Barcelona this past
0:47
weekend. It is an honor and a privilege
0:50
to welcome back to the program Chris Sharples.
0:53
Hi guys. How are you?
0:55
Doing very well, thanks. How about you?
0:57
Well, doing all. Really good, really good.
0:59
Good to speak to you again. Awesome, awesome.
1:02
So Chris, epic final, historic final.
1:06
The first thing I'm curious about after a few days to kind
1:08
of decompress what what's the biggest thing that stuck with
1:12
you after calling that final? Maybe something that that
1:15
emerged after a couple days to just, you know, kind of clear
1:18
your head or maybe it's something that just stuck with
1:20
you that you saw day of. What do you think is going to be
1:22
your biggest take away? I think emotion probably is is
1:28
the big thing there was, you know, clearly emotion and and
1:33
shock on one side because everybody kind of expects
1:37
Barcelona to win whenever they, you know, step across the line.
1:42
But you know, 18 years on from when football was very different
1:48
in the women's game, you know, and 18 long years for Arsenal to
1:53
try and replicate that you just kind of sense.
1:56
I mean, looking back now, I think you can kind of the the
2:00
stars seemed to be aligned, didn't they?
2:02
You know, when they, they came back against Real Madrid, they
2:05
came back against Leon in the semi final.
2:09
They came back in the well, the playoff for the qualifier
2:13
against Haken to, to eventually qualify.
2:16
And and they had that miserable start to the, to the season and
2:20
everything just seemed to, you know, fall into place.
2:24
And I think the overall emotion of that, once the final whistle
2:28
went, I was lucky enough to, to experience that, to, to be
2:33
alongside Leanne Sanderson, for example, who was, who was part
2:36
of our, our team, who you know, you guys know Leanne well.
2:40
She, she's brilliant at what she does.
2:43
She, she knows how to communicate her, her feelings.
2:50
But she was stunned. She was stopped in the tracks.
2:52
She couldn't when when we when we came back to her at pitchside
2:56
at full time, she couldn't talk because of the emotion of what
2:59
it meant to to to the former players that won it back in 2007
3:05
and then to the fans of 2025 and the class of 25.
3:09
I think that will be my biggest take away from it.
3:11
That makes a lot of sense. And I mean, yeah, watching
3:15
Leanne immediately after the whistle when you kick it down,
3:18
down pitch side to her, that was a special moment in and of
3:22
itself. And like you said, obviously
3:24
we're pals with Leanne, so we're, we're super thrilled for
3:26
her. I, I want to go back because I
3:29
mean, I, I didn't want to like assign meaning to your final
3:33
call as the whistle blew, but I was talking to Dino after the
3:37
match. You build to a crescendo as the
3:40
whistle blows and you say it's Arsenal.
3:42
It's Arsenal, champions of Europe.
3:45
And I told Dino it almost sounded as if you couldn't
3:49
believe the words that you were saying.
3:52
Can you take us back to that feeling as it happened?
3:55
Yeah, I mean, it's a weird one because Barcelona dominated the
4:00
second-half. There's there's there's no doubt
4:02
about that. But you felt everything that
4:04
they tried to do was just not going to work.
4:08
And the more and more the half went on and then they scored,
4:14
then you started thinking about hang on a minute, this might
4:18
actually this might actually happen.
4:21
Like I said to you at the top, you know, not everybody expects
4:24
Barcelona to lose. They are the greatest team,
4:28
certainly in you know, my lifetime or however far back you
4:31
want to go. Just generally in in women's
4:33
football, they are the greatest team with the greatest players.
4:37
And I thought they were out. They were.
4:40
I thought Pere Romeo was out coached by by Rene and not many
4:44
can not many can say that really Gareth Taylor aside perhaps on
4:48
on match day one. And and then yeah, you kind of
4:54
it does happen and the whistle does go and you're like, it's
4:57
us. It is their time.
4:59
This is their time. And everything that was building
5:02
from from pre match when the class of now had those messages
5:06
of support from 2007 players and meeting them beforehand, you
5:11
know, great sort of support they had at the training ground as
5:14
well. Messages of Real sort of support
5:18
it. It just, it felt like it meant
5:20
to be. But at the same time you can't
5:22
help but feel any defeat for Barcelona is always going to be
5:25
a shock. And it's just a great story, you
5:28
know, from where they were. Nobody's ever gone from the very
5:31
start to the very end and won it like Arsenal have done this
5:34
year. It's just a terrific story.
5:37
And yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe I did.
5:39
I from when I was saying it and describing it, yeah, there was
5:43
that element in my voice of wow, they have done it.
5:46
You know they have done it, but they thoroughly deserve to do
5:49
it. Yep.
5:50
Awesome. Yeah, Yeah.
5:52
I want to ask you, Chris, because I, I, I, I went back and
5:54
rewatched the final, the last, the second-half was a total haze
5:58
because, you know, obviously we see Barcelona come out.
