Nice, you're doing Shorts now. :D

Grant - Love the Victory Vibe, thanks (as a Chelsea fan) for taking down the reigning champs. I also thought Julia Grosso was Italian even though she plays for a Chicago side that's grown on me over the past few years. Dino - I feel your pain with Arsenal. It's always rough but that's the beauty of supporting multiple teams- for every Arsenal you'll hopefully have an Orlando Pride. They have too good a roster to be down for long, and I'm looking forward to the Russo Renaissance in the near future. Best of luck to both your squads in the tournament; I'll gladly put our league rivalries aside and cheer for whoever goes farthest.

For me, this Arsenal situation with Jonas has some resemblance to the USWNT with Vlatko. Jonas hasn't achieved success at this level to command a certain level of respect. So when things start going wrong and the players lose confidence in him, it's game over.

Barça fan here. Impressive City! I love Park and Hasegawa as two top midfielders, and adding Viedema is a great move for them. Hemp and Shaw are fantastic players, they made a difference last Wednesday. City are a real contender for both the UWCL and the WSL. My MVP contenders this year: are Ramirez, and Shaw. Barça? ... slow start, let's see how this unfolds.

Good day when Barçelona loses!

People forget that our girls won a quadruple and played games until the end of june 1 week off for vacation and right after t that they joined camp for international duty the girls were exhausted you could tell especially against czech team and playjng for euro entrance and after go straight into the olympics playing games almost broken. Aitana patri ona irene cata salma where dead after the loss. 10 days off and right back into pre season. We stil in a hangover from last year winning a quadruple and nations leuage. And the olympics is 2 days rest next game 2 days rest next game. So many people forget that these girls are human somehow but slowely we getting back our ohysicality especially after this espanyol game we wil struggle this first half of the season. the second half, when salma has returned we will show why we are the best. People writing the champions off is crazy work this is a marathon and even gareth taylor said there is a reason why they are barcalona how they bounce back ia incredible end qoute! Hammerby wil get the Hammer!! But great episode tho 👏🏻

Great analysis as always gentlemen! 2 things. 1. As a proud MCWFC fan like Grant so happy to return to UWCL action🫶💪🙌 2. My penalty taker our very own Chloe Kelly whipping them in at 111 km/hr! Also shouting out Giulia Gwinn from Bayern. She has never missed from the spot 👌

Glad you admit to having to crank the happiness meter down; nevertheless I think it will have to go a lot further down before the season is over. For me, it's amazing what you see on a second watching (or miss on a first). But first, great game by Chitty. They were very, very good: Fowler, Hasegawa, Shaw, Hemp, but above all, Laia Alexandri who, apart from everything else, saved two goals off the line. [It will be great to see her in Bleaugrana in a season or two] This Barca will be better than last seasons. This seems obvious to me. Having said that, they are in recovery mode and have to ease their way to Christmas and try and find themselves in the best place when it counts. Something they did perfectly last season. The performance of Spain at the Olympics are part of the symptoms of burn out that are evident at Barca now. The good news (for my happiness meter) is that Pere Romeu and co seem to know what's needed. It's clearest in the league: 1-0 vs Sevilla; losing 1-0 at half time vs Madrid CFF and Espanyol and finishing 8-1 and 7-1. Even the 10-1 reached half time at 2-0 plus 2 at injury time at the end of the half. Aitana (like Salma), is not ready for retirement (in their 20s). There's a reason they are being rested and not starting league games. Come the end of season that reason should become clear. [And don't forget my prediction that Payor will break goal scoring records this season]

Don’t worry Dino Arsenal still have a decent chance of getting out of the group. Wolfsburg beat Bayern in the league this weekend so they can be had! Of course the intensity and creativity does need to ratchet up for Arsenal, but I’m hopeful that line up changes could help. I am not a football manager but here are some of my unsolicited line up thoughts. In pre-season it seemed like a nice attacking partnership was forming between Russo in the 9 and Kafaji in the 10. I hope Kafaji sees more pitch time…idk what is going on there. I love Little but I think Cooney-Cross could start over her (or sub in earlier at least) to bring more intensity, break up play but also offer attacking threat (has been known to rocket one in from distance). She is not a complete replacement for the stellar Pelova but I think she could help boss the midfield more than what is happening now. Foord, Caldentey and McCabe have been bringing the intensity and goal scoring chances and I thought they were starting to form some nice patterns of play together in the early UWCL qualifying games (albeit the competition was not as tough as now.. .sorry rangers). I think they need to keep starting together more consistently. In defense, the CBs have been switching so much with injury, but now they all seem to be back I hope more reps can be put in with the first choice pairing to bring more defensive organization. Foxy at RB has so many games in her legs can the woman get a rest? Catley back from injury can she come in since Weinroither is now dealing with injury? I thought DVD has been a good shot stopper so far in WSL. Would love her to get more UWCL group games.

