Football Daily - Euro Leagues: An interview with Bojan, & the Magic of the Cup

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

Steve Crossman is joined by Guillem Balagué, Raphael Honigstein and Julien Laurens to discuss the latest from the world of European football.The guys chat about the latest stories from Europe's cup competitions, before we hear a sit down interview between Guillem and former Barcelona player, Bojan Krkić. Bojan opens up about his struggles with mental health and anxiety during his playing career.Then, we hear all about the thrilling finish that the Bundesliga 2, Germany's second division, looks set up for.04:14 Cannes' star-studded performances in the Coupe de France 08:45 Barcelona, Real and Atletico Madrid have their eyes on the Copa Del Rey 13:59 Underdog stories in the DFB Pokal 18:13 Bojan Krkić interview 34:06 The panel reflect on the Bojan interview 41:07 Bundesliga 2 gears up for a fireworks finishBBC Sounds / 5 Live FA Cup commentaries this weekend:Fri 28 Feb 2000 Aston Villa v CardiffSat 1 Mar 1215 Crystal Palace v Millwall Sat 1 Mar 1215 Preston v Burnley on BBC Sport website Sat 1 Mar 1500 Bournemouth v Wolves Sat 1 Mar 1745 Man City v PlymouthSun 2 Mar 1345 Newcastle v BrightonMon 3 Mar 1930 Nottingham Forest v Ipswich

BBC Sounds music radio podcasts. On the Football Daily Podcast, the EuroLeaks with Steve Crossman. Listen on BBC Sounds. Hello there. Welcome to the EuroLeaks on the Football Daily Podcast. We have got a Guillaume Balaguere. Hi, Guillaume. Hello. Hello. Hello. Good. Thank. Raphael Honigstein is with us. Hello. And I think like Julien Laron with a little sweat on like he's been exercising. Hello boys. I just want to play football, you know, Thursday night football.

Thursday night football. I imagine you as being the star of Thursday night football. I've heard legend, legend of your abilities. That football on Thursday, they're much younger than me. Some of them are very, very good. It's good, it's good fun. It's good fun. We drew six six by the way, my team against the other team.

How many did you score? Two. Nice. When I left the house, my daughter said like, don't come home if you don't score at least two and one assists. Oh, that's, wow, that's pressure. That is pressure.

I was just speaking to Raphael Honigstein and I thought you two went to university together and now he tells me that he's like 10 years older than you. Doesn't he look great for it as well? You've always looked much younger. Guillaume, you are now TV, well you've always been TV's Guillaume Balaguer, but now you're TV's Guillaume Balaguer. Tell us what's going on. I'm on an advertisement. An advert?

That comes out today. All right. Advert, yes, with Alexia Potejas and Thierry Henry. And in some parts of the world, don't know which parts, also with Leo Messi and Luis Suarez. We're selling crisps. That's what we're doing. It's ironic because this time last week we were talking about Match of the Days impact around the world and you're now the Spanish Gary Lineker as a result of this.

That's right, correct. Yeah, because it's the same company as the one that Gary Lineker advertises in the UK. But it's quite, I mean they obviously are in the advertisement much more than me. What did you have to do then? Do you have to sort of like take a bite out of a smoky bacon or something and then say, no, all right. No, basically I'm presenting a show and they disappear from the show because they decide to go on the bike because it's better than being with me in the show. So, you know, my career could be finished. It's based on a true story.

Have you told us about this a bit early? Because from the way you're describing it, it sounds like it's possible you might get cut. I don't think so. Uh-oh. Have you definitely seen the finished version? I've seen the finished version. It's out. It's out.

Well, you'll always have the EuroLeague's gear. And that's what it's all about. I went to a movie. I did part of a movie, the audio part of a movie and I put a lot of work on it and they cut it out. So I cannot say I was part of a movie. Well let me just say that I have been in a movie but I'm going to tell you about that a little bit later. It's one of my four anecdotes that I have, which I'm going to bring out again. However, we certainly won't be cutting your interview this week, Guillaume, which is coming

up. Tell us all about it. Yes. Somebody that you all know. I'm pretty sure you've all spoken to him at some point because he was a star of Barcelona, AC Milan. He was a stoke as well. And Ajax, amongst others, he played for nine teams in three different continents. And he's got a story to tell. And that's Boyan Kerkic.

