 Welcome back to the breakfast. Now let's talk sports. Manchester City and Chelsea have joined Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain in the hat for the big years while Arsenal and Manchester United are robbing shoulders with Villarreal and AS Roma elsewhere. As a result there's a pretty high chance that an English club will be taking home at least one piece of European silverware this season or perhaps even two like the dramatic 2018-2019 campaign. Can you imagine the absolute scenes? It would be totally staggering for Europe's top club competitions to be won by two Premier League clubs again but especially when they're from the same city. It also would seem so surreal seeing the United and City lining up against each other in the UEFA Super Cup. It looks like good times for those who are fans of the English Premier League and so let's get into a conversation about that this morning with Wally Scott. Good morning to you. Good morning Vivian. So yes, Europa League, there's two English teams, Manchester United and Arsenal hoping that they make it to the finals. There's also Chelsea and Manchester City in the Champions League currently. There's always an argument, some of them that they call the Farmers League, there's always arguments about which league really is the best in the world. Is the English Premier League currently seeming like the most stable and the best league in the world? On paper yes, because there are four teams in the league right now who are actually in the semi-finals of the Europa League and the UEFA Champions League. However, that will be on paper because I've always been one who, this is not a joke, I've always been one who believes that the Englishman is not built to play football. If he's just built to stick the ball, listen to his structures and pass, you know, they have no skills whatsoever. They can dribble except for a very few, Paul, Gask, Corinne, David Beckham, very, very few, Wayne Rooney. There are only a very few British footballers who are actually built to play football, like Nigerians, Brazilians, who are built to play football. We can dribble, we can do everything with football. You can actually have fun watching us play football, but the English Premier League is definitely the most watched across the world, has the most major TV rights in the world, massive sponsorship of course and they're doing quite well. It's believed that football came from England, believed I say because they can't play football, you know. And there are no points in the English League when the FA had to meet, serious meeting, and used Arsenal as a case study when he said, you must have at least five English players in your team. And Arsenal was the case study done under Arsenal in Venga. He had no English player in his team, all 22 players, first 11, second 11, not one English player. And he said, okay, good, you must have at least five players. And somewhere along the line, Arsenal as usual, are still cutting corners. They are still playing a large amount of players who are not from England. And then when they bring you a Bukayo Saka, a Balogun, is something easy. And the FA comes and says, these guys don't have English names, but they are English citizens. They have English passport, you know. Because these guys are Nigerians, they are built to play football, but they are fortunately, unfortunately, English citizens. So when the FA complain and says this in Arsenal, you have come again, these guys are not English, they're like, but they have English passport. You know, so they can't actually play. So the truth is, the English Premier League is pacey, it's fast. And asking me, I was talking to someone earlier this morning, Mikhail, and he was telling me that, listen, let's watch the matches that have been played in the English League since post COVID. Not one match. We can actually count the matches that have ended in the goalers' draws. So maybe five or six out of over 50-something matches played over the season. Five or six matches. And you can actually ask yourself, most games have ended in at least two goals. Whether one-one, two-nil, at least two goals. That shows the game is moving. And the best players in the world have been bought by these guys like every day, like every hour. However, when push comes to shove, it's only going to be unfair to say, okay, a whole league. We're looking at a PSG going up against the Man City in a bit. And we have Man City with all the stars in the world, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar. They're going up against a Man City. Go, yeah, Kevin De Bruyne. We don't see them as stars in them. I think the other clubs make a bigger scene of their players and then the English League goes play as a team. But on paper, as we speak now, yes, we can actually say yes. On paper, the English EPL is the best league in the world. They've got four teams in semi-finals of the biggest club European competitions in the world. And what else? So if that's just some paper, for real then, which is the best league for you? That will be hard because, you know, the teachers go to work on the students and then you go from the Ministry of Education, you go to the school to go and say, good, who's your best student? And the teachers come and say, listen, we've done assessments, we've done exams. This is our best student. It will be unfair for me to say, okay, good. That's what we have. So right now on paper, they are the best league in the world. Okay. You know, if you're unfair to actually go against them. But I have seen other leagues bring out just one star in Spanish La Liga, Ronaldo Metzi. In the Bundesliga, you see Lewandowski. You know, one star, you know, but in the French low champion, you know, named Edison Cavani. But in the English league, you can't actually, you can only talk about the team as a whole. You can't always, yes, those days, yes, you know, every man you went there, Eric Cantona, you know, David