Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / BARCELONA WINS UWCL! 🏆 2026 UEFA Women's Champions League Final v Lyonnes | 23 May 2026 | From Oslo

Transcript

BARCELONA WINS UWCL! 🏆 2026 UEFA Women's Champions League Final v Lyonnes | 23 May 2026 | From Oslo · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:04
Oh hey, welcome to A championship edition of Into the
0:10
Channel podcast, primarily about one's football.
0:12
I'm your host, Dino De Suspicious, and as always, I am
0:15
joined by my host, Mr. Grant Engel.
0:18
What is up man? I'm feeling fantastic, buddy.
0:21
It was a momentous occasion, a culmination of several months of
0:25
hard work, blood, sweat, tears, dedication from us.
0:30
And the players are trying awfully hard, too.
0:34
I mean, I, I still can't believe we did it.
0:36
We made it, you know, just three straight.
0:38
And then we're just, you know, as I once said about Mariona
0:43
Caldente, we're just a dynasty unto ourselves.
0:46
Keep keep tugging along. All right, man, You're, you're
0:50
still in Oslo getting it done. Boots on the ground.
0:55
I'm I'm at home crushing tape, you know, as hard as it can be
0:58
crushed. So there's a lot to talk about
1:01
from pretty much from every angle, Mr. Green angle where you
1:04
want to get. Started.
1:05
Let's get started with a beverage.
1:06
I think it's totally right. Let's go championship beverage.
1:13
Pour myself maybe perhaps the remainder of what's left of this
1:18
guy. Nice Oopsie, yeah.
1:22
Is that going to go nice? As I was chatting with you pre
1:28
show, I will say one thing about Norway.
1:31
You got to make a plan to buy any kind of beer from a store
1:34
around here. Like the hours are are pretty
1:36
strict. Try I thought I was going to an
1:39
open grocery store this morning. Grocery store wasn't open.
1:42
Had to call an audible go somewhere else.
1:44
They didn't sell beer there. So which is probably not the
1:47
worst thing in the world because it is 9:38 AM.
1:49
So, you know, we're doing a little, we're doing a little
1:52
sand Pella, sand Pellegrino. I like it All right, refresh
1:56
cool. I mean that that's a good way to
1:59
start today. You've got a day ahead of you.
2:02
My whole day is behind me, although I've got a lot of
2:04
childcare tomorrow. So maybe I pump the brakes a
2:07
little bit. We'll see hopefully we'll see
2:08
how long we run the show. Maybe I maybe I hit some carbs
2:12
after the after the recording just to give myself a good base
2:17
right. Football wise, we we had as a
2:20
championship. One of the teams looked at a
2:22
trophy. There were UPS, there were
2:24
downs, there were lefts and rights, football wise, where you
2:28
want to get started. For the 202526 UEFA Women's
2:31
Champions League final, Barcelona 4 Lyon nil Now it's a
2:38
big score line. I think it's, I don't know, we
2:41
can get into it. I think it's fairly indicative
2:44
of where both these teams are compared to each other.
2:49
But I'll say that first half pretty, pretty touch and go
2:53
there for a while. Definitely.
2:56
I mean, I think and cheers to you.
2:58
Cheers to the football. Sorry, I missed that part, but I
3:03
thought the first half was pretty even, you know, and I
3:05
think of my notes, I think Lyon, the way that they were playing,
3:10
physically controlling the field position, you know, playing a
3:14
little bit of bully ball, applying some pressure.
3:19
I thought, I thought they won the 1st, the 1st 15 minutes
3:22
maybe by a smidge. And, you know, I think through
3:24
the first half, they were, they were just as live as, as
3:27
Barcelona was. And I think if you look at the
3:29
stats, you know, towards the end of the game, they're eerily
3:32
similar, like many of them. So I, I don't think it's outside
3:37
their own possibility to, to think that that first half was,
3:40
was played to a draw pretty much.
3:42
I mean, I think across all the categories.
3:45
In the post match presser, Jonathan Gerald has said
3:48
something pretty similar to that.
3:49
He he said he he thought they had good control of the game in,
3:53
in the first half, they were able to keep some of Barcelona's
4:00
attacking players more playing defense in some spots where they
4:04
wanted. And I think, you know, I mean,
4:08
let's just let let's start with the first big, big moment.
4:13
Heaps draws a foul about 30-4 yards out.
4:16
I would say somewhere in that in that ballpark, at least from my
4:19
notes. That's how I about where I
4:20
charted it. You, LeBron and some of Basha
4:23
were standing over it. We had ourselves our first
4:25
instance of Basha ball. It was a great free kick right
4:29
onto the head of Wendy Renar puts the header on goal, forces
4:33
a great diving save from Kata Koi.
4:35
That's going to be a theme from mismatch.
4:37
Lindsay Heaps taps it in on the rebound.
4:40
One nil Leon. Oh, here comes the VAR monster
4:43
to take it all away. But I I, from what I could see
4:45
in the stadium, looked like the right call.
4:48
It was the right call. I, I, I furiously went to Blue
4:53
Sky and just unleashed a year of the heaps.
4:56
All caps posted I just left up there.
4:59
Just looks like yeah, it still could be the year of the heaps.
5:01
We'll see. You know, TBD we're still just
5:04
in May, but yeah, definitely offside a critical moment not to
5:11
be overlooked though, and and how about this one?
5:15
A moment that would foretell more in this match.
5:17
Got that Goy turns away a Wendy Renar header from pretty much
5:22
point blank range fired in pretty hotly, you know, and had
5:27
had to had to move to get to it. You know, So I think with all
5:33
the heaps VAR hubbub, you know, like it's easy to kind of
5:38
overlook the the the just the spectacular, you know, first big
5:42
stop of the game from got that going in that moment.
5:45
For sure. And now in my notes, what what
5:47
it looked like from from what I saw on the replay and the
5:52
stadium where they had a pretty interesting set up where like
5:54
the the press area was outside like mid level of the stadium.
5:59
And then they had like these big screens for us like that we're
6:03
showing the broadcast to. I was I was pretty nice touch by
6:06
them. So Renar puts her head on it.
6:10
And when when Renar plays, it keeps his offside.
6:13
Was that the call that they conveyed on the broadcast?
6:18
I believe so, yeah, Yeah, yeah. Because he keeps his way out
6:20
ahead and then once, once the ball ricochets right to her,
6:23
she's, you know, she's still there and puts it in.
6:27
Gotcha. But to your, to your point,
6:29
though, to your more direct point, it's an amazing save from
6:33
Katakoi. And I was talking to, you know,
6:35
some of the Catalan journalists. I understand, you know, they,
6:38
they wear their heart on their sleeve.
6:40
It's one thing I've kind of learned out here is that they
6:42
don't, they don't give any illusions that they don't have a
6:45
rooting interest in this. But I, I was just talking to
6:48
him. I was like, I think she's
6:50
there's probably a Class A tier of goalkeeper in the world
6:53
that's on Katzenberger and Katakoi right now.
6:56
And then you probably have to take a step down a tier.
6:59
It depends on where you want to rate Hannah Hampton there, I
7:02
think when she's playing at her best, but I it feels like those
7:06
two are probably in a class by themselves.