6:01
You're you're totally right. I, I would say the first half of
6:03
the second-half is when Barcelona really, you know,
6:07
cranked the screw there. But to your point, yeah, you
6:09
know, you have like, Leo Williamson, Steph Catley, Kim
6:13
Little, all really standing up in a huge way and just stopping
6:16
that Barcelona attack at every turn.
6:18
I think they kind of ran out of gas a little bit too, which
6:21
leads me very nicely to, you know, a conversation that's
6:24
pretty age-old, rest versus rust.
6:27
I wanted to ask you about it. You tried to engage the legend
6:30
Courtney Sweepman Kirk in a conversation about it right
6:33
around, I think, the 38th minute.
6:35
She was having none of it. But thankfully, this is a
6:37
friendly space. We can have this rest versus
6:39
rest conversation. Do you feel like like rest and
6:42
endurance levels kind of played a factor?
6:46
Listen, I don't know. I don't know.
6:47
I don't know. I've I've done games this
6:50
season, most recently in the in the National League and one of
6:54
the teams hadn't played for 15 days and they looked like they
6:59
hadn't played for 15 days and they got absolutely hammered by
7:04
a team who had already played, you know, just the week before.
7:07
It can happen. But these these listen, these
7:09
are superstars, you know, these are absolute superstars who on
7:14
any day can turn up and do it. They just had an off day.
7:17
Barcelona, I think as simple as that.
7:20
And Arsenal had a very good day and they defended for their
7:23
lives. They wrote their look, they
7:27
Daphne didn't need to make too many top saves really.
7:32
It felt at times just a little bit predictable from Barcelona.
7:37
But I think Arsenal were were comfortable in their approach of
7:40
saying, okay, you're always going to have the ball, but
7:44
you've got to beat us. And it's an Arsenal have not
7:47
been in a great place towards the end of the WSL season.
7:50
After they beat Leon, they got absolutely tranced in their next
7:53
two and they were conceding goals quite worryingly.
7:57
And they considered another three against United on the
7:59
final day, despite the fact that, you know, they they did
8:02
win 4 three. So listen, Barcelona can beat
8:05
anybody. Barcelona usually do beat
8:08
everybody in Liga FA. It's a completely different
8:12
competition and a completely different step up.
8:15
I just think on the day, even though you know all the rest in
8:19
the world and what have you, I don't think it it really
8:22
mattered on the day. It's a final, there's a trophy
8:24
up for grabs. And it's amazing how that always
8:27
tends to happen where and I, and I fell victim to it this time
8:31
around where I for years, I always say, hey, people expect
8:35
like a lot of goals in a final and so many of them feel like
8:39
they end up being one nil. And I predicted before this
8:42
match I was like probably Barcelona 31.
8:44
They're unstoppable. You know, Claudia Pina's been on
8:47
this incredible run. Like, how are you going to how
8:49
are you going to account for everybody as the match went on,
8:52
and I'm glad you would use the word predictable a little bit
8:55
about what Barcelona started to do.
8:57
It just started to feel like and Ona Battier is an incredible
9:01
player. Fritolina Rolfo is a great
9:03
player also. I mean, we, we know what it is
9:05
with Barcelona. But as it felt like Barcelona's
9:08
shots were getting farther and farther away from the goal and
9:12
it's and we're I was just kind of sitting there around like the
9:15
hour mark. It's like, are are we going to
9:18
wait for a Battier wonder strike from like 20, 5 yards?
9:21
Like that's that's the attack. How did you absorb that?
9:25
What and what do you think Arsenal was doing in that time
9:28
to kind of push the shots farther away from goal?
9:31
Well, they didn't. They didn't let Carolina Graham
9:33
Hanson in the game at all. You stop her, you've got a
9:36
pretty good chance of getting something positive out of
9:39
Barcelona because of her direct running and her ability to take
9:45
on players. So they doubled up on her
9:47
straight away from the very off I thought, I thought Caitlin
9:51
Ford was absolutely incredible on on Saturday, not just for,
9:59
you know, we all know what she's like going forward, but she
10:01
doubled up with Kate and McCabe down that side and they just
10:05
kept Carolina Graham Hanson out of the game.
10:08
So, you know, they did that brilliantly for the full 90.
10:12
But I think, like I said to you, it's a case of if you've got a
10:15
really good defensive structure and we saw it with City on match
10:18
day one, saw it with Real Madrid this season in Liga FA as well.
10:23
If you are solid, it doesn't matter how much of the ball
10:26
Barcelona are going to have. Yes, they can break you open,
10:29
OK, but they've got to work a lot harder for it and it's going
10:33
to take more effort and it's going to take more time as well.
10:37
I still think if we're playing now, Barcelona don't score and
10:41
it's down to just this really, really strong belief amongst the
10:47
team of Arsenal that they could weather anything that they would
10:51
be up against and they did. And yes, those shots from from
10:56
honour came from from from a long way out.
10:59
Claudia Pina had a few efforts from a fairway out.