Beckham. But now you can't actually just single out one player and say, this is the best player in the team in the EPL. They are always playing the team. So man, you can talk about Popopa. You can talk about Bruno Fernandez, you know, Aaron Wan-Bisaka. You go to Arsenal, Pepe, Lacazette, Pierre de America or Bouma Yand. You go to Manchester, Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Cunaguero. There's, you know, you can't just, like, you can't do it. It's convenient. It should also, you know, account for something when people describe the EPL as the most competitive league in the world. It's the most pacey. It's the most on TV. You know, there's no one in less than, let me use Africa as a case study. Sorry, I'm doing that. It's the third world continent, though. And there's no one, no youngster who likes football, basically, in Africa. No matter how hidden the village might be in Africa, I will tell you, he's never heard of some player in the English Premier League. He might not have heard of Mbappe before. Mbappe, Neymar, maybe even Lewandowski. But there's no way we'll tell you he has never heard of Rooney. There's always a Manu chef, the Rooney name behind it, everywhere in Africa. You see a kid playing football on the streets in Africa. And if it's an Anglophone country, it's a Manu jersey with Rooney behind it. If it's a Francophone country, it's a Messi jersey with Barcelona. You know, so the truth be said, football goes everywhere, but the English Premier League is everywhere. But does this change every year? Because we can have this conversation again next year and find out that there's no English team in the semi-finals or making the semi-finals or making it to the finals of Champions League, or the Europa League. Let's just stop the book at the quarter-finals. You know, the quarter-finals, there's always been an English team in the quarter-finals. Whether it's the Europa League, whether it's the year for Champions League, it always stops at the quarter-finals. Like on my programme later today, Man City, Pep Guardiola, the coach, was talking about the fact that he wants to try and break the semi-final jinx. He's always gotten crushed out in the quarter-finals. Either by last time it was Tottenham, an English team, or the time it was Villarreal, or the time it was, you know, he's always crushed out there. But finally, the jinx is broken. He's in the semi-finals. Is he going to go the old hog? I don't know. But he's broken the jinx now. But you know, the teams, like you read, the chances of at least an English club taking silverware home, European silverware home, is almost there. It's close. So this is what I was trying to find out. Because last year, there was no English team in the finals. They did make it to the quarter-finals, but eventually got knocked out somehow some way. So is it relevant now that there are four of these teams in the finals for us to have this conversation? If they don't make it to the finals next year, can we still say that it is the best league in the world? There's a large possibility that if there are four teams from the Spanish La Liga, or four teams from the French Los Champs, you know, next season, God willing, we'll be here. We'll be talking about is the Spanish La Liga the best league in the world on paper? So it depends on how many leagues can actually, it's massive to have four teams from one league in the semi-finals of the biggest club competition in the world. I think it's massive. Absolutely. I'm sorry. I know Vivienne wants to also throw in some things, but I also want to know what happened to all the big teams this year. What happened to Juventus, what happened to Barcelona, what happened to Bayern Munich, who currently are on the long end. It's called burning out. It's called burning out. I think the English teams also have this, that's a good one. I think the English teams also have this plus for them. They're always remanufacturing. They're always looking into the academies. They're always looking into, Barcelona is to do that. Real is to do that. Now, the coaches that he voted in the past have always looked for ready-made materials, names, already built names. And you buy these guys at 25, 26, and then the striker should have maxed 33-year lifespan, but at three he's almost done. You know what? You're looking at the English family where they're going into the academies. You're looking at a man who's major, major striker, who's got their back up front is about 23 now, Marcus Rashford. You've got another one, the other one is back up. He's 21, he's in Greenwood. That's what they do. You know what? Looking at a La Liga where the coach comes in and wants to buy Erwin Hazard, who's already 32, and then he comes and he comes glass, and he gets injured every time. Or you want to depend on Ronaldo, who is 33, or Messi is going to be 34 this year. How? You know what? You're looking at Van Ligo, I actually realized, listen, these guys are going to, they're going to burn out eventually. Look at Liverpool. They're going through that right now. They are burning out. Fantastic team, two, three seasons ago. Now Messi, that is something. Firminio, they were the biggest assassins on the European continent, against any team. Three pronged attack, Firminio, Moussala, Sadio Mane. But now they're all in their 30s, going to their mid-30s and for a striker that is too old, for a defender maybe, for a goalkeeper maybe, for a striker no. When you're over 30, it's almost done. You know what? You're looking at the Nigerian fans, you know. When somebody bombards us on our forum and talks about Arsenal, become an Arsenal fan. It's very annoying because I don't know how Arsenal did it yesterday. I had to mention this. I don't know how they did it yesterday but I've always described Arsenal on my shows as a child who is extensively dull, but has a good handwriting. That's harsh. You know, Arsenal play very good football. They don't score the