Men In Blazers Wondery

We've made it to another weekend, and what a feast of finals we have in store!

WGFOP is back next Friday but in the meantime, we wanted to treat you today's episode of Early Kick Off, the daily news bulletin show from the Men in Blazers media network presented by our great friends of the pod at PrizePicks.

Early Kick off brings you all your global football stories straight from the back pages of Europe's newspapers in around 10 minutes. We hope you enjoy!

On today's episode: West Ham confirm Julen Lopetegui as their new head coach, Manchester United join the race to appoint Ipswich Town's Kieran McKenna, we preview a big weekend of cup finals across Europe and Emma Hayes does her first US TV interview as she speaks to the Today programme.

Football don't sleep, and neither do we. 

This episode was made in the UK for Men In Blazers by…  

Host: Betty Glover

Producers: Sammy James, George Cooper

Researcher: Jack Collins

You can find the main Early Kick Off feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/men-in-blazers-early-kick-off/id1704738560

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“When I arrived in Venezia I learned a lot, especially playing against the best midfielders in Italy at the highest level. So, it took a little while to get my feet on the ground and be the player I wanted to be.”

Gianluca Buzio joined Herc from Italy. The young American born in Greensboro, NC is playing for Venezia and currently, they are in the playoffs for promotion to Italy's top flight. They talked about Gianluca's life in Italy, the difference between facing promotion and relegation in European football, how his teammate Tanner Tesmann has helped him since he arrived in Venice, and what excites him about the upcoming Olympics.

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51 - 1. Rog pours a sip out for Bayer Leverkusen's undefeated season as the German champs fall to Atalanta, a remarkable story out of Italy, in the Europa League Final. Plus, Chelsea change managers... again.

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THE EUROPA LEAGUE FINAL. One team's quest for perfection, another's chance to vanquish their cup demons. Bayer Leverkusen vs. Atalanta has all the makings of a classic Europa League Final clash. And this week, Rog and Rory breakdown these two clubs and their respective remarkable seasons. Bayer Leverkusen has answered all questions asked of them thus far...51 matches unbeaten and an undefeated Bundesliga season...but only one query remains: would a Europa League victory make this the greatest club season ever? And as for Atalanta, the team from small-town Bergamo has already slayed giants Liverpool and Marseille en route to the final...can they do it once more and, in doing so, cast off the cloud of cup disappointment that has long haunted the club? All of this and more on the latest European Nights.

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THE FINAL DAY OF THE PREMIER LEAGUE. Rog and Rory wave goodbye to Jurgen Klopp. Marvel at the Manchester City threshing machine. And ponder what the future holds for an Arsenal team that came so so close.

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NORWEGIAN. MEAT. SHIELD. Rog sits down with presumptive Premier League Golden Boot winner Erling Haaland to talk through his celebrations, how he can affect the game without touching the ball, and why nine goals in one game is still not enough.

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