The Football Weekend

The Champions League final is upon us, the thrilling crescendo of the club football season. With no major tournament on the horizon this summer — and no, the Club World Cup does not count — this is the last big match for a while. There’s an announcement along those lines towards the end of this week’s show, but more importantly, we’ve got Rob Green on.The former England national team goalkeeper will call this game for CBS and Paramount+ at 3pm ET on Saturday alongside Clive Tyldesley, who was kind enough to join us before last year’s edition of this marquee fixture. Now Rob stops by to trace how INTER MILAN got here having survived a spectacular FC Barcelona side in the semifinal and major disappointments on multiple fronts as the club chased a treble. Then there’s PSG, the club reborn as a young and hungry force of nature. And of course, we get Mr. Green’s thoughts on the two unbelievable goalkeepers on show here in what could be a major moment for his tribe.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you watched the Netflix docuseries Sunderland ‘Til I Die, you saw a famous old English club that looked like dying. Two straight relegations for the Black Cats put these giants of the Northeast in a precarious position, and the man often tasked with guiding the viewer through all this tumult and heartbreak was Nick Barnes. As the Sunderland commentator for BBC Newcastle, he calls every game for radio, but he’s also covered this club through thick and thin, many managers and even many owners. He’s seen it all.And he’ll see one more thing this Saturday, when Sunderland travel to Wembley to face Sheffield United in the Championship playoff final — the $200 million game. Whoever wins will play Premier League football next season and travel to Anfield, Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, the Emirates Stadium. Whoever loses will be back in the Championship, going to Swansea.Either way, Barnes will be along for the ride. But first he joins The Football Weekend to trace Sunderland’s path to this moment.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The FA Cup final is no longer the capstone to the English football season, the last match on the calendar with a weekend all its own. This one will have to share real estate with the Premier League, the promotion playoffs in the Football League, and of course everything going on beyond the shores of Great Britain.But this remains a showpiece match nonetheless, and this edition has its narratives. There’s MANCHESTER CITY in their third-straight final, looking to salvage something from a season that’s been almost unbelievably poor by Pep Guardiola’s high standards. And then there’s CRYSTAL PALACE, a club without a trophy in its history besides the hardly major Full Members’ Cup. Twice the South Londoners have appeared in this final, and both times the Eagles took the lead. Both times, they ultimately lost to Manchester United.Now they’ve got a chance at redemption against the other Manchester side, and here to preview it all ahead of kickoff on Saturday (11:30am ET, 4:30pm UK) is Jon Champion, who will be calling the game for ESPN in the United States.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s a game that needs no introduction, but there’s plenty of narrative coming into this one. BARCELONA just lost the greatest cup tie of all time to Inter Milan in a Champions League semifinal. REAL MADRID are enduring a horror season by their standards, culminating with a Copa del Rey final defeat to their Catalan enemies that had them going ballistic on the referee. That makes the two contestants in El Clásico a pair of wounded animals, though Barcelona have the consolation of that cup final victory and a very good chance to wrap up La Liga with a win here. Madrid have no such comfort, and all they can do is beat their greatest rivals to keep the title race alive. Which of these two can shake off the emotional baggage in time to win the biggest match in club football?Here to help us answer that question ahead of kickoff on Sunday (10:15am ET, 3:15pm UK) is Dan Hilton of The Barcelona Podcast.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Basque region is in northern Spain — well, a bit of it’s French — but most folks there just wish they were their own thing. It’s home to a distinct language, culture, and football tradition, the last of those most prominently represented in two teams from two different cities: ATHLETIC CLUB of Bilbao and REAL SOCIEDAD of Donostia-San Sebastián.This rivalry, the Basque derby, has had its nasty periods. The late 1980s and early 1990s in particular were a time of discontent. But for the most part, this is a family feud, a sibling rivalry. They’ll fight amongst themselves, but when outsiders knock on the door, they band together against the common enemy. That’s true in football, and in heavier things. The Basque region was decimated under the regime of Spain’s longtime dictator, Francisco Franco, and in the most difficult times, these folks came together in opposition to the Generalissimo and his thugs.Here to trace all that before the match kicks off on Sunday (3pm ET/8pm UK) is Christopher Evans, author of Los Leones: The Unique Story of Athletic Club Bilbao.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was crushing defeat in the Coppa Italia this week for Internazionale, and to next-door neighbors A.C. Milan no less. With that semifinal exit, the treble that Inter were loudly pursuing this season has evaporated. Now there are merely two competitions they’re in a good position to win: the Champions League — if they can get past Barcelona in the semifinal — and Serie A.The latter is where they’ll meet Roma this weekend for another highly difficult encounter, even at the San Siro. The visitors have not lost a league match since December, an incredible turnaround from a frankly disastrous opening period of the season, and they’ve zipped up the table to compete for a Champions League place. At the heart of it all is Claudio Ranieri, the 73-year-old Roman who came out of retirement to manage his hometown club for one final chapter (maybe) of a lifelong football romance.Here to get into all that ahead of kickoff is Alasdair Mackenzie, Rome-based writer for TNT Sports, Destination Calcio, Total Italian Football and more.