Football Daily - Euro Leagues: Champions League Preview, & Ten Hag's new job

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

Conor Mcnamara, Kristof Terreur, Mina Rzouki and Julien Laurens are back with the latest episode of Euro Leagues.The team look ahead to this weekend's Champions League final. Julien joins from Munich in his lucky PSG top. They explore where the game will be won and lost. Away from the Europe's centre piece finale, they discuss Erik Ten Hag's return to management at Bayer Leverkusen and the size of the job that Xabi Alonso has on his hands. There are also celebrations for Napoli and Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium. Timecodes: 2:08 - Champions League Preview 22:16 - Erik Ten Hag to Bayer Leverkusen 25:37 - Xabi Alonso tough task at Real Madrid 28:26 - Napoli's title win & is Kevin De Bruyne 32:41 - Union Saint-Gilloise win the Belgium Pro League

BBC Sounds music radio podcasts. On the football daily podcast, the Euroleagues. Listen on BBC Sounds. Hello and welcome to the Euroleagues. I'm Connor McNamara. Now I know, I get it, nothing worse than when you tune in for your favourite show and the regular presenter isn't on. But you see, this is the price of success because the recently award winning Steve Crossman is currently winging his way to Munich for the Champions League final. I'm not going to say that success has gone to

his head, but basically he only gets out of bed now for the major events and mere preview shows like this are far below his status these days. He's basically Scott McTominatus. You know, he's gone off, he's doing great things elsewhere. But fear not because the rest of the gang are still here. We have a big Champions League final week. Hello to Christoph Turer. Hello, Chris. Hello. And maybe going to be the weekend that Italy gets another European crown. So great to have Mina Rizuki with us. Hi, Mina. Hi. Don't say that to your Ventus fan.

I know, but come on, Italian National Pride surely is sure. Sure. The only team that win the European Cup these days from Italy, right? My God, talk about daggers here. Yes, we know how to reach the finals. They don't know how to win. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the last step. And already in Munich, you can smell the Bavarian food from here.

The scent of the Schweinbraten, the Weisswurst seeping down the airwaves. It's a big week for the hardest working man in show business. Julian Loren, how is it out there, Julian? Hello, mate. Hi, everyone. It's great here. To be fair, we arrived last night. The children are with me as well. So it's a very exciting Lawrence household before the final. And we just have our fingers crossed, our toes crossed that PSG are going to win it on Saturday night. All right, well, on this week's show, we're going to take you around all the big stories across European football, of course, Kante's future in Naples,

the new winners in the Belgian Pro League, which actually could be good news for Hartz fans and more of that at a moment. And we will discuss Eric Tanhag, a new job and much to discuss there. But for this week, there's only one place to start because Saturday night, the Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter in Munich, and it's going to be a big week. I think this is one of those finals where a lot of people will feel they're kind of happy no matter which team wins. There isn't really a goody and a baddy here. We know where your allegiance lies, Jules. How

are you feeling in the build up to this final? I'm a bit stressed, to be fair., Jules. How are you feeling in the build-up to this final? I'm a bit stressed to be fair. I think I would have rather played Barcelona in the final simply because it would have been a very open game with two teams that play similar football. With Inter, they have the experience. They're so good tactically. They have a great manager and Nizaghi. We said it before with me now, underrated he is really, which is hard to understand. I just think you could see easily a scenario where Inter were so good on is really, which is hard to understand. And I just think you could see easily a scenario where Inter who are so good on set pieces, which is probably PSG's biggest weakness,

score a goal on set piece, they win one-nil because they killed the tempo of the game and they know exactly how to stifle PSG's attacking flair and all of that. And we get this very tactical final that is maybe not the most entertaining. And yet in the end is the team with the bigger savoir faire of those kind of moments and experience that win in.

