Champions League Debrief: No wins for English teams in Europe

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On the football daily podcast,

Champions League debrief.

With Steve Crossman.

Not a good night for the Premier League sides in the first legs

of their Champions League last 16 times.

Manchester City beaten 3-0 by Real Madrid at the Bernabéu.

Federico Valverde got all of them.

Chelsea came back from 1-0 and 2-1 down in Paris,

but eventually lost 5-2 to PSG.

Only Arsenal came aware with even a draw.

That was thanks to Kai Habit's late penalty at his hometown club

by a Liverpool's.

And our big focus is going to be the Bernabéu.

The Bernabéu, Real Madrid 3, Manchester City 0

and actually John Murray could have been worse.

Well, hopes were high for Manchester City heading into this.

What with the second leg to come in Manchester, injury hit Real Madrid,

unusually low on confidence they told us.

But after a bright start for City,

it turned into the Federico Valverde show

as the Uruguayan Real captain rattled up a 22-minute hat trick,

all superbly taken goals,

which rocked Pep Guardiola in City to the core.

And it could have been more had Donna Roma not saved

a second half, finished his penalty.

City couldn't force the goal to give them a foothold.

So 3-0, City's heaviest defeat of the season,

Real Madrid's biggest margin of victory over City

and with an unprecedented six English clubs in the round of 16,

none of them have won in the first leg.

What price Buddha glimped outlast all of the Premier League clubs

in the Champions League this season?

Well, it's a lot shorter than it would have been 24 hours ago,

Paul Robinson.

Absolutely it is.

I mean, we spoke about the English teams and the dominance

that they've got in Europe and the European competitions.

You look at how easily that they qualified.

And we also include the Europa League and the Europa Conference League.

You look at what Crystal Talas had doing,

Asden Villa, Nottingham Forest, all to come tomorrow,

respectively with their games.

But then actually you look at the Champions League tonight.

And yesterday, not one of the English teams has won a game.

I think, and not just because you guys are there, Paul,

but of all of those results,

it seems a strange thing to say about any team in the Bernabéu.

But I find this one the most surprising.

Because Manchester City were in a lot better place coming into this game

than Real Madrid were.

And you look at the injury list.

We don't have to go through the players we spoke about them before in the game

and before the game.

They're injury ravaged.

You look at the players that are on the bench.

They're just like an academy side and under 23 side

that was on the bench for Real Madrid

with a scattering of experienced players there.

It certainly wasn't the starting squad

that the manager would have liked to have picked from.

But they approached this in a way where they were clinical.

They were obviously very well coached.

They sat in a defensive shape at times.

And they hit Manchester City on the counter attack

and they had no reply to that.

I just imagine, John, if this was the first game of football

that you would watched and someone then told you afterwards

that Federico Valverde is not a goal scorer.

Yeah, exactly.

Double his tally for the season here tonight.

But he's got that in him.

He is an all-round footballer.

He can play in a number of different positions.

He's the captain.

He's the captain of Real Madrid.

So that speaks for itself in terms of what sort of character he is.

You can't be a shrinking violet if you're the captain in this place.

Let me tell you.

You know, that is a pressure job.

All the Real Madrid players.

Anyone involved with the club.

It's pressure all the time.

But if you're the captain, you've got something about you.

And he certainly had tonight.

And he's one of those type of players that can play in any position.

You know, when we all do our five aside teams,

you think, oh, what's your best team?

What's your best five aside team from the players that you've played with?

Valverde is the type of player that, if the left back didn't turn up on a Sunday morning,

you're playing.

He could play left back.

He could play right back.

He can play anywhere.

He's got everything.

And he showed his quality tonight.

I wonder, Paul, whether or not the fact that it was him that scored the first.

And then the thing, everything changed in the stadium.

And then he scored the second and it changed again.

Almost the fact that it was Valverde.

It felt like it sort of supercharged the Bernabéu,

which actually sounded comparatively flat at the start of the game.

Well, we spoke to the Spanish media, didn't we, before the game?

And John's obviously got a lot of contacts here.

And the word coming from them was that the club's not in a great place.

At the moment, recent results, recent performances.

A lot of players missing unsure about the manager's future,

unsure on certain players' futures.

And I actually asked one of the Spanish journalists before the game a question.

I said, how many players did they need to get back to the level that you would expect them to be at?

And he said, minimum four.

And he said, I'm not just talking about squad infills.

