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Learn English Through Football Podcast: 2018 Manchester and Merseyside Derbies

2018 Manchester and Merseyside Derbies This week’s football-language podcast looks back at the Champions League quarter-final first legs and the big derbies taking place over the weekend in the Premier League. We also have a quiz question, explain a new football expression – overhead kick – and try our hand at some predictions. For those wishing to improve their English, there’s a transcript to the show below and if you have questions or comments, email us at: admin@languagecaster.com (Damian=DF).

Learn English Through Football Podcast: 2018 Manchester and Merseyside Derbies

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Transcript of the show

DF: You are listening to Languagecaster’s football-language podcast. Hello everyone and welcome to the show for all those who love football and wish to improve their English skills. My name is Damian and I am here in a sunny London – maybe Spring is here at last – and for this week’s podcast it will just be me as Damon, who of course is based in Tokyo, is busy with the start of term there.

Line up

DF: Now our regular listeners will now that we usually start with a review of the football news in the good, the bad and the ugly and this week we will be looking back at the Champions League quarter-final matches that took place in mid-week. We then have a quiz question which this week is connected to the Manchester derby. After that we will explain a new football expression, this week it’s all about Ronaldo, while we finish with some predictions, including the Merseyside and Manchester derbies.

You’re listening to languagecaster.com (in French)

Good

DF: Right, let me kick off with some good news from the world of football this week. First of all, well done to Bayern Munich who followed up their 2-1 away win over Sevilla in the first leg of their quarter-final of the Champions League to also win at Augsburg on Saturday to claim this year’s Bundesliga title. This is the Bavarian side’s sixth league title in a row and they are also in the semi-final of the German cup which means that remarkably they could win a treble under manager Jupp Heynckes for the second time. Of course, it was also good for Liverpool as they over-powered Manchester City 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final to give them a great chance to make it through against one of the favourites for the title.

Bad

DF:A  Now, not such a good week for Manchester City who were well beaten by Liverpool in that first leg of their quarter-final Champions League game and then followed that up by losing 2-3 at home to Manchester United at the weekend. A victory would have handed City the title but despite going two goals up their lead was overturned by United in the second half. I wonder have City peaked too soon?

Sad

DF: Now this week I am going to focus on some sad news from the English game as former England captain Ray Wilkins died at the young age of 61. Wilkins captained Chelsea at 18 and then moved to Manchester United where he won an FA Cup in 1983 before moving to AC Milan, Rangers and PSG before finishing his playing career at west-London side QPR where he was player-manager. He played over 80 times for England including two World Cups: 1982 and 1986. He also had a successful career as an assistant coach at Chelsea where he worked with Carlo Ancelotti to help the Blues to a double in 2010. Sad news indeed.

Follow

DF:A  Now, remember that you can get in touch with us in all the usual ways. Our site is languagecaster.com, we are on twitter, we have a Facebook account, and we are on Instagram. Drop us a line and say hello. You can also find our podcasts on all the usual places; please spread the word.

Quiz Question

DF: This week is all about derbies in the Premier League and so we want to know which player has scored the most goals in this derby. Is it:

  1. Sergio Aguero
  2. Wayne Rooney
  3. Bobby Charlton

And we’ll have the answer at the end of the show.

Right, next up we have this week’s football language explanation.

Football Language: Overhead kick

DF: This week I am going to explain a move in football that attackers sometimes use to score a goal. Cristiano Ronaldo’s second goal in Real Madrid’s 3-0 away victory in the Champions League against Juventus – an overhead kick-A  has been hailed as one of the greatest of all time; it was so amazing that even the home fans from Juventus applauded him. Real Madrid defender Dani Carvajal crossed from the right and the ball reached his teammate Ronaldo around the penalty spot but a little behind him. No problem for Cristiano who, with his back to goal, acrobatically volleyed the ball over his head and into the net leaving Juventus keeper Buffon rooted to the spot. An amazing goal indeed from Ronaldo. Sometimes this type of goal is known as a bicycle kick or maybe a scissors kick although this last one describes a volley from the side rather than over the head. Here is an example title from ESPN’s website: Ronaldo’s iconic overhead kick reveals that, at 33, he’s better than ever’ (ESPN).

Now next up is our predictions.

Predictions

Everton v Liverpool

DF:A  The first game this week involves the Merseyside derby with Everton hosting a much-changed Liverpool team. Klopp’s side have lots of injuries and will most definitely have one eye on the Champions League quarter-final second leg on Tuesday so I went for a 1-1 draw. It finished 0-0 – a dour scoreless draw – so I scored a point but I wonder if Damon would be happy with that result.

Manchester City v Manchester United

DF: The big game from the weekend was Manchester City versus Manchester United as it was not only a local derby but a win for City would hand them their third title in six years. I also thought that this game would end in a draw as I felt City would rest players before the second leg quarter-final match versus Liverpool. They did indeed leave some players on the bench and raced to a 2-0 early lead only to end up losing 3-2 to their city rivals. An amazing game but no points for me I’m afraid.

Brighton v Huddersfield Town

DF: Now the final game was Brighton versus Huddersfield Town. Now this was a real relegation six pointer but I thought Brighton would win this one 1-0 but they ended up drawing the game 1-1 and having a man sent off which leaves both sides still very much in the relegation battle.

Quiz Answer

DF: Just before we go here is the answer to this week’s quiz. We wanted to know who has scored most goals in the Manchester derby. And the answer? Well, Sergio Aguero has netted 8 times, Bobby Charlton nine times and Wayne Rooney on 11 occasions so well done if you managed to get that one right and of course we will have another quiz question next week.

Good bye

DF: OK, that’s all for this week. Enjoy all of the football and next week we will be looking ahead to the Manchester City versus Tottenham game at Wembley and of course we will be looking back at the second leg games from the Champions League. Bye bye!

Check out our glossary of footballing phrases here
If you have any suggestions, contact us at admin@languagecaster.com

Learn English Through Football
Learn English Through Football
Learn English Through Football

Welcome to the website that helps students interested in football improve their English language skills. Soccer fans can enhance these skills with lots of free language resources: a weekly podcast, football phrases, explanations of football vocabulary, football cliches, worksheets, quizzes and much more at languagecaster.com.

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