11:02
We know what she can do from a fairway out because she's that
11:05
good. Just as Chelsea in the semi
11:09
final. So the more and more it was
11:11
going on, you felt, yeah, hang on a minute, this isn't this
11:15
might not be happening for them today.
11:17
They couldn't get ever payor in the game at all, let alone
11:20
Alexia. My goodness, Aitana had an off
11:23
an off day. She just couldn't have her
11:26
influence. And so you're getting to this
11:28
75th minute and you're Arsenal and you wander up and you're
11:32
thinking, OK, just let's just keep it going, you know?
11:36
And the changes were big as well for Arsenal.
11:39
That injection of life with Steena coming on and that the
11:43
power that she has, the pace that she has to absolutely ruin
11:48
Mappileon and Arena Pereidis like she did.
11:52
That's what you can. So the more they're pushing up
11:54
and trying their bit, there's all that space behind and and
11:58
she had a great chance before before she scored as well,
12:02
although I thought that was Alessia Russo, so I'm really
12:04
glad she missed it to be honest. I wasn't gonna bring that up,
12:08
but we talked about it. Oh, don't you worry.
12:11
I keep thinking about. That was my final done there and
12:14
then get me off the mic if that had gone in.
12:17
So yeah, but you know. The one time I'm I'm happy that
12:21
Arsenal doesn't doesn't cash in there.
12:23
But yeah, you're totally right about Stina.
12:25
She also earns the corner that becomes the Mariona corner that
12:29
becomes history. I I want to, I want to rewind a
12:32
little bit because you talked about Katie McCabe and CGH in
12:37
that battle early. I think, you know, as an Arsenal
12:41
not so secret supporter in watching that match, Caitlin
12:44
Ford, another player that I thought was dueling really hard,
12:49
you know, and, and it was, it was really interesting to see so
12:51
early. You know, Perez and Russo was a
12:53
great battle on the other side, Emily Fox and Rolfo were kind of
12:58
running past each other. And I was really encouraged
13:00
seeing the duels 'cause I, I think at the very least, I'm
13:02
like, we're going to get a competitive game.
13:04
You know, Battier versus Caitlin Ford deep on the left side.
13:08
I thought thought they went at it pretty early.
13:10
I'm like, I'm I'm pretty encouraged.
13:12
I think this is going to be competitive.
13:14
This is this won't be a walk. And then I think right around
13:16
the 22nd minute we get the Peretis own goal And I pulled a
13:20
quote from the from the telecast.
13:22
You said Peretis in Barcelona can breathe one giant sigh of
13:25
relief. So this is in the 22nd minute
13:28
that early in the match, had you seen things?
13:31
I know we're talking late second-half after the goal, but
13:33
early? Did you see anything early
13:35
where, I don't know, the game seemed a little tighter than
13:38
maybe the the bookmakers might have said it at?
13:41
It was tense, wasn't it? You could, I think I said 1/2
13:44
time, you know, it was, it was cagey.
13:46
It was, it was tense. And yeah, there was a few
13:49
occasions in the first half as well where I think Chloe might
13:53
have laid a few on, on some of the Barcelona players, Katie
13:58
doing so. I mean, Katie does that anyway.
13:59
And that that's just her makeup. And you know, long may that
14:03
continue to be honest. And you know, that's what City
14:08
did in on match day one. If you if you ruffle them, they
14:12
don't like because there's just simply not used to it.
14:17
And I think with the semi final, Chelsea played Barcelona at
14:20
their own game and Barcelona went thank you very much.
14:24
Whereas, you know, Arsenal were up for a scrap and, you know,
14:30
eventually they they they won that and they got the knockout
14:32
blow. But yeah, you there was a few
14:34
moments early in the first half where Arsenal had moments and
14:38
they were getting some freedom and they got that chance with
14:41
the on goal, which you know was was the right call.
14:45
But just the further the further the game went on, you just you
14:48
fancied that a was only going to be one goal that would win it.
14:52
And yeah, you just, you just felt like Arsenal were going to
14:56
be the one to to do it, whether it would be a breakaway, whether
15:00
it would be a set piece, because the more and more Barcelona were
15:03
going for it, they just didn't look like the Brig on the score.
15:06
Yeah, yeah. Grant and I were talking about
15:07
Grant, you pulled the stat. I think the corners.
15:10
I didn't, I didn't put these together when we did our our
15:13
initial recap, but 12 to two on the corners and then the 11
15:16
corner for Arsenal ends up being the difference in the match.
15:19
Pretty wild. Chris, do you remember?
15:22
Was it at the final whistle? You know when you're like, Oh my
15:26
God, Arsenal can win this or, or is it after the goal or is it at
15:29
at what point where you're just like, Oh my God, this might be a
15:32
day where we see the Death Star of Barcelona actually like not
15:37
not lift the trophy. So we had 7 minutes, I think,
15:41
didn't we, at the end. And I think once we hit, hit 90,
15:48
I started to, to think and believe more that it was going
15:54
to happen. It was probably around then.
