In this week’s football language podcast for learners of English, we look back at some of the language from two games from the last 16 of the 2022 Champions League. We also look at the phrases ‘backheel‘ and ‘get stamped on‘ and answer some football language questions from our listeners. You can read a 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. Learning English Through Football Podcast: 2022 Champions League Last 16 DF: Hello again everyone and welcome to Languagecaster.com – the football-language podcast for learners of English who love football: the beautiful game. I’m Damian and I’m in a very blustery London – we’ve just had a storm passing through the UK – I wonder what the weather is like in Tokyo where of course Damon is based. Hi Damon. DB: Hi Damian. Good to talk to you. It’s been a while. No storms here in Japan just a cold, grey day. A lot of the Sunday league football games have been called off here in Tokyo, as it rained all last night and the pitches are now waterlogged. A good day for watching football rather than playing. Talking of which, what have you been watching recently? DF: Well, I saw my favourite team Tottenham go to the league leaders Manchester City yesterday and score three times to win, which was great, although I was a nervous wreck watching it on television. Everybody loves a last-gasp winner! This was a huge surprise as Spurs had lost their previous three matches while Man City had scored nine unanswered goals in their past two matches – they had not conceded any goals at all. Now, football is a funny old game is an expression, a cliche, that can sum up that result but there is an expression in Spanish that you might be interested in Damon, ‘hay liga‘ – literally it means that there is league. DB: So, is that a bit like in English saying ‘the title race is back on’? Liverpool winning and Manchester City losing means there’s a gap of six points between the teams. Liverpool have a game in hand and have to play Manchester City, so if they win those matches, the two teams will be even. I think I’ll wait a bit, as a Liverpool fan and supporter, before I say ‘hay liga‘ though! DF: Typical football fan pessimism! Yeah, the title race is definitely on; it’s…the title race is heating up I think we can also say. Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Swahili) AFCON 2021 Embed from Getty ...