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the German clásico, Der Klassiker, though BORUSSIA DORTMUND are not having a classic season. After a recent uptick in form, they’re still eighth and just trying to get a ticket — any ticket — to Europe next season. Come to think of it, that 4-0 thrashing from Barcelona in the Champions League quarterfinals this week might have put them off the whole business.And then there’s BAYERN MUNICH, back to being Bayern domestically. They’re six points clear of current adversaries Bayer Leverkusen at the top of the Bundesliga, and they seem to be on pace to secure Harry Kane his first career trophy. But there are still questions swirling around manager Vincent Kompany, and a recent spate of injuries — especially to thrilling young star Jamal Musiala — might have just created an opening for Dortmund here.Joining the show to chat about all that and more is Markus Fjørtoft, a former professional footballer who now hosts The Fussball Podcast with his dad, Jan Åge Fjørtoft, who was himself a pro in the Bundesliga and beyond. Get the lowdown above before it all kicks off at 12:30pm ET/5:30pm UK on Saturday.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the Manchester derby, UNITED against CITY, but it’s certainly a strange one. Both of these clubs are in a bad way, though that means something different to each of them. City have fallen from champion grace but are still battling for a Champions League place. United, on the other hand, are 13th in the league with eight matches left to play.It’s an incredible state of affairs for one of Europe’s true superclubs, and on this week’s show, the brilliant Carl Anka of The Athletic suggests that United are becoming something like the Dallas Cowboys: a giant global sporting institution that’s lost its magic. We got into how the Red Devils spent their way into this mess, how City have become a team with a soft underbelly, and why this Sunday’s encounter may be a meeting of the legless midfields.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The international break is over, and club football returns with the Gran Derbi: REAL BETIS vs SEVILLA.This is one of the most vibrant rivalry matches in world football, Spain's greatest local spat, a true expression of Seville's colorful culture: the freewheeling social scene fueled by ubiquitous outdoor dining and Sevillanos who are impressively direct with one another; the searing heat of Andalusia; the close quarters in which the two sets of fans live, including in split households; and a rich history featuring the Romans, the Moors, Christian kings of all stripes, and the dictatorship of Francisco Franco after the Spanish Civil War.This derby has boiled over at times, but more than anything it's defined by the (mostly) good-natured banter of the street, known as guasa, and a stubborn refusal from both sides to drift towards the corporatism that has come to define the modern game. They're desperate to beat each other and, perhaps as importantly, see each other suffer. In recent years, Sevilla have become the Europa League masters, seven times champions since 2006, in what is a considerable shakeup of the dynamic here. For a while, neither of them won much of anything, and the whole ethos of Real Betis is built around manque pierda — something like, "even when they lose." Betis are the better off this season, though, gunning for European football next season year behind the talismanic talents of Isco, who not so long ago had a short and disastrous spell at Sevilla. He could be the difference-maker this Sunday, though this week's guest predicts Betis could still fall prey to their own inferiority complex in this fixture.That guest is Colin Millar, news writer for The Athletic and author of The Frying Pan of Spain, a book on the history of this rivalry. He lived in Seville himself and has all kinds of insight into what this one means.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's a Super Sunday on the horizon, with tasty matches back-to-back all day long. Arsenal-Chelsea, title clashes in Italy and Spain. As always, you can get the lowdown on all the matches worth your time this coming weekend at TheFootballWeekend.com.But there’s one headliner here, because there's a trophy up for grabs: It's LIVERPOOL vs NEWCASTLE at Wembley Stadium, vying for the League Cup.It could be a nice tonic for the Reds after their untimely exit from the Champions League in midweek, while a trophy — any trophy — would be extremely timely for the Magpies. Newcastle United have not won a piece of major silverware since 1969. Their victory in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup came a month before the moon landing.Here to preview this one is Laurence McKenna, Liverpool fan and sharp football observer across all kinds of platforms, not least his channel on YouTube. You can find him on the socials @Lozcast.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