15:57
And then it was all the case of just, you know, let's see if you
16:00
can dig in. Let's see if the pressure
16:03
doesn't get to you now, see what you're made of.
16:06
And then it was just that giant release of you saw everybody
16:10
onto the pitch. Once that whistle went, it was,
16:14
it was quite the, it was quite the scene.
16:16
It was quite the emotional scene.
16:18
I think Courtney was was on the verge next to me.
16:22
She she then had this very powerful kind of monologue, if
16:26
you like, of, of how much it would mean not just for Arsenal
16:29
but for the English game as well, I think.
16:32
Yeah, from 90 minutes, I thought, I think they'll do this
16:34
now. They can really hang on now.
16:38
And, you know, even afterwards there, there was a version of
16:42
North London Forever, which was quite, yeah, which was quite
16:46
the, quite the scene with the whole squad and staff and
16:50
everybody in a long line just sort of arm in arm with each
16:54
other in front of the Arsenal fans in that corner.
16:56
And they played North London Forever.
16:58
And that was that was quite the moment.
17:00
Yeah, it really was. Great, I got, I got a quick one
17:03
here. So it's a, it's North London
17:05
forever centered. So Chris, I, I was, I was a
17:09
puddle of tears during the final.
17:11
I was a puddle of tears on the rewatch yesterday.
17:14
I was, I was standing in Target, one of our retailers, watching
17:16
on my phone, just trying to pick up the telecast and just just
17:19
full on crying as a, as a grown man in my mid 40s.
17:23
We'll talk about that later. But I put together, I put
17:27
together a playlist of all of those jams that they played
17:30
post, post match. It's on Spotify, it's a public
17:33
playlist, and in honor of our guest Chris Sharples, I named
17:36
it. It's Arsenal.
17:37
It's Arsenal, so we'll be sharing a link to it.
17:40
And the last song is the the North London Forever song, but
17:43
it's pretty much everything that played out of the PA.
17:45
Just for anybody that wants to relive it like me, I'm a total
17:48
nerd. So even if I'm the other one
17:50
listening to it, I'll enjoy myself greatly.
17:52
But just wanted to let you know about that, Chris.
17:55
Cool, cool, that makes sense. North London forever from San
18:01
Francisco, CA is is always a fun look.
18:05
I'm I'm glad you I'm glad you mentioned that last kind of
18:09
stanza, Chris, because you know, Mariana Caldente comes over to
18:14
this squad. She doesn't have a shot in this
18:17
match, but she was hugely impactful.
18:20
One of my favorite moments, very late into stoppage time, she
18:24
gets the ball, she drives down and and forces a foul on
18:29
Barcelona and you and Courtney Sweetman Kirk at the same time.
18:32
It's such like a footballing moment where it's like a little
18:35
bit of a nuance to the game, but you both of you react like, oh,
18:39
great, perfect, great football right there.
18:41
For her to to waste time, draw the foul, she had to hold it up
18:45
to kind of to kind of burn some of the clock.
18:48
I mean, what what can we say about Mariana Caldente at this
18:52
point? But you know, very simple
18:53
question here. Can you put a bow on the
18:55
Caldente to Arsenal experience this season?
18:59
The victory in Lisbon and you know, the history that has gone
19:04
by and Arsenal looking to get back to the top is the reason
19:08
why they brought her in and you know, she is an absolute born
19:13
winner. She knows how to win this
19:15
competition. You know that's her 4th now.
19:20
She playing a very different role to what she was at
19:25
Barcelona. She started as a front in front
19:27
3IN Bilbao and always had that sort of like roaming role.
19:33
I think, you know, with Alexia being out as well for much of
19:36
last season or suddenly Moore playing an impact role rather
19:41
than starting, she had that sort of run-of-the-mill, didn't she?
19:45
Whereas now she's playing in a more deeper role where she can
19:50
just dictate everything. And suddenly on a Champions
19:53
League scene, she's been an absolute, you know, diamond at
19:58
that, including her contributions in scoring goals
20:00
as well. You know, let's, let's not
20:02
forget that. She's openly admitted that it's,
20:05
it has been a tough year for her in terms of acclimatising to
20:08
the, to the English game, acclimatising to the English
20:13
culture. I mean, she says she's struggled
20:15
with the language. I mean, her English is
20:17
brilliant, to be honest. I think it's just the different
20:20
accents. I think she's, she says that
20:21
she's been struggling with. But you can't take away that
20:26
intelligence that she has through playing at Barcelona for
20:31
so long and have that ingrained in you.
20:33
And to have that at the peak of her power is at the race that
20:36
she is as well. To bring that into a new team.
20:39
I mean, it's it's absolute gold dust really.
20:42
So yeah, that foul was was she knew exactly what she was doing.
20:47
Feel any contact. I think honour was it honour
20:50
that might have just might have just clicked her.
20:52
I mean, there was barely anything in it.