7:09
I think so got that boy was credited with four saves today.
7:14
I love this this stat on fat mom.
7:16
Did they now have a diving save stat at least on the waso side?
7:20
So she was credited with three diving saves 75% diving save you
7:25
know percentage for those that are doing math at home there we
7:27
go but I I agree with you. I just feel like got that going
7:31
and then I think we we saw it bear out today was unbeatable,
7:35
you know, just wherever you wanted to try to beat her, you
7:38
know, just was not happening. And and I loved she she had a
7:41
stop a little bit later. I think it was on the Bosch of
7:43
free cake where she basically did the exact same save.
7:47
I'm like, where have I seen the save before?
7:49
I saw it yesterday when Grant filmed it on his iPhone and said
7:52
and shared it with the world. Dude, how amazing was that?
7:55
Yeah, that's in the 40th minute. So like we talked about like
7:58
some of that cageyness. There was a, there was a Basha
8:02
CGH wrestling match that broke out after like long parts of the
8:07
first half. I thought that was one of the
8:08
most fun. I mean, obviously you and I like
8:10
both of those players, but like, what a fun match up that was
8:14
throughout the first half. And yeah, the free kick, you're
8:16
talking about Basha in the 40th minute.
8:18
And you know how we talk about two like those that last five
8:21
minutes before halftime, the 1st 5 minutes after halftime.
8:25
Like when teams sneak a goal in one of those like time periods,
8:30
like you can really change the trajectory of a match.
8:34
And there's Kazakhoy to make a a beautiful diving save right next
8:38
to the post he was going in and it was perfectly placed by
8:41
Basha, but. Koi denied it, yeah, no doubt.
8:45
And I think I think Barcelona definitely the last portion of
8:49
the first half start to wrestle away and control the match.
8:53
You know, more longer possession, they were string
8:55
more together. They definitely look more likely
8:57
to score. I want to rewind real quick 25th
9:01
minute. There was a moment where you
9:03
LeBron had some like really stick play up the left hand side
9:08
and she puts in a genius ball into out of Hegerberg.
9:12
I'm going to send you the screenshot of this.
9:14
But when the ball gets to Hegerberg, she is wide open,
9:18
completely open, about 5 or 6 yards outside the box, you know,
9:22
kind of happy feet set, you know, to one to, you know, it's
9:24
like 3 feet, 3 foot movements before she actually tries to get
9:28
a strike on. And by that time, Alexia slid
9:31
in. But I wrote in my notes no
9:34
bullshit like Lyon's starting lineup DOA question mark,
9:40
because I'm just like, not only was, you know, like you, it's a
9:46
step down. You know, obviously you lose,
9:48
you know, kind of DNE that that's that's rough.
9:51
But then you you basically just go like for like put Beto in
9:56
there. And then you just make it easy
9:58
for Barcelona to kind of have the game plan for kind of like
10:01
where things were going. There wasn't any variance to you
10:05
know, from the arsenal match to this one.
10:08
And then when Hegerberg misses that pretty much on a platter,
10:13
it's like if you're not going to hit that one, I mean, I don't
10:16
know, like I, I'm, I mean, I'm a Hooper from, from back in the
10:19
day and I, you know, your boy was known to take some ill
10:21
advised shots. So, you know, I've got a, I've
10:25
got a bunch of quick hooks on my resume And, and, and I'm not
10:27
sure if I'm the coach at that moment right there.
10:30
I would have been like, yo, if you're not going to stick that
10:32
one, you got to come out the game.
10:35
I don't I don't think it's I don't think you're off base at
10:39
all, man. I mean, you know, we were
10:41
texting about a Full disclosure. You, you and I had, you know,
10:45
you hit me with the what are your halftime thoughts text and
10:49
it wasn't a good Hegeberg game. I mean, she gets the again, I'll
10:52
do the disclaimer. Player ratings aren't
10:54
everything. It's subjective.
10:56
Every site is different, etcetera, etcetera.
10:57
Fop Mob, our friends over at Fop Mob had Hegelberg at a 6.1 and
11:04
that's probably right or maybe a little friendly.
11:07
I thought she just wasn't very good in the game.
11:10
And and you're so right, like she gets that pass from Bron and
11:14
it's just like it gets like caught up in her feet, but the
11:18
pass wasn't from that close and like she had some time and and
11:23
then she's wide open. She had all day.
11:25
That has to be in that moment. That has to be one time from
11:28
her, from that kind of striker. Yeah.
11:31
You know, and then you got to know who you're playing.
11:33
You got to know that the window is like it couldn't be closing
11:36
faster, you know, like at every at every point in time.
11:41
And you just kind of needed that.
11:42
And it was such A to not even put a shot on, to not even
11:48
attempt a shot, you know, from from that position.
11:54
You just have to go a different direction.
11:56
I mean, I don't really know other way to, you know, kind of
11:58
other way to say. And I think Hegerberg wasn't the
12:00
only the only player that kind of hit hit those difficulties.
12:03
But, you know, we go into halftime and Leon is looking I
12:09
think pretty strong. They I think they have the shot
12:11
advantage at halftime and they have the the box touches
12:15
advantage. They did 18 to 8, you know, so
12:19
they're playing pretty well. I think they're playing their
12:21
game. And you asked Jonah about this
12:27
in the presser, who kind of alluded to feeling good about
12:32
playing, you know, you know, Barcelona a little bit even,
12:35
which I thought was a little bit weird.
12:37
You look at some of the stats. Possession 5149 Barcelona, I'm
12:43
sorry, 5149 Leon pass completion, 77 for Leon, 76 for
12:48
Barsa. Box touches 2921 for Leon Shots
12:53
from inside the box 8:50 shots total 14 to 12.
12:57
Everything is within super range touches in the opposition half
13:00
111 for bar, so 110 for Leone. So I don't know if like Jordan
13:05
was like trying to be like, let's do everything that
13:08
Barcelona does, like let's try to be Barcelona like and, and
13:11
just match that, you know, like almost like spider man meme,
13:14
just kind of like, and he accomplished that.
13:18
And even the even the answer in the press where he kind of
13:21
alludes to like, well, we seem kind of like we're there with
13:24
them. And, and it's like, was that the
13:26
the game plan or was the game plan to try to score and keep
13:29
them from scoring? It's, it's a good question by
13:33
you. And I mean, I guess it could be
13:37
maybe you could kind of see maybe, you know, try to give the
13:40
guy the benefit of doubt. We've talked about him.
13:41
He's a football genius. He's a he's a supercomputer for
13:45
a brain. I guess if anybody in the world
13:47
is going to sit there and be like, yeah, I know how to play
13:50
Barcelona ball, it would be Jonathan Geraldes, right?
13:53
Like he, like, he kind of, he's like, I have an idea what their
13:56
plan's going to be. I think we could match it.
13:58
He probably doesn't think they're at a a huge talent
14:02
disadvantage and maybe they're not at a huge talent
14:04
disadvantage, but I think we both know they're at a talent
14:06
disadvantage even as great as Leone is.