Thank God - " You're back!". Enjoy your full analysis of the women's champion league.

SK Brann kvinner is as good as ready for next years UCL qualification!! :D 🎉🎉🎉🎉

The wheel is still speaning, never matters how you starting the season but how you finish.All the podcasts and shows already especially the English ones wrote off Barca for reaching even the semifinals,you including.Its nice to wait for a team such as Barca to lose and celebrate,but as i said the season finishes at end of May.For me this Barca team is not yet ready to compete big teams,you can see it clear as daylight,that they lacked intensity,physicality,speed and awareness.They never were first in the ball and City made them with their reledless pressing to miss many passes in dangerous areas.Pere Romeu made all the wrong subs and mess the team badly.For me not the right choice for coatching these unique exceptionaly talented players.To understand how badly Barcelona were imagine that Caroline couldn't pass on sprint race Casparij. This is not yet in the sphere of reality. Maybe it will happen 3 years from now but Graham still is one of the fastest players out there.Also Ona Battle when she was playing in MU owned Hemp in every match they played eachother,and i will say it again OWNED Hemp.When she played in WSL she was among the best 3 player there. What happened in this match was that Hemp bossed every player she was against her,either was Graham or Ona or Aitana. This is not happening against peak form BARCA players. It's all coming down with the manager.This Barca team struggles even in LigaF.This is no coincidence,they play badly the first 45 minutes for 7 games in a row now. If they continue like this ,yes i will agree they are going nowhere but the season still finishes in May. Maybe the players will have something else to tell us.

Bunny Shaw is just delightful to watch.

Hi guys. Maybe you remember the team SK Brann from last year. Today they qualified to 1 round champions league 2025. They have won 7 games in a row now. Hope you will cover them next year. All the best to you guts from Bergen, Norway.

You know chawinga is a man in a woman’s league ? Why don’t we reference that?

Glad to see some coverage for the women's side. Thanks

I agree the shield is THE Trophy, but the playoffs is like an FA cup where the first five rounds or whatever is just how well you did through the season. So this is our weird American FA cup. Since the women don’t have a weird American Open cup that the D1 league is trying to kill.

Hey, my guys, your friendly neighborhood pedant here, is your thumbnail breaking the news that the Reign is playing the MLS club from LA? Or are they still playing ACFC? I’m sorry, I can’t help myself, it’s a problem. I gotta comment anyway for the algorithm, right? Love the show. How am I the 3rd comment but only the 1st like. Come on community, get your shit together.

Spirit have a tough assignment this Sunday -- Sarr, Rodman, and Bethune all out, and Hershfeld suspended for yellow accumulation.

idk my dudes. the Reign have been the oldest roster in the league most of this season & the 23 yr old striker they chose to stick with over Balcer cannot score goals in the league - so of course they extended her contract - and their sentimental tendencies with their long standing vets doesn't look like it's going to end in 2025 which has limited their ability to evolve in the modern version of NWSL we've entered. Gallimore's decision making in season after the sale especially has not been sound and has not improved a single area of the roster. so i wonder - apart from hometown loyalties which are dope and i understand - whats going to change between now and next season that leads anyone to believe next year will be different for them?

I hope that Juve and V°alerenga will smash group C wide open. Who the hell is Arsenal ? In the women's game they are still yearning to be as relevant as they were back in the 2000s. Their first English test this season was against Man City: not convincing. Second test will come against Chelsea on Oct 12th. Bayern may have more of a claim to this group - they are in form as they demonstrated in the DFB. In group D, Barça and Manchester City will engage in a scoring competition, with Hammarby playing kingmaker. St Pölten: got nothing to lose - I hope they give everything and notch some glorious goals.