He said, I'm talking about world class players.

This club is nowhere near the level that people expect it to be at.

Yet they turn in a performance like that.

I mean, look, with the individual players they've got, John, even with a buffet out.

Rail Madrid on their night can obviously turn over anybody.

So what sort of percentage was this rail Madrid having an amazing night?

And what sort of percentage was Manchester City not being at it in the way we would have expected?

Well, like a lot of clubs, they are a bit in and out.

And whether that's something to do with the sheer volume of football,

they were like Manchester City involved in the FIFA Club World Cup last summer.

It's never ending.

Is that something that plays a part?

The calendar, the schedule that we have now, is that why that many teams struggle to find consistency?

But I can't get away from the fact that when Manchester City were here and won in the league phase,

Chabby Alonzo is the manager.

And at the time, if you remember, it didn't look good for him.

And I remember him being asked at the time.

Many said, yes, everyone at the clubs behind me.

But it was a little bit like the Roman Emperor, wasn't it, when everyone's behind him?

And he didn't last very long, he was gone in January.

But now they've got, now they've got, are below in position.

And I'm not sure he was necessarily a unanimous choice.

But the thing is, he knows the club because he knows who the good young players are.

And actually, he's finding results like this.

Do you think it's the right time, John?

I know that there's a lot of people, a lot of split decision,

and I've averred it on him being in charge.

But actually, the roles that he's had at the club and where the club is now,

the amount of players missing, you look at the players that are involved in the squad tonight from the academy.

He's probably the right man at the right time.

Would that be right?

Yeah, I think so.

And basically, what happens over the course of the next few months?

How successful they are?

Are they able to reel in Barcelona?

You would think probably not because we don't know how long that is going to be out.

And he's absolutely pivotal to them with the 38 goals that he scored this season.

But no, I'm happy it's a no, it's a no, it's a no, what they did.

And I wonder, Paul, whether, because we're, you know, I'll be talking to,

where the BBC is in his hour, can sell it shortly at the part of their plans.

Real Madrid have this thing.

We always talk about it every year of whatever else is happening.

And whether or not fatigue is affecting them or anything else is affecting them.

It comes to this moment when the Champions League knockout start,

which obviously is different now when you end up in playoffs, etc.

And something changes.

And it's happened for PSG tonight as well in their game with Chelsea.

I just wonder if there are some of these kind of mega clubs

who have this moment in a season where they suddenly find a way to revitalise themselves.

Which maybe even the top Premier League clubs haven't yet discovered?

There's a special affiliation with this competition in Real Madrid.

You only have to watch the footage of the team arrivals.

You know, when they arrive here with a police escort on the team coach,

the first thing that they see when they arrive at the stadium is a whole

full of every single European trophy that they've won.

Their record in this competition is unprecedented.

And it's there for all to see.

You know, you arrive at the stadium as a player.

All the trophies are there.

There's the signs everywhere around the stadium.

Managers future at the futures at this club have been decided on this competition.

Yes, their rival is Barcelona and winning LaLiga is a vital importance to them.

But if they win this competition, it quite often saves managers jobs.

They've got magnificent arrogance, Real Madrid supporters.

Magnificent arrogance, brilliant.

And you see it tonight.

You know, they've had a very good win here tonight.

They've enjoyed it, they've applauded it, and they've cheered it.

But they've not gone mad.

This is the round of 16.

They keep that until they really need it.

And when it gets to semi-final time and final time,

then that's when they feel that they're at the shard end and where they deserve to be.

And, you know, they've got this tough route, you know,

would be buying Munich next for them.

And that's the same side of the draw as, well, we're assuming that PSG will probably go through.

And we'll see Liverpool, you know, it's the tough route that they've got.

But when they've got the burn about, you know, they've got such a weapon here in this home stadium.

It might have a Magnificent arrogance, but I didn't see in this Madrid stadium,

anyone making a massive celebratory sandwich at half time.

Like we did at Letico last night, Paul.

Oh, that's news to me.

You didn't see it.

Oh, you've got to go find it.

We were concentrate on that with your thing.

We don't go for sandwiches at half time, Steve.

No, no, no, no.

It's an amazing thing whereby the cameras all got it on the television.

There's a fan right at the front of the stand,

who is basically taking up about five square metres to make the biggest, like,

Hamon Iberico sandwich you've ever seen.

Anyway, well, here's a bit of food for thought though.

Good.