My young PSG team, full of energy, maybe a bit naive, will come short a little bit. That's my fear. Okay, well, no Guillem Balague this week because he's travelling to Munich, but how could we do a EuroLeague Champions League preview without him? Hello guys, I'm on my way to Munich to cover a final that has got all the ingredients of a memorable one. For Inter it fills the end of an era, for PSG the start of one. We could get the Ballon d'Or winner if Dembele produces a big performance. It is the clash of two ways of understanding the game, one that's disappearing, organised defence and quick transitions, in Inter, and the other one that represents, no matter how many reject the idea, the predominant model

of our times and going forward, Luis Enrique's PSG, an experienced group that is not affected by bad twists during a game at Inter, and a young group that is maturing quickly but that, as we saw at Villa Parque, can lose control football-wise and emotionally-wise. And two of my favourite coaches, Simone Inzaghi, capable of maximising the potential of any side, and Luis En Enrique who demands to do things his way or no way. I will enjoy hugely looking at the game in detail and will celebrate whichever team wins. For me it's a final that defines our times. Great to have to Giel, even if it's just a voice note but some lovely starting points there for our conversation. Christoph, first managerial meeting of Luis Henrique and Simon Inzaghi and incredibly

first ever competitive meeting of PSG and Inter. It seems bizarre they've never met before, two huge European clubs. Don't say big European club and PSG in the same centres because a lot of people would disagree with that because they've only been recently a decent team in Europe to be fair. So Jules won't agree with that I think. But it's strange with the Champions League model that they've never met to be fair with all those same fixtures every year again. Like everybody, I'm looking forward to that battle between Simone and Zaghi and Luis Enrique.

Like Guillaume, I'm a bit in love with Luis Enrique, not only because Guillaume once mentioned that he was listening to this spot, but because he's in a brilliant way very irritating for his players. He's so obsessed to get the maximum out of everything, out of himself too. And he loves it that people basically hate him. He's basically the boss at PSG. Before the players used to be the boss like Neymar, Messi and Ko. And now you see that the manager sets the way. And that's the big change, I think, at PSG. Yeah, you're right, Christophe.

This is exactly that. It's the club that used to be around my players. But even before the Qataris took over, even in the 90s, it was the same case, even the 80s, it was very similar. And I think you can win like that. There's no, I think teams have won like that with the players being in charge almost and knowing exactly what they had to do

and having that kind of mentality within the dressing room that works. But it also works more, I think, when the manager is in charge and the players do what the manager says and not the other way around. And I think that was a problem before that. It's not that anymore. And this is a team that finally plays as a team where everybody attacks together, everybody defends together, which is probably why this team is so more likeable for a lot of people, the way they play, but also that mentality, the energy, the intensity that they play with.

Very much contrasting build-ups for the teams going into this final. We know that PSG completed the domestic double of the weekend winning the French Cup and we know that Inter narrowly missed out on the Serie A title. From a PSG point of view, they've beaten all the English teams in the knockout stages, so it feels like we've beaten all the English teams in the knockout stages. So it feels like we've sort of, from this part of the world, seen an awful lot of them. I think John Murray actually pays council tax in Paris now. He's been there so often in 2025.

But we've seen Paris Saint-Germain from that Premier League prism. We've seen them from that point of view. Inter are going to be a very different opponent to those Premier League teams. Yeah, it's exactly what Joel said. They are tactically savvy. I do enjoy that Guillaume likes his propaganda of, you know, the dying football of Inter, the solid defences and those transitions are dying.

And we've got to embrace this modern football that only Luis Enrique and anyone who follows Pep does. And I feel comfortable saying that because he's not here to argue back with me, but it's not dying football. I'm just going to put that out there. What's interesting about Inter is that they can play multiple ways. And one of the things is that they don't have the width. I mean, they have it with DiMarco and Dumfries and we've seen what they can do. But I think Travatskelia and Dembélé are especially interesting on the wings and what they can do. But Inter can play, they're a comedian, they can play many different ways. They are so comfortable in holding possession, in counter-attacking, in defending, in attacking. I think this is such a complex side because you've even got centre-backs that can assist

and score goals. And even though they're old and they keep mentioning time and time again that they've played 19 more games than the likes of Napoli this season, and they are somewhat running on empty at the moment. You know that when it came to Barcelona and they had to find that winning goal, they found to. That shows you a certain level of winning mentality that they just haven't had necessarily in their domestic competitions, but certainly they've put all their eggs