14:10
But yeah, I was he he's he was clearly bitterly disappointed in
14:16
the press conference. But I did think it was
14:18
interesting when he talked about playing them even, especially if
14:21
you look at the first half stats specifically, Leon had 58% of
14:25
the ball like they were they were knocking it around out
14:28
there. And you know, if there's more,
14:30
if there's more clinical finishing, if there's not the
14:32
offside, he he described it as quality in the final meters,
14:36
which I'm not. Thank you, Yana Den.
14:38
I'm going to be stealing that phrase moving forward.
14:42
They could have been up and you could make the argument they
14:44
probably should have been up at halftime.
14:48
I'm going to actually make the argument the other way.
14:50
Go home. Because I thought that this game
14:55
was you, you look at the stats, I I, I ratted off a bunch of
14:57
them that were all within fractions of each other, right.
15:03
Barcelona won this game in the margins in the sense that every
15:08
little 5149 situation went Barcelona's way.
15:12
You know, like every cat that quite you know, sliding this
15:15
diving that you know, like, you know, just kind of like all of
15:18
it, you know, like the chewing a chance, you know, later in the
15:23
match, you know, the the Bosch a chance, you know, Hegerberg was
15:27
offside at one point. You know, heaps off.
15:29
You know, it's like all of these little micro moments, you know,
15:33
where the game is won and lost. That's how you get an insanely
15:37
competitive match with where the stats are all within a range and
15:41
it's it feels like it's hotly contested late to late into the
15:44
affair. And then you look up and it's 4
15:46
to nothing. You're like, oh, OK, that's
15:48
weird. It is, it is pretty nuts and
15:52
it's a good point by you, I guess.
15:54
And it, you know, sports organizations and you know,
15:57
really like any professional organization, any company, any
16:00
business kind of has to look at things and you get to decide
16:04
what lens are you looking at it Like we're so close, so we only
16:07
need to do some minor tweaks and change some things so it's not a
16:10
total failure. Or do sometimes you have to look
16:13
at yourself and have the hard conversations and be like, yeah,
16:17
we, there were some things in the margins that we didn't win,
16:20
but we didn't win any of them. And so like to your point, it's
16:23
like if you, well, if you're not going to at least go 4555 on
16:27
some of those, you give yourself no chance and then you lose 4
16:30
nil and it looks embarrassing. Yeah, and I think I, I went to
16:33
the mental exercise, I'm like, did Lyon, did any Lyon player
16:37
outplay their Barcelona counterpart?
16:41
And I'm like, I could find maybe 3 spots on the pitch.
16:43
You know, you could. I think you LeBron versus
16:46
Bhatia, I think was at least a push you could maybe give a
16:49
slight edge to to you LeBron. I thought Lily versus Seda Yodi,
16:54
that was a great you know, back and forth with with good moments
16:57
each way. Bosh, the CGHI think the same.
17:02
Outside of that, I think Barcelona pretty handily won
17:07
every other every however you want to match up the you know,
17:10
the matchups. I think they they outmatched
17:12
Leon pretty much from top to bottom outside maybe those two
17:15
or three. And you had talked about it in
17:19
the in the pre match, both of our previews that, you know, if
17:25
pottery is just going to be better than everybody in Leon's
17:29
midfield or if if Leon or yeah, if Leon was just going to get
17:33
completely out dueled, you know, by and large by by bar says
17:38
midfield, it was going to be very difficult for them.
17:41
And I agree with you. I thought Johannes did have a
17:43
good game. That back heel that she had.
17:47
Let's go. Like I like I thought that was
17:49
going to be a moment right there.
17:53
But yeah, I mean, you know, battery ends with with two
17:56
assists and it's just, you know, things started to more more.
18:02
So I guess we already we kind of talked through the first half
18:05
more so than I think any team in the world.
18:07
When Barsa hangs one on you, it just feels like the second goal
18:11
is inevitable. Yeah, no doubt.
18:14
And I think I'm glad you kind of gently alluded to maybe maybe
18:19
swinging back to the first half because I had one, one more
18:21
thing in the first half. I thought the first 30 minutes
18:25
Barcelona was kind of, you know, rudderless offensively.
18:28
They were rushed it, it didn't feel like there was a dude in
18:33
the middle that was like, all right, everything goes through
18:35
me from now on, you know, and, and it took Bhatti, I think
18:38
probably like 2530 minutes to kind of assume that role or it's
18:41
like, all right, well, this is stupid.
18:42
Why are we doing? Why don't you just kick me the
18:45
ball? I'll either run or, or hold it
18:48
or reset or, you know, advance it and then we're going to be
18:50
off. So I really loved that that you
18:54
kind of took the reins there because the first thing I'm
18:56
like, what it, what is this? This is not something that that
18:58
I really recognize. And then to open the
19:00
second-half, I thought they look super sharp, that first one.
19:05
Then Botany obviously opens things up with that ball I had
19:08
to buy or to get the first one. And the first thing I thought it
19:11
was just, you know, the ferocity, the intensity that you
19:15
were describing, like how they were striking the ball, just how
19:18
they how they were training, how they were practicing.
19:20
It really kind of showed itself on that first goal. 100% And I
19:24
mean, you know, does Evapayor care about an acute angle?
19:28
Absolutely not. She's going to find the corner,
19:31
bury it. Yeah.
19:33
And it was, you know, poetry gets the ball up field, makes
19:35
the right pass. And I guess we we missed it.
19:39
And I, I didn't mention it from the first half, but you know,
19:42
after the heaps offside, there's that crazy miscommunication
19:47
between Renar and Endler, where as it's happening and you know,
19:51
I, I comment on some of the other journalists like like
19:55
cheering and stuff. And this wasn't so much a cheer
19:57
for me, but as it's happening, so the ball goes over the top.
20:01
Wendy Renar is running with Eva Payor, and I'm, you know, I'm
20:06
obviously looking right at it. And Renar's doing this, waving
20:10
at Endler to come out. And Endler's pointing at the
20:14
ball and as I see Pyro running on it, it's clear she's going to
20:17
dust Wendy Renar and not then it's time to be close.
20:20
I just go holy shit, because it's so clear.
20:25
I was like, there's no Leon player getting to the ball
20:28
because Endler's, Endler's like backing up, like not in in no
20:31
goalkeeper's land. And when Pyro missed that it,
20:36
you know, I was just like, how many more of those is she going
20:39
to miss? And she wasn't going to miss in
20:40
this, in this first chance after the after the first half.
20:44
Yeah, no, and she I don't think she missed from from from then
20:47
on. The first goal was amazing.
20:50
What what was the what was the reaction?
20:51
What was the environment like? You know, obviously we we got to
20:54
cover the end of yourself championship.
20:56
I we don't really have to compare the two, but if you if
20:58
you feel like you want to do that, I would love to hear the
21:00
comparison. But that first goal, it felt
21:03
like there was there must have been some some pent up energy in
21:06
the building 55 minutes, a great point in the match, you know, to
21:09
kind of to kind of UN uncork the seal there.
21:13
I the first word, as you're asking the question, the first
21:16
word for me is explosive. It was just, it was just an
21:20
explosion of emotion. You know, you could feel the
21:23
building shake a little bit. I think the stadium seats right
21:26
around like 25,000 people and you know, it, it was packed and
21:31
you know, people went absolutely crazy.
