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Learn English Through Football Podcast: Hold Off A Fightback
In this week’s football-language podcast we look at some language from the Champions League play-off, second leg between Juventus and Galatasaray. We will explain the phrase, ‘hold off a fightback‘ and the expression, ‘3-0 on the night and 5-5 on aggregate‘. We will also look ahead to a host of derbies that are taking place over the weekend: the Old Firm derby in Scotland, the Seville derby in Spain, Der Klassiker in Germany and the London derby between Arsenal and Chelsea in our predictions. You can read the 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 about the phrase or our podcast then you can contact us here.
Hello
DF: You’re listening to the Learn English through Football Podcast.
DF: Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well and that you are enjoying all the football. My name is Damian and I am one half of the Learn English Through Football team and I am based here in London where the sun is out and Spring is definitely coming. How about where you are listeners? What’s the weather like for you?
Now, it’s just me this week as Damon, the other member of the Learn English Through Football team, is busy but we will be hearing from him early next week with a new weekly football expression. And this week’s football expression was ‘too good to go down‘ in reference to my favourite team Tottenham; you can listen back by coming along to our site or by subscribing to our weekly podcasts.
Stinger: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast.com
Today’s Show
DF: Right, on today’s show we are going to look back at some language from the Champions League play-off second leg game between Juventus and Galatasaray. In fact, we will be looking at two different phrases: ‘hold off a fightback‘ and a typical phrase used by commentators, ‘3-0 on the night and 5-5 on aggregate‘.
This week there are some huge derbies taking place around Europe and we will feature four of them in our predictions: Sevilla take on city rivals Betis on Sunday in La Liga; Premier League leaders Arsenal host Chelsea; Rangers and Celtic face each other in the Old Firm derby in Scotland and on Saturday Borussia Dortmund, in second place in the Bundesliga, host the leaders Bayern Munich in Der Klassiker.
Stinger: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast.com (in Bemba)
DF: Thank you for that message, which was in Bemba (a Zambian speaker), and yes, you are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast, or as we used to be known, languagecaster.com. We will have more of these messages (or stingers) throughout the show, so try and see how many you can recognise. And we’d love to hear from more football fans around the world so it would be great if you could send us your message in your language saying, ‘You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast!’. Record it and send it to: contact@learnenglishthroughfoootball.com. OK, here’s the next message. What language do you think it is?
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Turkish)
Hold on to a win/Hold off a fightback
- Victor Osimhen and Baris Yilmaz scored in extra time as Galatasaray held off a…fightback from 10-man Juventus to reach the last 16 of the Champions League (BBC.co.uk)
This was how the BBC reported on the dramatic Champions League play-off, second leg tie between Juventus and Galatasaray that took place earlier this week. In the first leg of this match, Galatasaray beat Juventus 5-2 and looked strong favourites to qualify for the last 16 but Juventus scored three times in the second leg to level the tie in an amazing comeback or fightback. But the Turkish side scored two late goals in extra time to win the game; they held on to win the game which means that although they were under pressure they still managed to win.
To hold on for the win or to hold on for the draw are quite common expressions to describe this kind of situation. To hold off means to resist something or someone so for example, to hold off an opponent means that the opponent cannot get through or pass a defender. To hold off a fightback means that despite one of the teams making a comeback the other team still managed to get a successful result. So, we know that Galatasaray held on for the win despite the Italian side’s strong fightback and this is where we can see the phrase, ‘held off a fightback‘ – Galatasaray held off the Juventus fightback to qualify for the last 16.
3-0 on the night and 5-5 on aggregate
DF: The next phrase taken from the match is often used by commentators and journalists to describe how the second leg of a knock-out round has affected the whole tie; it explains the total scores of the two legs.
Let’s look at the first part: ‘3-0 on the night‘ and this means that one team is winning the second leg or return leg (or game) by three goals to nil. But what does three-nil mean in the overall context of the tie? And this is where the second part of the phrase helps out: ‘5-5 on aggregate‘ which means that even though one team is winning 3-0 when we add together the score from the first leg we can see that it is now 5-5 in total or on aggregate. To aggregate something is to add things together. So Galatasaray won the first leg 5-2 and then Juventus were winning 3-0 at the end of 90 minutes in the second leg meaning the game had to go to extra time as the teams were level 5-5 – on aggregate.
Of course the game finished 3-2 on the night and 5-7 on aggregate which meant Galatasaray qualified for the next round where they will face Liverpool.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Japanese)
DF: Do you know any other phrases connected to the expressions we have used today? Or maybe you know some in other languages? If you do, then drop us a line at contact@learnenglishthroughfootball.com
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in German)
DF: Right, next up we have our predictions and this week we have four big derbies.
Predictions: Bundesliga – Borussia Dortmund vs Bayern Munich
DF: OK, let’s start with Der Klassiker in Germany between the top two teams in the league, that’s Borussia Dortmund against Bayern Munich. Dortmund have only lost one game all season but still find themselves eight points behind leaders Bayern. I think the gap at the top will be 11 at the end of the game – an easy 2-0 win for Bayern Munich.
Predictions: Sevilla vs Real Betis
DF: Sevilla are starting to find a little bit of form but they face city rivals Betis who are fifth in La Liga. I think this will be a draw: 1-1.
Predictions: Premier League – Arsenal vs Chelsea
DF: Of course, Arsenal had a great win last week against another of their London rivals, Spurs (ouch!) and I think they will also win this. I think they might easily beat Chelsea – maybe 3-1 to the Gunners.
Predictions: Scottish Premiership – Rangers vs Celtic (Old Firm Derby)
DF: And finally we return to Scotland and to the Old Firm derby; that’s Rangers versus Celtic. Both teams are still behind leaders Hearts who would love this game to finish in a draw and that’s what I think will happen: 2-2.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Spanish)
DF: OK, those are our predictions, and listeners, why don’t you practice your predictions language with us? What do you think will happen in any games that you are watching this week or the ones we have talked about? Let us know by coming along to our site or on any of our social media sites – you can find us on Facebook; on YouTube; Instagram and many more.
Contact
DF: And remember, our website has a huge glossary of football terms, with hundreds of expressions, phrases and clichés about the beautiful game of football. And we have a new page with lots of our weekly football expressions from the past 20 years – we are constantly updating our site. Let us know what you think. And of course, tell all your friends about us and give us ‘a like’ on your favourite podcast and social media platforms!
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in French)
DF: Yes, that message was in French and well done if you got that right. We have also heard messages in Bemba from Zambia, Turkish, German, Japanese and Italian.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (a Dulwich hamlet fan)
Goodbye
DF: Right, let’s take a quick look at some of the words and phrases from this week’s show: ‘hold off a fightback‘ and ‘3-0 on the night and 5-5 on aggregate‘. Try and listen out for these expressions (in any language) over the next few weeks.
Thanks for listening, enjoy all the football this weekend – I’m off to watch Dulwich Hamlet play Chichester in the Isthmian Premier League which is the seventh tier of English football. And we’ll be back with another football expression early next week.
DF: Bye!
Related Links
Learn English Through Football Podcast: A show for football fans to improve their English language skills
Can a team hold off another team in the race for Champions League?
Yes – a nice example. It means that one team stops the other team from doing something (qualify, for example). So, Manchester United are trying to hold off Chelsea in the battle for Champions League places.