Vini's remarkable red + Man City welcome champions PSG

James Richardson (0:00)

Totally Football Show, European edition. Today, Continental Leagues are back, Champions League too. We talk Man City, PSG. They spoiled the league for a generation with their crazy spending. How will they get on against Man City? We hear about Roma, Real Madrid too, why Mourinho still San Jose in the capital, and how Vinicius Jr is losing face for a bit of it. Plus, there's Freiburg, here come the calorie, and the Bundesliga fastest goal ever in this Totally Football Show.

It's the return of the much missed Totally Football Show European Edition, Horncastle Williams here in the studio.

James Horncastle (0:50)

Hello Jimbo.

Tom Williams (0:50)

Hello.

James Richardson (0:51)

Hello to you both.

Tom Williams (0:52)

Hello.

James Richardson (0:52)

On the big screen, Seb Stafford-Bloor.

Seb Stafford-Bloor (0:55)

Hello right back.

James Richardson (0:57)

Pol Ballus joining us very, very soon. Am I in a hurry? A little bit. Because there's a lot to talk about this week with all the leagues back in action. And some big midweek European fun.

James.

James Horncastle (1:11)

Yeah. Big European fun.

Like Sabah against Slavia Prague.

James Richardson (1:17)

Well, that's the kind of... Or AEK against Shakhtar Canets.

Pol Ballus (1:20)

I'm going to go long search.

James Richardson (1:21)

Deep cut. Oh really? Stamford Bridge.

Tom Williams (1:23)

Of course. Yeah. That's a deep cut. Well. Be a great program if you're a collector of such items.

James Richardson (1:30)

I might become one.

James Horncastle (1:31)

Are you not going to watch Slava and Bratislava against Stuttgart, James?

Tom Williams (1:35)

When I go home.

James Richardson (1:36)

Okay. Seb, are you going along to any Champions League action?

Seb Stafford-Bloor (1:41)

I'm going to rest up this week and then do Bayern against Arsenal next week. So I'm having a week on the sofa, which is wonderful.

James Richardson (1:47)

Tom, fresh back from Paris.

Seb Stafford-Bloor (1:49)

Yes.

James Richardson (1:51)

Big game there.

Seb Stafford-Bloor (1:52)

There is.

Tom Williams (1:53)

Well, a couple of Anglo-French ties this week with Arsenal and Lille locking horns and the small matter of Paris Saint-Germain against Manchester City.

James Horncastle (2:04)

What do they have in common, Tom?

James Richardson (2:08)

What don't they have in common?

Tom Williams (2:10)

Blue but different shades of blue.

James Richardson (2:14)

I asked Julian in last Thursday's show, I think it was, whether there was any slight nervousness at Paris Saint-Germain, whether anyone was casting little looks at the way they've done their team building over the years. And I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong with it. But there are huge parallels between the way that they are funded and the success that they've had. And has that been an issue particularly? He seemed to think not, Paris Saint-Germain found that illigal.

Tom Williams (2:40)

I don't think there's any particular nervousness at PSG. It's not something that the French media have really flagged. But when you look back at that period, you know, the period that cities' offenses date from, a lot of questions were being asked about Paris Saint-Germain at the same time. And not all of them were answered in satisfactory fashion. In 2017, they signed Neymar and Kylian Mbappe for over 400 million euros, albeit they didn't actually pay from Mbappe until the following summer.

And off the back of that, and under pressure from some of the big European clubs, UEFA launched an FFP investigation, or at least decided to scrutinise PSG's spending. Months later, the following summer, they announced that nothing to see here, all above board, all fine, you can all just carry on. And even within UEFA, there were people who thought, oh, that's a bit surprising. A lot of money spent there. We really, is that, we just, we're happy with that? And so UEFA tried to reopen the case, but then the Court of Obertration for Sport rule that they left it too long.

And so PSG kind of got away without, got away with not having their accounts scrutinised in more targeted fashion because of her technicality. The difference is that no one is kind of poking around in the way the Premier League was. The DNCG, French football's financial watchdog, is basically just looking to see is there enough money in the books for this club to get to the end of the season.

James Richardson (4:11)

Do we have a lawyer? Pretty sure we have a lawyer.

Tom Williams (4:16)

It's all on the record.

James Richardson (4:17)

Absolutely.

Tom Williams (4:18)

They've not broken any rules. There's no suggestion that they have.

Pol Ballus (4:21)

I'm certainly not suggesting.

Tom Williams (4:22)

But there were periods where they could have been scrutinised more than they were.