Cup Finals: Wins for Liverpool & Chelsea!

Introduction  

Jack: Hello my name’s Jack and welcome to our weekly round-up section called ‘This Week’ on Premier Skills English.

Rich: Hi there. I’m Rich. We’ve got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.

Jack: We want you to use and practise these phrases by interacting with Premier League fans from around the world in our comments section.

Rich: If you listen to us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, you can leave your comments in the review section. We do read all the reviews and would love to hear from you.

Jack: You can find all our latest content on the Premier Skills English homepage or the Premier Skills-British Council Facebook page. 

Rich: Let’s start with our headlines!

Headlines

Jack: Liverpool win Champions League Final!

Rich: Liverpool beat Spurs 2-0 to be crowned European Champions for the sixth time. The Reds were fast out of the blocks and won a controversial penalty after only 23 seconds. Mohamed Salah tucked it away and Liverpool never looked back. Despite fighting bravely Spurs couldn’t get back into the match and Divock Origi made the game safe when he scored in the 87th minute.

Jack: Huge crowds celebrate Liverpool win!

Rich: Liverpool players and staff were cheered on by an estimated 750,000 fans in Liverpool on Sunday afternoon. The victory parade was a sea of red as flares, chanting and singing followed the open-top bus around the city.

Jack: Chelsea sink Arsenal in Baku!

Rich: Chelsea beat Arsenal 4-1 in the Europa League Final. After a quiet first half, the game exploded in the second with Olivier Giroud, Pedro and an Eden Hazard brace enough to see Chelsea crowned champions and deny Arsenal a Champions League spot.

Jack: What a win for Liverpool. Only Real Madrid and AC Milan have more European CUps than Liverpool now.

Rich: It was a very professional performance. Spurs tried hard but with Allison and Virgil van Dijk at the back Liverpool had enough to win.

Jack: And what a celebration in Liverpool - three-quarters of a million people on the streets. Liverpool only has a population of half a million!

Rich: I know. Very special.

Vocabulary alert!

Jack: In our vocabulary alert, we look at some football English that we used in the headlines.

Rich: Our six words and phrases this week are: to crown, to be fast out of the blocks, to tuck away, to make the game safe, to be cheered on and a brace.

Jack: Let’s start with to crown. A crown is a thing a king or queen puts on their head. It’s usually goals with lots of jewels in it. The verb ‘to crown’ means the act of placing the crown on someone’s head to make that person king or queen.

Rich: In sports, rather than to become king or queen it means to become a champion - to win an event. We said that Liverpool have been crowned Champions of Europe.

Jack: The next phrase is to be fast out of the blocks. This phrase comes from athletics. The blocks are the starting blocks where sprinters like Usain Bolt start the race from.

Jack: If we say someone is fast out of the blocks it means they have started a competition or a race really well. We could also say someone is slow out f the blocks if they have started badly.

Rich: The next phrase is to tuck away. This phrase, in general, means to keep in a safe place. You might tuck away some money in case you need a bit extra in the future.

Jack: For a striker in a game of football, the safest place is the back of the net. If we say ‘he tucked it away’ it means he scored a goal.

Rich: The next phrase is to make the game safe. This phrase is used in football to describe a goal that makes the score two or three nil late in the game and means a comeback from the other side is very unlikely.

Jack: We said that Divock Origi made the game safe when he made it 2-0 in the 87th minute.

Rich: The next phrase is to be cheered on. To cheer means to shout in a happy way. Fans cheer when their team scores a goal.

Jack: The phrasal verb to cheer on is similar but in addition means to encourage a person or a team. The Liverpool team was cheered on by 750,000 fans in Liverpool as the parade went around the city.

Rich: Our final word this week is a brace. A brace is an old fashioned word to mean a pair - two of something.

Jack: Eden Hazard scored a brace against Arsenal. He scored two goals.

Rich: OK, so there are our six words and phrases. Listen to this part of the podcast again if you are not sure how to use them.

Jack: The words and phrases are: to crown, to be fast out of the blocks, to tuck away, to make the game safe, to be cheered on and a brace.

Football Awards

Jack: Right, every week, we give out three Matchweek awards. 

Rich: The awards are Player of the Week, Team of the Week and Goal of the Week.

Jack: All of our awards this week come from two matches. The Champions League Final and Europa League final that involved our Premier League clubs.

Rich: In the comments section, you need to tell us if you agree with our choices.

Jack: Let’s start with Player of the Week. We’re obviously looking at Chelsea and Liverpool players here but a shout out to Tottenham’s Danny Rose and Arsenal’s Peter Cech, in his last game as a professional footballer, who were unlucky to finish on losing sides.

Rich: Right, Player of the Week. Looking at the Champions League Final, I’m thinking defenders. Trent Alexander Arnold and Joel Matip had good games and Allison made some important saves.

Jack: But there was a standout performance in the Europa League FInal so our Player of the Week is Eden Hazard. Two goals and one assist but is that the last time we will see him in a Chelsea shirt?

Rich:  The next award is for Team of the Week. Liverpool or Chelsea? Well, Chelsea’s win was more impressive but it has to go to the team that has won the Champions League - Liverpool.

Jack: Goal of the Week. Well, we have six to choose from and we’re going to give it to one of the teams that finished on the losing teams. Alex Iwobi’s strike for Arsenal may only have been a consolation goal but it was a fantastic hit.

Matchweek Prediction 

Jack: Every week, Rich predicts the result of one weekend match. The Premier League season is over, we’ve done the Champions League Final … is there any more football this season?

Rich: Of course there is! There is the Nations League FInals, the Women’s World Cup, the Copa America and Africa Cup of Nations. All of them involving players from Premier League clubs.

Jack: OK, RIch. This week is the Nations League Finals. There are four teams in it. Portugal, Switzerland, the Netherlands and England. Who is going to win it?

Rich: This is a new competition and nobody is sure how important it is yet but all four countries that have qualified will see it as a good chance to win an international trophy. The first semi-final is Portugal, captained by Cristiano Ronaldo with Manchester CIty’s Bernardo Silva, Danilo and four Wolves players against Switzerland with Liverpool’s Xherdan Shaquiri and Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka. I think Portugal will win this. The second semi-final is between England and the Netherland’s who include Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk and Georginio Wijnaldum. I think the Netherlands will come out on top in this one. This means a Portugal - Netherlands final and I think the host nation will win it. Final score: Portugal 2-1 Netherlands.

Jack: I think England will beat Portugal in the final 1-0. You heard it here first!

Rich: Right, that’s all we have time for. I hope you have enjoyed this football round-up. Join the discussion at the bottom of the page on the Premier Skills English website. 

Jack: If you listen to us on Apple Podcasts, don’t forget to leave us a review. We’d love to hear from you.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.