Football Daily - Euro Leagues: Arsenal’s Champions League chances and Italian giants struggling

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

Maz Farookhi, Guillem Balague, James Horncastle and Mina Rzouki discuss all the latest in European football.The panel discuss a record-breaking Champions League gameweek with a massive 71 goals being scored against the 18 matches.Arsenal’s 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid at the Emirates was one of the standout results – Does that now make the Gunners the favourites to win this season’s competition?Napoli and Juventus, meanwhile, both lost in midweek with the gang discussing the struggles facing the two Italian sides plus the rise of Cesc Fabregas’ Como who are sixth in Serie A.The decision to cancel the La Liga game in Miami between Barcelona and Villarreal is also a topic on the episode and Guillem previews this weekend’s first El Clasico of the season between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the Bernabeu.1:00 – Goals galore in the Champions League 5:00 – “There has to be an all-English final” 8:00 – Are Arsenal favourites to win the Champions League? 16:30 – Napoli and Antonio Conte 22:40 – Juventus’ struggles 27:10 – Cesc Fabregas’ Como success 33:10 – La Liga Miami fixture cancelled 39:00 – Guillem Balague previews El Clasico

This is five live sports. The Euroleagues on BBC Sounds. Welcome to Euroleagues. There's plenty to get into on this one. This week we've had statement wins from some of the Champions League favourites. We've had major teams as well on the receiving end of massive scorelines. We'll be reflecting on all the latest Champions League action. We'll look ahead to Sundays El Classico as well.

We're just two points separating Real Madrid and Barcelona at the top of La Liga. That's after we discussed. match between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami being cancelled following play-up protests with us this week is Guillem Balagay, Mina Rizuki and James Horncastle. Hello, everyone. You forgot something, Mas. What did I forget? You forgot the initiation song from you. Oh, no. Honestly, you do not want me to sing, Guillem. That is the one thing we were established after this hour. You can stand on the table. No, no, no. I'm not having this. I'm already being bullied in the

opening minutes. We're moving on, we're moving on and we're starting with the Champions League. I'm clearly going to have to have a firm hand with all of you this evening. Let's start with the Champions League. This match week actually set a new record. 71 goals scored. It became the highest scoring match week

in Champions League history. Is it just a coincidence or is there something in the air or just something about the way that teams are approaching the competition this year, do you think? I don't know. It felt pretty extreme, to be honest, Maz. There were blowout score lines in a lot of these games, they didn't look particularly even, which is surprising

given some of the matchups. So I don't know whether it's a combination of some clubs with the fatigue of the Club War Cup, some clubs as well, going through the motions a bit, transitioning from one system to another, incorporating lots of new players. And, you know, I mean, for the last few weeks we've been talking about how this season in various different leagues it's been a bit root run lots of long throws more physical pretty ugly to watch and instead we got the exact opposite when the championship came around first of all we have to say there's not enough evidence for anything but that doesn't stop me having a theory which is which is the following Because of the difficulties of PSG, Manchester City and Real Madrid in the first year of the competition with this format, the goal difference has become huge.

You don't play everyone. You just play a bunch of teams. And if you make one or two mistakes for whatever reason, your goal score is injured or whatever, your manager is not inspired. It could just get you into trouble. So goal difference is a huge thing. And after the first goal, you go for the second, you go for the third. A lot two more things. The English side are just killing everything.

everyone. They are fitter than anyone and they just keep scoring. And third, which is another theory of mine, this fact that the strikers are getting one goal per game is not an accident. It's a trend that will grow. There's more and more goals because of how teams play, how they make mistakes in their build up, how there is more individual coaching, how the coaches are very offensive, how there is a lot of man marking, all that benefits goals. Let's see, we need another 100 games to be able to see if this theory works or not. But I thought you were going to go for some theory like, you know, PSG's had a bad precedent last season in which they didn't bother in the first in the beginning matches and then just

still made it through and then won the entire competition after what a dismal start to their campaign in the Champions League. But obviously it was a lot more educated than that. It was interesting because I was going through some of the goals over the last 20 years in the leagues. And for example, like La Liga in which they hit their peak when obviously they had, you know, a great Louis Suarez, Leonel Messi and obviously