You know, if that goryola, if this, you know, if this is his final season,

and we don't know, you know, he's got his contract to 2027.

If this is his final season, the chances are they're going out of the Champions League here.

And after, well, it would be 10 years, wouldn't it?

10 years as the Manchester City manager.

And you'll have won the Champions League just the once, which is,

it actually, it's amazing really.

With everything that he's done with the club,

you would have thought that, and indeed the financial power that Manchester City had,

you would have thought that there'd be at least two, three, but no.

Also, and this is obviously massively speculative, John.

But if he were thinking about it being this season,

and lots of people think that is what's going to happen,

you just wonder if the manner of this could, could,

sort of play on his mind a little bit.

I mean, I remember when Sir Alex Ferguson was first going to leave Manchester United.

Yeah.

And they got dumped out of the FA Cup third round, and things changed all of a sudden.

You know, maybe the manner of this might, might play on his mind.

I know what you mean, but I think he's very set on his mind.

You know, I have the feeling that he knows in his mind what he's going to do,

because that's what he's like.

I don't think he makes snap decisions, but I get what you're saying,

that feeling that I don't want it to end like this.

But you see on the other side of the coin, let's not forget,

this is a knockout competition, and the best part of this competition

is the knockout stages.

Of course, as we know, in a knockout competition, anything can happen.

Got some quotes here from Federico Valverde.

He said, this is one of the best games of my life.

Our belower asked me to arrive from the second line, and attack my teammates

gave me incredible balls.

We trained a lot on the pressure from goal kicks.

We made good use of it.

I haven't had this much fun in a very long time.

Look, it isn't over, Paul, but it is one of those first legs where

you think about how a kind of a miraculous comeback might look.

It's quite difficult to imagine.

Doesn't mean it won't happen, but it is difficult to imagine.

We expect tackle if they do do it.

I mean, we've seen them do it before, and they have got the ability to do it.

But actually, when they go to the Etihad, and they're going to have to be open,

they're going to have to be expansive, they're chasing a game.

But by doing that, they leave themselves susceptible on the counterattack.

And we've seen tonight, Real Madrid, with the ball over the top,

what Valverde was talking about there, that they've clearly worked on.

Because the goal, one of the goals was so direct, it was four touches.

The goalkeeper had won. Valverde had three, and it was in the back of the Manchester City net.

They exploited Manchester City's weaknesses by playing direct,

because they knew that they'd get pressed high.

They knew that Manchester City would close them down in attacking areas.

And they thought, you know what, we're going to miss all that out,

and we're going to go direct.

It's not probably the style that we play week in and week out,

but we'll go over the top, and we'll cause them a problem.

And if they do that at Manchester City, yes, as much as Manchester City

have got a plethora of attacking quality, and can go out Real Madrid,

and there is still a chance they can turn this tie round.

There's also still a chance they concede one more, and it's out of their reach.

Final thoughts, John?

I just think it's going to be really tough.

And you know, when you look at the scores of all of the English clubs,

I mean, who would have predicted this?

Tottenham lose five, two.

Chelsea lose five, two.

Manchester City lose three, no.

Liverpool lose one, no.

And there are a couple of draws for Newcastle and Arsenal.

The chances of none of them winning must have been astronomical.

OK, let's get some reaction then.

Here is the Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola.

It's our result, so we cannot deny it.

The feeling that, of course, it was difficult sometimes to control transition

when they lose the ball.

We lose the ball, and they connect.

They don't put the ball away, and they contact for the next line,

and after finishes, and their lights of the players can run.

But at the feeling that we were quite decent world players,

so we arrived, I don't know how many times in the byline,

for the individual actions from Jeremy, for the long balls in the second post,

especially for Antoine.

And Nico Riley and the passes in the six-year box with three or four plays were not table,

not even to make the say from Courtawe.

We miss, I think, that action, especially the 50 minutes.

The first goal, of course, was not well-defined,

and after a good quality that they have, with Valverde, with assists for the players,

they had a difficult result, but yeah, six days.

So now, recover, go to London, with Ham,

and, you know, with our people, we will try.

Let's learn more about Paris Saint-Germain 5, Chelsea 2.

Well, with 16 minutes to go, Chris Cause,

it was looking like a really good night for Chelsea, and then something happened.

Kevice, a classic skillier, happened, Steve.

He had quite the impact coming on just after the hour, with the score at 2-2.

