Welcome to the Total Soccero!

Welcome to the Total Soccer Show and I'll look ahead to the 2020-23 Champions League season.

It's here.

It's the 68th season of the European Cup and 31 teams will be looking to dethrone 14-time champions

round Madrid. Can they be dethrone? Who will be left behind in the group stages? Who are this year's Sheriff Tirus Bowl? Hmm. My name's Ryan Bailey. Joining me to discuss these topics and many, many more. It's a man looking forward to seeing his team in this year's competition. Taylor Rockwell, let's look, which group are man you know. Oh,

sorry, Taylor. I was going to make the same joke. It's funny when I do it. It's just hurtful when you do it. You do it? You do an okay, buddy? You need a soda? I mean, I was. Now I'm going to go drink a soda or something stronger. Yeah, Man United is in it, but in some ways, here's me grasping at straws. It's fun because it removes the

rooting interest and then I'm just watching the Champions League and having no vested interest in it. This is me talking and smiling while crying in the eyes. Well, then you're like the rest of us, to be fair, on this podcast. Hey, that's true. Wimbledon didn't make it? This wasn't their year? Not this year, not this year. Next year. Maybe next year, Tato.

We qualify from League

2 into the Champions League. Also here, Taylor, a man we made record absurdly early West Coast

time today. Joe Lowry, have you had your cornflakes, sir? Oh, it's not that early. It's early, but

it's not like absurdly early. You'd have to be going in another 30 minutes or an hour earlier for it to be considered absurdly early. Now I've said the word early too many times and I've just woken up. I can't do this anymore. I also don't, I don't really like corn flakes. I don't know what the general TSS consensus on corn flakes is, but I'm trying to eat cereal to have my dessert for breakfast, not to have actual breakfast for breakfast. So Cornflakes are going to be a thumbs down for me. And what's thumbs up?

Lucky charms. Grandma, I know you like Lucky Charms. They're a top-tier cereal. Oh, boy. They'll come an age, Joseph, when you can't eat that much sugar in the morning. I am not at that age yet, baby. You're not, and fact, sir. I am. Joining us, Joe, a man who's had the best week of his life this week because he was followed by at Footie Scran. Graham Rutherman, how are you handling this validation of your values in ethos? I am still on cloud nine. I can't quite believe that I'm no longer going to have to tag Futty Scran in my Footy Scran tweets. They're just going to see them in their timeline. And I believe, Ryan, that you might have also been followed by them too. So anything that you get at Wimbledon, I know you have some nice food trucks at Plow Lane. Those will also be picked up by the one and only footie scrant.

How many teams have you sent them, Graham? It's below 100 at this point.

But we'll cross that threshold soon, I'd imagine.

Wonderful stuff. All right, guys. Enough of that business. Why don't we get straight into some Champions League action? The final this season, by the way, guys, in Turkey, Istanbul. This is the third attempt to try to help. Don't they see that every season? Yeah, I was going to see. It's becoming an annual tradition to try and hold it at this stadium. Yeah, this is the third time, obviously, because the pandemic. I think we'll probably get it done this time. No Turkish side's in the group stage for the first time since 95-96, incidentally. And also, we have Untrack Frankfurt making their debut in this competition after winning the Europa League. We've got Celtic and Rangers in the mix the first time they've been here since 2007-08. Graham, excited about that? I am, actually. I think Celtic and Rangers, we might speak about this a little bit more in this show, but I think Celtic and Rangers at this point are actually pretty decent. Of course, Rangers making the Europa League final last season, Celtic winning the title. I'm excited to see how their young team does, but it's definitely a good thing. This is a bit of a debate in Scottish football, actually,

because obviously it creates the gulf between the top two and the rest in Scottish football. But in my eyes, it's good to have the Champions League back in Scotland, and we will hear that famous anthem in Glasgow again. Will you be able to hear it if you open your window? possibly i. I heard Co-Play from Hamden the other week, which was not ideal.

I would much rather hear the Champions League anthem out the window.

All right, laying it down. You're not getting a direct message from Chris Martin anytime soon.

Not unless he's the admin of Firtiescran.

Oh, maybe he is. We'll look into that. Anyway, 32 teams in this

competition. As we know, it's a round-robin style for the group stages. Eight groups of four.

Top two in each group go through to the round of 16. Third place transfers to the Europa League

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