Cristiano Ronaldo, and then now is just falling down. And I wonder whether just having great strikers, whether it's Harry Kane, just so effective. IKK now for Liverpool and Giochores and whoever it is, there's just so many great forwards on show and whether now football is just so on the front foot,

where the number nine is hugely in fashion at the moment. And I don't know, eight games. Perhaps there's this desire to just go. for it now and not necessarily be a cagey affair in which you're a little bit scared in her matches and I don't know, I wonder if that's the difference

but you're right, we can't draw any conclusion so far. Guillem has had his theory and he's also come out with his bold prediction last night on match the day. You were really stirring the pot here. English sides of course beating their opponents by an aggregate score of 192

in the Champions League this week and that of course includes opponents like IACs, Benfica, Athletico Madrid, as James was saying. And you said this on Match the Day, Guillaume. About time. About time. With the money you've got,

with having some of the best managers around, with some of the best youngsters around, and we mentioned Chelsea in a young squad, with a lot of very good decisions in the market, you're going to have five teams in the quarterfinals, three in the semi-finals, two in the final. Anything else, it's a failure.

Guillem, explain yourself. Don't need to. Well, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'm going to use one figure that should just kill this argument, in my favour, of course. The Premier League spent in the summer three billion pounds. La Liga, 581 million. The difference is huge. And I'm not even talking net money.

Net money, you know, in the Premier League, they just don't care. So I'm sorry, but you have all that much money. You have all those players. You have all those managers. it's logical that the assumption is that the Premier League is going to win everything. And if they don't, it has to be seen as a failure. To elaborate on that, Maz, I mean, you brought up three of the opponents that the English side's beat, so Iax, Benfica and Athletico.

I mean, if we take Iax and Benfica, over the last two decades, these are great European clubs that have won, you know, in IAX's case, multiple Champions League, or in Benfica's case, been to multiple finals. But the economic disparity between them and the rest has left them behind. You know, you've almost had this kind of tertiary group of clubs now, which I Ex-Benzfica, and you could say the Scottish clubs, you know, like Celtic, for example, belong to. When the Super League was proposed by Guillaume's friend Florentina Perez, President of Railman Juventus's former chairman, Andrea Anievi,

the fear, I think that was driving that was that La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Liga, would become like the Portuguese League, like the Dutch League, like the Scottish League, in terms of the gap between them and the Premier League. I agree with Guillem. Even though in an ideal world, ideas beat money, money gives you such a good chance of having good ideas yourself that these scorelines should not necessarily be a big surprise. I'm totally on board with Guillem's argument there. So I did the click bite and James did put the meat to the bone.

So we're talking about which are the two English sides then that you expect to be final? Because I was quite surprised this week that the Athletics Optopowered supercomputer gave Arsenal a 21% chance of winning the Champions League. So it's got them as the favourites at the moment. So are we saying Arsenal are in the final against Manchester City, a Liverpool who obviously got back on track last night? Well, I think we could see definitely another All-Premier League final. And, yeah, it's been a surprise that there haven't been more of those in recent years. I don't have the computing power that opt to do in my head. But Arsenal has certainly been trending that way.

I mean, every year they have improved in Europe. You know, it was saying something that having reached the quarterfinal two years ago, they then reached the semifinal, the disappointment when they didn't follow up their performance in the quarter final against Real Madrid against PSG in the semi-finals, I think spoke volumes, really. What gave me confidence that Arsenal could reach the final already last year was the balance that they had in the team, how few chances they give away against top sides.

Now that they've added Gokures and more goals, I think it's natural to put that pressure on our arsenal, that expectation that at this stage in Mikhail, Al-Artetta's project at Arsenal, they should be winning things and not just limited to the Premier League. I think one of the things that bought Yergen Klopp time at Liverpool was he won the Champions League before he won the Premier League. And that kind of gave him even more credibility. So I think it should be Arsenal's time. Whether it is or not is the beauty of football, we just don't know. Listen, I think it's always really hard in the sense that I think their focus has to be

on winning the Premier League. And like James says, this is the year that they, well, I think they have to start winning things and considering their form right now and the fact that they've addressed key problems within the side by having a striker, by having depth in the squad where they're not reliant either on Sacco or Odegaard but have different avenues to goal. Their strength in defence is one thing. But I think that experience matters and it's about them showing up in clutch moments. They were unlucky last season. They lost out to the eventual winners.

