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Every week during the 2010-11 season, the languagecaster team explain a football phrase or cliche for learners of English who love the sport. Click on the link below to hear the word or phrase and you can also read the transcript below that. You can find many more examples by going to our football phrase page here football cliches here and our huge football glossary here.

Listen here: To brush aside | See the complete list here

This week’s English for football phrase is ‘to brush aside‘ which is made up from the verb brush or sweep and the adverb aside which means away from or to the side. In football we use this phrase to describe a situation where one team is much better than their opponents and they comfortably beat them; they are brushed aside as if they were not there. So for example, earlier this week Manchester United easily brushed aside German team Schalke 2-0 in the Champions League semi-final. To brush aside.