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Learn English Through Football Podcast: Late Goals and El Clásico
In this football language podcast we look back at an extraordinary weekend of late goals in the Premier League. We also explain some of the language from the 2024 el Clásico including, ‘move 6 points clear‘ and ‘lob‘. We also look ahead to next weekend’s football with our predictions competition – this week is an all Premier League week. 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.
Late Goals and El Clásico
DF: You’re listening to the Learning English Through Football 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 I am based in London where the weather is definitely getting cooler and the clocks have gone back an hour last weekend meaning that I am now 9 hours behind Damon, the other member of the Learn English Through Football Podcast team. Of course, Damon is in Tokyo, Japan. What’s the weather like where you are? And what time difference is there between where you are and the Learn English Through Football Podcast team (in London or in Tokyo!)? By the way, happy Diwali to all those who celebrate – you might be able to hear some fireworks going off in the background; there are lots of celebrations here in east London.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Spanish)
Today’s Show
DF: That message was in Spanish and we’ll have some more stingers, or messages, throughout today’s show in different languages. Try and guess what they are.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Hindi)
Right, on today’s podcast we will be looking at some more football language from the footballing week including some words and phrases that describe late goals in games. We will also look at one or two phrases from el Clásico, including, ‘move 6 points clear‘ and ‘lob‘. And, of course, we’ll also look ahead to this weekend’s football in our predictions competition.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Dutch)
Late goals
Last weekend in the Premier League saw some incredible moments as teams scored really late goals in five of the ten matches. And these goals were decisive which means that they changed the result of the game: so, from a defeat to a draw or from a draw to a win. A pity, of course, that my favourite team Tottenham were not able to score a late goal – or indeed any goal – against Crystal Palace! Mateta scored the decisive goal for Palace in that one. I wonder how Liverpool fan Damon is feeling after his side’s 2-2 draw away at Arsenal – they scored a late goal to equalise for the second time in the game. And this goal came the 81st minute though, as we will see, this was nowhere near the latest goal from the weekend.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Swedish)
Now, before we look at some of the language of late goals, let’s remind ourselves of some of the scores from the Premier League last weekend:
- Brentford 4-3 Ipswich
- Everton 1-1 Fulham
- West Ham United 2-1 Manchester United
- Brighton 2-2 Wolves
- Aston Villa 1-1 Bournemouth
In every one of these games a goal – a decisive goal that changed the result – was scored after 90 minutes. Bournemouth striker Evanilson scored an equaliser against Aston Villa in the 96th minute; Everton scored an equaliser in the 94th minute; Brentford won it late with a 96th minute winner, while Wolves scored twice late on in their game against Brighton: in the 88th minute and then an equaliser in the 93rd minute. West Ham scored a controversial penalty in the 92nd minute on Sunday to snatch all three points against Manchester United. A defeat that led to United manager Erik Ten Haag being sacked. Here are some words and phrases from those weekend’s games:
- Injury time equaliser: Injury time, sometimes known as added or stoppage time, is the time that a referee adds to the regulation time (so 45 or 90 minutes plus the additional time).
- Last-gasp winner: The idea of ‘last-gasp‘ suggests that there is absolutely no time left in the game and if we follow this phrase with ‘winner’ then one of the teams has won in a dramatic manner. Another way of saying this is ‘late leveller’ or ‘last-gasp equaliser’– the team levelled the game late on; they drew the game with a late goal.
- Feel like a defeat/win: This is an interesting phrase as it is connected to psychology and how we feel about the final result. If a team is winning for a long time but then concedes a late equaliser (as Fulham did at Everton) then it feels as if they have dropped two points; the players would not feel so happy at the end of the game even though an away draw would not be seen as such a bad result at all. As for Everton, the draw could be seen like a win as they had not really looked like scoring all game. So the late equalising goal felt like a winner to them!
- To come from 2-0 down to win/draw: This expression is similar to the phrase ‘to come from behind‘ which means one team has been losing and then scores more than one goal to lead the game, so for example, losing 0-1 and then winning 2-1. This is a come from behind win.
- To snatch a draw: This means to draw the game but maybe the team did not really deserve the point or maybe that the equaliser was a late dramatic goal.