21:33
And I think, you know, part of it was, I think you're right,
21:37
Barcelona was wrestling back that control toward the end of
21:40
the first half, you know, the Basha chance and then the 40th.
21:43
But notwithstanding. But then they, you know, they
21:46
come out in these first 10 minutes after, after the half.
21:51
And it was at that point it was a mix of relief.
21:56
But then you could still feel some of the tension because, you
21:59
know, one goal is one goal. Yeah, no doubt.
22:02
And I think, you know, I like to do my thing where I I hit the
22:07
scorecard after 15 minutes. So right at the 60 minute mark,
22:10
I'm all right. We're 4 rounds in here we go.
22:12
And in my notes, I've got Barcelona control.
22:15
Not out of the woods, Leon still very live match, very much in
22:18
the balance. That's how it kind of it felt.
22:20
It's like right, Barcelona's driving this thing, but it's
22:23
still it's still absolute must watch. 62nd minute in my notes I
22:27
wrote and here comes Mariano Rivera.
22:29
I was like Claudia Pita coming into the match.
22:31
I'm like, I, I just kind of felt like I was like, this is good.
22:33
Go from bad to worse here. Another funny moment. 3 minutes
22:39
later, 65 Basha puts in the A ball into the mock the box that
22:44
hits Alexia like right square in the chest.
22:48
And I was like, Oh my God, yeah. I was like, she looked like a
22:50
character from the MCU just the way that like it hit her.
22:53
She was just like, she she goes and immediately like high fives
22:55
that got that going. Yeah.
22:57
And then and then kind of was like, oh, that hurt kind of like
23:01
folds over. But it was like a super delayed
23:03
reaction was like probably 7 or 8 seconds.
23:05
Real Oscar De La Hoya Bernard Hopkins vibes on that one.
23:10
But you know, the game opened up in the second-half.
23:13
What was what was the feeling like?
23:15
You know, I mean more did the did the goals feel like they
23:19
were coming at that point? I think so.
23:23
Yeah, on that, on that Bosha shot, it's it's from the short
23:28
corner. And so it's Bosha to Brand and
23:31
then Bron gives it back to Bosha.
23:33
And as it's happening, I was like Jonah, I know I've seen
23:35
this before. I used to run that with Mappy
23:38
and CGH or Mappy and Itana like a bunch at Barcelona.
23:45
But I, I think I don't, I don't know, I don't know if I, if I,
23:52
if I felt like in that moment necessarily that a, a bunch more
23:57
Barcelona goals are coming. But I, I, I'll say like, you
24:01
know, like I mentioned, it always feels like the second one
24:03
is inevitable. I, I don't know, maybe it's just
24:05
expectation that just in the back of my head I'm like, yeah,
24:09
Barca, you know, Barca could probably score again.
24:12
Now. I predicted one nil because I
24:13
thought it would be cagey. I don't want I don't want to
24:17
totally like, you know, Barsa does.
24:20
Barsa obviously deserves a bunch of credit.
24:22
I'll say it a million times. They're the best club team in
24:24
the world. It's I don't think it's
24:25
particularly close, but I, I, I was surprised that Leon didn't
24:30
have much didn't have as much fight left in him.
24:34
Can I say that? You know that it could have just
24:38
been that they ran out of gas too.
24:39
I mean the the other player that I think, well, it's funny
24:43
because like I think of those three defenders that I was
24:46
worried about Angan Renar heaps. Angan was the first one that
24:51
where the the things started to get a little wobbly defensively.
24:54
You know, starts to I think Barsa started to pick on her a
24:57
little bit. And then by the time we get late
25:00
in the match, it was just that was where they were going.
25:03
You know, that they had figured out that was the absolute weak
25:06
point that that means central channel.
25:09
I want to talk a little bit about the second goal because it
25:11
was a little bit of a of juju in the building.
25:13
The camera on the telecast cuts to Itana at 68 warming up.
25:20
And then, you know, I'm like, OK, here we go.
25:22
She's she's coming in. And it felt like seconds later
25:24
is when Barcelona gets the second goal.
25:28
And it was a like, I counted 9 pass sequence, seven different
25:35
players touched the ball battery, Alexia Battier, Alexia
25:39
Pyor, Pina Brux, Pina Bariello and then Pyor finishes it off.
25:44
I mean, if that's not a Barcelona goal, I'm not, I'm not
25:46
sure what is. Exactly.
25:48
And you know, Pina winning the ball or getting on the ball in
25:53
midfield and then having the patience to get down there to
25:57
Brutes, When Brutes came off the field, she got a huge ovation.
26:01
The Barcelona supporters clearly love her and for good reason.
26:05
But, you know, she plays it across the face of the goal.
26:08
And it had me thinking about it. And, you know, all, all
26:10
footballers trained these ways. But it was just like so eye
26:13
opening for me to like really watch their training.
26:16
It reminded me of those Rondo drills where I was just like,
26:19
Jesus, they just split defenders with passes so easily and, and
26:23
Bruce just gets the, the ball across the face.
26:26
And I thought Betty Uela was going to do a similar thing to
26:30
what Hegelberg did because the ball she got and got caught on
26:32
the ball a little bit had like there's a little bit of
26:34
hesitation, but she steadied herself quickly enough to get it
26:37
back into the middle for pie or for the brace.
26:41
And at that point, I will say at that point, I was like, how ugly
26:45
is this one going to get? Because I it felt like the
26:48
avalanche was coming from there. Yeah, no doubt.
26:51
And I think, you know, I'm not sure up to that point, well had
26:56
Jonah made, he had made the the couple Subs to that point, he
27:00
had brought in chewing gum and Katoto at 66 a few minutes
27:05
prior. You know, I'm not I'm not saying
27:11
that the Subs in the line, it was why they lost, but I felt
27:16
like whatever pathway they had to victory was not put forward.
27:22
You know, like with with kind of how they they went out there and
27:25
who went, who went out there just because it was just like
27:29
wasn't necessarily going to work.
27:30
And I think defensively we kind of saw, saw those holes and I'm
27:34
not sure who could have been, who could have done better, but
27:38
it was just like some of those things we saw, we just talked
27:41
about them debris. So it seemed kind of obvious.
27:43
And then you see them play out mostly in the second-half when,
27:47
when Barcelona just starts to pick on them.
27:50
And then we get to sell them up out of you all the time.
27:53
You know, when, when you're tired and you, you're looking a
27:56
little leggy and, and your, your ego's been bruised a little bit.
28:00
You look up at the scoreboard and now you're, it seems a
28:02
little insurmountable. And then you've got, you've got
28:05
that killer coming at you. You were there.
28:09
Tell us. Tell us about what you saw.
28:12
She's fast, but you can also strike the hell out of the ball.
28:15
And so I I you know, I thought it was, you were right that in
28:20
the preview when I had said, man, Betty Uelo was really
28:23
smashing the ball and training too.
28:24
And you're like, yeah, that checks out.
28:26
That sounds, that sounds right. I believe that.
28:29
And the thing I love about Betty Uelo's first goal is Pottery
28:37
does like this. Like, you know, she, she has her
28:39
back to Betty Whalo and, and the the goal.