But they had a terrific campaign going forward. and I think that they really grew a lot and matured as a side. Listen, last year we took a lot of strength from the way that Liverpool came into this campaign. They were top of the standings. They were brilliant going forward and then they collapsed. So we don't know right now we can make quick assessments as to who is looking really good. And I agree with Guillem, spending nearly $4 million, $4 billion in the transfer market when the likes of Bundesliga, if you look at the net performance,

actually made money because they sold more than they bought, means that we should be seeing a lot more Champions League finals being dominated by the English clubs, but we're not. And sometimes I think money is the death of invention, of fantasy, of creation. There is a worry there that England has to change that at the moment. And I do think Arsenal are looking like the hottest prospect to go forward. But my belief is that perhaps they might dedicate a lot more

to trying to win the Premier League title more than the Champions League. On the way from whatever I was to whatever I am now, Don't ask me that word that is. I met three Arsenal players at different points of this trip, and the three of them came up with similar lines. Why is everybody saying that we need to win this year? Why is everybody saying that we are set-piece specialist, and that's all? And all what I was saying back, and I'm thinking about that reaction,

is like, I'm sorry, but you are now, everybody's scared of you. And as such, everybody's creating a narrative, the number one, simplifies you success. You're a set-piece specialist. If you win, it won't be fair or it will be poor. And secondly, it is actually what you get when you favour it's this impression that now you have to win. But I agree with James. There is a progression, absolutely.

To actually win the Champions League is so hard. They could get to the final. They should beat in the semifinals with what they've got. Winning it is a completely different matter. But they are now scaled by everyone. So hence the line, now you've got to win, which is the most unfair thing is where Pepo Ordiola's hurt every year. Because you, Pepoordiola, you have to win.

No, no, there's a little things that are needed for that to happen. Wait, hold on, Kim. So Arsenal players have asked you why are they being expected to win this year? Just fans, we're saying, you know, why is everybody saying that? We want to be the nice guys that almost win. And if we win, it wouldn't be great. This is the kind of stuff that makes me think that Arsenal won't win. it's like if you go to a if you go to real Madrid fans right they're not saying to them

why does everyone expect us to win the championship they themselves expect that they put the pressure on themselves and they don't only that they go forward thinking they're going to win that i think these are the differences when you try to assess who is going to actually win the champion league or who isn't or who's going to win the premier league or who isn't it's a kind of belief that you have and i wonder whether that's transmitted to the players or not whether there is this feeling of why is there all this pressure on us winning is it because Liverpool aren't doing the best in the start of the season is it because city have lost certain players and not, you should always go into the season thinking that you're good enough

to not only wipe out the competition, but that you have what it takes rather than being like, why does everyone think we're going to win this? And I do think that that's kind of the message that's always carried across with Arsenal. And that kind of atmosphere where it's why we expected, there's pressure here, there's not, there isn't that belief that we should. Because it is, you can't just say that now. There is, this is a site that has spent, if we look at net, Okay, Liverpool have spent 400 million, but actually Arsenal net-wise have spent the most in this transfer market. So yes, they should be going in this to win it, and they should be expecting themselves to win it, and they should accept the pressure and deal with it. And that's the only way that you can come out and think to yourselves, we deserve to be here.

Because anything other than that rhetoric, I think, is only harming them. I just think Arteta feels a little bit like Minade. As in, he feels that around him, around him. He doesn't get that kind of winning mentality that you require. So what does he do? He brings Andrea Bertha. He brings Gabriel Hansi and he brings a lot of people that don't care what people think, don't care about the outside world, if you like, but they are all winners.

So he's been bringing not just people good at the jobs. He's been bringing people that are going to push Arsenal to that, the hardest step of all, isn't it, from almost winning to winning? And perhaps, because as Minna says, around us, And I said, we just want to be the nice guys. Just leave us alone, you know. But now that you're about to win, we don't like you. No, I mean, look, if they're happy being the nice guys and not winning, then so be it.

They can define themselves like that. I think there are three reasons why everyone is pushing this expectation on them. One, it's been 21 years since they won the Premier League. Yeah, it's all the way since 2006 that they reached the Champions League final. That's a long time either way. I think other clubs have got a much harder time for going that long without winning those two trophies. I think the other thing is where we're at in this Artetta project now. He's had time.