20:55
And Brooks as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
20:59
So she knew what she was doing. She knew the situation, she knew
21:03
the time. It's just brain.
21:05
It's just in the brain of how to do it.
21:08
And yeah, you take that. If you're Arsenal, you are
21:12
taking that right now to to eat away at the seconds as as you
21:17
said, and she's just been an absolute diamond, hasn't she?
21:20
For, for, for Arsenal and for, for the WSL as well.
21:23
You know, we're seeing seeing her shine in the in the WSL as
21:27
well, but in a very different role, but showing why she is now
21:31
a full time European champion. Incredible.
21:35
Yeah. A dynasty unto herself at this
21:36
point. Three straight for Mariana as
21:38
well. I wanted to talk a little bit
21:41
too about just the environment there, you know, You know,
21:44
Lisbon, it looked, it looked crazy.
21:46
Very exciting. And then I think I learned pre
21:49
game, just just when I couldn't get more excited, the mood
21:51
couldn't get any moodier. I find out that you and Courtney
21:54
Suitman Kirk are going to be calling the game from a gantry.
21:57
I don't know what a gantry is, but I picture scaffolding and
22:01
you know, loose wires and rusty nails it.
22:04
It sounded a little treacherous. Can you, can you tell us about
22:06
what do we need to do about the gantry?
22:08
So it wasn't really gantry? No, it was.
22:13
See, I knew it. Yeah, you're absolutely right.
22:15
A gantry is when you're not all the time, but in certain places,
22:21
especially here in the UK, you might be just putting your life
22:24
in somebody else's hands, going off the ladders.
22:28
I had reason to worry. I had legitimate reason to
22:31
worry. But we were, we were basically
22:34
at the very top. So camera wise it looked quite,
22:40
you know, OK sort of angle wise. But from where we were, we were
22:43
right at the very top of that stand.
22:46
So we needed that so that our camera could look down because
22:50
we had to do a few pieces to camera pretty much.
22:53
But it was high. Goodness me it was high.
22:57
So yeah, a lot of times using the monitors as well.
23:00
But it was all within a, you know, all the broadcasters were
23:04
all in the same bit right up at the top, whether you're radio or
23:09
TV. So the reserves there was the
23:11
zone Spain next to us as well. And yeah, it was a very simple,
23:16
simple set up. Really.
23:19
This might be a bit too geeky, but it's just something that I,
23:22
I, I really wanted because I think it sounds better.
23:25
But when we did our pieces to camera at the start, we used
23:29
headsets with the, with the Dzone logo on the on the
23:33
microphone. But then during the match we
23:35
swapped over. So we were able to use the good
23:37
old lip mics just to make it sound a lot more of that.
23:42
And also the fi, I hate using headsets.
23:45
I just hate them. I don't know what to do with my
23:47
hands. I don't know what to do.
23:49
I'm not so used to holding something like a lit mic.
23:51
So yeah, I kind of, I kind of asked if we could have lit mics.
23:55
And fortunately the zone went, yes, OK, we can do it.
23:59
So yeah, like I say, it was all very, very basic, right at the
24:03
top, very high with a great view.
24:06
And that's what you can ask for. Appreciate.
24:09
It yeah, that's fantastic. I, we're talking like about the
24:13
broadcast here. We talked about Leanne.
24:15
We talked about the emotion. I, I, I proclaimed.
24:18
And you know, I, I, I don't claim to be a, a total expert on
24:22
all these things. I always say I'm not a women's
24:24
football historian. I'm sort of a Johnny come lately
24:27
over the past few years. But when Leanne delivered a
24:32
short but powerful and concise monologue about the history of
24:37
Arsenal Women's Football club. But I came on our post match
24:41
show and said she might be the only person in the world who
24:45
could deliver it that way. One, because of her broadcasting
24:48
prowess. But obviously she goes through
24:51
the Academy. She lived it.
24:52
She lifted the Champions League trophy with Arsenal and she
24:56
talked about their commitment to not just growing women's
24:59
football in England, even though that is a massive part, but
25:02
worldwide, how she how Arsenal is like this, this beacon for
25:06
other women's football clubs around the world.
25:10
What does she it's probably, you know, again, I'm going to ask
25:13
you another question that says like this giant, this giant
25:16
specter around it. But what did she add like in the
25:21
build up to the match? And like, what did you kind of
25:24
gain from that as a broadcast team?
25:26
I mean, she's been there and done it since she, she knows
25:28
what, what it's all about. And she's got incredible
25:32
experience, not just playing in England, but you know, playing
25:35
in Italy, playing in Spain, playing in, in, in the US, Her
25:40
influence is, is, is massive. She does her own show on, on
25:44
radio here in the UK. She comes and talks to you guys
25:51
and you know, her, her work in the NWSL is, is, is absolutely
25:57
terrific in, in growing the, the coverage out there.
26:01
So all of that experience to mix all that together, she knows
26:05
what she's, she's talking about and she knows passionately about
26:10
where the game can go. And even more so with with
26:14
Arsenal. I mean, she's the hardest.
