In this week’s football language podcast, we look at a phrase that is often heard in European knock-out games: to put the tie beyond another team. Check out our glossary of footballing phrases here, and visit our site to access all the previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions, contact us at [email protected].

Football Language Podcast: Put the tie beyond

DF: Hello everyone, this is Damian from the Learning English Through Football team. I hope we are all doing well and staying safe wherever we are in the world. It’s just me again today as Damon, who is based in Tokyo, is a little busy. Now on this short football language podcast we look back at one of the recent Champions League matches and explain the phrase ‘to put the tie beyond‘.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in German).

DF: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com and that message was in German. Don’t forget that there’s a transcript to this podcast which you can access by coming along to our site. And you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or you can drop us a line at: [email protected].

DF: OK, European club football has returned this month and Liverpool had to face a tricky last-16 Champions League tie against German side RB Leipzig this week. Not only were the Reds on a run of bad form they also had to play their home (and away) games in Hungary due to Covid restrictions. However, after winning the first leg 2-0, Liverpool scored two goals in quick succession in the second leg to put the tie beyond Leipzig. So when Sadio Mane scored the second goal in the second leg it meant the tie was beyond RB Leipzig – they were not going to come back.

If a team puts the tie beyond an opposing team then it means that the opponents have no real chance of coming back. The phrase ‘to put something beyond‘ means to place something out of reach – beyond here means something is outside of their limit so if a tie is beyond another team then it means they cannot reach a victory. Indeed, we can sometimes hear the phrase ‘to put the game or tie out of reach‘.

We can also hear this phrase in other games – not just a European tie – so for example, the team put the game beyond their opponent with a third goal in the final minute would mean it is almost certain that the opponent will not come back into the game. Sometimes we can hear the phrase ‘to put the game beyond doubt‘ which has a similar meaning – there is a real certainty that the opposing team will not make a comeback. Another similar phrase we can hear is ‘put the game to bed‘ which means that there is no chance for the opponent to make a comeback.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Irish).

DF: Thanks everyone for listening – we hope you enjoyed our look at the phrase ‘to put the tie beyond‘. Listen out for examples of this phrase when you are next watching European knock-out football and maybe you can let us know how this phrase is said in another lang...