Really, really looking forward to hearing that. So we're going to hear about 15 minutes of Guillaume with Boyan and then we'll have a good chat off the back. So that is going to make up a big part of the Euroleagues today. We're also going to talk Bundesliga 2. There's a lot of people saying, oh you know what's going to happen in this domestic league and is it going to be that exciting and is there going to be a title race? Bundesliga 2 is the one for you if you're looking for a bit of end of season drama. Before we do any of that though, it's just a little break from the Champions League on the Euroleagues, which is nice because it just gives us a chance to do some of those cracking tales that have come out of left field.

So we've got the fifth round of the FA Cup in England this weekend, loads of great commentaries on Five Live of course, but across Europe we've had some lovely domestic cup stories this season that we just wanted to shine a light on. And we're going to start in France, mostly because the French Cup is my favourite cup, partially because amateur clubs quite often beat massive clubs, but also because we have a man with us who's played in the French Cup. Are you talking about me? I assume it's you. I haven't played in a French Cup. Yeah. I don't think Raphael has either. No, I was wondering if there was like a mystery guest that was coming. I think I told you the story before but when you reach a certain round of the FA Cup you

get to keep the special shirt that they give you for the FA Cup round and when you're growing up the dream is that one day when you play like first team football whatever your level it could be really a small club or a better club then you hope to get I think it's past the seventh round if I'm not mistaken or eighth round you hope to get, I think it's past the seventh round, if I'm not mistaken, or eighth round, you get to keep the shirt. And then after that, every round, you get a new shirt, really, that's provided for you

and for each of your players in your team. So the big dream is that everybody wants to get at least to that eighth round so you can keep the shirt. So I've got one, I've got one at home. So it wasn't the French Cup you were playing in tonight then, presumably? No, not at all.. Okay because if I know one thing about you is that you don't need more football shirts so that's probably not a bad thing. Anyway so like I said some great stories over the years. This year they should make a film about Cannes and then show it

in the local cinema. Yeah you're right Cannes and Dankeac really are the two massive, massive surprises because both of them are in the semi-finals. The draw is tonight actually. I need to have a look of what the draw is. The other two teams are Ligue 1 teams, so you would expect PSG to be there. Reims maybe not so much because they're struggling in the league a bit. But certainly for Dankeac from Ligue 2 who are high flying in Ligue 2 and are a great project, great story. But really the big story is scanned from the 4th division. So National 2 in France, as we call it, owned by the Friedkin family.

So same ownership as Everton and Roma. They are gonna go up to the 3rd division. They're very good in the 4th division as well. And now they've knocked out Gagnon on Tuesday night after a wonderful performance really you could not tell which which which game which team was the league team and which team was the fourth division team they were really that good they midfielder scored from the halfway line a great lob they had a lovely little chip of the they were outstanding from start to finish the intensity everything so they're a wonderful team and as you you said, Steve, very regular,

quite often we have a four division team in the semifinal. It was Versailles, I think, three years ago. We had the Cuvilliers before, Romilly before, and of course the biggest one, Calais, who went all the way to the final. Here's the draw. I get to give you the draw myself. I do.

Paris Saint-Germain will play Dunkirk in the semi-finals. There you go. Dunkirk, which is a location where I was in a Hollywood movie. There's a film which has got Keira Knightley and James McAvoy in. It's called Atonement and I was an extra on the beaches of Dunkirk except the beaches of Dunkirk were really the beaches of Redker which is a little town near where I'm from so they that's my claim to fame jewels Dunkirk. Yeah it's really impressive it's a great movie too by the way. What minute is it what frame if we want to? Yeah it is What minute is it? What frame if we want it? Yeah, it is...

I'd say I'm on... How quick? Yeah, less than a second of me. But some have said it's the real turning point of the film. Yeah, great second. But I am right up close to the camera. I'm just looking down for Lorne Lee. That's what I was told to do.