26:16
I mean, she was on a, she was on a flight back out and then she
26:20
was playing in a, in a charity match I think on, on Sunday
26:24
before then being part of the parade and the celebrations with
26:27
Arsenal on on Monday. Goodness knows where she's been,
26:32
you know, before she'll be probably heading back to the US
26:35
and, and what have you. She just works, works and works
26:40
so hard. And you know, when you've got
26:43
that ethic and you've got that passion about something, then
26:46
yeah, you, you're going to have the words hopefully to express
26:50
that. And she does.
26:52
And I, I think because it was Arsenal as well.
26:56
She she knows the club insides her club, she knows the the club
27:01
inside out. She knows of the direction of
27:05
where they want to go, but also, you know, the roads that they've
27:08
been on through the years where things have not been great.
27:12
And I think all of that then the emotion catches up and you know,
27:16
for once, maybe Leanne was was lost for words.
27:19
Bless her at the end, but she's great.
27:23
She's she's absolutely great. And you know, Tizone have been
27:29
very fortunate to have her available to do to do these
27:32
games on site and finals and what have you because of what
27:35
she can bring a. 100% argument here, Chris, We're we're lucky
27:39
enough to to have you drop a goodness me on us a few minutes
27:42
ago. I know that you didn't come up
27:44
with that phrasing. You know, it's, it's, it's
27:47
fairly ubiquitous, but it is sort of your signature, the
27:50
zones included in, in some of the packaging.
27:52
I'm sure at some point you're like, listen, goodness me,
27:54
that's my thing. I'm going to nail it.
27:56
This is just, you know, and you nail it, you knock it out of the
27:58
park. It's amazing.
28:00
We know that it's like a prime time moment when you hit that
28:03
line. Is, is there a fun origin story?
28:06
Did you have like a grandparent that told you that or like, is
28:09
there a fun origin story? No, no, simple as that.
28:14
It just happens, you know, you just whatever comes out of your
28:18
mouth comes out of your mouth and if it if it, if it sticks,
28:22
then grey. If it, if it doesn't, then hey,
28:25
I'll try and find something else to say.
28:27
No, honestly, it I've it just comes out.
28:32
I don't know what it is. Maybe a maybe a northern thing,
28:35
perhaps I, I don't know. I honestly don't know.
28:37
It's just something I say sorry. It's totally organic.
28:42
That totally organic is totally, totally fine.
28:47
I've seen a clip for years and years, the Iguita scorpion kick
28:53
in the in I think it was Columbia versus England in a
28:55
friendly and Ian dark when when Iguita hits the hits the
28:59
scorpion, Ian dark yells goodness me.
29:02
So I always kind of like equate the 2.
29:04
So you know, it's good. It's good to hear that.
29:07
That's just that's just the natural reaction.
29:10
Chris, you've been you've been real generous with your time.
29:12
Man. We we always appreciate it.
29:16
You know, when you when you look back like at this Champions
29:20
League, you know, you, you, you brought it up.
29:22
We talked a lot about it in the build up, like Arsenal's just
29:25
resilience, you know, going back to BK hack and even having to
29:29
battle from finishing third in the WSL to make it to this
29:32
point. You know, you don't necessarily
29:34
have to exclude the Champions because they'll, they'll live on
29:37
forever. But overall in this year's
29:40
edition of the UEFA Women's Champions League, what are the,
29:43
what are the other kind of things that that you're going to
29:46
look back on and say 2425? That's what I'm that's what I'm
29:50
thinking about when I think about that edition of the
29:53
Champions League. Cool.
29:56
Good question. I think, I think when we started
30:03
on match day one and we were at City and the buzz about City
30:11
being back and not just being back, they were, you know, they
30:14
were in a group with Barcelona and that was a great way to
30:16
start it. And the way that they took them
30:19
apart at the same time, I think that that will be a stand out
30:26
moment for me. The knockout stages absolutely,
30:30
you know, including Arsenal, but including Chelsea as well with
30:34
their comeback against City, which was which was impressive,
30:37
you know, being there when they lost for the first time under
30:40
Bompa store. But for them to ruthlessly come
30:43
back at City the way that they did in the second leg.
30:46
And I think as well for looking back as well.
30:50
The crowds, well, one of two things, the crowds.
30:54
So we saw that with Hummerby being involved in the great, the
30:57
great yellow crowds that you saw in in Sweden in particular.
31:03
And also I think you, you can't not mention Chelsea.
31:06
And everything seemed to be heading their way.
31:13
Everything seemed to be directed in, in, in their, in their path
31:18
of going all the way. And yet they come up against
31:22
Barcelona again and they're played off the park by them
31:25
again ruthlessly, like brutally, the way that it, the way that it
31:32
happened. And they brought Sonia in to win
31:35
the Champions League. And I, I was quite surprised at
31:40
how often they were against Barcelona.