And then half an hour later, he scored 2, he's made 1,

and Chelsea have a lot of work to do.

It was an extraordinary game, and it was an extraordinary end to the game,

because Chelsea played well, and they'll feel they've needlessly relinquished a strong position,

and it was a strong position, level at 2-2, 74th minute.

Barclay and Dembele had scored for PSG in the first half,

Gusto's equalizer sandwiched in between.

The game was meandering along, Chelsea looked like they were going to hold on,

to take the 2-2 score line back to Stanford Bridge,

and then it all fell apart.

Jorgensen in the Chelsea goal, he'd been having a good game,

then made a costly error, gifting the ball to Barclay,

back to Vettinia, chipped it into an empty net.

That was for 3-2, which again,

wouldn't have been the worst result in the world for Chelsea,

but two credit-skillier goals on minutes 86 and 94 a rocket into the corner,

and then a low finish after another swift move,

to take the game away from Chelsea,

and they need, like Manchester City,

a very special night at home next week,

if they're to progress.

5-2, Paris Saint-Germain.

Feel a bit for Philip Jorgensen, because, as you said,

up to a point, he was kind of doing as well as you could expect,

but that isn't how it's going to be remembered clearly.

It wasn't just the saves that he made, Steve,

and he made one excellent save in the first half to tip a Barclay shot onto the crossbar.

It was how impressive he was with the ball at his feet.

Chelsea were using him often to build their attacks from the back,

and his passing was exemplary.

His positions he was taking were quite remarkable,

but then he'd faintly dummy, he'd use his body really well.

He was playing like a goalkeeper full of confidence,

having been given this chance with Robert Sanchez only on the bench.

But as we've seen, very high profile recently,

that goalkeepers, they go from hero to zero very, very quickly,

and having had such a good game,

it was that moment that really took the game away from Chelsea,

and you do feel for him because, up to that point,

he'd been very, very impressive.

Chris, thank you.

Let's speak to BBC Sports and Nisar Kinsella,

covers Chelsea for us, and he's inside the Park Day Prance.

Nisar, just give us a first-hand view there,

having witnessed all that in person.

Yeah, I feel like I watched too much.

I watched a match from one minute to 75 minutes of positive Chelsea performance,

and then that high-risk reward approach just delivered nothing.

They lost everything on the night,

and it felt like an absolute collapse at the end.

I couldn't believe what I was witnessing,

the tie thrown away, after what I thought was actually a good performance for much of it.

Which is the odd thing about it, isn't it?

Because I think if you just saw it on paper,

and saw Chelsea lost 5-2 to PSG,

as frustrating as that will be for a Chelsea fan

who will have really high ambitions for their club, of course, they do,

you can understand how it's possible against a team like PSG,

who are capable of doing that to absolutely anybody.

But it will feel like a missed opportunity, won't it?

Yeah, it does.

When it was 2-2, I was thinking, oh, this could go either way.

I thought Chelsea could even get a win at the part of the prance.

It was end-to-end.

It was really good football.

I thought Chelsea were creating.

They were matching PSG.

They're all over the pitch physically.

It's like a man-to-man approach,

where they were getting pulled out of position,

but pulling them out of position.

It was all going really swimmingly.

But then that mistake from Philip Jorgensen

seemed to affect the mindset of the players.

I felt sorry for him, because he did have a good game.

I heard you were saying earlier.

And then he just made that mistake.

He's getting the biggest chance of his life in this massive game.

And he's come in for Robert Sanchez.

And he was a bit like Kinski yesterday, wasn't he?

He sort of threw away the game in that moment.

And then it's one thing, once he made making mistakes.

But then they all started doing it.

Yeah, 5-2.

It feels harsh from what I witnessed.

But again, that's this Chelsea mentality.

Young players throwing away games,

indiscipline almost.

It's not just the red cards.

It's the way they're throwing away games.

Again, it's complicated.

I mean, there is an argument that they don't have a good enough

number one goalkeeper to succeed in places

like the Park Gaparan, I suppose.

Yeah, there is Steve.

I think that there's a bit of a question mark around.

Robert Sanchez, you know, he was the number one, really.

Before and certainly was friends on risk.

And now Liam has seen his come in and he's sort of

done this approach where he's not really got a number one.

And he's rotating his keepers.

Seeing which one could take the shirt.

But of course, goalkeepers like stability.

They like consistency.

They like trust.