28:43
And you know, she does that, that kick to, to send it
28:46
backwards, that little touch to send it backwards.
28:49
But then right as that happens, you know, the pass is coming in
28:54
from Padre Betty Whalo and Kika start to converge on it.
28:59
And you can see Kika like gives her, it's either some, she gives
29:02
her some kind of motion and she starts to veer off like, no, no,
29:05
no, you take it, You take it and she like kind of veers off to
29:09
the right. And you can just kind of see the
29:10
defenders just that little split second where they're like, who's
29:13
going to get the weight? And then Betty Whaler is already
29:16
hitting it into the side netting.
29:18
Damn, that's awesome. And I think we our guy Chris
29:22
Woodigan was on it too because I watched a few times.
29:25
I think I watched the second-half back before we
29:27
recorded and he's on it. He's like, oh, Kika let's Kika
29:32
let's it run. That's awesome.
29:33
And then when I'm watching it, I watched it a few times.
29:36
I'm like, I'm not sure because the angle like I'm like, was she
29:40
not in the past? You know, but now that you're
29:42
telling me that it was like you could see the, the, the, the
29:45
communication or now, now I know now I've got confirmation.
29:49
I shouldn't have. I should never doubted our guy,
29:51
our guy with you on that. Oh, by the way, you, you would
29:54
have no way to know this, but at 29 minutes and 30 seconds, Chris
30:00
Whittingham quote, Pyor wasn't quite making the run into the
30:05
channel. Let's go.
30:08
Let's go planted the seed when I when I sent him the interview
30:11
request I'm talking about. Yeah, For those that don't know,
30:17
our guy Chris Whittingham, who called the final for Power
30:20
Amount plus, will be joining us next week to recount, you know,
30:24
just this historic day. With a little bit of space in
30:28
between. This is a, this is a little bit
30:29
of a tradition that we've started here into the channel
30:32
where we've talked about it before.
30:34
Our guy Chris Sharples, who called the last two UEFA Women's
30:37
Champions League finals for Dezone.
30:40
We like to give the final a little time to breathe, give the
30:43
tournament a little time to kind of, you know, soak into our
30:46
mentals, to quote some great poets from Staten Island.
30:50
And you know, then we then we get to talk to somebody else who
30:53
was who was actually there. Now, this is the first time that
30:55
I was one of us was in the building with the person calling
30:59
the match. We did the same thing with
31:01
Jackie Olli, the greatest of all time when she called the the
31:05
Euro final. So make sure you check that out.
31:08
Winningham, you know, one of the absolute best in the game doing
31:11
it. But I'm glad he mentioned it and
31:13
he was sitting probably 25 ish yards, about 30 yards the to my
31:22
left. We were like on kind of either
31:24
sides of the of the semi circle. I saw him when I was like in the
31:27
media room during halftime. I kind of looked down.
31:30
I was like, OK. But then I was like, not a good
31:33
time to like, it's halftime. Not a good time to be like, oh,
31:36
hey, Chris, what's going on buddy?
31:37
Like he's a little busy. So I I stopped myself.
31:41
It's price cycling through, you know, just poetry and said I
31:46
doesn't describe what could be coming here.
31:49
We we briefly touched on this the chance for Tabatha Chewinga
31:53
at 75 when battery who I'm sorry, no, when moppie who took
31:59
a nasty gash. You know, like well, this will
32:02
be my second boxing reference of the when Vitali Klitschko just
32:05
had his forehead crunched open by Lennox Lewis.
32:09
Shades of that. But Moppie, an absolute warrior,
32:13
gets taped up and and and jot's back out there.
32:16
But in the interim, Tabitha Chewinga has a breakaway, you
32:20
know, and a wide open look at goal.
32:24
It's two nil at this point, 75 right at that sweet spot where
32:30
if you're going to claw your way back into it, this is this is
32:33
the breaking point. You know, I I had my take, you
32:36
know, knock it through my head. Chewinga is going to score if
32:38
Leon gets on the board and then cut that going again.
32:42
I mean what? I've run out of words.
32:46
It's unbelievable. And and we've seen her do it for
32:48
the past few years where she gets to the ground so quickly
32:54
and she's so good at making kick saves and she's I I don't know
32:59
how big the hockey culture is in in Catalan Catalonia.
33:03
Pardon me, She could be a hockey goaltender.
33:07
Yeah. I mean, she's like, I, I don't
33:08
know what sport I wouldn't take. Like if if somebody wanted to
33:12
challenge me to a game, I'll say OK, I'll take Kata koi, you can
33:18
have the second pick and pick the sport and I'm fine with my
33:21
chances. I mean, she's just an
33:22
unbelievable athlete. I do think if you're Chewinga, I
33:25
know it's easy to say like when you don't score.
33:28
I think if you're Chewinga you got to do better there.
33:30
But you have to, you probably have to do your absolute best if
33:34
you want any chance at at beating Barcelona's goalkeeper.
33:38
And This is why I say that the game was one on the margins.
33:41
Yeah. Every every little sliver of
33:43
like, all right, the ball bounces this way goes one with
33:47
ball bounces that way. It's the other team.
33:49
You know, it's like it always went, you know, went Barcelona's
33:52
way every time, despite the stats almost being a mirror
33:55
image of each other, a real anomaly, but also a real
33:59
testament to the 42 like the winning attitude.
34:03
And I just kept thinking back to like how you described the
34:07
training, you know, and I think that was woven through a lot of
34:12
the answers in the press conference.
34:13
It's like, oh, if a pirate talked about it.
34:16
This team works hard. We work hard, you know, like,
34:18
and it's like when I couple that with what you saw, we were like,
34:22
oh, OK. Yeah, the Barcelona training was
34:24
a very a lot more intense. And Leon, Leon, Andre a lot
34:26
faster, a lot, a lot, a lot harder core.
34:28
And you, this is the way you described it, you know, just I
34:31
can, I can sense the ferocity, you know, of, of what you were
34:34
witnessing. And that to hear the players
34:37
talk about it, you're just like, oh, yeah, that's what you mean.
34:40
I, I guess, you know, you're able to kind of connect the dots
34:43
as to how they're able to build, you know, this empire how they
34:46
would be, they would be they're they're able to be this great
34:49
and not get complacent. Like it.
34:52
It really is like something to behold.
34:55
I had the same thought as you. That was like, oh, she talks
34:58
about how we train super hard here.
35:01
Like, you know, and I'm sure, you know, in her time at
35:03
Wolfsburg, I'm sure they, they think they practice hard and I'm
35:06
sure Leon thinks they practice hard.
35:08
You know, I'm sure everyday Houston Dash practices hard,
35:11
right? No disrespect to Houston Dash,
35:12
just like pulling any team, whoever it is, like you, you,
35:15
you're like, OK, practice how you play.
35:17
You've heard coaches, managers say it our entire lives.
35:21
But like the intensity and the ferocity that I saw in their
35:27
training. And like you said, the way they,
35:30
they believe it and really trust in it, I, I think, you know,
35:35
it's playing out on the field pretty wonderfully for them at
35:37
the moment. Yeah, man, I think even seeing
35:41
like I Tana come in and you know, they're they're already up
35:45
in control the match and she's just grinding out 5050 balls and
35:50
going going at Ashley Lawrence trying to win a throw when we,
35:53
you know, in a part of the field where it's like, OK, but it goes
35:55
one way or the other. Doesn't doesn't totally matter.