MANCHESTER UNITED vs ARSENAL is the essential Premier League rivalry for fans of a certain age. These two clubs battled for titles season after season in the early 2000s in what some might call the league’s greatest era. Then Arsène Wenger lost his magic touch, Sir Alex Ferguson won the war, and Arsenal fans had to listen to Patrice Evra come out after every encounter between the two and declare that it was "men against boys.” From there, it was a steady decline away from championship contention for the club from North London.When Ferguson left, United had their own downfall, and now they've sunk farther than the eighth-place finish Arsenal endured towards the beginning of manager Mikel Arteta's reign. The Red Devils are in terrible shape after a decade of self-sabotage, cycling through managers and executives and even — with the arrival of Sir Jim Ratcliffe — ownership structures. None of it’s helped, and now this week’s guest — Manchester United fan and host of Touchline Fracas, Morayo Bamidele — fears his team could be embarrassed at Old Trafford.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.For kickoff times and storylines on all the matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a frankly disastrous title defense last term, NAPOLI steamed back into contention over the first half of this season under their brilliant and tempestuous new boss, Antonio Conte. But after a bizarre January transfer window where they sold key attacker Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to PSG and brought in nobody to replace him, they’ve lost their way and dropped nine of the last 12 points available.Reigning champions INTER, meanwhile, are in unabashed pursuit of a treble, and boss Simone Inzaghi has been rotating his teams like mad to deal with the matchload associated with all of their obligations. Still, they’ve been grinding out those three points, like the 1-0 over Genoa last time out in the league — and they've zipped into first place just in time for this encounter, one point clear of the Neapolitans.Joining us to preview the match on Saturday (12pm ET, 5pm UK) is Nima Tavallaey (@NimaTavRood) co-host of the Italian Football Podcast (@ItaFootPod). He broke down how Napoli’s mismanagement goes farther back than the January transfer window and goes all the way to the top; why it's a three- or even four-horse title race in Serie A; and whether, if this goes the wrong way, Conte might erupt like the nearby Mount Vesuvius.For kickoff times and storylines on all the good matches this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com.If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This was once the match in the Premier League, the perennial title bout, but MANCHESTER CITY have veered perilously off-course this season. LIVERPOOL have cruised to the top of the table, but they’ve started coughing up points in recent weeks and Arsenal have become more than just a speck in the rearview mirror. By kickoff here, it could be a five-point advantage at the top. If City find a way to dash Liverpool’s dreams yet again, there could be a title race after all.Joining us to preview the big match on Sunday (11:30am ET, 4:30pm UK) is Andy Jones, a staff writer for The Athletic covering Liverpool.For kickoff times and storylines on all the matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.comIf you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BAYER LEVERKUSEN are no longer invincible. In fact, they’re eight points behind perennial powers BAYERN MUNICH in the Bundesliga table.The Werkself need victory when Bayern come to the BayArena on Saturday if they want to keep the title race a race, and there are a few points in their favor: Xabi Alonso has not lost any of his five matches managed against his old employers, and the visitors have not been particularly good away from home in big games recently. Bayern have rattled off seven Bundesliga wins in a row, however, and they bring with them the frankly ridiculous attack of Jamal Musiala, Michael Olisé, Harry Kane and more.Meanwhile, honorary Bayern president Uli Hoeneß is making noises in the buildup about the Bavarians luring away Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz. I asked this week's guest, Nik Wildhagen of Talking Fussball, whether this is a classic pre-match mind game from the Bayern hierarchy. Plus: as a supporter of another Bundesliga club, how does Nik feel about FC Hollywood's dominance of the competition for years on end, and is there any prospect that Germany's (relatively) empowered fans could rally to change the dynamic?If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s first against second in La Liga, as REAL MADRID lead ATLÉTICO MADRID by just a point at the top of the table. Barcelona have fallen away somewhat from their hot start under new boss Hansi Flick, and now Spain’s capital quarrel may answer quite a few questions around who will be crowned champions in May.It’s all happening just as managers Diego Simeone and Carlo Ancelotti—egged on by the tempestuous football media in Spain—trade barbs over refereeing controversies and Real Madrid’s repeated shattering of Atléti hearts in recent times. This one goes way further back, though. It's a dispute with roots in Spanish football’s earliest history and then—crucially—the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship of Francisco Franco.For much of the ‘60s and ‘70s, as now, Atléti fought their way into the reckoning at the summit of Spanish football, forcing Real Madrid and Barcelona to take notice. The Colchoneros started out as a satellite of Athletic Club de Bilbao, gained then shedded associations with the Spanish military, and then the Madrid derby took on its modern shape: Real Madrid as the establishment club, the continental giants and serial winners. Atléti as the leftist, working-class outfit that proudly embraced a spirit of rebellion.Here to trace it all and preview this weekend’s encounter is Graham Hunter, storied scribe of Spanish football for ESPN.