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Learn English Through Football Podcast: 2024-25 Champions League – Matchday 2
In this football language podcast we look at some language from Matchday 2 of this season’s Champions League, including ‘mismatch‘; ‘convert a penalty‘ and ‘rocked‘. We also look back at some language from the Liverpool and Tottenham games and of course look ahead to the weekend’s football with our predictions competition. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.
2024-25 Champions League – Matchday 2
DF: You’re listening to Languagecaster.com’s football language podcast.
Hello everyone and welcome to the show for all those who love the beautiful game of football and who want to improve their English. My name is Damian and I am based in London where the weather has been slightly better this week – it’s finally stopped raining! What’s the weather like where you are? Damon, the other member of the Learn English Through Football Podcast team, has told me that the weather in Japan is a little finally cooling down – I think they had a really hot, hot summer.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Japanese)
Today’s Show
DF: That message was in Japanese and we’ll have some more stingers throughout today’s show. Can you guess what languages they are? Right, on today’s podcast we will be looking at some of the football language from the past week and in particular from the second round of fixtures from this season’s Champions League. We will also look back at some language from both the Liverpool and Tottenham games from last weekend – of course, that’s Damon’s favourite team and my favourite team. And, of course, we’ll also look ahead to this weekend’s football in our predictions competition.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (an Arsenal fan)
DF: Yes, that was from an Arsenal fan and I am sure that they are all feeling very happy indeed after their late win against Leicester in the Premier League last weekend, followed by a comfortable win over PSG in the league phase of the Champions League. Indeed, many pundits called this a ‘statement win‘ a phrase that we posted about earlier in the week. Now, Arsenal have four points from their first two Champions League games, that’s the same as Manchester City, but neither of those teams are at the top of the new competition league. Seven teams have 100% records – they have won both games – including surprise package Stade Brestois from France; two more English sides in Aston Villa and Liverpool, as well as last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund. OK, let’s take a look at some of the language that has come out from some of these second round matches, including ‘mismatch‘; ‘to convert a penalty‘ and ‘to be rocked.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Spanish)
2024-25 Champions League: Mismatch
Last season’s Champions League runners-up, Borussia Dortmund, hosted Scottish side Celtic earlier in the week and they thrashed them 7-1; they were 5-1 up at half-time in a completely dominant performance. Celtic were completely outplayed and Dortmund looked so much better than their opponents that we can say that the game was a mismatch. Now, a mismatch is when there is a clear difference between the two sides; a difference that suggests that they shouldn’t even be playing against each other as it might be seen as being unfair. There were other examples of mismatches in the league stage of the Champions League, including Young Boys of Switzerland who were thrashed 5-0 by Barcelona (that’s their second defeat), while Slovan Bratislava have lost both of their matches by 5-1 and then 0-4. So we could say that they have been involved in two mismatches.
2024-25 Champions League: (to be) Rocked
Perhaps the biggest shock of the round was when holders Real Madrid lost in France against Lille. This was their first loss in over 35 games and the first time that they had lost a Champions League game since May 2023. The Guardian newspaper used the word ‘rocked‘ to describe the defeat which means that Real Madrid were shocked to lose this game – they were rocked or extremely surprised to lose. But don’t worry, I am sure that Real Madrid will be back in the semi-final or final at the end of the season!
(to) Convert a penalty
Now Lille scored their winner from a Jonathan David penalty and we are now going to look at the phrase ‘convert a penalty‘ which means to score a penalty. So, David converted the Lille penalty. Now, in the Red Bull Leipzig versus Juventus game, the home side converted a penalty to go 2-1 up in the second half. Here’s what the Guardian said about it: ‘…[Juventus] levelled through Dusan Vlahovic in the 50th minute but went 2-1 down when Sesko converted a penalty in the 65th to put the hosts back in front.’ In the Girona vs Feyenoord game both sides failed to convert a penalty – they both missed their penalties – Feyenoord won 3-2 in a really action-packed game – own goals, last-minute winners and two penalty misses. They failed to convert their penalties.