35:57
But she's really out there foot all the way on the gas.
36:02
I mentioned if that 90th minute some about you have a goal to
36:06
make it 3 nil was like the 12th round knockout like in in a in a
36:11
toss up fight, 90 + 3 when Sama gets the 4th was is basically
36:16
just chasing your opponent out into the parking lot to continue
36:19
delivering more more punishment. But it's just really just we're
36:22
just going to absolutely board on.
36:25
But you know the clocks running the balls out there.
36:29
You got to keep playing and you know, to to Pyor's credit, who
36:32
could have gone for a hat trick. Yeah, but but makes the right
36:35
play, you know, and and and a beautiful pass just just to kind
36:40
of cap off a how about a 17 for 19 in terms of Evo Pyor
36:45
attempting and completing passes on the day.
36:47
Just just to, you know, cap a little, you know, if you if you
36:50
were had a little doubt in terms of who the player of the match
36:52
was, But this moment was about the 22 year old Samba Pariello
36:57
just icing it and then hitting the Celle.
37:00
The Vince Carter slam dunk. It's over.
37:02
You know it's over, Sully. You know the Kitty.
37:04
Yeah, I always hear Kitty Smith that, you know, like just, I
37:07
mean a perfect little bit perfect capper.
37:10
I think it was about both of them, man.
37:12
I, I, I think you're right. Like, Yep, the, the first thing
37:16
in my notes, Ball goes out to Pyor on the break.
37:19
She makes an unbelievably unselfish play and passes to
37:24
Betty Uelo. And I know it is.
37:26
I think it is easy for people to be like, that's the right pass,
37:29
you know, like you just make the right play at the right time.
37:32
How many times have you seen strikers number nines in
37:36
particular who are on a hat trick and a game?
37:40
That's not in doubt by the way, the at this point, because
37:42
you're already up three nil. So like there's a lot of things
37:45
you could put in the calculation of of her being like I'm finally
37:49
going to get this fucking trophy that I've been chasing and now
37:53
I'm going to have a I'm on a hat trick.
37:54
I'm going to do this thing. And she still made the right
37:58
play to her teammate. I mean, you, we talk about
38:01
training, we talk about the culture in Barcelona and she
38:04
still does that. And Betty Whalow pays it off.
38:08
And I, I put some stuff on Blue Sky about this.
38:10
A couple, a few of the Catalan journalists were talking about,
38:15
you know, Betty Whalow not having a great 30 plus minutes
38:20
in last year's final. And then when they played
38:22
Wolfsburg a few years back in the final, she did not have a
38:25
good performance there. And, you know, one of the the
38:28
journalists I was chatting with the past couple days came up to
38:32
me before the match. He put his hand on my shoulder.
38:35
He was like, you're right, Selma's in in the starting 11.
38:38
We'll see how it goes. And I was just like, OK, like, I
38:41
mean, and he wasn't like shit talking or anything, but you
38:43
could just tell that their supporters are just like, well,
38:46
you haven't done it for us in the last couple finals.
38:48
So we got to see it. She showed it to him.
38:51
Yeah, no doubt. And, you know, Pina was on such
38:55
a tear last year that, you know, it was hard to she was
39:00
undeniable. Like, you know, that that she
39:02
just had to play in every competition you just put her in
39:05
and she was just scoring goals. But by the way, I think has kind
39:09
of refound her form. And it really rewound me back
39:13
to, you know, she's 22 years old.
39:16
And I think like, it feels like she's been around forever
39:18
because she made such a huge splash at the 23 World Cup.
39:21
You know, she's the 20, the second youngest person.
39:24
Yeah. Second year as women's score in
39:26
the Women's World Cup semi final, you know, and, and she
39:29
also scored in the quarter final, the game winner to be to
39:32
to defeat the Netherlands. This I think was as a 19 year
39:34
old. And I just remember comparing
39:39
Selma to Mbappe, you know, when I saw her as a 19 year old out
39:42
there playing. And then now you see it kind of
39:46
come to pass. You see the speed, you see the
39:48
power, you see the footwork, the precision, the decision making,
39:53
you know, like the, the strength, like it, it all really
39:57
is coming together for this person.
39:58
And, and she was dealing with the injuries last year.
40:00
But if she's going to play like this, you know that they're,
40:05
they're really just just not, not a whole lot you can do to to
40:09
defend a player like that. Yeah, man.
40:12
And you know, she she ends up with with an assist also.
40:17
I mean, and I think in in 23, you and I were having the
40:21
conversation and I think you may have been right on this.
40:25
Even even comparing her to Mbappe.
40:28
I think you may have been talking about her as a winger.
40:32
And I was like player at 9 player at 9.
40:34
I can't am I am I remembering that correctly?
40:36
I feel like you've been right on this for a long time because it
40:39
certainly seems like she is most dangerous on the left wing
40:43
because she still has the ability to cross over and get in
40:46
the middle right. Especially, you know, with the,
40:48
with the player she's she's matched up with.
40:51
That I mean that's what we saw today.
40:52
You know that her third goal you you see the replay and she's
40:56
she's slicing right through that heaps Engen in our triangle.
41:01
That gave me so much worse. It's like right in the middle.
41:04
They're all three of those defenders are right there right
41:08
in the replay frame. But to to me, I think the under
41:14
the undervalued skill of hers is the footwork, which we saw, you
41:18
know, the control. I mean, it takes a lot to get
41:21
your feet exactly right, you know, And I think that the 4th
41:26
one as well. I'm glad you mentioned Payor.
41:29
It's not only that she made the right decision, the right
41:33
footballing decision in that play, it was also fucking
41:37
perfect pass yes, exactly. And then also a perfect fucking
41:39
finish by by you know, it was just like it wasn't just players
41:43
in harmony doing playing at the right way, which they were.
41:47
They also, it was just two back-to-back elite, you know,
41:51
just perfect, perfectly executed moves to kind of like
41:55
emphatically slam the door on this one.
41:57
And so I asked Betty Romeo about it in the in the post match
42:02
presser. And so I start to ask the well,
42:04
I, I introduced myself. And then he goes to the
42:07
headphones so he could hear the translation.
42:11
And you know, seems like it seems like a really nice fella
42:15
apologized to me at least. You know, he said, he said Los
42:19
Ciento and then something about Ingles, which I'm pretty sure
42:22
he's probably telling me. Sorry, I don't, I don't speak
42:25
great English or something like that.
42:26
And let me just tell you, pal, you speak whatever fucking
42:29
language you want. If you coach this team the way
42:31
you coach it, man, do do your thing, buddy.
42:34
Los sientos soy Americano. I don't speak Catalan, right, or
42:37
Spanish, but you know, I so I'm sitting there, I'm holding the
42:41
translation app. I, I talked about it in our
42:43
preview. UEFA does a good job with this
42:45
and I'm holding the, the the translation app.
42:47
But what I asked him was, you know, Evapayor was on a hat
42:51
trick and she still made that pass.