And I just wonder if that's not the ideal approach, really,

in this scenario.

And yeah, Jorgensen's come in.

Maybe deserved it.

Maybe been knocking on the door.

But yeah, has not taken his chance, unfortunately.

I actually did think that Sanchez hasn't been that bad this season.

But he had two poor games against Arsenal under a senior.

And it's sort of seen him drop.

So yeah, he's been good otherwise other than that.

But yeah, it might be time to look at Sanchez again for the new castle game.

I'm going to make sure I do this with you, Nazar,

because we've had to remember to do it with all of the other games,

which is to remember that whilst we are sort of dissecting

the English teams all of whom in one way or another have struggled

in the in the Champions League.

I mean, Newcastle's performance against Barcelona,

aside, despite what happened in the in the last few seconds of that game.

But we also have to remember the opposition

and Chelsea fans weren't necessarily enjoy that.

But this is a heck of a PSG team.

I mean, any team that can start with Kfarrett Scalia on the bench,

that almost tells you everything you need to know.

Yeah, exactly.

You must have written my piece that I wrote.

I haven't yet, but I look forward to it.

No, I was thinking the same.

It's, you know, the firepower they've got.

It's really ended.

You know, this time has been ended partly on PSG's firepower.

Barclay was exceptional today.

Dembele, who's not been the player he was when he won the ball and door.

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But uh-but-but-but.

Last year through that Champions League win.

It was brilliant again and re-found his form.

And PSG had been under pressure before this tie.

They were facing criticism of their own domestically.

But this is a reminder of what they've got.

Quarrett Shelley are coming off the bench.

And do they was brilliant to set up the goal?

Although he was at fault as well.

For Enzo Fernandez getting an equalizer.

So yeah, you know, the four main attackers are just unbelievable.

And I think it's the best attack anywhere in Europe right now.

And we can get some reaction now from the Chelsea head coach.

Here's Liam Rossini.

Great disappointing result.

And an evening where for much of the game.

It was really, really happy with our performance.

Uh-uh.

The last 15, 20 minutes are crazy.

Uh-uh.

Many aspects.

And um-uh.

That's on me.

I-uh.

We need to be better in moments.

Setbacks mistakes happen.

But you have to stay calm in a moment.

Me included.

And we didn't.

And we were punished by a very good team, which makes.

The scoreline.

So it's a painful one because we were for 75 minutes.

Way, way in the tie-in in the game itself.

Do you stand by the sort of Philip Jorgensen decision?

Because he played well up until that moment.

But it seemed to settle things.

Yeah, plays make mistakes.

Philip's not the first one to make a mistake.

And that's that's part of football.

Obviously it's a bitter.

And that moment, too, too.

I think we're-we're in the ascendancy.

You know, we're an inch away from going even to free-free.

I think Enzo's goal was like an inch off side.

Uh-uh.

I was y'all padricks goal off the Enzo off side.

But in the top level, in the Champions League level,

it's fine margins.

Um-um.

And the fifth goal was the most painful one after a flashback.

Um-um.

We don't settle ourselves down.

We don't deal with a basic, um-um, pan of play.

They score a fifth goal and make the tie very difficult for us.

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On the football daily podcast, Champions League debrief.

With Steve, you're going to be able to win.

With Steve Crossman.

Let's get some more reaction then to our first commentary of the night in the Champions League,

which was Lavercose and won Arsenal won.

And they will be in the end delighted with that, especially given what's just happened to Chelsea and Manchester City.

Lake Kai have its penalty against his boyhood club.

Leveled the tie.

I've been speaking to our commentary team out there.

Ali Bruce Ball and former Arsenal defender Matt Upsen.

And an obvious place for that conversation to begin is the fact that Michael Arterta in the end will absolutely take that.

Do you know what, Steve?

We've just been sitting here in the aftermath of the game.

And when we haven't got the sound up, we can see Michael Arterta doing his post-match interviews.

And he does look noticeably obviously not delighted but relaxed and seemingly quite happy.

And I think he probably realizes that Arsenal got away with one a little bit tonight.

I mean, even if they had gone into the second, like, one kneel down,

he probably would have backed them to turn it around.

But it was one of those performances again, Steve.

You know, I've commented on Arsenal quite a lot recently.

And it's been a hard watch.

It didn't flow going forward.

There was one brilliant move in the first half where Martin only crashed the shot against the crossbar.

Then they switched off, you know, at the start of the second half and conceded.