But apparently it's quite a famous shot. It's like the longest Steadicam shot in cinema history at the time or something. So go check that out and see if you can spot me if you've got literally nothing better to do with your life. So you'll be a Dunkirk fan, that's what you're saying as well. They're a bit of your French team. Yeah, and because they're playing your team, instantly I want them to win obviously. So that means we get Cannes against Reims.

And then Babadi, former Chelsea Newcastle striker, is the Dunkirk sporting director. Is he? Yeah, and he's doing really, really well. He's from Paris too, Demba. So he's a bit of a PSG fan too, so for him it would be a special occasion. I think, Raf and Guillaume, that the French Cup is the best cup. Presumably you'll agree. I mean, the best cup is the one that probably has three of the best teams in the world, wouldn't you say in the semifinals? Yeah, just name them. Dunkirk, Cannes and Rams. Yeah, depending on what you're looking at or what you describe as best. But,

you know, if you have Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid involved in the semifinals. Go on, tell us. Yeah, it's all right. I mean, to be fair, you might not get the best story, but you had the best game, didn't you? In the first legs of the semifinals. Oh, the 4-4. Yeah, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid. Instead of me telling you, let Simeone tell you. This is what he said in the press conference

after the game. At 2-0, up, because Atletico Madrid is going to the first two goals, I thought, don't get too happy. This won't be that easy. When he became to two, I said, that could happen. At three, two to Barcelona, yeah, that could happen as well.

At four, two to Barcelona, oh, we're struggling. At four, three, we're close to equalizing. And with four, four, I told myself, we rounded off a night that must have left our fans very happy. It was quite funny at the end, Simone, when things go well. It's a very clever interview in the press conference. It was just an amazing game that had absolutely everything and kind of confirm few of the

trends, the quality of Aletico Madrid is outstanding. The fact that actually when they went 4-2, they went obviously on the attack, but with 4-3 they continue doing so. That's not so much the Atletico Madrid we knew, but they are now not only have got quality, they've got a mental strength that they've shown against Barcelona in the league, against Ramadil and Santiago Bernabeu. They come back from Conceden first and they managed to get something out of it. And they keep scoring in injury time, 18 goals they scored in injury time. They are the best teams with goals from subs

as well in the whole of Europe. And for Barcelona is a story of a team that creates debate. On one hand, you know, the Dutch cannot stop scoring 3.07 per game they score but on the other they collapse at the end and even Pedri said at the end do you know what maybe we should just play with a little bit more head but that goes against Hansi Flick he just wants action he just wants to continue attacking he just wants to risk with a very high defensive line. And that gave us one of the games of the tournament.

From a personal point of view, it's just nice to see Pedri doing Pedri things again, I think. Oh, he's absolutely brilliant, isn't he? Absolutely brilliant. And maybe others have got better stats. Florian Wits, for instance, in that same role, number 10, but he's got that thing

of assisting, dominating procedures, changing the tempo, finding a player, sometimes getting into the box and scoring as well, but he does it with the elegance of Zidane. That combination is hypnotic. He's in the best moment of his career. What's interesting is that he's not getting injured. They analyzed his body. They had a biopsy of his muscles and realized that the key, one of the keys, is not only nutrition as always, is that he needs to play, not to play, which is what Chavi used to do. Resting

because to avoid injury he thought that was the thing to do. In fact, what goes better for him is to play and the the more he plays, the more he shines. He's absolutely brilliant. Are Balsot and L'Ona fans loving this all action or they find it a bit strange and a little bit sort of counter-cultural to the more, I don't know, balanced and flowing style that they really love deep down?

Yeah, it's Johan Cruyff, the one who changed that mentality of Barcelona and wanted to attack first and score one more than the other. There's a famous quote of him that he says, I prefer to win five-four, the one-nil. So that a lot of Barcelona fans buy that. In the case of Flick, he's brought hope and isn't it football, the renewal of hope and he's brought entertainment.