ACFC aka CanWNT 2.0 I believeeee it!!!!

To be fair to St. Pölten, the two goals they scored were against Brann, so they're not a bad side. Schlüter was particularly good in the 7-0 defeat against Lyon and had some top class saves in that match. Considering that Lyon scored within the first six minutes in all the other matches, it's pretty good not conceding until the 21st minute. Mattner also impressed me in the matches against Brann. As for Vålerenga, they have not been at their best in the matches they played in the qualifying rounds. They are much better at attacking than they've shown so far. Bjelde, Tvedten, Tennebø, Thomsen and Sævik are all very good players. Their defending leaves a lot to be desired at times.

Great show

Hello from Latrobe Pennsylvania ⚽🇺🇸. Love your broadcasts. Please don't be angry Dino, but Arsenal might not get out of group. Watch for Juve and Lyon look ready for their "revenge tour". Peace out!

I love to see you talk about Barcalona like oooh here we go again😂😂 Yes my brothers hr were go again Vamoos. And Juve is the blackhorse of this competition and they wil shock arsenal and arsenal.may end up losing arsenal wil also lose or draw against bayern. There is a mentality switch going with arsenal but they are exactly like the men side. They need to focus on the leauge full focus that wol lay the foundation for the champions leauge. Valerenga is the new BK Hacken also a surprise opposition. Uwcl is the best nice video guys we are back again 😁

The women's game is growing exponentially. And dominant teams are not gonna have it easy anymore (Lyon, USWNT..) so it's gonna be hard for barça this season. And I think they will drop points against Man. City in the group stage

😍😍

Groups A and C look like Groups of Death for sure, but if they even things out, there could yet be a Group Of Life, like last year. If you guys came up with phrase of positivity, all power to you! The other two groups look pretty straightforward. Some potentially ugly scores, but the lower teams will learn from the experience. For some, the highlight of their career may be winning a tackle against Putellas, or having a shoving match against Mayra Ramirez before a corner. Good luck with that! OMG, Man City v Barcelona, is this really happening? Let's ******* do this already!

Thanks again, guys. Always worth listening to. The Italian sides should never be underestimated -- despite Wolfsburg-Fiorentina -- Roma are going to have to be beaten. And there's a reason that Barca, with all of their young midfield, LOANED Dragoni to Roma and never thought to sell her. If she doesn't get homesick I think Barca are planning the succession from Alexia-Aitana to Vicky-Dragoni. Hate to sound like a broken record but the only team that wins 10-1 in Liga F is Barca; and, for my money, Granada put up more of a fight and looked better losing 10-1 than Sevilla did losing 1-0 to the aforesaid Barca the previous matchday. Most times, especially with Barca, the dry stats don't tell you much. If they're in the mood, they could rack up 7 or 8 against Real Madrid; last season they eased up at Montjuic against Real at 3-0 and it might have ended politely their if not for the youthful ebullience of Vicky, Dragoni and Co who ignored the restraint shown by their elders and made it 5 in injury time. Now that Aitana is starting to look herself again, and even if Salma has not yet recovered from last season, Chitty-Barca will be more revealing than Barca's 10 or Chelski's 7.

LFG!

Great observation about Horan playing well with a fast, physical forward line. Playing with “Triple Expresso” has prepared her well. Also, I’m not worried about Chelsea aging out. They always reloaded with world class talent. That’s something Bompastor has emphasized. Hence, the large roster, talented for the long haul. It’s a good mixture of young, talented and veteran players. That’s the balance they need.

I don't trust Wolfsburg's defense. Hegering and Hendrich are past their prime. Frohms has been very erratic in the past year. Something seems to be going on there. Real Madrid is an interesting study in roster construction. Athnea, Theresa, Oihane, Misa, Mendez and Olga are all World Cup winners yet are still below their peak being below 25 years in age. Even Calceido is still really young. They brought in Angedahl and Leupolz to add the veteran presence they lost in Ivana and Zarmoza. Weir does not look to be quite all the way back yet. Does ITC have any reporting on what happened to Vine at NC Courage?

Wolfsburg is really a two-faced affair this early season. Two great games against Fiorentina (second game almost with the b-team) but only one good game in the league.