Here are some of the headlines from the games at the weekend – many of them use some of the language we have just discussed.
Late Goals: Headlines
- Bryan Mbeumo scored a 96th-minute winner as Brentford beat Ipswich Town in a seven-goal thriller in the Premier League.
- Delap scored to level matters, but Mbeumo’s late strike means Ipswich are still winless in the Premier League after nine games.
- Wolves off bottom after late comeback draw at Brighton.
- Bournemouth rock Villa with last-gasp Evanilson leveller.
- Bournemouth striker Evanilson scored with the last touch of the game to rescue a point at Aston Villa in the Premier League.
- Beto snatches Everton draw with Fulham in added time.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Catalan)
El Clásico
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Well, a n amazing second-half performance from Barcelona saw them easily defeat hosts Real Madrid last weekend. Madrid were hoping to extend their unbeaten run to a record-equalling 43 games but instead they were thrashed 4-0 by the Catalan side. Lamine Yamal scored Barca’s third goal which made him the youngest ever goalscorer in el Clásico. A wonderful result for Barcelona.
To go six points clear
This result (4-0) allowed Barcelona to move 6 points clear and this expression is used to show the difference in points between the top side in the league and the next best. Barcelona are now six points ahead of Real Madrid in second place. They were three points ahead before the match but after defeating los blancos they moved (or they went) six points clear. We can also hear this phrase when describing a team near the relegation spots. So, a win will move them three points away from the relegation places, for example.
(to) Lob
The fourth goal was scored by in-form striker Raphinha. He was put through by a long ball from the defence and he was faster to the ball than the Madrid defence and as the ball was bouncing he lifted it over the keeper’s head into the net. This type of goal is known as a lob – he lobbed the keeper and it shows that a player is really confident in their technique and ability. It really was a beautiful goal for Raphinha to cap off a fine performance from Barcelona.
Glossary
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Italian)
So, 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 and after last week’s matches I am top but by only one point from Damon and the guests. I think my Champions League predictions helped me out! I didn’t get anything from el Clásico as I thought it would be a draw and not the easy win for Barca! I did think the derbi d’Italia between Inter and Juventus would be a draw but I only went for a 1-1 draw and not the crazy end-to-end 4-4 draw tat happened. Still, that one point sent me to the top of the predictions for this week!
So, in this week’s games we are going to look at five matches; all from the Premier League including a west-London derby between Brentford and Fulham. We also have Manchester United hosting Chelsea – I wonder will there be a new manager bounce for United after Ten Haag’s departure? I think United will win this one, while I also think Newcastle will defeat Arsenal; Liverpool will beat Brighton and Spurs will bounce back to defeat Aston Villa. What do you think the results will be? What are your predictions for this weekend’s games?
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Bemba)
Contact
DF: If you want to let us know your predictions or if you have any questions or comments about any of the language from today or any other football language then drop us an email at admin@languagecaster.com. 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 don’t forget, youtube as well, where you can find lots of our podcasts with transcripts there as well. So please spread the word and give us a like or a follow.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Thai).
Goodbye
Thanks for that message, which was in Thai. We also heard some stingers in Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Swedish, Bemba, Hindi, (Catalan) and French. How many of those did you guess? Thanks everyone for listening today – we looked at the phrases ‘to lob‘ which described a beautiful goal by Raphinha in el Clasico and also the phrase ‘to move 6 points clear‘ which is how many points Barcelona are now ahead at the top of La Liga. We also looked at some language around the topic of late goals including ‘last gasp’; ‘late winner’ and ‘to snatch a draw’.
Let us know if you hear these words, in any language, during this week’s football. And don’t forget there’s a transcript for this podcast with lots of vocabulary support for you. Enjoy all the football this weekend – let us know what your predictions are – and we’ll be back soon with some more football language. Bye bye!
Related Vocabulary
- Wikipedia has a page about ‘late goals’
- Ronaldo’s late goals (podcast)
- Last-gasp (World Cup 2018)
- Last-gasp winner (Euro 2024)
Learn English Through Football Podcast: A show for football fans to improve their English language skills