And he has been absolutely key that he's brought entertainment because the fans that go to the Monjuic stadium which is in Barcelona but it's up a hill so it kind of many don't want to go and in fact about I think 70,000 season ticket holders did not renew the contract because it's too far away, et cetera. What he's managed to do is to bring another bunch of people, another bunch of fans that perhaps they're not season ticket holders, they're still mostly feeling the stadium because they want to see this entertaining Barcelona. And this was, this was, this was John Laporta, who wanted a change of paradigm, if you like, wanted a manager that was not chubby. And it wasn't just somebody that had been a Barcelona,

but somebody that had grown up admiring that kind of football. And I think he got it spot on with Hansi Flick. And right now, who would have said that with this young side, they would have been where they are in the Champions League, last 16, semi-finals of the cup, on top of La Liga? I'd say nobody. So Jules has got the great stories, Guillaume got the greatest game, Raph, can you compete? What's the DFB Pocowls saying? Oh, I think this year it's the magic of the Cup very much coming to the fore. Last season was pretty good as well, remember guys were

slow turning and all of that? Yeah, but I mean, Aminja Bielefeld, a name not synonymous with glamour and success. In fact, they are so sort of innocuous as a team that I don't know, I think I've mentioned it on the show before, but there is an internet meme that says there is just a giant conspiracy the town of Bielefeld actually doesn't exist. But it does. As a number of Bundesliga clubs found out to their detriment this season. And the latest in the list featuring already Union Berlin and Freiburg was Werder Bremen on Wednesday who traveled there to a third division Bielefeld side because they had back-to-back relegation since 2021 and got done and it was a classic cup game where there was no midfield there was just balls being booted from one end to the next the

pitch was heavy the crowd were really loving it. It was absolutely amazing. And afterwards, they announced live on air, the players, where they're going to go to party because I guess there's only one place in Bielefeld, so there was no point hiding. So they said, I hope, they said, it's Cafe Europa, I hope Cafe Europa is opening tonight, because we're going to go there and celebrate. And then the whole town went to Cafe Europa and it was just like this massive disco and sang the anthem and everything. It was just really, really nice. It was just a lovely story. And now they're in the semi-final where, okay, they're really outnumbered in terms of the quality and and the caliber of the opposition because Stuttgart are there, Leipziger there sorry and of course the holders in Leverkusen so chances are they're not

gonna get much further but they have this quirk of the German Cup law which says or the regulations if you are lower ranked side you always have home advantage so they will get that regardless of who comes out of the hat for the semi-final and they're one step away from going to Berlin so a lovely lovely little Bocale story there. That story you told about the players going to a place to celebrate reminded me of, I just met Pau Torres today, Alaston Villa, but was at Villarreal at the time.

They won the Europa League and they obviously had been drinking all night or whatever, landed and they were all hungry. So they just went to town to see what was open and they found a coffee shop and there was like the whole of the squad there mixing with the workers at eight o'clock in the morning having their carajillo, the coffee with a little brandy and they were just having there, having the sandwiches, some beer and created a party atmosphere. Sorry, completely off the script but it just reminded me of that. There's a script?

Coming off it. Coming off a script in those kind of circumstances, not normally the case these days, but... Oh, I love these stories. I went to do the following the clubs in Champions League qualifying a few years ago. And I went to Andorra to see the... What was it? Andorra La Valla, I think they're called? Yeah. No, FC Santa Coloma, that was it, in the Champions League qualifiers. And there was just one place to go and it was called Don Dennis. And the club was sponsored by Don Dennis. And the club gave me a shirt and I was like, this is very, very nice. So I put it on, didn't realise it was an actual player's shirt.

So later that night in Don Dennis, I was confronted by several members of the Santa Coloma team because I had like a number shirt which said like seven Mark Costa. And one of them came up to me and went, you are not Mark Costa. Don't they know that sometimes you can put the name and you're not supposed to be the person? And of course he was right. And I never became Mark Costa. Now that was off script. Lovely. Well, some lovely cup stories there and I'm sure Marc Kostan. Now that was off script. Some lovely Cup stories there and I'm sure there'll be more to come. We are going to do Bundesliga 2 title race before

the end of the Euroleagues. However, we're going to get into our special interview right now with the former Barcelona striker Bojan who's travelled the world in his career everywhere from Kobe to Stoke. I think it's fair to say he once kind of carried the weight of being compared with Lionel Messi because he broke Messi's record as Barca's youngest ever first team player. He's a guy whose life in football has brought many challenges with it. He suffered with really severe anxiety at one point and he's talking about all of this in a new documentary that he has called Boyan Behind the Smile and today, he spoke to Guillaume. Am I talking to the first Spanish player

to score in the top four European leagues? Yes. Is that you? Yes. Somebody that's played in nine clubs and in three continents, is that you? It's me, yes. It's you.

