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Learn English Through Football Podcast: 2024-25 Champions League Returns – Matchday 1
In this football language podcast we look at some language that emerged from Matchday 1 of this season’s Champions League, including ‘double save‘; ‘goalkeeping gaffe‘ and . 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 Returns – Matchday 1
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 after a short trip to Spain I am back in London where the weather is a little wet and grey – very different from the Spanish weather! What is the weather like where you are at the moment? Hopefully a little better than in Tokyo where the other member of the Learn English Through Football Podcast team, Damon, tells me that it is still very, very hot.
Now, it’s just me this week and apologies for the slight delay in this week’s podcast – we have both been quite busy at work – and I am recording this on Saturday morning after my weekly game of five-a-side football. In fact, a couple of my team mates are going to be representing the guests in this week’s predictions which we will look at later on in the show.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (a Vasco da Gama fan)
Today’s Show
DF: Right, on today’s show we will be looking at some of the football language from the past week and it’s been a really busy week with lots of football being played all around the world. We’ll start off with a look at some of the language from a Spanish second division game that I went to last weekend before moving on to some words and phrases from Matchday 1 of the Champions League, while we will also have some language of predictions as we look back at some of the big games from last weekend. Let me tell you now, it was a bad weekend for me so I am not going to spend too much time on the North London derby!
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (an Arsenal fan)
Watching Málaga: Unbeaten Start
DF: Now, some of you might know that I am a fan of FC Málaga after living in the city many years ago, in fact, I saw them play for the first time way back in 1987. Well, last weekend I had the pleasure of going to see them again in the wonderful La Rosaleda Stadium. The team has just been promoted to the Segunda División after a season in the third tier and the feeling around the city is very positive indeed. They played so well in this game and defeated Huesca, a team from the north of Spain, by 1-0 to remain unbeaten at the start of the season (that’s five games now) and their unbeaten start to the season means they are just outside the play-off places. Who knows, maybe one day Málaga will be back in the first division again!
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Spanish)
2024-25 Champions League
DF: Right, next up we are going to look at some language from the first set of matches in the new format of the Champions League. We’ll be looking at the phrases, ‘league phase’; ‘baller’; ‘double save’; ‘gaffe‘ and ‘trouncing‘.
League Phase
Let’s remind ourselves of the new format of the Champions League. There are now 36 teams taking part in one big league so there is no group stage like in previous seasons: remember that we had eight groups of four with the two top teams qualifying for the knock-out rounds but this time there is simply one group – or league – of 36 teams. So, we no longer talk about group stages but instead we now use the phrase ‘league phase‘. The top eight teams qualify directly for the last-16 with the next 16 teams (that is positions 9th to 24th) involved in play-offs to decide the remaining eight teams for the last 16. The bottom eight sides are eliminated or knocked out – and they won’t drop down to the Europa League either.
Ballers
“The maddening part of all this was that Milan are really quite a nice side to watch in full flow: a flawed and dangerous team built largely from young ballers, grizzled old pros and players you vaguely remember playing for Chelsea.”
Damon was extremely happy with his side Liverpool after they won 3-1 away in Milan in a repeat of two previous Champions League finals (that’s 2005 when Liverpool won and 2007 when Milan won). He sent me a link to the Guardian newspaper report on the game which used the word ‘baller‘ to describe some of the Milan players. So, in this example, the writer is using the term ‘ballers‘, which is a slang term that means someone is very skilled at playing sport. You might hear people talking about ‘a baller’ when a player does something really skilful in a game or simply to describe a really technically gifted player.
Double Save
Arsenal travelled to Bergamo in Italy to take on Europa League holders Atalanta in their first Champions League game this season and left with a point after a scoreless draw (that’s nil-nil). The hosts were denied all three points when they missed a penalty in the second half after the Arsenal keeper David Raya saved the spot kick. But he didn’t just save the penalty he also saved the follow up header from the Atalanta forward Retegui. This is known as a double save and shows a keeper’s agility and reflexes. Raya saved the first one to his right and then quickly jumped up to dive to his left to save the header from the rebound. A great double save that earned Arsenal a point.
Goalkeeping Gaffe
Continuing with words and phrases connected to goalkeepers, let’s take a look at some language to describe errors made by goalkeepers: blunder, clangers and howlers are all errors or mistakes that keepers make that lead to a goal for the opposition. Another term we have is gaffe and this is the phrase that many of the international press used when Girona’s keeper, Paolo Gazzaniga, allowed the ball to slip through his hands in the final minute of the match with PSG. This goalkeeping gaffe gave PSG three points and left Girona, playing for the first time in the Champions League, still looking for their first point.
Trouncing
The biggest win of Matchday 1 came in Germany where Bayern Munich thrashed Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb 9-2. Bayern led 3-0 before Zagreb hit two quick goals early in the second half and it looked like there might be a remarkable comeback but the home side scored six more times to run out 9-2 winners. Other words to describe a big win like this include, ‘thrash‘ and give the opposition a hiding. Harry Kane scored four times to become the highest English scorer in Champions League football and of course the nine goals meant that Bayern lead the Champions League league phase after Matchday 1.
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)
Predictions
DF: OK, let’s take a look at the predictions table, where Damon is in the lead with 20 points followed by myself on 16 and our guests are in third on 11 – come on guests! Damon scored three points when he correctly said that Real Madrid would beat Real Sociedad 2-0, while I managed to get the full three points from the Flamengo vs Vasco da Gama game (Clássico dos Milhões) which ended in a 1-1 draw. No one scored any points in the North London derby as no one went for an Arsenal away victory. As I said, a bad weekend for me indeed! Now, for this week’s predictions we have two friends from my five-a-side team to represent the guest team and in the first game between West Ham and Chelsea they didn’t manage to score any points as they went for a draw and Chelsea easily won 3-0.
How about the other games this weekend? The Women’s Super League in England starts and there is a huge game between Manchester City and Arsenal and I have gone for a 1-1 draw, the guests have gone for a 2-2 draw, while Damon thinks that Arsenal will win 1-0. Now, the two sides also meet in the men’s Premier League – this game is at the Etihad – both Damon and the guests think that it will end in a 1-1 draw but I think City will win 2-0. There is also a huge game in Italy when city rivals AC Milan and Inter face off. I think Inter will have too much for a struggling AC Milan and I am going for 2-0. What do you think will happen? Let us know by posting here or on our forum page.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Olympiakos fan)
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 and post your predictions there too. Now, we’ve had some interesting comments on ‘the team is or the team are‘ – thanks PFS for your comment on that. We’ve also had a question on the phrases ‘to be miles off it‘ and what the French word for ‘goalkeeping gaffe‘ is. Come along, take a look and join in the football language conversations. Oh, 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 Korean).
Goodbye
Cheers for that message, which was in Korean. We also heard some stingers in Dutch, French, Italian and Spanish. Thanks everyone for listening today – we looked at the phrases ‘league phase‘; ‘baller‘; ‘double save‘; ‘gaffe‘ and ‘trouncing‘. 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 week and we’ll be back next week with some more football language. Bye bye!
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