42:53
What can you even say about her at this point?
42:56
And he, he, he chuckled and he, and he's described her at least
43:00
according to the, the translation app.
43:02
He said Eva is fundamental to our team and just talked about
43:08
how, you know, how hard she works and, and the time that
43:13
she's put in and what she's brought to their side.
43:16
And so, and you could tell like the, and he, he kind of like, it
43:21
was a, it was a, a little chuckle, a, a smile and a shrug.
43:24
Like he's like, I don't know, like, 'cause I kind of framed
43:26
the question, like, what can you even say?
43:28
And he's just like, she's fundamental.
43:30
She's like everything. He, he, he repeated it a second
43:32
time, just talking about how she's fundamental to everything
43:35
they do. And when you have one of the
43:38
three best number nines in the world, maybe the second best #9
43:42
in the world, you know, what, like, how else can you describe
43:47
that? It's it's the it's the biggest
43:49
weapon a football team could possibly have.
43:54
Yeah, and I think playing the right way probably feeds into
44:00
how fundamental she is because you have, to your point, that
44:03
player that can like 2 points, 3 nothing, doesn't really matter.
44:07
Why not just put your foot as hard as you possibly can through
44:10
the ball address to take Endler's head off or blow the
44:13
hole through the back of the net or whatever.
44:15
You know, do what you want. Today's you've been your day,
44:18
but to your point, Peter does the right thing and that just
44:21
reinforces, you know, that that kind of play the right way.
44:24
DNA really, really incredible stuff.
44:27
Another one last little attribute for for bodybuilder
44:31
that I didn't mention that we've now seen in the World Cup and
44:34
we've now seen in Champions League final add clutch to the
44:37
to the to the list of of things that we've seen great players
44:42
not be able to do in one of these situations.
44:45
And now we've seen her do it in multiple situations.
44:47
So a lot to get excited about there.
44:51
I got a couple final little little baby notes before we get
44:54
out of here, but is there anything else we went ahead for?
44:57
You guys, I think, I think we largely covered it.
45:03
What was the, I know I referenced it, but then I saw it
45:07
in my notes and was like, OK, this is the Oh yeah, 1 funny
45:11
thing toward the end of the first half, but it has got
45:15
called for a foul on Endler and they and she made contact with
45:19
her and stuff. But when the ref came over to
45:22
assess the foul, but it has like gave Endler like 1/2 a hug and
45:27
like was kind of like showing the ref like, no, no, we're,
45:30
we're, we're friends. Like it's fine.
45:31
Like I didn't mean to. And then there was like, yeah,
45:33
it's fine. Like we're just playing football
45:35
and I, I got a kick out of that. But but it does look like she
45:39
was doing more of that than Antler was.
45:41
And it was like kind of look who's got to go along for the
45:44
ride with it. I wanted to mention a couple
45:48
couple of last little notes. I thought Melchi du Mornay, we
45:52
had a lot of high hopes for her. It didn't seem like she looked
45:55
right on the second goal. Eva Pyo was just running away.
46:01
No, I'm sorry. It was battity.
46:03
You know, book a spot that he's running before she makes it
46:04
appeal. She's just running away from Du
46:06
Mornay. I'm just like, I'm not really
46:08
used to seeing that. And I've been in that position
46:11
where you're carrying an injury and then you get hit in the in
46:16
the area and you're just like, this is so much worse than than
46:19
it should be. And they hit it and it.
46:21
Just kind of felt, yeah, a couple.
46:23
And it just felt like it, you know, she's not one to roll
46:27
around and, you know, kind of milk something.
46:29
And I was just like, you could just see that it was much more
46:31
than what she had dealt with in that moment.
46:34
So a little bit disappointing, but you know, can't really hold
46:37
it against a player like that. I thought Darren Jenkins had a
46:39
good succinct point in the post game quote Speaking of
46:44
Barcelona, they hit a next level of the Barcelona way and quote,
46:48
I thought that was a really good way to put that.
46:51
And then last known and evapior, you know, I think to your
46:56
question, she made note of, you know, wanting to earn their way
47:00
back to the Champs league final next year.
47:03
Did a little Googling. Turns out the Champs league
47:05
final next year taking place in Warsaw, Poland, 3 hours from
47:10
where I have a planet worth was bored.
47:12
So if there's if there's any player in the planet who's going
47:16
to make make everything, you know, do everything in their
47:19
power to make sure that they can get back to the final next year.
47:23
I think a little take Chip on Eva Bayer.
47:25
Yeah, that's fair. Whoa.
47:27
I I did not know that. OK, that's a great nugget.
47:32
Yeah, man, I mean, what a player I'm, I'm going to leave this
47:36
whole situation with. You know, obviously we talked
47:39
about her. She's been an avalanche of goals
47:41
for years now, you know, especially in her time at Barsa.
47:47
But I I leave this tournament in this final was just the a
47:52
newfound respect for her and the way she plays and the way she
47:56
trains. Yeah, just a a absolutely
47:59
special player. Yeah.
48:01
And then Speaking of Number Nines, you know, I felt, you
48:07
know, a little bit vindicated, but also a little saddened
48:10
because just like, you know, you hate, you know, like that Leon
48:12
couldn't get it done. You know, we obviously got
48:14
friends there and the fact that the number 9 spot for Leon was
48:19
was, you know, such a bugaboo for this this whole run.
48:22
You know that, you know, as we got closer and closer, I'll tell
48:26
you what, there's there's a #9 who who used to wear sky blue,
48:32
or maybe he still is wearing sky blue or maybe wearing some sky
48:34
blue PJS right now. If I'm Michelle King, it's get
48:38
me Bunny Shaw line 1, give me buddy shots as agent on line 2,
48:42
give me buddy shots. Auntie on line 3, give me buddy
48:44
shots. 11th grade history teacher on line.
48:46
I don't know why I did that. My 11th grade history teacher,
48:48
he was a Jamaican fella. So maybe that's maybe that was
48:50
the weird shit everybody was making.
48:52
But basically go through the whole give me everybody just
48:55
fill up all my lines and just you tell me when I've hit the
49:00
number of how much I have to write into the contract.
49:02
You do let me know when I hit the number and then we'll make
49:05
it happen. You son of a bitch.
49:08
Yeah, that's probably right. How do you not do that?
49:11
Yeah. How do you let her go to another
49:13
team if you're Michelle King? Yeah, I mean, then City has to
49:18
get ketoto and some like, they like they got to do something.
49:24
Yeah, that's probably what's going to happen.
49:25
God damn it. I I didn't give that one second
49:28
of thought, but I guess, you know, Chelsea put in a gigantic
49:32
bid for Felicia Schroeder, which, you know, I obviously see
49:37
things, you know, they, they want to drop like a big bag over
49:41
to BK Hacking to pick up Schroeder, who I think would be
49:43
a great pick up, you know, with Kurt departing.
49:48
And in my mind, I was like, OK, well, if Chelsea's going to do
49:52
that, then do they think Bunny's off the board?
49:56
And of course, 'cause I see everything through the sky blue
49:58
prism. I was like, money back, buddy,
50:00
let's go. Like, like, did somebody,
50:02
fucking, did somebody fucking come to their senses?