So then you must be Boyan Kyrgic. Yes, I am. How are you? Good, good, good, good. I'm good, I'm good. Doing good, enjoying the new life, new step in my professional career and having a great time. I see you involved with the academy at FC Barcelona, with the first team as well, giving a hug to the chairman so you

seem to be everywhere but you do have a role at the club which officially is called Football Coordinator FC Barcelona. What does that imply? Well for me it's like the second year here in Barcelona, doing the job, having the experience. Of course, I'm quite young, 34 years old. I could still play, but the decisions that you have to make in life, sometimes you have to decide. I decided two years ago to stop playing and start a new life in football. Thanks to Jean Laporte, the president of Barcelona, that gave me the opportunity to start having experience as a sport director area. And since last year, I'm close to Deco, who is the main sport director,

and that is helping me to learn and to improve in this role. And right now, it's like many things to do in this big club, like to coordinate all the young players that are coming to train with us in the first team, to evaluate the career of these young players and to see when they can be ready to train for us, when they have some struggle situations, injuries or whatever, to empathise with them, to have a chat with them. So, having my space. Okay, so today, what did you do, for instance, up until this point, which is late afternoon,

and you're talking to me, but before that, what was it like today? The first team, they had the off, so only some players came here just to have some physiotherapy. I went to see the training of the second team, which is they had to change the coach. So start a new thing for the players. I had a lunch with some of the first team players to speak about the last game that we played against Atletico Madrid. And then now I'm just having the interview and after this we have a game, the under 17 the player games. So I'm going to watch the game as well.

Okay. So up till from this morning up till now, having mixed with football players and having seen a coach, how often did you just want to kick a ball and be part of that world still? You know that right now I don't miss to kick a ball. It's like in life when you make a decision it's because you feel it. I feel that was the end of a chapter in my life. I felt proud about all what I did or what I learned from the good experience, the bad experience.

So, you know, it's like I see now the players when they are training, they are playing, and I feel that I already did this, you know, and now I'm another step and I have to look forward. You crossed paths with Hansi Flick, as you said already, with Deco, with the chairman. And for what I know of you, I picture you in those scenes, in the background, just listening, more than talking. Would that be right? Of course, especially when I'm with these guys, you know, like to have Hansi as a first team coach

is amazing for the club, for the team, how he's, you know he's managing the young players, how he's managing the team, the situation in the club. But I'm also hearing that you contribute, that you talk to perhaps younger players and those that need advice. Have you been doing a little bit of that and are you enjoying that part of things? Yeah, I'm enjoying it. Of course, Deco knows that I'm here to learn, but the most important thing is to help. To help the club, the president, the sport director, the coach, the players, to help everyone to have a success, to bring this club where Barça deserves to be, which is one of the best teams in the

world. We are progressing, we are doing good. The most important thing for me is to empathize with the players, you know, and to bring more of the experience that I had that I know that speaking with them, speaking with Deco, we speak the same language. Since we've been starting talking today, you smile three times. You used to smile more, so now that you're in the offices, stop not smiling. You have to keep smiling. That's part of your trade. No, don't be serious. I completely agree, but this is because I speak English and when I'm speaking English, I have to be very focused. I'm not that relaxed when I'm speaking in Catalan with the Spanish.

So with English, I have to be more concentrated. that's why I'm a little bit more serious. Well, the smile is back and I'm saying the smile because you decided to call the documentary that you got out there, Boy and Behind the Smile, which is an extraordinary piece of documentary. I watched it three times, I watched it again last night. I wanted to talk to you about that because I wanted to know first of all how important was it to tell your story for you? Yeah, it was important because during my career I had some issues like everyone has, you know, but as a football player, the people don't know what's behind the football pitch, you know, and all that situations that I had to deal with. In the moment, I suffered a lot, but at the same point, I knew it was something that was making me strong.