And it didn't really think they were going to get back into the game, possibly from a set piece.

Michael Arterta was bold, obviously, and took Bacchia off with half an hour ago.

You know, he wasn't getting any joy down the right.

Matt Awakey comes on, wins the penalty.

And then, of course, the headline had to be made by Kai Hover.

It's back here at Byel over Cousin and took a really cool one.

But they're going to have to play better, you know, talking about them trying to win all these competitions.

You're going to win the Champions League.

You're going to have to play better than they are at the moment.

Which leads me, Matt, to I think what is sort of the big question around performances like this one from Arsenal tonight.

Which is, is it just an inevitability that however big or strong your squad is?

This is the time in a season.

If you're in so many competitions, you are going to start to struggle.

Or is it a genuine concern, what you've seen, not just tonight, but in recent weeks?

I think it's always different, Stephen.

This is the point. It's like it's always moving.

And it's the manager's job to pick the right team, to identify the moods that people are in,

where they're at with their independent, personal performance levels.

And put that all together to make the best team for whatever the occasion is.

And now there's a lot of moving parts there, aren't there?

We're talking about, you know, the form of Bukkaya.

Sakka today looked a little bit off colour, but there might be a perfectly legit reason for that.

Or he's just whatever that may be.

But knowing that building into the game and then seeing it and going, right,

okay, we'll just, we'll take Bukkaya off and then put Nonion because he looks fresher and,

and he has an impact on the game.

I think he's going to have to do that a lot from now to the end of season.

And I think he's going to have to get those decisions right.

And it's not easy.

And I think the player's performance levels for me at the moment are just a little bit up.

And then I look at Eza and think, could you bring more to that game in front of that position?

I think quite enough from him tonight.

Matt made the point in commentary really early on.

Steve, first 15 minutes of the game of, you know, Martin Erdogard is out at the moment.

And there's been some debate about Martin Erdogard.

This isn't even when he's been fit.

Some Arsenal fans feel he sort of slows the team down a little bit.

But Matt made the point at the commentary right at the start that it was really missing Erdogard there in the Eza role.

Concerned with a bit of intensity and constantly threatening and trying to thread passes in and sort of make things happen.

And that's what's not quite there for Arsenal.

At the moment, until Matt Awake, he made the dart and won the penalty.

And, you know, and again, I mean, they've only lost three games all season.

But it's just, it's just, it's just a bit stodgy at the moment.

And that, I suppose, is where all the nuances come in, Matt,

in that you've got someone in Madwerke, who we can see is perfectly, perfectly comfortable coming in for Sakka.

And you'll see the best of him straight away.

They don't necessarily have that in all positions.

So the question becomes, will they have it in enough positions?

Yeah, I mean, I think they probably have got it in and off.

I think, you know, defensively, they deliver consistency really, really well.

You have to say goalkeeper, two centre backs, fallbacks at the moment are almost nailed on.

Unless there's something going wrong with them.

I think that they're not likely to change.

You look at Zuber Mendi and Rice.

I think Rice does, you know, his regular performance.

He gets about the pitch.

Zuber Mendi might not be operating quite at that level in terms of the passing and the creativity.

But I think the whole team is just suffering a little bit from trying to produce and create.

Golf scoring opportunities.

They're not coming and flowing in open play anywhere near as much as what they were in probably October.

November, when you think back to those brilliant Champions League wins against Bayern Munich and Athletico,

there's a lot more flow to Arsenal's game.

And it's just, as I said, it's dodgy.

But this is the season.

It's not going to be perfect for the whole duration.

And the difference is, what are you going to do about it when it gets like this?

And at the moment, they're getting away with it in terms of the results.

You can't argue that the fact that they're plotting along.

But if the results, a couple of them do go the wrong way and the performances like that,

then it will all of a sudden turn into a real problem.

And that for me is my biggest fear for Arsenal.

If that happens in the next four to five games, how's that going to reflect on the team and the mood of the camp?

And we should mention, as well, Ali, that Liverpool's and were actually really good.

It's not just, we can't just review everything by where Arsenal good or where they're not.

They're contributing factors and the opposition were one of them.

Yeah, they were really impressive, Stephen.

If you look at them in the competition this season, they've grown into the competition.

They didn't start well and were on the back foot after the first three games.

But look, they've been to Manchester City and won this season.

Newcastle came here and drew two-two.

