Libero

The Champions League final between PSG and Arsenal has a rare quality in this fixture: it pits clearly the two best teams in Europe against each other. Both clubs have had brilliant seasons, each winning their domestic league, adding to an epic feel for the game in Budapest, but the fixture has a sense of freshness, because Arsenal have never won this competition, and PSG won it for the first time last year.

On today’s Libero, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Miguel Delaney and Jonathan Wilson ask why the finalists are only coming as powers in Europe now and whether there is a geographical explanation. With just three European cups between them, all of them in the last 15 years, why have London and Paris traditionally underperformed in this competition? And is that finally starting to change?

P1: (02:24)

P2: (27:55)

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Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions
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The Premier League's final day confirmed Arsenal are champions, West Ham are going down and Sunderland are in the Europa League. But it also felt like one long goodbye: from Pep Guardiola to Mo Salah, via Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Andy Robertson. On today’s Libero, Rory Smith, Jonathan Wilson and our North London correspondent Tariq Panja ask how different the league will look without several of its defining figures, whether their farewells mark the end of a defined era, and what might come next.

P1: (03:01)

P2: (26:45)

Join SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, now: liberopodcast.com.

—

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions
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Pep Guardiola is leaving Manchester City. It’s an exit that brings to an end one of the most unique experiments in football history, and one that is unlikely to be repeated again. Jack Pitt-Brooke, Rory Smith and Tariq Panja discuss Guardiola’s legacy and the very specific set of circumstances that provided the platform for him to produce arguably the most complete winning machines in English football history.

Join SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, now: liberopodcast.com.

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P1: (08:45)

P2: (30:35)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

Email in via [email protected]

Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions
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Join SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, now: liberopodcast.com.

—Unai Emery is once again in the Europa League final with a team featuring the letters V-I-L-L-A somewhere in their name, a remarkable achievement and one that also creates a perception that he is not among the top echelon of coaches. The competition with which the Aston Villa manager has become synonymous is also suffering from a degree of reputational damage these days, as its bigger brother hoovers up more of the clubs that used to give the Europa League a unique appeal. James Horncastle, Jonathan Wilson and Miguel Delaney discuss matters of perception and a few other things.

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P1: (13:09)

P2: (28:11)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

Do you have a burning question for the Liberi? Send them in to [email protected]⁠⁠ to get them answered on the podcast.

Anything else, email in via [email protected]

Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod

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Produced by: Tom Bassam

Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions
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ICMP has kindly released an extra few tickets for our live show on 22nd May, so we can squeeze a few more of you in. Plans are coming together and it should be a fun night there will also be copies of the various books of the Liberi on sale and they may even sign them for you. Doors 7pm at The Venue on the ICMP Queens Park Campus in west London. The link for tickets is here 👍

The FA Cup should be English football’s national day. It was English football’s national day, a final punctuation mark on another season, anointing heroes and reducing grown men to tears. Jack Pitt Brooke, Miguel Delaney and Tariq Panja discuss how the FA Cup final lost its way and what ingredients are needed to bring back the magic.

P1: (10:08)

P2: (30:42)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

Email in via [email protected]

Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod

Join our Discord @Libero Podcast

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions
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