Minas alluded to the net spend, how much depth that they have now. And then I think after those, if we look at the last three years, everyone felt that if it's not going to be Pep Guadiole and Mancitti, it's going to be Arsenal and Mikhail Arteta. And last year it wasn't. You know, when City had their worst season on the Pep Guardiola, Arsenal didn't take advantage. And I think that is where now that we see there's Victor Giacuras, now we see there's Zubimendi in midfield, now we see that they have all these options off the bench. I don't think we do just talk about them as being set-piece specialists anymore. I think we've got over that. I think we now look at them as the complete package.

And as Guillaume says, you know, they've, it's not only the additions that they've made on the pitch, it's the additions they've made off the pitch in terms of replacing Edu with Andrea Berta, who comes from a decade of success at Athletico Madrid, with Gabby Heinzer, a winner who's been a head coach in his own right next to Michelates. I think that is where the expectation comes from. And I don't think it's unreasonable. by live sports and what a game of football it is to kickstart this new WSL season that's the only goal and she is able to just pick her sport this way past the best goalkeeper in the division

BBC Women's Football Weekly The latest news insights and analysis from across the women's game Lucy Bruns welcome back what one line do you think would make the best rugby player? Me? Listen. With the BBC Sounds app. You're listening to the Football Daily podcast from Five Life Sports. We're going to talk about Napoli.

PSV thrashing them, six two winners at home this week in the Champions League against the Italian champions. They were three-one-up PSV before Napoli forward. Lorenzo Luca was sent off in the 76th. minute. They then scored three more before then Scott McTominate scored what turned out to be a consolation goal. I mean, there's loads to talk about from this game. But, Mina, it was, it was the, the Luca sending off. It was, it was really strange one this one. Absolutely, yes, a silly red card and one that shows you sort of the anger that was going through our, I was saying, awesome, through our police team at that point. But we can't really blame

his sending off for the way that they capitulated. Listen. If we look at the record of Antonio Conte in this competition, it's become somewhat of a cliche. We always talk about it, right? Like, you know, the best that he's ever managed was when he was at Eventus and he managed a quarterfinal. And I find it quite hard to say this is entirely his fault, considering that he does have several big absences within the squad,

including Rasmus Hoinen up front, who offers them that vertical edge, Lubotka in midfield, Rahmani at the back. So there are all these absences they've had to deal with, which you have seen the fact that they have now conceding in every single game, at least for the last. last seven or eight. What I do find interesting is the way that Antonio Conte always explains everything. Last season, there wasn't enough players. And he was right to complain about that.

They did have a very thin squad at the time. And yet, they won the league title, I guess, against the odds, if you like. And now he's saying that he's bought in nine. It's almost too much for him. But Boban, speaking on Italian TV at the time, responded saying, this is just a very strange excuse to say that you can't find the chemistry because you're born in too many players over the summer where none of these players are playing except Kevin DeBroner. And so we can only focus on that. You can't keep talking about all these newsplayers coming in and it takes time to find the right chemistry, the right alchemy within the squad. And another thing that I would say is losing Lobotka and putting in Gilmore. It's not a like-for-like replacement. There was just no

defensive filter. The defensive line was completely exposed. And Napoli have just not been looking like themselves. Well, I mean, I'm going to come to Antonio's defense. And I'm going to frame it in one of the chats we've already had that Guillem was talking about how, you know, sort of PEP and Mikhail Ateta, they look at the expectation around them and the pressure that it brings. And that is a pressure that ultimately has come from their own success, right? You know, Antonio Conte always likes to say, I'm condemned to win, you know, because that's all I do. You know, in his six years in coaching in Italy, he's won the league five times with three

different clubs. And so naturally, the expectation comes, Antonio, you always win leagues, but what about the Champions League? And look, the thing with it, Napoli do not have a winning tradition in this competition. They don't have a winning tradition in this European competition full stop. You know, you only have to go back to the UEFA Cup that Diego Maradonna won in 1988. That's the only time they've won a European trophy. what I'll give Conte credit for is in his year off

between getting the sack at Tottenham and getting the Napoli job, he went away and studied a lot and he was like, you know what, football has changed and I need to change with it. You know, when he got the Napoli job, he looked at the players he had

and he basically said, you know, that that 3-5-2 that's worked for me since I've been at Juventus, it's not going to work with these players. I've got Kavisha Kavadatskalia. I need to play something else. So, you know,

in the six months that they had Kabatatskelii before we went to Paris, Andrew Manon won the treble, plays 433, kept doing that. They signed Kevin DeBroner in the summer. He's like, right, I need to find a way to get Kevin in the team as well. But I can't get rid of any of the three midfield players who helped win me the league last year.