goals. You know, it's convenient for you to have a good handwriting but you don't. You have to really win, you know. But I mean, it's so good to see you. But it's good for them against La Via Praha. I think it's fantastic. I have always been one of the major critics of Arsenal. I've always said that they need to get their acts together. I've always said that Lacazette is a lousy striker who sees the good and also feels she's running away from it a lot, trying to score the goal. Abu Mahyang, fantastic player, not getting enough playing time this time around. But they came to the party yesterday. Yeah, they did come to the party and Abu Mahyang, Lacazette came to the party, surprised me. Our very own young man who has refused me for Nigeria, Bukayo Saka, has been doing things for us now. I mean, I said I'm not good to play for Nigeria. I didn't even know anyone there. I didn't know Nigeria. My name is a Nigerian name. I am a Nigerian. I'm English. So I'm with me for three lines. So he's doing well for Arsenal right now. I think the English clubs should have a chance. When Lampard went to the market to get players, I told my friends as he bought them that this guy is not buying EPL players. He's buying Champions League players and he's proven that. He bought players like Kai Averitz, Hakeem Ziyeh, Tim Overna. These are men who have been to the Champions League and are not scared of Fendo Fools. They will take you out. And now they're going to send me finals. First time for Chelsea in like forever. How do you think they would fare? Do you think they will make it to the finals, both Man City and Chelsea now? Asking my opinion, I have never, ever liked Chelsea, but the truth must be said. Chelsea is going to go up against a very depleted Real Madrid side. Gemma decided to only have a player in Vinicius Jr. Who can make the runs and try and overrun you. And I think Chelsea do have the defenders who can actually stop him in the gap. Ben Chilwell can do that. A lot of more players in the field can do that. So I think Chelsea will give Real a run for their money. If there's any English team that can bring the Championship home to England, surprisingly I'll pick Chelsea, not Man City. Man City against Paris Saint-Germain. I just said Chelsea against a depleted Real Madrid side. I didn't say Man City against a depleted PSG side. They're going up against a smoking hot PSG side. And don't forget Al Khalifa. That's the guy who bought Paris Saint-Germain. I said that I've been spending so much money, not because I want to win the Champions League. I'm tired of winning that one. I want to win the Champions League. So he has spent so much. He intends to spend some more. And I can imagine how much he's going to spend if he does get a Champions League win. The owner has been spending so much money for this. He's like, he meets her away. He'll die there. So I don't think Man City would have a chance against PSG, but Chelsea against Real Madrid. Yes. Well, it's Pep Guardiola against Colman. You know, of course, that should count for some level of experience on both sides. Pep Guardiola against Mauricio Pochettino. Pochettino, I beg your pardon. And that would be true for players and coaches who have actually been in the English League, done this there, and they are both coaches who can play man games. You know what? All things have been equal. Pochettino has more bullets, has a bigger gun, and has more money spent. I'm sure you've got a loaded package this morning, right? But are you going to leave the morning show without saying anything about the National Sports Festival? Sports Festival has come and gone. I was going to ask the media officer who was on the show on Tuesday, a question, but unfortunately, the network came to his rescue. Fantastic show, Sports Festival. I think they opted for Ante. Things actually got better. Yeah, but I want to talk about Delta States that cut it with lots of gold medals. Delta States. Do you think it's because of the incentive? The governor had promised one. We like money for Nigeria. Yeah. We can imagine. One million for every gold medal. Go out there, win gold, and break. See, do you know how many mothers in Delta States were praying and fasting for that woman That one is enough for them to win, you know? But I think it's fantastic. I think the governor has actually given the other governors a run for their money. Now you need to promise them money they will win, Nigeria will win. Yeah, but doesn't it also, you know, share a lot about the ministry of sports in every state, in how much training, how much investment they put into sports in the individual states? I think when it comes to the festival, we only have two major problems. First off, the fact that I'm poaching comes to play. I'm in Lagos State. I've trained in Osarogi for years, and when it's time for the festival, someone comes to Osarogi, you are Edu, and then he poaches him with money or whatever, and then Osarogi comes out for Edu State on the day of the event, and it's very painful. That's, you see, at the end of the day, we're not hurting each other. We're hurting the country. Because the sports festival is not a duo or diaphe. We're supposed to be grooming players, supposed to be grooming ground for the future. Future Olympians, future Commonwealth athletes, not for my state, that's not what it's about really. All right, congratulations to Delta State regardless. Thank you very much, Wally Scott. Thank you so very much for joining us. Thank you. And thanks for staying with us all through the week. It's been a very interesting week here on the breakfast. If you missed out on any of the conversations that we had since Monday, join us on our social media platforms. It is simply at PLOS TV Africa, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and same thing with our YouTube channel at PLOS TV Africa. We wish you a great Friday ahead. I am Osarogi Ogbola. I am Viviana, which I have a good weekend.