Glossary
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Italian)
You can find out more about some of the words and phrases that we have already discussed in today’s show, as well as hundreds more football expressions and cliches by coming along to our football-language glossary.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Dutch)
Manchester United v Tottenham: Tear apart
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So, if a team tears another team apart it means that they have easily defeated them – they have been far superior to their opponents. To tear something means to break or rip it (especially material or paper). My team Spurs had a great away win at Manchester United last week – they won 3-0 as they tore Manchester United apart. Here’s how the BBC described it: ‘Spurs, even without injured Son Heung-min, tore Manchester United apart as…’. So, Spurs tore United apart – they easily won the game. Another way of saying this they ripped them apart. Here’s Damon talking about the Wolves-Liverpool game.
Wolves v Liverpool: Attack the ball
DB: Damian, you must be pretty pleased with Tottenham’s result. The same as Liverpool’s a few matchdays ago. United were well and truly torn apart by Spurs, weren’t they?
I’m definitely pleased with Liverpool’s result. A 2-1 away win at Wolverhampton Wanderers, or Wolves. That win put Liverpool top of the league, at least until all the games have been played this weekend. For this match, I’m going to focus on Ibrahima Konaté, one of Liverpool’s centre backs, and the football language, attack the ball.
Of course, we all know that to attack is used in football. If a team attacks the other team, they push forward and try to score. We can have an adjective too, an attacking player, or a noun, a dangerous attack. The phrase ‘to attack the ball’ is usually used to describe how a player heads the ball. If they attack the ball, they powerfully head the ball, aggressively run and jump to head the ball.
This is exactly what Konaté did for Liverpool’s opener. Jota swung in a great cross right on the six-yard box line and Konaté rose and attacked the ball, heading down and past the goalkeeper.
I wonder if Liverpool will stay top after this week? I also wonder how our predictions battle is going. Am I still top? Here’s Damian.
Predictions
DF: OK, let’s take a look at the predictions table and yes, Damon you are still top of the table! Going in to this weekend you are on 30 points which is 3 ahead of me with the guests back on 23. Let’s see what happens this weekend.
We have games from the Premier League, the Bundesliga and a big derby from Spain. Let’s start with that derby in Spain which features Sevilla hosting their city rivals Betis. I’ve gone for a 1-2 win for Betis, while both Damon and the guests (HPSauce) have gone for a draw. How about the big game in the Premier League? High-flying Aston Villa fresh from a wonderful victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League, take on under-performing Manchester United and Damon has gone for a Villa victory but both myself and the guest thinks that United will bounce back and win. I’ve gone for 2-1 and the guest has gone for 3-1. What do you think will happen? Have a look at the other games, we’ve also got Brighton and Spurs – I think Spurs might win that one (fingers crossed). We’ve also got Eintracht Frankfurt hosting Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. I think Munich will be too good for Eintracht Frankfurt. Let us know what you think by posting here or on our forum page.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in German)
Contact
DF: And if you have any questions or comments about any of the language from today or indeed any other football language then drop us an email at admin@languagecaster.com. And don’t forget we also have a football-language forum where you can ask and answer any questions you have on the language of football. Come along, take a look and join in the football language conversations. And don’t forget, youtube as well, where you can find lots of our podcasts with transcripts as well. Spread the word and give us a like or a follow.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Thai).
Goodbye
Thanks for that message, which was in Thai. We also heard some stingers in Italian, Dutch, Spanish, German and French, as well as Japanese at the start. How many of those did you guess? Thanks everyone for listening today – we looked at the phrases ‘mismatch‘; ‘to convert a penalty‘ and ‘to be rocked, as well as ‘attack the ball’ and ‘tear apart’. Let us know if you hear these words, in any language, during this week’s football. Don’t forget there’s a transcript for this podcast with lots of vocabulary support. Enjoy all the football this weekend and we’ll be back next week with some more football language. It’s an international weekend. Bye bye!