In the end of my career, I feel that the story I wanted to tell the people, but not as a boy and footballer, as a boy and human. Because this history, I know that can help not only the people that love football, but in general. As soon as I told my story, I felt that I closed all the experiences that I lived. LW We know your story in a way, we think we know until we hear the real story. And the story we know is that you made your debut as a 16-year-old at Barcelona at a time of confusion within the club where the team was not winning. And I remember perfectly how much of focus was on you, because you go on the pitch and

start scoring goals at a time when others weren't. You were a shine of light in a time of darkness. But that was very, very difficult to deal with. That's your story in a way, isn't it? Yeah, that was the beginning. My story, that time was nearly 20 years ago. It was completely different than the moment that we live right now. And for me, for my personality that I had in that moment was a dream to play. And I really enjoyed to play in Camp Nou with Barça, playing great, amazing games with the amazing players. But behind this was something that my personality, my name was very

famous. And for me to deal with this was complicated. You had a eureka moment in a way when you realized that the expectations that people had on you, including being the new Messi, just a horrible tack to put anybody, where those expectations were people's expectations and you shouldn't work towards pleasing them or towards reaching those expectations. Is that a moment of realization that you needed to look at life in a different way? Yeah, at that point I had to understand that one thing is the expectation that the people they put on you, and the other and the most important thing is your expectation. And you openly talk about anxiety, crisis and situations where you couldn't get out of the changing room and things that are difficult to explain.

You felt that you needed to go into detail on all that and the emotions of it for people to understand and learn from it, I guess. Yeah, also, I know that it's difficult for the people that didn't have this experience to understand, you know, but because it's a very, very particular feeling. I remember that even when I had that period, I was most of the time with my parents, with some of the friends that I had close. They didn't understand some of the situations that I was afraid of, you know, and that my body and my mind, they didn't feel right already. So it's a feeling that you have to deal with this, you have to accept it, and you have to work to win the battle. And in the end, it's what I did. And that's why I also decided to express myself and to explain the story. How wrong are we when we talk about success?

Because you are so successful. Because you were 34, you said? And the amount of experiences that you've got in your locker, the amount of countries that you've known, the amount of people, the amount of games that you've played, the amount of matches, but important matches also that you played. You have been very successful. You see that and did you ever doubt that that's what your journey was taking you? Yeah, during the process because the people sometimes they make you think, you know, and in the moment that they're doubting on you, that they're saying that you are not having success,

that they think that you are not having success, yeah, it makes you think, you know, it makes you feel, yeah, maybe it's true. But with experience, you realize that you are having your own way. You know how difficult it is to maintain your level, your performance in professional football. In the end, it was 16 years playing football in the good level. Everything can be better and everything can be worse. In the end, when I look at everything that I did, what I experienced for me, it's amazing. It's an amazing, it's something that that boy and when was four years old and start running behind the ball, would sign with with blood, you know, that that career. And I don't want to change anything that I that I lived. And then you look at 17 year old Amin Yamal and you think, he doesn't need help, he doesn't need support. He just seems to have that mentality.

Or does he? Does he need, you think, support that perhaps you didn't get at the time? Well, Amin is surprising everyone. Not as a footballer, he's surprising as his personality. He's playing with 17 years old, with a kind of leadership on the field, out of the field.

It's a boy that is maintaining his feet on the floor. He wants to play, he wants to win for the team, for the club. You never know if they need help or they don't need help, but this is true. They don't show that they need help. It's like they know everything and honestly they are working very good, very hard for the club and for the team. And I guess it's good that you're around because if they do and they don't want to show any weakness they can go to you and say, boy, listen to me because there are things I want to say.

So that's part of your role, isn't it, to do that? Yeah, in the end, they know that we speak the same language. You know, I don't go behind the players to ask them what happens, how you feel. So they already know me. They know that they can count on me. They know that they can speak with me about anything that they need. And they happy anyway, or they seem happy and they show the happiness because the season is going fantastically well. You got the opportunity to win everything, close in the league, top

of the league, semi-finals of the cup, 4-4 against Atletico Madrid, what a game that was. And then of course, what a game that was. And then of course still in the Champions League. So perhaps a bit surprising that everything is working so well this season? Well, no, we are not surprising, honestly. I mean, as soon as we sign Heinz as a coach with the staff that he has, we start feeling positive vibes. At this moment of the season, I don't know if we're going to win something, because football, you never know. There are also good teams playing. But we know one thing, that doing what we are doing, we are building something solid, something important.

