Learners’ podcast 3 – La Liga

Here is the third Learner's podcast of the season. We hope you enjoy it. Try out our worksheets or online quiz to help you practice your listening and vocabulary skills. If you click on the audio when it is playing on an iPod you can see the transcript below as you listen. It's a great way to practice listening and fluency. Transcript - La Liga Now, the English Premier League likes to think of itself as the best in the world, but there are many, myself included, who would argue that the Spanish League or La Liga Espanola, despite not having as much money or possibly even a higher profile as the English League is much better. There are better teams, there are better players and therea€™s much more strength in depth throughout the league. Now, last season was one of the most exciting despite not being a vintage year with three teams on the last day of the season having a chance to win the title. So, Sevilla, Barcelona and Real Madrid with, of course, Real Madrid coming out winners. Now, the Spanish season starts this weekend and wea€™ve managed to get supporters from those three teams to come and give us their views on the upcoming Spanish season. DF: Here we are in a very typical English night, its heavy rain but with the new Spanish season just starting Ia€™ve got a Spanish football fan with me. Hi, how are you doing? Pim: Hi, Ia€™m Pim Esperalba, I come from Barcelona, Catalonia, and then Ia€™m a strong supporter of Barcelona and this year we are going to win the liga. DF: Very confident words indeed, now last year you did not win la liga Pim: Yes, we made a present to Madrid, it was a gift for them but this year we are going to enforce our team and we are going to win la liga of course and maybe the Champions, we have a good chance. DF: Wow, Champions League and La liga that would be a fantastic double. Now, tell me this, which new players do you have in Barcelona this year? Pim: Well, this year we have bought Henry a€¦ DF: a€¦from Arsenal? Pim: a€¦ from Arsenal, we have Abidal, Yaya Tourea€¦ DF: Now whicha€¦ last year you said you gave the league title to Real Madrid as a present. Which teams do you think will be your biggest challengers this year. Pim: Well, always Madrid is a challenge but also I think that this year teams like Atletico Madrid theya€™re going to come strong. They also a€¦ Sevilla it seems that that they are to become this team that have a period of good results I dona€™t know, we are going to see next week. DF: My final question, which team do you think will not do very well in la liga this year? Which team maybe will go down? Pim: I think Mallorca is going to go down this year because they are a€¦ they have a weak team and a€¦ I dona€™t know, I think that Mallorca is a€¦ going to go down. DF: Hola, how are you doing? Pablo: Hello, I am Pablo I am from Spain, from Asturias. DF: Pablo, which is your favourite team in Spain? Pablo: Sevilla. DF: Sevilla? Now last season you had a very good season. Pablo: Yes, because now they are playing for qualificate to Champions League and last Sunday they won the Spanish Super Cup against Real Madrid. DF: Congratulations, yes. Now, can Sevilla win the league this year? Pablo: Yes, of course because they have been playing together for four years and the a€¦ this coach, thata€™s Juande Ramos, is a very coach for this team because they are not a very good players very famous players but they are playing very good with a bad team a€¦ DF: Can you tell us one or two of the Sevilla players, for example? Pablo: Danny Alves a€¦ DF: Not much longer! Pablo: Poulsen, for example or Kanoute. DF: So which other teams this season in Spain do you think will be strong? Pablo: Maybe Athletic de Bilbao, yes I think so because this year they change the a€¦ they have changed the coach, now is Joaquin Caparros and this a€¦ the last matches they were playing they won all the matches. I think they have a bad team but with a good coach. DF: How about the big teams like Real Madrid or Barcelona? Pablo: Valencia, no? Because Barcelona will have a lot of problems because they have Henry, Etoa€™o, Deco, Messi, Ronaldinho, there are a lot of good players for only one team and Real Madrid, I dona€™t like the coach, Schuster, I dona€™t like nothing. DF: Final question, which team do you think will have a bad season, which team will go down to maybe segunda? Pablo: Murcia a€¦ ita€™s the first time in la liga a€¦ DF: Thanks very much. Jon: Hi, I am Jon, Ia€™m from San Sebastian, I am from Spain. DF: OK, Jon, whata€™s your favourite team in Spain? Jon: Of course the best team of Spain, that is Real Madrid. DF: Ah, the current champions. Jon: Yes. Next year I think we will be the champions too. DF: Really, you think Madrid will win in Schustera€™s first season? Jon: Yes, I think that we need one month or two months because there are new players, like Droenthe, Sneider, so but when they play more matches together they will play better and I think we can like all the years we will be in the top, at the top of la liga. DF: OK which other teams will be your rivals this year? JON: Like every year Barcelona, maybe Sevilla, and Valencia too. DF: Which team do you think maybe will go down this year? Jon: I think that Valladolid and maybe Murcia too. DF: OK thanks very much.