Completely forgot Lyon has chawinga now that's an insane front 3 to have

The Galatasaray attack can test any defence. Stašková from AC Milan, Diallo from Eibar in the Liga F, and world cup quarterfinalist Catalina Usme from Colombia and Mexican elite club Pachuca. Their defence ain't of the same calibre. Then there's the opposition: Wolfsburg and Roma was convincing in the qualifiers, but they have both been disappointing domestically. Lyon's true strength will only become evident in the UWCL, those conceded goals in France is just complacency. Their league ain't competitive. Galatasaray could surprise us again.

It's crazy that we've reached a point where you can talk about Lyon and not mention Ada, Wolvesburg Popp, changing of the guard?. Looking forward to Barca vs City just wish it was a Knockout game nothing I love more than seeing Barca beat the English also if they potentially meet again after the group stages city might be tougher.

that barca vs man city matchup is the most juiced match ever in the UWCL

Vamoooòooos barcaaàaa ❤❤💦💦

We're back 🎉🎉🎉❤

Is OL about to be the only French team in the group stage? Wow. Anyway, good show, guys. Can’t wait for these second legs. And the draw. And the group stage. And all that good good ITC content that comes with it.

Roma vs Servette was equal (1-1) at 82 minutes or so, I think. Then Servette decided to play out from the back. They had messed up playing like that many times earlier in the match, and was lucky not to have been punished for it. This time they were. I don't understand why so many teams are so stubborn to do this every single time, even though most teams show over and over again that they don't have the precision to do this successfully. 1-1 away against a favourite, a great result, and you decide to play high risk? It's just so stupid. And now for some more predictions. Pölten, Wolfsburg, City, and Twente are through. Everyone realises that. Almost certain that Roma goes through. I think Celtic will deal with Vorskla, that Vålerenga is less bad than Anderlecht (man, they both suck), Häcken will frustrate clueless Arsenal out, Benfica knocks out Hammarby (too bad, I'd like that fanbase in the tournament), and that Juventus grinds their way through in Paris. Praha vs Galatasaray and Real vs Sporting are the hardest ones to predict in my opinion. I am not impressed by neither Praha nor Real, but I'd say their very slight favourites.

Apologies to AI, but...war is not the answer. Evelyn Viens is The Answer.

For me, the problem with Arsenal and ManU are their managers: you have to be confident in yourself and your belief system to lead, but you also have to be constantly questioning and seeking a better way. Many English fans and pundits think they hate Pep for his 'arrogance'. They really hate Pep because of his intelligence and intellectual curiosity. ((And because he beats them ALL the time.)) Unfortunately, Jonas and Marc do think they have all the answers. For me, Jonas showed himself the first time he came up against Barca in the WCL: 4-1 away and repeat the dose with interest, 4-0 at home. He's one that might genuinely believe that n-word that English fans use to describe the Barca system: Tiki-taka. Sometimes, life is as complicated as Pep makes out.

Great show guys.

as a brann fan i hope vålerenga wins but... after extra time possibly penaltys as the semi finals in the norweagian cup is on sunday and the opponent is sk Brann. with no uwcl its no doubt game of the season for us. hopefully vålerenga wont let the country down.. i mean brann did beat anderlecht 3-0 in the qualifiers last year. anderlecht problobly not liking norweagian teams at this point haha.

😅 no offense taken. Im still jealous of Hammarby if support. Thats something i never saw at that level.

Hey Grant, I always bookmark the livestream links before kickoff, whenever I have to watch them later. That way you can access it directly instead of having to search for it, potentially exposing yourself to spoilers. Also always remember to immediately expand to full screen upon clicking the bookmark link, to not see the comments. Cheers!

I hope you cut yourself some slack on the beat down of Fiorentina. Wolfsburg right now feels like the quintessential it’s so over, we’re so BACK story. Tommy Stroot has been tinkering quite a bit with the tactical line up given all the roster changes at Wolfsburg, and performances domestically have been off their usual standard. This is the first time he had the terrifying trio of Brand, Popp, and Beerensteyn up front. Thoughts and prayers for Fiorentina next leg to at least keep it respectable 🙏

Thanks for the coverage, guys 👏👏 Pajor returns to Wolfsburg...?