So I'm going to come up with something different. We need to be more attacking. He's part of this trend that Guillem was alluding to about offensive-minded coaches. And Conte is trying to move with the times. Now, moving with the times won in the league last year with Napoli, But he's trying to do this in the Champions League as well. Look, I take your point in the sense that he is not entirely to blame for this bit.

Do you not think there's always some emotional collapse going on all the time? And isn't that his fault when it looks like the team just kind of lost their bearings at that point and weren't responding in the way that they had enough on the pitch to win against this PSV side? Can I find common ground between you two? Because you're both right. And you're both saying one thing that is the same. Yes, they collapsed. Yes, it's very difficult to.

win when you haven't won in European football. It is not by chance that we see the same teams right getting to the semifinals and the finals. It is a long list of things that makes you win in Europe or makes you be candidate in Europe, which Napoli haven't got. And it's got to do with players that have done it before, managers that I've done it before, and know that they concede one or two is not the end of the world. The Juventus of this Wells, the Reharmarit of this Wells, they know how to do all of that. Guillaume, I was at the, I was at the Burnabow last night for Juventus, Real Madrid.

And I don't know whether this is a new thing at the Burnabow, but when the visiting team steps off the bus, as they walk into the Burnabow, they are confronted by all of the Champions League trophies that Real Madrid have won. Not by chance. Who goes? And the players and the officials from the opposite can't help themselves, but stops their and then it really hits them that oh okay yeah even just being in the press stand that's not

I felt like I could win the Champions League being a sort of they have a delegate which is I don't know what the role is in England which is I don't know what the role is in England but is the guy that looks after those that come the directors that come over or the referees that come over the delegate is a former referee

and he is the one welcoming the referees and he makes sure that the referees go that way as well and he would probably go like Yeah, this is the championship. We won in 1955. This is the one in 56. Just a reminder. All that counts.

Yeah, it does. So we've talked about Napoli. Let's talk about Juventus on the end of a second successive defeat last night, Real Madrid beating them at the Burn of Bayou. Is this again, James, a sign of where you, they are at the moment? Yeah, I mean, to pick up on what Guillain was saying about clubs having an aura about them. eventus have had that aura they had an aura for much of the last 15 years

that aura has been been flickering for some time almost it's been switched off and I think part of that comes from the choices that they made when they last went to the Bernabar in 2018 for this quarterfinal time in the Champions League

Eventis almost came back from 3-0 down in the second leg 3-3 and then Rinaldo gets a penalty, scores it Real Madrid, knock Juventus out. And a few months later, Juventus decided to sign Cristiana Ronaldo. And, you know, when I say that that decision changed everything for

Juventus, it's not to blame Cristiano Ronaldo for Juventus paying the fee that they did and paying the salary that they did. But there are only two ways that was going to work for Juvenos, if Ronaldo delivered a Champions League and if COVID didn't happen. Because the two combined in terms of the money they were paying for Ronaldo and COVID happening,

it basically turned the club into a financial spiral that they haven't been able to get out of. It led to the resignation of their chairman, Andrea Anjali. And I think when you don't have an Anjali in the office every day, you know, a member of a representative of the family who's owned that football club for more than 100 years, it means they drift. They're still run by the Anielli family. The Anie family has spent a lot of money in the last. five years, trying to get them back to where they should be. But without a strategic direction,

that money has been poorly spent. There's a lack of stability at the club. And there's a lack of identity at the club, which is why Yuva at the moment don't really feel like Yuva. It's always about who you have in management. And losing Beppe Marotta for me was one of the biggest mistakes that I think Juventus ever did. They didn't think that he thought big enough for where they were at the time. He went to Inter and obviously took them to two Champions League finals in much the same way that he did at Juventus. So yes, he was one of those consequences of that Ronaldo deal because he didn't want it to happen.

