Can Vini Jr. eventually become the Champions League all-time assister? | ESPN FC Extra Time

Welcome in then to the latest edition of Extra Time. Thank you very much for all your questions. Jurgen Klinsmann is with us, as is Luis Garcia. Craig Burley with us here in the studio. Craig, what do you think about Vinicius dropping deep and providing passes like that assist to Bellingham? Can he become the all-time assister in the Champions League by the end of his career? He's got 22 already. What pass to Bellingham? The one over the top? Yes. Is that him? Yes, apparently so. There we go. No, I don't think we'll see that very often. No. He's got 22 already. Not from his own half. Is that the one we're talking about? Yes, it is. When you set him up, then Bellingham obviously has to do a little bit of work. Luis, did you care about assists when it came to your stats back in the day? I don't think that back in the days, assisting was like a thing. There were no counting assists, I liked it because when you're around and you try to do something and it works, it's nice. But it's not something that we were much worried about because there were no counting. Now every assist counts. And not every assist with only one finish, one touch. Any kind of assist that you give the ball to the last man who scores the goal is like an assist. So, I mean, Jürgen Bellingham has to control, make the run, control, make a drop in the shoulder and put it into the goal. Does that count as an assist? I guess in today's football, yes, it counts as an assist. Jürgen, you goal scorers are so greedy. You want all the stats, all the attention. You want to have a lovely assist. No, you never care about the assist. No, never. You only care about finishing it off. That's the only thing that matters. I don't remember anybody mentioning the word assist. Nobody ever mentioned it. It was just somebody stick the ball in the back of the net. That'll do. Everybody wants an assist now. It hits them all. Is that an assist? Stats, stats, stats. Luis, do you think Liverpool have got what it takes to go all the way in both the Champions League and the Premier League? So far, what we've seen, it looks like they are very strong. They are managing very well competitions. The rotation is working. The players who are coming in are doing as good as the ones who are not, waiting for the opportunity. We've seen it in the middle of the park. We've seen it up front, even at the back, when Connaty is not there, when Alexander-Arnold is not there, and Conor Bradley has been involved. Curtis and McAleese, they're up front with Capcom. I think that the quality and the depth in the squad is good enough to go all the way. Hopefully, by one, two months, there's not many injuries. February, March is probably the most difficult situation for all the teams, but I think that they look very strong, honestly, and the gap that they are making between the rest of them is getting bigger and bigger. Everyone is going to arrive very tired to that period. So, yes, I think that Liverpool can do it all the way. How impressive, Jürgen, is what Arne Slott has done, taking over from Jürgen Klopp so seamlessly and improving this team at the same time? No, it's incredibly impressive. Really, really incredible work that he's doing. They're looking sharp. As Luis says, they seem to rotate the team well, and they're focused on both competitions. They are hungry and they are full of confidence as well, but you get only confidence by getting your job done, winning the decisive matches, winning your one-against-one battles. They have leadership in their team. They have high quality up front. So, yes, I agree with Luis. They can go both ways all the way to the end. Yes, but we're at that time of the year again, aren't we, where this is the questions that are coming in. It'll be, can they do a quadruple? Can they do a three-double? Can they do a double? I mean, it's very early in the season. They've won one Premier League in the last 30 years, which Jürgen Klopp had to do an amazing job to get that. So, I think Arne Slott… I mean, don't get me wrong. Everybody would love to win the Premier League or your domestic league and the Champions League, but I think he would absolutely roll over if you offered him one of them now, particularly the Premier League. I don't think anyone is suggesting that they wouldn't. Oh, I know, but it's like trying to run before you can walk. I mean, there's a long, long way to go, and they've won, as I say, one Premier League in the last 30 years. Now it's like, can they win both? Jürgen, how great is it that Royce has won a league title with the LA Galaxy, and how much is Royce loved by fans in Germany? Well, I sent him a text message after the game on Saturday, obviously. He's coming here to Los Angeles, and right away he wins the MLS Cup, which is a wonderful moment for him, and obviously every trophy means a lot to a player, to anybody. And it helps him also in terms of his reputation back home in Germany. People love him there. Obviously, he played the majority of his career with Borussia Dortmund. He's a legend there in Dortmund, so they will always love to see him back home. But now he came over, he kind of moved out of his comfort zone, says, OK, I'll give it a go in MLS, comes and wins the MLS Cup. So fantastic, fantastic. Huge compliment to him. Here we go. Get ready for a political answer from Mr. Garcia. Luis, who would you rather win La Liga this season, Barcelona or Atletico Madrid? Of course, my heart is going to say Barcelona. I would love to see Barcelona winning another trophy. I think they are very far away from the biggest competitors, Real Madrid, and I think that they are doing a great job this season. So hopefully we can see Barcelona winning the trophy. But I think that chancely owns one to Atletico Madrid. They've been twice in the final and twice they've been beaten. It's a really, really pity. But I think that if I can see someone arriving to the final and winning it, I see more Barcelona at this stage than Atletico, even though they've got a fantastic squad. That's political enough. That's exactly what I would expect from you, Luis. Thank you very much. Wait, wait. What was it? The answer to the La Liga one. Yeah, La Liga. And then put in a Champions League one. Champions League one that wasn't in there. Yes, exactly. Just in case. Absolute genius. Absolute genius. Not just a pretty face. Final question is to you, Jürgen. Looking at your bookshelf, we can see a lot of travel guides. Where is your favourite place to vacation? Our favourite place to vacation is Hawaii. And obviously, I'm lucky. I'm living on the West Coast, so it's only a five-hour flight. So, whenever I get a chance for four, five, six days, I hop over to Hawaii and enjoy it. That's not bad, is it? Just hop over to Hawaii for a little break. Where are we hopping? Where are we going? What about Scotland? What did you make of Scotland, Jürgen? You must have visited there briefly. Well, that's on your side. From the East Coast, you can fly over to Scotland easily. So, you should go to Scotland. Yeah, and stay there. You and me. You travel everywhere, Luis. Obviously, representing La Liga and Liverpool. Where's your favourite place to go? Actually, Jürgen has got a book that he says Japan is one of my favourite places, to be honest. Every single time that I go there, I enjoy it very much. And it's one of my favourite destinations. Okay, go on then. Well, can I ask you on to it? Yeah, I suppose. I wasn't on holiday in this place. I was covering the World Cup, and that was South Africa in 2010. But my favourite place that I've been thus far on holiday, and I did it a few times, but not, was Mauritius. Oh, lovely. In the Indian Ocean. Yeah. Very, very nice. That's 12 hours from London. Okay. So, it's a little bit of a stretch from here. Yes. Have you done it? No, I can't afford Mauritius. What are your Premier League wages? That is it. ESPN SE will be back on your screens tomorrow. Thank you very much, guys. We'll be looking back at the big games between Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona Juventus against Manchester City as well, and we'll be updating The Big Table.