Podcasts by Forza Futbol

[caption id="attachment_36394" align="aligncenter" width="316" caption="Zlatan's book has caused quite a stir in the football world."][/caption]

For the first time on Forzafutbol we had the pleasure of inviting a couple of media personalities from Scandinavia. We are pleased to welcome Johanna Gara, a football journalist at Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet and La Liga expert on TV4, a Swedish national TV channel. Johanna lived in Barcelona and covered Zlatan's stay at Barça and offers some great insights into Zlatan and a lot of things in his autobiography. You may follow Johanna on twitter @johannagara.

We extend a warm welcome also to Petter Veland, La Liga-expert for the Norwegian TV-channel CANAL+. Petter watches all the 380 matches from La Liga per season. For Petter Granada - Racing is as interesting as Real Madrid - Barça. An out and out La Liga fan and specifically a Villarrea fan. [the groguets are the best, as you all know by now ]. Petter is very active on twitter and all his tweets are about La Liga. You may follow him at @PetterVeland.

Elisa and Ravi discussed a range of topics with Johanna and Petter.

Segment #1 - 31 min

1. How is La Liga viewed and perceived in Norway & Sweden
2. Which league is the most watched league there?
3. How many La Liga games are televised in Norway/Sweden? How many networks carry them?
4. Who is most supported team (apart from Madrid and Barça)?
5. Betweem Madrid & Barça who is more popular?
6. How Biesla's move to Athletic piqued interest about Athletic in Norway
7. The impact of Swedish & Norwegian players like Henrik Larsson and John Carew playing in La Liga and the teams supported
8. Recent trend of people disliking Barça or complain about Jose Mourinho
9. Who well Spain is supported over there.
10. Penyas in Norway and Sweden
11. CANAL+ Norway's interview of Del Nido and the reaction
12. Predictions of Petter & Johanna for La Liga and Johanna

Segment #2 - Zlatan book & the season so far 33 min

1. The Zlatan book
2. How Zlatan tried to be a part of Barça system - "Why did you buy a Ferrari and use it like a fiat?"
3. Does the current issue with Villa have a parallel to the Zlatan issue?
4. The other parts of the Zlatan book - Ibra's chidhood
5. How Ibra got to Ajax.
6. How does he find Italy comfortable?
7. The Ibra-Oguchi Onyewu skirmish at Milan
8. The childish demeanour of Ibra
9. Reaction to Ibra's book in Norway & Sweden - The love and hate relationship of Zlatan with people
10. Johanna's 1-on-1 interviews with Cesc Fabregas and Andrés Iniesta
11. Summary of La Liga season
12. The race for 3-7 in Spain

We thank Johanna & Petter for their valuable time and being on the show. We also hope you will all enjoy this podcast a lot. Cheers!

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On the eve of the Madrid derby this weekend, Elisa and Ravi talked to a couple of passionate colchoneros Ricky (@rickyam) of ThisIsAtleti and @EstoEsAtleti all the way from Madrid, and Martin (@atletideneptuno) of Atletico Fans from Florida about the latest and the greatest (or not so greatest) at Atleti.

Due to technical difficulties, Ricky had to drop-off during the recording but Martin has more than made up for it.

Topics discussed : Total Duration 45 min

1. 1. Atleti season so far
2. Arrival of Falcao, diego, arda and how the team is playing different this year
3. Manzano Reyes case
4. Derbi - same old story ?
5. predictions for derbi and season
6. Europa League performance
7. Player of the year so far and signing of the year
8. The Jorge Mendes factor
9. The lack of cantera players
10. Who is in charge at Atleti
11. Status of new stadium
12. The story of Martin: How an American sports junkie became a fan of Atleti.

Both Martin and Ricky have great passion for Atleti and have a deep knowlegde of the going ons at the club. We thank them both for agreeing to record this at incovenient hours (6am in Madrid and midnight in Florida).

We hope you all enjoy this podcast.

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1. How does La Liga compare with other leagues in terms of audience in the US market?
2. Among Real Madrid & FC Barcelona who get the most ratings?
3. After RM & Barça who get the most ratings?
4. Does having Mexican players in a team get them more audience in the US market?
5. Who decides who gets which games among ESPN & Gol TV?
6. HD vs Standard Definition broadcasts?
7. How is it like working with Ray Hudson, your partner on Gol TV broadcasts?
8. How important is it to not talk down the audience?
9. La Liga season so far?
   - Highlights
   - Lowlights
10. How does the 3rd place team in La Liga stack up in the Premier League?
11. Rosell's comments about foreign ownership, paring down La Liga to 16 teams and revenue sharing.
12. Barça or Madrid? who is better this year?
13. Who is the best of the rest?
14. Can Athletic keep Llorente and Munaín beyond summer?
15. Real Madrid
16. Spain's troubles in friendlies, the right back problem
17. Phil's picks for La Liga and Champions League

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Elisa and Ravi had the pleasure of talking to Aaron and Jeremy of Monchis Men, one of our favorite blogs in the La Liga blogosphere. We talked the 'state of the union' at Sevilla, the finanical problems of La Liga and also previewed some of the games of this weekend.

1. Sevilla's season so far
2. Sevilla v Athletic preview
3. Liga Justa movement - where does it stand now?
4. Rosell's comments about sharing the wealth and reducing the size of La Liga
5. Are we watching Real Madrid and Barcelona lesser and lesser in the League?
6. Aaron and Jeremy's predictions for Sevilla in the League.
7. Best players of the Sevilla so far
8. La Liga financials
9. La Liga v Serie A discussion
10. Week#13 preview

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In our latest podcast we have Jo Sexton a La Liga contributor at STV, Irish Examiner, Backpage Football and World Football Daily. Elisa and Ravi discuss the progress of the Spaniards abroad, the games of last weekend and briefly hit upon the comments of Barça president Sandro Rosell.

EPL - 20 min

1. Fernando Torres - Is he improving?
2. David Silva - Was he ignored for the Ballon d'Or nominations unjustly? - What was the real reason why Silva was dropped after the Switzerland game in WC 2010 - Double pivot vs Silva at false 9
3. Juan Mata - Pepe Reina's comments about playing in La Liga vs EPL

Players in other leagues - 10 min

1. Raúl & Jurado at Schalke
2. Luis Enrique & Bojan at Roma
3. Nolito, Rodrigo and Javi García at Benfica
4. Capel and Jeffren at Sporting Lisbon

La Liga Week#12 Recap - 26 min

1. Athletic x Barcelona : Game of the season
2. Levante x Valencia : Unai's master-piece - Where will Levante go from here?
3. Getafe x Atlético : The crazy game - Reyes x Manzano saga - the problems at Atlético

Rosell's comments - 11 min

1. He talks about collective bargaining agreement - Is he really serious?
2. Reducing La Liga to 16 teams - is it a good idea?

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