What a lovely interview. Boyan Kirkic speaking to Guilhem, who's with us obviously on the Euroleagues as is Rafa Honigstein and Julien Leron. Feel free to jump in any of you, but Guilhem, just right off the bat. The three of us have done this podcast for about, I don't know, seven years, eight years. And I remember in probably year one or two, Boyan was in the studio with you and I, Guillaume. And I remember when we spoke to him, I think everybody was trying to be really, really careful, himself included, because all of the issues that we've talked about were still things that he had to cope with. And what I loved

about that interview was he sounded like a different guy than the guy that we sat down with, which tells you everything really about how far he's come on his own journey. Yeah, very good observation, because I've seen that through the years as well. I had to be very careful how I approach matters, knowing what was going on. But now he's got it, he understands it. I don't know if he saw it or not, but he understands it. And he's very eloquent in the way he speaks. It tells a story in the documentary, a life changing story of getting a plane to go to Stoke

when he signed from Barcelona. And he was on the plane, the plane was about to take off and he asked the pilot, please, to stop and let him out. And the plane turned around and let him out. And he was cutting his ties to Barcelona at that point. He couldn't deal with it. And yet, when he ended up going to Stoke the next day, well, he went to Germany when they were doing pre-season,

that's when he started flying. All of a sudden, without the weight of Barcelona, he just felt released of that pressure and you saw the best buoyant of his career. And he understood then that Barcelona wasn't everything, that a lot of what he was going through had to do with Barcelona and that there was another life and there was another way to look at his career and success.

And that was, Stoke was the beginning of his understanding of all this. And because he's intelligent and he's a very well, very good speaker, he's now able to talk about it. And the other story he tells, of course, is that his teammates didn't understand what was going on. Perhaps apart from Thierry Henry,

who sensed there was weakness about him and wanted to protect him, but didn't really understand. And many said so when he actually decided not to go to the European championships in 2008, because of his anxiety problems, even players were saying, oh, we don't understand Boyan. I mean, I would have gone, blah, blah.

A year later, two years later, Iniesta in the same changing room went to Boyan and said, now I understand you. So it has been a complete different type of journey. And if you can, watch the documentary because it tells you everything there. Jules, you know what I loved about that as well is that how often do we hear about clubs appointing ex-players to roles where you think, what is this role really going to be and what

are they really bringing to the table? This specific role could not be more perfectly suited to an individual than it is to Boyan. Yeah, but I think a lot of clubs should follow the same way and try to appoint somebody who's gone through a lot of tough times, started young, was clearly very talented, but then didn't maybe have the tools to deal with everything or expectation, the pressure, the anxiety, the fear, because he says, I mean, for me, one of the words from the interview with Guillaume, he said, I was afraid. You should not be afraid to go and play football, even less when you're that good and that talented.

But it was beyond just the talent and how well you could play football or not. And I think if you have somebody at your club that can transmit this kind of experience, and not everybody has gone through what Boyan has gone through, but some would have similar things, maybe not starting as young as him, but would have similar anxiety. And we know a lot of players who've gone through tough times like that. So I think mental health, as we've been saying for a long time, is so, so important in every way of work, not just football everywhere. And if you can have somebody that relates to what you're going through, that you can talk to, that can talk to you, I think is super important. And I'm not surprised. And Barcelona have always been ahead of a lot of

the clubs and things like that anyway, so it's not surprising it comes from them too. Yeah, it sounds as well, Raf, that he feels very supported in it by Hansi Flick who you mentioned at the end there. Yeah, absolutely. And I think he is one in the latest number or line of former players who come out about their struggles and it's a shame that a lot of them feel that they have to wait until the end of their career but I guess that's normal. You don't want to show weakness to your coach, to your teammates, I think it's a very difficult thing to do while you're still playing. But Alvaro Morata has also done a documentary talking about his struggles,

and a few players have written books and so on. And I think it's very inspiring, especially or even beyond football. I think a lot of people have similar problems and to hear it from somebody who's so open and at the same time so positive about the experience, having come through it and having found ways of dealing with it is a great thing to listen to. Will Barron Gier, the other one that jumps to mind for me straight away is Jesus Navas.

