Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Let's start with your favorites.
00:01I know that you have a lot of love
00:03and you've been analyzing Inter de Milan very closely.
00:08So talk to me.
00:09Are you confident that they will be the champions of this tournament?
00:14I want them to.
00:15And therefore, I am.
00:16First of all, they're on the precipice of a treble.
00:19And I think that's pretty awesome for them.
00:21And I'm happy for them for that.
00:23They haven't won a Champions League since 2010.
00:26And if I may, speaking of which, speaking of a treble,
00:30Samuel Lato left Barcelona winning a treble in 2009,
00:34went to Inter Milan,
00:35and then won a back-to-back treble with Inter Milan,
00:38joined them just as they were winning the Champions League in 2010.
00:43No one's ever going to do that again because it was a stroke of luck.
00:45But I want Inter to do it.
00:46I think they can.
00:47They've been playing so well.
00:49Lautaro Martinez, an absolute genius for them up front.
00:52They've been playing amazing.
00:54If they get past Barcelona, I think they can get past anybody.
00:57So we'll see.
00:57I think they have a really, really good shot.
00:59I was hoping that Barca and Inter, a long time ago,
01:01before things started to kind of manifest themselves,
01:04I was hoping I would see a Barcelona kind of Inter Milan in the finals.
01:08But here we are in the semis.
01:10And I think it's going to be a really good matchup.
01:12I mean, just the teams that are here are absolutely amazing.
01:15I don't know.
01:16It's just not what a lot of people expected.
01:18I don't know if it's because of the format change that the Champions League decided to go with this year.
01:22But it has been absolutely thrilling.
01:25So many surprises.
01:26And I'm hoping there will be many more.
01:28And that next surprise will be Inter Milan going all the way.
01:31Barcelona is in front of them, Nick.
01:34And Barcelona is showing inconsistencies.
01:38Let's just say that.
01:39This last game proved that they're not invincible.
01:43You know, Dortmund was close to getting the result.
01:46But that was not the case.
01:47Barcelona is still very dangerous.
01:49They have a trifecta up front that is probably the most dangerous right now.
01:54Rafinha, the best player in the tournament, in my opinion, like Wandowski.
01:59And then just, like, choose, you know, one or two out of the five youngers that they have that are just wreaking havoc in every game that they play.
02:08Now, let's go to the other side.
02:09Arsenal proved that they are a team that is built for big things.
02:14Arteta's team is just playing at a different level.
02:17Real Madrid had no answer.
02:18They truly didn't show up.
02:20And it was time that the fairy tale, that the aura of invincibility that Real Madrid has enjoyed this tournament, where they were able to move on, even when they were playing poorly, it's over.
02:33Now we see that a team that actually played with, you know, with intention was able to advance.
02:41Do you think that is a reckoning for Real Madrid?
02:43And do we see changes in the house, in La Casablanca?
02:48It very well could happen.
02:50Look, we don't know what's going to happen in terms of head coach, staffing, things like that.
02:54Anything could happen at this point.
02:56He's got another year, I think, on his contract, so we'll have to see.
02:59But look, I mean, there is sort of this myth, this aura that was completely, I don't even want to say shattered.
03:04It was dismembered.
03:05It was taken apart surgically and beautiful in a way that people didn't expect by Arsenal.
03:09And that's a lot of it, you know?
03:10I think there is a lot of mythology behind this white jersey.
03:15And not, you know, undeservedly.
03:17I mean, it's Real Madrid at the end of the day, but I feel like things happen in cycles.
03:21And this just might be the end of a cycle.
03:23We can go on and on about, you know, is Vinny and Mbappe the right chemistry up front?
03:29What do they need in the center?
03:30Do they have too many right wingers, left wingers?
03:32We could get into all that.
03:33But I'm looking bigger picture.
03:34And I have a feeling that this might be a time of great change for Real Madrid, particularly in the Champions League.
03:40And it's time for new teams, new teams like the one I mentioned before, Inter Milan to step up, like an Arsenal.
03:45I mean, they're absolutely playing amazing.
03:48Everyone's obsessed with Real Madrid falling to their knees.
03:52But let's also give Arsenal the heaps of credit that they deserve.
03:56Saka, Declan Rice putting in the most beautiful free kicks I've ever seen.
04:00Stepping up in the second leg is one as well.
04:02What was it in the end, a five-to-one aggregate against Real Madrid?
04:06That doesn't happen just because Real Madrid wasn't playing well.
04:09It happened because they didn't know how to play against Arsenal.
04:13And I think that's the difference.
04:14And to your point, Nick, there are two new teams on the other side of the bracket.
04:19We are talking about Aston Villa, a team that hasn't been in this stage of the tournament in decades.
04:24And PSG, an eternal promise that has always fell short of winning this tournament.
04:31But this might be the year, the Luis Enrique mystic, the Luis Enrique directives of playing with heart,
04:40that defending everyone that attacks his defense has proven to have an effect for this team.
04:45I believe that they are the clear favorites to win this tournament.
04:49What is your point?
04:50You wouldn't be far off.
04:51Luis Enrique has made this team into one that was reeling with this post-Mbappe era where they had this one striker.
04:58And then when they left, everybody was worried what was going to happen.
05:00He turned it into a full team, a well-balanced attacking machine.
05:04And I think they really deserve how far they've gotten.
05:06This is their fourth semifinal in a row.
05:09Not in a row, but since 2020.
05:11And so, look, they have a great shot at this.
05:14It's all going to depend.
05:15It's all going to fall on how they can stack up against, again, the team I was just talking about, Arsenal.
05:20What a matchup this is going to be.
05:22It is going to be absolutely amazing to watch.
05:25This might be way more exciting than the other side of the bracket with Barca and Inter.
05:29Two great teams.
05:30But these two have been absolutely on fire.
05:33I'm so excited to see what's going to happen.