But at the moment, then what you have is a lot of people who've come in with egos, whether it was John Tolly, who wanted to make a splash by coming in and doing a lot of deals that was going to impede them financially because he wanted to win straight away. And then you've got now Komoli, who I think has already made quite a few mistakes,

even though he's very well-loved within those UVA headquarters and probably going to be their new CEO. But then you look at some of the transfers they've made, which obviously Igor Chute is not very happy with at all. That was one of the comments he threw out over the weekend in the sense that Seis Fabregas was allowed to choose his pay as a coma, whereas he didn't have that opportunity. This is bear in mind the same guy who at Lazio quit

because he wanted to change eight or more players within that side. So this is a man who is, much like Antonio Conte, always wants to have his say in the transfer market. Is he the right man to have bought in to coach Juventus? So you have to start questioning the ownership and whether the people within this club actually are, you know, being just bought in best in class, Juntaly was best in class, a little bit of Manchester, United Komodi. But do they actually have partnerships up top in which people are talking to each other

and creating this sort of system in which they're properly analysing who is coming in, whether they are worthy of the jersey, whether there are specific ideals as to why you're buying them? That doesn't seem to be that way anymore when you're buying Opender and Davids, and then you've already got Vlauovich. It just kind of seems like they're just wasting money at this point. And the fact that the fans were just hopeful that it wasn't a huge hammering by Real Madrid goes to show you that it's a little bit of Arsenal's fans, you know?

Like, you know, it's gone. That aura has gone completely. Even the fans are just hoping for a narrow win now, not even a win against Real Madrid, which they've managed before. There is few things more pleasing that a big giant like Juventus losing because then you get the emotional and deep analysis

that we're getting from James and Mina about why this is happening. But if he wasn't for Gourtoy yesterday and everything you said is true, Juventus could have won last night. Nowadays is, of course, seven games without a win. But football is fun, isn't it? Mina talked about Como and Cess Fabragas.

We have to mention them, Guillem. One of the sides, of course, beat Yuvay this week as well. 1-2-0 beating Juventus on Sunday. Sixth now in Syria. Yeah, I mean, coach says Fabragas knows what he's doing, right? Yes, I keep bringing into my head the first time that I saw him. You must remember him as a 16-year-old when he first arrived to Arsenal and he had that strange hair coat where he left like a little bit of hair growing to one side.

That shy guy who was living in a room in a four-bedroom place in the north of London who got really nervous every time he went into the forums at the time. They were called forums to look into what people were saying of him and how the rest of the following 10 years his focus was only him. Him, you know, I took him to do the first photo shoot and there was clothes that came in from a famous brand. And at the end he went to me and said, can I keep the clothes?

Yes, Cess, you can. That CESC, all of a sudden, is thinking of 25 people. He's learned from a lot of coaches, Pepo Ardiola, Joseph Marino, both extremes, but he's not Pepe Wardiola. He's not Joseo Morino. I think he's Michel Arteta. So he picks from one and the other, and one day he's defending deep, and he's got no problem doing that.

Another day, he's a counter-attack. Another day, he dominates. So he makes his teams flexible from that point of view. But perhaps the thing that impresses me the most is those clips that Como keep bringing of him surrounded by his players at the end of the game, speaking in perfect Italian about what it meant. to win what he meant to the fans and to themselves and what a leader he is

and I keep thinking of that guy with that bad haircut what happened? What an evolution? What's also interesting about Fabrogast at Como is he's got links to the club like no other head coach when we're talking about the emotional link

with Sean Daesh this week at Nottingham Forest and where he knows very well as a player but Fabragas is a part owner of Como so that it really is in his heart in his soul in that sense. And also, it's going to be difficult in that way then for other clubs to try and poach him. Yeah. I mean, it's Arsenal by the Lake, Mas, really. No, because you've got the Dean's involved. So, you know, David Dean, who was chief executive of Arsenal when Arson Venger was there, Titi Henri, who, and all of these guys were at the Eventus game.