50:05
But yeah, maybe maybe Chelsea is, is reading the tea leaves
50:09
too. But they, they put in that
50:10
offer, At least my understanding from the reporting, they put in
50:13
that offer before, before the final.
50:17
But I think you're, I think you're right.
50:18
It it it it's the it's the prudent move if you're Leon and
50:24
you know, again, no disrespect out of Hegeberg.
50:27
Like we talk, we've talked about her a bunch.
50:28
She's the all time leading scorer in this competition.
50:31
But as a as a wise gentleman, Slim Charles once said the thing
50:36
about the old days is that they're the old days.
50:39
And I just think that I don't know it how, how, how long has
50:43
it been since we've seen, like, amazing Hegeberg?
50:50
I mean, you know, she she's had moments, you know, throughout,
50:54
right, But it's like this is this is the absolute apex.
50:59
And I think we we've seen, you know, we've seen her a couple
51:01
exits before we got here, kind of be like, oh, well, you're
51:05
you're not affected. You know, like it's tough to
51:08
kind of like to bank on something when you haven't
51:11
really seen it recently, you know, at that top, top top level
51:15
going into a final. But again, you know, who knows
51:17
if if there was no better options or there's so much about
51:20
what goes on that we have no idea about.
51:22
So I can't really put it on on one person.
51:25
But it did feel weird to kind of like this is definitely not
51:28
going to work. And then seeing the start, I'm
51:29
like starting lineup, definitely not not going to work.
51:32
And they they held up for a little bit, but you know,
51:35
ultimately caved at the end. But a lot to be proud of for
51:39
sure, reaching the final and just kind of being all the way
51:42
up here. But still trippy to see just the
51:46
the the gap between these two sides.
51:49
I think there is, you know, like what when it's what at the very
51:51
end of the day, you know, like, yeah, I feel, I feel like these
51:56
two sides are closer to 4 nil than they are, you know, just
52:00
going down the stat sheet and seeing, oh, are these these
52:02
teams are pretty even. Yeah.
52:04
No, I think that's, I think that's true.
52:06
So another final, another one nil prediction.
52:10
Dead wrong by me. Hey, you got the team right.
52:14
I got Yeah. Hey, you know, I I picked the
52:16
winner and we both picked the winner.
52:17
Shout to us. You got to pick the winner first
52:21
before you can start, you know, getting getting to these more
52:24
advanced predictions. So this is a good big milestone
52:26
for you. I I appreciate that.
52:28
Yeah. So there we go.
52:29
So I managed to get that one right.
52:30
You, I think you might did you have score and winner correct
52:34
last year? I believe you did, yeah. 2 to
52:37
1/2 to 1. Arsenal was it?
52:41
Last year's final was 2 to one right.
52:42
It was a 2 nil. Oh boy, that was one nil, right?
52:47
I don't know why. I don't know why I did any of
52:49
this. Sorry.
52:52
Did you wait to give me a SEC here?
52:54
We can do this pretty quickly, I think. 2425.
52:59
Yeah, it's one nil. You're right.
53:00
Yeah, yeah, it's one nil Plexinius.
53:03
Yeah. Yeah.
53:04
So I mean, you know, and I'll say like in our, in our preview
53:07
stuff, I and I had put it in, in my notes, like in the first
53:11
half, especially when there was like some back and forth.
53:13
You had the, you know, you had the offside and then you had the
53:15
Pyor chance and then you had the Basha chance.
53:18
And I was like Dino's prediction of this being a little more up
53:21
and down and the, and the potential for more goals.
53:24
I think you, you knocked that one out of part, buddy.
53:26
So shout to you. Yeah, I appreciate it.
53:28
Yeah, it didn't, it didn't come off like a one nil.
53:31
I mean, I think they these teams were were hungry to kind of, you
53:34
know, make a statement early and, you know, person was able
53:39
to punctuate the statement. Leon just able to get a couple
53:42
drafts together. Any anything else you want to
53:45
hit before we get out of here? I think we did it, man.
53:49
Yeah, the the atmosphere was great.
53:51
The vibes around the stadium were were very cool.
53:54
Ran into our pal Leanne Sanderson at halftime.
53:58
Let's go. The spread was the spread was
54:02
good in the media room. I had a very fresh banana, you
54:05
know, get the energy up, get some potassium, get it going,
54:09
you know, do my do my thing there.
54:11
But yeah, Leanne, obviously the fashion icon that she is.
54:15
The suit game was impeccable. Had a nice chat with her.
54:18
So good to see her. And yeah, man, another one in
54:21
the books for your boys. We lift the Champions League
54:24
trophy yet again. Unbelievable.
54:27
Yeah, but let's just keep this thing going.
54:30
This has been another episode into the channel.
54:32
Thank you, thank you, Thank you for watching, listening, hanging
54:34
out, maybe for just this episode, maybe for this entire
54:37
Champions League season. Either way, appreciate it.
54:39
If you enjoyed the show, leave us a review or you can like,
54:42
comment, subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify podcast where
54:44
you like to watch it. Listen, if you want to support
54:46
the show page here in the comment section, this channel,
54:48
great way to do that. Or you can become a YouTube
54:50
member using that join button, or you can grab yourself a piece
54:53
of Into the Channel merch like the one your boys racking right
54:56
now. The the old white hoodie, you
54:59
know, perfect, perfect championship fit.
55:01
If you ask me. Links all the above.
55:03
Much more for in the description of this episode.
55:05
And a big thank you Michael's as well.
55:07
Mr. Grant angle for being the number 9.
55:10
That's always just I mean the sharpie.
55:12
They don't make a sharpie big or think enough.
55:14
All I mean maximum pointage on the sharpie to to, you know, jot
55:19
you into that number. I don't know are you're also
55:20
you're my #9 but you're also my center back partner.
55:23
I mean, I you're just the ultimate utility player
55:26
wherever, wherever you need to be.
55:28
I mean just any, any, any gap that needs filling.
55:31
You're just the only call. I appreciate you bro.
55:33
Likewise buddy. Or maybe Terra Terra Mickey own
55:36
vibes. You know the number 9 to
55:39
defender. Who knows either way.
55:41
If you CPS striker. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
55:44
They've never mentioned that on the NWSL broadcast before.
55:49
You know, look, dude, this is this is the duo here.
55:52
I mean, this is love. You know why we don't want to
55:55
get sound too arrogant here, but I mean, people have said LeBron
55:58
and D Wade, but we'll we'll leave that to the side.
56:01
But I know one thing is for absolute certain, we wouldn't be
56:04
doing any of this without all of our pals.
56:07
Like I was, I was just thinking about this like in a, in a
56:09
moment of gratitude yesterday after the match.
56:11
Just I I've said it before, we have found the only corner of
56:15
the Internet with kind people who care very much about the
56:19
subject matter and will will correct us when we're wrong,
56:22
will give us some background, will give us things that we
56:24
haven't thought about before. You guys are just the absolute
56:27
best. Thank you for for rocking with
56:29
us. Thank you for supporting the
56:30
show, but truly means a tremendous amount.
56:34
I know that both of us. So thank you all for watching
56:36
and we will see you all next time.
56:40
Congrats on the love.