If you look at their European record, I think last three-and-a-half seasons, 19 games in this stadium at home,

they've lost two, one against by-unit, one against Paris Saint-Germain.

So you've got to be a really good team to beat them in this stadium.

We'll see how they get on next week in North London.

But I thought, yeah, I thought they were really impressive.

Actually, they had a plan.

They looked at Weldrian's unit. They were in good form.

Impressive individual performances in their tumour.

That's what I think is smiling.

I know we expect Arsenal to get a more positive result, but that is a good result based on that history.

How well they played, how poorly Arsenal played at times.

The two midfield players of García and Palacios were absolutely excellent.

They stopped Sakka coming inside.

They supported the wide-play with Martin.

He was running. They were really useful with the ball.

They played out from the back and got through.

The 19-year-old centre-forward Kafane was just superb.

He occupied Gabrielle and Celeba for most of the game.

Yeah, and the goal they scored, Steve, was a sloppy one from Arsenal's point of view.

Because it was a set piece and Andrisch was left free at the far post.

But the move that led to that corner that Levy Cousin scored from was absolutely brilliant.

They caught Arsenal and napping right at the start of the second half.

Fabulous moving, involving three or four players down for the Terrier's header.

It was tipped over the bar by David Reyes.

So they will pose a threat.

This is not done this time. Definitely not done.

And just to finish, Mark, of course it was Kai Havertz in the end.

To trample yourself in his shoes head of that penalty against his boyhood club.

You just nude, didn't you?

I think we said before, you said to me, it's going to be Kai Havertz.

We said in the car on the way to the back seat, we were all doing our predictions.

And I actually said, I said 1-0, which I just felt you could be a 1-0 last night.

And you said, well, Havertz is going to score, isn't it?

It didn't quite come off.

It was just meant to be.

And I was pleased for him.

And I also felt a bit sorry for him as well in the sense that you've now got to put this penalty in.

And his celebration was very muted because of the respect that he has for the club.

And how they developed his career.

And all of that, which was great.

But I thought, Blaswich really tried to make it difficult.

He delayed the penalty. It took forever.

And he stayed very calm, very focused.

And just stroked that penalty into the bottom corner.

It was a good penalty.

And I think, Steve, just going back to our conversation you have with Matt there about,

you know, Michaela said, having to find a way and who's ticking and whatever.

I think Havertz could be crucial in the closing stage of this season.

You know, he's had injury problems this season.

But he said, yes, they're ahead of this game.

He feels that he is 100% fit back on it and ready to go.

Michaela said a sort of back to Matt and said, in terms of the training,

he's been able to put in in the last few weeks.

He is now there and he is the kind of player, I think,

in different ways that can make a difference for Arsenal.

I think that's a great example of someone who could be really important for them,

you know, trying to get some of these prizes by the end of the season.

Okay, let's hear then from Michaela Teta.

So the game had different phases.

Some in the first hour, we were very dominant.

And we had a big chance with Gabby to put a 1L.

And when you miss those chances, always let the game can change.

Then after that, we didn't finish in the factions.

I mean, every time we got in and around the box, we gave the ball away

and that allows certain counter attacks, really, unlike us.

And without really considering nothing, we needed to show certain things.

We discussed that a half time.

And we expected to start very fast, especially because we knew certain routines

that they have on kick-offs, because they had three at the weekend.

And instead, we get caught.

We're not ready enough.

We can see that chance on the header, enough that we can see the ball.

So when you give that hope and an advantage to the opponent,

at that level, they're going to take it, and then we have to really dig in,

because emotionally it becomes a very different challenge.

And we had 10-15 minutes that we didn't really have enough threat,

and you know, of understanding how we have to attack that block.

But in the last 20 minutes, 25, with the changes, I think it was much better.

And at the end, we find our way to score the goal and to answer the game.

Right, that's it for this episode of The Football Daily.

The next episode will be the year-a-league.

So don't forget to join us for that.

And as always, thank you so much for listening.

I'm Rich Hall.

And this is Sports Strangest Crimes Presents Confessions of a Super Bowl Strieker.

When people ask me what I do, I say to them, well, by day or by night.

The story of one man's mission to conquer the holy grail of Strieking,

the Super Bowl.

Mark troubles us too largely for this body.

He's just like the entertainer.

Mark pushes the boundaries of what is socially acceptable.

No chance, Texas.

It's really strict, but then the more false about it, the more false I'm going on.

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