It was really nice because CESC had been sent off in the previous game. So he couldn't be in the dugout. And he really wanted to be in the dugout, I think, but when his old boss, Arson Venger, was there in the stands. Instead, he was up in the gods coaching. But they had an hour before the game, just sort of catching up, talking about football. And it did make me think. I mean, Guillem's made that Mikhail Artetta comparison there. But when I see Cess and the intensity with which he works, and Guillem referenced those post-game where he gets He gets a huddle together, talks to the place, and then they go under the kudvun and basically take the applause from the fans, thank the fans. It's not very vengal-like. It's not quite

leadership. It's not making subtle adjustments here or there. CESC is in control of everything. And what's really impressed me about him is his adaptability over the last two and a half years. He's gone in there into Italian football, really humble, willing to learn. They've adapted the team. I remember when they got up last year, the first thing was to bring in experience. And then halfway through the year, they were like, actually, no, I need something else. And they went back into the market. And everything that they did to tweet the team and make them more effective, more competitive,

it worked. You know, I think when Mikhail Artetta moves on from Arsenal, when Pep Guardiola moves on from Manciti, he will already be a candidate for those jobs. Arsenal on the lake, as James is saying, Mina, Fabragas saying after that winner of Eventis, we work a lot on set pieces because they can help you win games. I mean, that is so Arsenal. I mean, he's making the case for it as well. I'm trying really hard not to be a Debbie Downer, but I kind of feel like what James does

is just create this beautiful story and then I just don't want to come in and be like, But I also think, so I agree, like, listen, the way that he's learned on the job, the way that he has produced a side in which I think that they would sort of criticise for being a bit reckless at the start of Sediah because of their style of play, there has been a lot of investment in that side. They've bought in a lot of players and that's made a difference. I mean, they are what, the biggest spenders, net spenders, fourth overall and gross. So, but money isn't everything, right? It's about the ideas that you have. And one thing that you could tell what they did over the weekend against Juventus is that they played like a team that understand. that's exactly what they're supposed to be doing.

And Juventus have spent a lot of money to, but they have no idea what they're doing. So that's a lot to be said for Fabragas and the way that he's managed to get into the minds of these young guys and converted them into superstars, really the performances of Nico Passa out of this world at the moment. And seeing the way that he's developed him in a way that Yildas, for example, the person who is his opposite at Yuvai isn't

and played out of position goes to show you how much Fabragas makes that difference for Como in a way that other coaches are not making the difference for their teams. CESC to Arsenal, Vincent Gompine in Manchester City, Chabian Lenssela.

I'm seeing it. Are we starting this now? It's going to happen. Former players fighting against each other in the Premier League, it'll happen. We will record this and play it back to you

if and when that happens. Guilla, we've got to talk about what's happened in Spain this week, this proposed La Liga match between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami in December cancelled following these player

protests across La Liga last weekend players refusing to move for the first 15 seconds of their match. Xavier Tebas, president of La Liga, saying Spanish football has lost an opportunity to advance. Is he right or does it feel like canceling this game is in fact the best possible outcome? No, what it feels is that Javier Tebas didn't manage to convince everyone for this to take place. So relevant who they've calculated, they could earn 2 billion pounds in 15 years by having one game of La Liga in the States or abroad will continue talking to Tebas and Tebas will continue trying to that to take place but then they have to convince everyone and quite clearly as you said number one the players basically was a mini

strike and because it was a strike La Liga is saying you could be punished for doing this because that was not a legal strike but the players quite clearly were the ones who stopped this and Real Madrid stopped this as well. Real Madrid used the connections with the government and Real Madrid, who are having a war with Tebas and La Liga, put the pressure to Relevant and basically

you heard the day before and the same day when it got cancelled, Carvajal and Coutoir a very well rehearsed speech about why it wasn't a good idea. That's the official line of Real Madrid. All that pressure put together meant that Relevant thought this is not the right time. But I do

feel, and this goes against the opinion of 100% of the fans in the world, that is an opportunity for a Spanish football to find another avenue to challenge. We said the figures before of the money that's been spent from the Premier League, would you let

us just try something different to see if it wears or it doesn't? People will tell you, yeah, but clubs belong to the community. It's only one game. And by the way, you see many people saying it distorts the competition. You know what also distorts the competition, Barcelona playing the first three games away because they've got a stadium that