He had real, real issues when he was younger in his career with homesickness, for example, didn't he? Jair Guillaume Yeah, he and that was recognized by Sevilla very early on. So they taught him to talk because he couldn't talk properly. And they had Sergio Ramos protected him, especially when he went into the national side. And little by little, he came out of his shell. And then he did a magnificent career, but always because the context was right. And there is different levels of how your mind can deal with things, but what's always important is that you are in the right context and they choose the right context. daily podcast the EuroLeagues with Steve Crossman listen on BBC sounds the

commentators view on the football daily I'm Alistair Bruce Ball I'm John Murray hello me and Dennis and Fridays on the football daily means one thing it's time for the commentators view episode join us every Friday as we look ahead to the weekend's football action with a few untold stories along the way. A wasp flew into my mouth while I was talking and I panicked. The commentator's view only on the Football Daily. Listen on BBC Sounds. On the Football Daily podcast, the Euroleagues this week, if you want a league that seems to be gearing up for an absolutely cracking finish, then Raphael Honigstein Bundesliga's Vi is

for you. Yeah, it's, it is sort of secretly the Bundesliga because it has all these big clubs that are much bigger than some of the Bundesliga one clubs like Heidenheim or, you know, Mainz and Hoffenheim. You have genuine sort of heavyweights, former European champions in Hamburg, in Magdeburg, who are the only GDR, former GDR team to actually win the European Cup in 1974. Schalke are there, Nürnberg are there. And a lot of these teams with the exception of Schalke, who always find a way, it seems to be not competitive,

irrespective of the league they're in, they're right in the mix and Hamburg after what now six years out of Bundesliga 1 looks as if they might be going back up. They're first, Köln another heavyweight, second, Lauten third, Magdeburg fourth and Fortuna Düsseldorf also big club fifth and they're all within four points of each other and you still have the likes of Paderborn and maybe even Nürnberg in the mix. Nürnberg under management of Miroslav Kloser, former Germany international 2014. How's he doing? Pretty good. Okay, then ninth. It's a bit up and down but this is his first real job having not fared so well at Alta in the Austrian Bundesliga. So a big opportunity but also a big challenge for him to stake his claim as a coach. But yeah, Hamburg is probably the biggest story of all because of their absence, because of the unbelievable

support that they have. They have 60,000 at every single game now for five years more or less in Bundesliga 2, which is crazy. And I have a 34 year old coach in Merlin Polzin who took over from Tim Walther and has been amazing. Points record of 2.2 on average. Players really love him and I think he could do what Fabian Hürzler has done for St Pauli which is to bring them up and then maybe get a big move on the back of it. Can I just say having a coach called Merlin is a good thing. I'm all about having a manager called Merlin.

I thought you were going to say something else about names and managers. No just Merlin. Although I do have one other thing to ask Raph about Hamburg, which is, because for anyone who's forgotten, they famously had the clock, which was counting up seemingly forever because it marked the amazing long time over 50 years that they'd been in the top flight. What did they do then? Did they stop the clock?

Did they start a new clock, which details how long they've been out of the top flight? No, they got rid of the clock. They got rid of the clock? Yeah, clock's gone. All right. Well, I mean, they've been out of the top flight? No they got rid of the clock. They got rid of the clock? Yeah the clock's gone. All right. Well I mean if the whole point of the clock is to show that you've been in the Bundesliga 1 uninterrupted and then you go down what do you do with that clock?

Maybe they'll start again but... Pause the clock and then restart it when Merlin takes them back up no? As far as I know it's gone. I mean I was there in May 24, I didn't see, I didn't see the clock. Right, all of you, it's been lovely as always. Thank you very much, Guilhem, Raf, Jules, take care. Thank you. Bye bye. Thank you. Guilhem Balagué, Rafael Honigstein, Julien Laron, who've been with us on the EuroLeaks. As always, thank you so much for listening.