31:44
And you know, I, I mentioned it earlier, the case of Chelsea
31:49
just simply playing Barcelona in their own game, that does not
31:51
work. You know, you've got to, you've
31:54
got to dig in like Arsenal did. You've got to rough them up from
31:57
the very start like Arsenal and City did and make life
32:03
uncomfortable for them and Chelsea just was so off it.
32:07
And so then you look at Arsenal doing so well and from where
32:11
they were to where they've ended up and what must be going
32:16
through the mind of any Chelsea player and any Chelsea supporter
32:21
of them probably thinking that should be us this year for the
32:25
squad that they've got, for the money that they've spent on that
32:28
squad, that should be us. Yet it's them from North London
32:32
that is celebrating and everybody's going wild about
32:35
them about beating, beating Barcelona.
32:38
So they will probably they'll be the main takes for me, I think.
32:41
But you know, Chelsea will be back stronger next year.
32:44
It's a new format again, we're heading towards that with a new
32:49
format. So whether that will change
32:51
things, but Barcelona again will come back strong, Chelsea will
32:56
be strong again. Who knows how much money they
32:58
will spend the interest in in other teams coming in, whether
33:02
United get there from an English point of view as well as they
33:04
can get through the qualifier. There'll be more fascinating
33:08
stories to be told and hopefully I can tell a few of them.
33:13
Well, luckily there's not much of A rivalry between Arsenal and
33:17
Chelsea. So Chelsea, I'm sure Arsenal
33:18
supporters won't be reminding Chelsea supporters of this
33:22
Champions League victory. I'm sure it'll be, you know,
33:24
nice and yes, nice and sports person like.
33:30
Yeah, better luck next year at Chelsea.
33:31
I mean, sincerely. Anywho, Chris, one last
33:36
Barcelona question real quick. Did you get the feeling that we
33:39
could see some changes at Barcelona?
33:40
You mentioned Romeo maybe getting coach.
33:43
I think that was pretty clear even from the telecast.
33:46
But players wise too, I think, I think the Pina Rofo switch I
33:51
mentioned on our on our post show, I didn't know how many
33:53
minutes those two on the left had logged together.
33:57
The rhythm didn't quite seem right.
34:00
They've got a great stock of super young talent, some vets,
34:03
some some players in the middle. Did you get the feeling that we
34:06
could see some changes this offseason for Barcelona?
34:09
Yeah, Yeah, I do. I mean, where you make the
34:13
changes though, extraordinary really.
34:15
I mean, it is a tough one. You know, I think Ingrid England
34:20
seems to be going. So, you know, they're going to
34:24
need some sort of backup at the back.
34:27
You know, whether Marta signs a new deal as well, whether she
34:29
carries on. I, I, I don't know whether
34:33
anything's come out there with regards to that.
34:37
The three in the middle, do you know, there's always, there's
34:40
always been that conversation and I, I, I completely batted
34:45
off, but there's always that conversation of can the three of
34:48
them of Iitana, Patrin and Alexi play together in the same team.
34:53
Whether something different comes of that for next year will
34:57
be interesting to see because all three of them didn't have
35:02
the say that they wanted to have on that final.
35:05
Maybe that's down to Arsenal, you know, in the way that they,
35:08
that they, they played, they always wanted that #9 that
35:11
scoring #9 they brought Everpayor in and got that.
35:14
But I think down the left, there's, there's a big question
35:17
mark, as you mentioned, as to who they could bring in possibly
35:21
to, to freshen that side up the youngsters that they've got
35:24
coming through. Vicky Lopez, Sidney Sheridan,
35:27
Libe. I think he's going to be
35:29
absolutely incredible. Yeah.
35:32
Alba Kanyo as well, who was making a few appearances in the
35:37
League of Efforts towards the end of the season.
35:38
She she scored against Severe towards the end.
35:41
Should know because I commentated on it.
35:43
But yeah, Alba as well. So they've got some young
35:47
players there that they can develop to maybe be the next
35:50
Aitana or or somebody like that. I think maybe right back, yeah,
35:55
right back with with honour and a bit.
35:57
They need a bit more than after Lucy went.
36:01
So there could be changes. I'd be, I'd be interested in
36:03
sort of the tactical changes maybe that that Romeo maybe
36:07
makes rather than overall personnel.
36:11
But he's now going to prove himself.
36:13
You know, they've got a Cup final coming up.
36:15
They need to win that. I think they will win that.
36:18
So, you know, three out of four is not bad in a season, but
36:22
that's not what they play for. They play to be champions of
36:25
Europe. They want what Leon have done
36:29
and they want to set their own legacy like what Leon have done.
36:33
But they won't do that playing in playing the way that they did
36:35
against Arsenal and playing in finals like that because so just
36:39
Dave will get beat all the time. Yeah.
36:41
And it it's just one of those and we when we had talked to
36:44
Leanne in the build up of the final, it's it's one of those
36:47
things where you mentioned it earlier too.