is, they cannot open or the pressure that Real Madrid through Real Madrid TV put to the referees on a personal level. That also distorts the, the competition. One game away, which as we know, all the sports do it doesn't distort the competition and it opens up a new avenue. It may not work, but why not try it? I think leagues have to take risks, particularly those outside the Premier League. Because, you know, the Premier League, to its credit, has spent the last 30 years going around the world, selling itself better than any other league, so that even when it wasn't the best league in the world, it was remunerated like the best league in the world. And the gap is now so great that if you look at the

international broadcast rights that the Premier League gets, you know, it's bigger than the domestic rights that they get here in the UK. All that means is that broadcasters outside of England, showing the Premier League, all of their budget is going on the Premier League. There's no budget left for La Liga. There's no budget left for Sidiya. There's no budget left for Bundesliga. Bundesliga in this country is doing watchalongs with a YouTuber, trying to do something different to get to an audience. I think that is ultimately why La Liga and Sidiya are trying to do this, to try and take a game broad to generate a different revenue stream and maybe create a new generation of fans who decide because their team, because two teams have come to Miami or

Perth in Western Australia, and they have a childhood memory of going to watch A.C. Milan Como or Villarreal Barcelona, that they might stay connected with those clubs. You know, my take on, I'm not anti this. What I would say is, I don't think it will close the gap between the Premier League and the rest. I think this is about Sidiya and Vlad Liga, trying to be first at something and trying to be the best of the rest, if that makes sense.

I feel like Rabeo and Guillaume and James are the chief of the Italian FA telling me to shut up and respect the laws of globalisation. I mean, are talking about this on the World Service a few weeks ago around that Syria game in Perth and you're saying, you know, unlike the situation,

situation in the Liga, that match will go ahead in Perth. Yeah, that will go ahead. And look, I get it right. You have to try to make money in any way that you can. This is something that is especially being pushed by A.C. Manan and owners of Redbird. But I do think that for me, there is a huge difference. I do think there is a case to be made where that's probably not where you should start

if you're trying to be a globalized league in the sense that if you walk into SETI hour office, for example, the one in, if, if you walk into one of the Middle East or anywhere, there's nobody around. These offices don't even try to make it an environment in which Seria is being accepted abroad. They're not putting in the money or the budgets in there in these offices to try to get fans, to engage. They want to spend no money in these offices and then they don't try to, and then they'd want to take a game abroad to Perth. It makes no sense to me because I feel like there's no baby steps in trying to make it easy for fans to connect with Seria.

but instead want to play this game. I think if you gauge what's going on in social media, even American fans were really happy about this game being cancelled. I don't know if this is just a social media thing. Guillaume, very, very quickly, before our time is up, just talk to us about El Classico, the first of the season on Sunday afternoon. Real Madrid against Barcelona, first against second.

Real on 24 points, bars on 22. It couldn't be set up better. No, it's played in Madrid. It probably won't mean a lot, but you know losing the classical it's a defeat that lasts for months and it will be a Bellingham that starts to look good scored of course against Juventus

but still a little bit lost in the way that Remedy plays because they haven't found the perfect combination in the middle and how to link with the forwards but they're getting better. Barcelona on the other hand they find that the forwards are not pressuring enough we haven't seen Rafinia

Levandowski and Lamin enough because of injuries so again it will be an opportunity for Rushford to shine five goals six assists he's doing very well

with the ball without the ball he's got to wear harder so there's going to be gaps it's going to be crazy it's going to be a lot of fun I feel and because it doesn't terribly matter what happens

I think they'll go both for both of them will go for it so it's one not to miss right that's it for this edition of the Eurole Thank you very much to James Horncastle, Guillaume Ballagay and Mina Rizuki, Ian Dennis, John Murray and Alistair Bruce Ball. We'll be here with the commentator's view

in the next episode of the Football Daily. Thanks for listening. Touchdown, Philadelphia. Great play design. I think you just have to go out there and be the best of you can be. We're going to go out there and lay it all in the line. A 12-yard touchdown run. 105 yards on the return.

Where speed, power, and skill collide. And the Eagles are beating the chiefs convincingly in Super Bowl 59. Five Lies for NFL. Listen on BBC Sounds.