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s a title clash—well, it was the last two seasons. ARSENAL and MANCHESTER CITY duked it out for the Premier League crown from 2022 to 2024, but now the Citizens have gone off a cliff and the North Londoners have had their struggles, too. Injuries have played a role for both, while poor refereeing decisions and bad luck have hampered Arsenal just as Liverpool have gone steaming to the top of the league.One of those questionable officiating moments came in the reverse fixture at the Etihad Stadium, when Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard was shown a harsh second yellow card for kicking the ball away and City got back into the match thanks to their numerical advantage. A last-minute equalizer—after which Erling Haaland launched the ball at the back of Gabriel’s head and told Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta to “stay humble”—made for a very contentious affair.Now they’re back in battle, and Tom Canton joins the show to preview the festivities. As the chief Arsenal writer for Football.London, he also offers some insight into the North London club’s desperate search for a forward as the January transfer window begins to close.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It may not be the very biggest game across world football this weekend, but consider one important factor: I’ll be there.Yes, The Football Weekend will venture to Goodison Park on Sunday as EVERTON host TOTTENHAM in the Premier League. It’s been a strange few years for the home side, no doubt about it. Farhad Moshiri’s tumultuous ownership of the club has ended, and the Friedkin Group is coming in. The Sean Dyche era is over, too, and former stalwart David Moyes has returned to the manager’s chair. Plus, it’s Everton’s last season at Goodison, their home since 1892.Joining us to trace all this—and tell me what I can expect to see in the Gwladys Street End this weekend—is podcaster and Everton fan Rodger Armstrong of Blue Monday, a production of The Blue Room podcast.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The glamour tie of the FA Cup Third Round is ARSENAL against MANCHESTER UNITED on Sunday, but this stage is all about the clubs who tend to get less ink.The beauty of the world’s oldest cup competition is that it offers TAMWORTH FOOTBALL CLUB from the National League, England’s fifth tier, the chance to host TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR of the Premier League at their 4,000-capacity stadium, The Lamb Ground. That’s the first match we’ve chosen to highlight from this weekend’s fixtures with the help of Jonathan Day, host of The Tamworth F.C. Social.Then we move to MILLWALL, the club from South East London that for all their fame from depictions in film and TV have rarely featured in England’s top flight. They don’t look like winning promotion from the Championship this year, either—they’re 14th—but what would an FA Cup run mean to the Lions? Omer Ronayne of That Millwall Podcast joins to offer a view into second-tier life, and to preview their tie with fellow Londoners DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE on Monday.Soon enough, we’ll know who might be this season’s Maidstone United, who made it to the Fifth Round in 2024 as a sixth-tier outfit. That’s where the Stones were beaten by Coventry City, who came within an inch of defeating Manchester United at Wembley in the semifinal. In fact, I’m still not entirely convinced that Haji Wright was offside…If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is occasionally—OK, almost never—called El Otro Clásico. It’s a bit of a nod to the fact that these two clubs, BARCELONA and ATLÉTICO MADRID, have a shared enemy that they each hate more than their opponent here. Barça’s beef with Real Madrid is the Clásico, Atléti’s feud with their crosstown neighbors is a proper derby.This match is just a meeting of two of Spain’s great institutions, a fixture that’s spawned wild scorelines and decided league championships. In this case, it’s a meeting of first and second in La Liga, and they’re tied on 38 points.Joining us to preview the festivities is Ian Darke, the legendary commentator who’s called matches across the world in the Premier League, the Champions League, and the World Cup. American fans might know him as the soundtrack to Landon Donovan’s famous goal against Algeria in 2010, but he’s also called some of the biggest matches in club football—like this one. He’ll be behind the mic for ESPN on Saturday at 3pm Eastern Time, but first he’s here with us to look ahead to the match—and look back on that time he and Steve McManaman stuck around the Camp Nou until 2 a.m. drinking beers with the locals!If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you seen the news? Manchester City are losing football matches. A lot of them. They lost to Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday, their seventh defeat in 10 matches across all competitions. They lost to Bournemouth, Sporting Lisbon, Brighton, Tottenham (twice), Liverpool. They’ve won just once since October 27.It’s almost unspeakable turmoil for a Pep Guardiola team, unprecedented in his career across the Premier League, the Bundesliga, and La Liga. On the question of how the champions of England can dig themselves out of it, the Catalan does not seem to have the answers. He was clawing at his own nose. Now he’s shell-shocked on the sideline.Of course, no City scandal can compare to Manchester United's state of affairs. They’ve been a disaster for a decade, cycling through players and managers and—just recently—sporting directors without much to show for it. That FA Cup victory over these opponents back in May seems a long ways away now, and the decision to re-hire Erik ten Hag on the back of it has been confirmed as a calamitous one.Now they’ve got another promising young coach in Ruben Amorim, but he’s fast discovered the scale of the task here. The Red Devils have lost two on the bounce and slipped to 13th in the Premier League. Considering the sheer amount of money spent, the players trotting out onto that Old Trafford pitch are simply not good enough. This Sunday, they’ll trot out across town at the Etihad, and their best hope is that their opponents are in their own kind of disarray.Joining us to preview this peculiar Manchester derby is Adam Monk, a presenter for FourFourTwo, DAZN, and BBC Manchester who's a devout City fan.If you're enjoying The Football Weekend, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.