36:49
It feels rare. But the path to victory is the
36:54
other team has to be good like you mentioned and they have to
36:57
play great. And then Barcelona has to be off
37:00
or slightly off. And that's and that's kind of
37:03
what happened that Levante result from league FA not
37:07
notwithstanding that kind of we were not the district.
37:09
No disrespect to the Levante players, but I don't think
37:11
anybody saw that one when coming.
37:13
But even with that tiny margin of for error, you know, and you
37:18
and you would hit on it like Kim Little is a historic player.
37:22
And you know, like we talked about Mariona, we talked about
37:26
Alessia Russo's pedigree. Like you just had all these
37:29
players that if, if Barcelona was going to play 65% of their
37:34
game, then you know they were always going to lose.
37:37
Yeah, I mean, it just, I mean, it must be, it must be tough as
37:41
well. It's a, it's a different kind of
37:43
pressure that each of those Barcelona players will feel in
37:46
every game because they are the ones that are meant to win.
37:49
And if they don't then it is a big thing.
37:52
I remember Itana saying something in the build up.
37:56
Listen, they've lost three games across the board this season.
38:00
It's insane. And we're all, everybody's
38:02
saying that's a bad season, but that's only because of the
38:05
standards that they set. And Itana was asked about that
38:08
and she went, it's completely normal.
38:10
She said what's not normal was last year when they won
38:13
everything and they won every game.
38:16
And I get that, but because of those standards that they've
38:20
set, they've got to deal with that every single week.
38:23
And with, you know, the total biggest respect to all the other
38:29
teams in League of FA. One, it's not the WSL and two,
38:34
Barcelona will win those games and encounter every single game.
38:38
So then the pressure of those players is then to try and lift
38:44
their game even more to levels that they're not used to every
38:47
single week in the domestic game.
38:51
And so they, you know, when they do come up against teams, more
38:57
so from England, because that is the biggest league, that is the
39:02
more competitive league, you know, they they may struggle.
39:06
And we've seen that against City and we saw that against against
39:10
Arsenal in the final. So it it must be tough, it
39:14
really must be tough on them to to be able to maintain the
39:18
standards that they have set, even though, yeah, they might be
39:20
beaten Athletic Club 9 nil away from home in their final game of
39:24
the season. But it's a different kettle when
39:29
you're when you're playing Champions League, you know, and
39:32
for them to have been as successful as they have been
39:34
over the last few years is an incredible feat really.
39:40
But now the leagues elsewhere in Europe are getting stronger.
39:43
So I don't think we are going to see the Leon dominance that we
39:47
saw when they were just a clasp of everybody else because
39:50
everybody else was further down the, the, the food chain, if you
39:55
like, of, you know, the game getting to the standards that
40:00
he's at now. Whereas now he's just at a
40:03
different level to what he was 567 years ago when when Leon
40:07
were dominating everything. So the competitiveness is more
40:10
there. And so that's what they've got
40:12
to get used to now. Absolutely.
40:14
And it's still, it's funny to say.
40:16
I, I agree with all of that. And I think it's still funny to
40:19
say next year when the group stage starts, I think they'll
40:23
win it again. Because they're still players,
40:26
they're going to be the favourites again with, with any
40:28
bookmaker, you know, I, I just hope that there is a few more, a
40:34
few more. Leon really disappointed me in
40:36
that second leg again start. Although Arsenal were great, but
40:39
they really kind of, I was a bit really it's a shocker, yeah, a
40:46
real shocker. And and then, you know, great
40:49
that it wasn't the same final again as we had in Bilbao,
40:51
something different. I don't know.
40:54
Next year will be fascinating. It really will.
40:56
It really will in terms of the competitors competitiveness of
41:01
the of the competition. Well said, cannot wait.
41:07
All right, gentlemen, I think we did it.
41:08
This another episode of into the channel.
41:10
Thank you, thank you, thank you for hanging out.
41:11
If you enjoyed the show or love ones football as much as your
41:13
boys do, make sure you're kicking it with us each and
41:16
every single week. Like if you liked, subscribe,
41:18
follow YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast, wherever you like to
41:20
watch or listen. Huge thank you to our guest
41:23
joining us for the second straight year, putting up with
41:25
all my ridiculous silly questions.
41:27
I appreciate you playing along, Chris, and thank you, Grant, for
41:30
saving me with some serious football questions.
41:31
I appreciate you as well. But, Chris, in all seriousness,
41:35
thanks again for joining us. You take the Champions League
41:38
to, I mean, Max drama. I mean, it really can't.
41:42
It's hard to decouple your voice from all these, like, great
41:46
memorable moments. So we thank you for that and
41:48
thank you for joining us on the show.
41:49
Thanks guys. Appreciate it.
41:52
Two times in a row is a tradition, Chris.
41:54
So, you know, I mean, we'll have to see what you're up to after
41:58
next year's final and maybe we can do it again sometime.
42:02
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.
42:03
Just get in touch whenever and more than happy to come and talk
42:07
to you guys again. Thanks again and we'll see
42:09
everybody next time.