into this Champions League basket and they're absolutely desperate to go there. And when you find players like Mkhitaryan putting in these types of shifts in games, then you know this is going to be a very interesting game between two very wily coaches. You mentioned Henrik Mkhitaryan there. Quick quiz question for you all. I'll be disappointed if you don't get this one, all of you. Mkhitaryan aiming to complete the full set of the major European trophies. He's won the Europa League at Manchester United, scored in the final against Ajax. He's won the Conference League with Roma. Can you name the other player who's won

all three? So the Champions League, the Europa League and the Conference League. I've got the answer. I'm so pleased. Shall I give some hints? Will I give the clubs? I mean, Mina really is the one that should find him. Shall I give some hints? Will I give the clubs? I mean, Mina really is the one that should find him. No, I do know, but my mind's gone blank. Give me the name of one of the clubs. What do you want? One is his first name as well? How much clues do you have?

I said name one of the clubs that he's won a trophy with. Okay, Chelsea. Oh, yeah, I can't... Andy, another club is West Ham. I mean, come on, Connor, that's too much now, surely. Right, go on Gilles, put him out of their misery. Is Shaw a mess on Paniniere? Yeah but he didn't play!

I know but he's clearly got the medal. And that's what they say in the Sixth Wave, he's won the competition, he's actually playing. Mkhitaryan could start the finals, yeah, exactly, which no one has done. That trouble is 10 years ago and I saw him last week and we had a little chat, lovely chat, and I said, do you believe in destiny? Because right now, for all the tactical preview that we can have and explain everything, the strengths and weaknesses of both teams, in all football fans or all footballers and everything,

there's always a bit of that kind of destiny and things and you hang on to, right? This is the fifth final in Munich here. I mean, somewhere in the old stadium, the Olympic stadium, and some of the new ones, obviously, but the first four finals always crowned a new winner, right? So Forest, Marseille, Dortmund and Chelsea, the last one in 2012. PSG will be the first time winner for Inter, we said they won three already. Well, you're they won 3 already. You're just looking for anything.

Anything, Nina. Also the fact that Wilson Wicke won that treble, 10 years ago, 10 years is a good number. And I said to him the other day, tell me you believe in that kind of destiny, right? Everybody is a bit superstitious. Everybody's, and he goes, yeah, yeah, this could be karma. So I'm like, get in, come on. Let's be fair, there are a lot of neutrals really hoped that Lavinia Mal would get to this final and it was like killing Bambi to knock him out in the semis and breaking hearts everywhere. Who's going to step up as the sort of superstar? Is this Dembele's year given the form that he's been in?

Who do we think is going to step forward and sort of be the headline grabber on Saturday night? Well Ashraf Hakimi is facing his former side and I don't know why he hasn't been mentioned as one of those stars because I think it's man of the match against Arsenal. He's been superb throughout the season. He's facing his old club where he learned so much and really elevated his overall game. So I think that he's somebody that could really make a difference and obviously Dembélé. So if Dembélé does score the goals or makes the difference and PSG go on to win it, is

he the leading Ballon d'Or candidate? Yeah, I think he will have a strong case, really. 2025 has been incredible for him. And again, the transformation, we could look at PSG and the way they started this competition, especially in the season overall, trying to find their way. He was still very immersed with Enrique, trying to put that jigsaw together with all the pieces that fitted and where they fitted.

2025, since that probably January game against Man City, still in the league phase at the time, the way they turned things around and where they fit it. 2025, since that probably January game against Man City still in the league phase at the time, the way they turn things around and the way Dembele, who was moved from the right wing into number nine, fourth number nine, center forward position, call it whatever you want, has been just prime Brazilian Ronaldo.

Some of the things he does, not just scoring because he's scored a little bit less lately than what he did between January and April, but still assisting, still creating danger. We saw that in the semifinal, in the quarterfinals, the last 16 obviously, he's scored the gold away at Liverpool. It's just been incredible. I think there was a time where the talent was never in doubt because he was always so

good, right foot, left foot, everything, the dribbling, all of that, but just not being efficient enough. And now it seems to have got to another level. So I think if he shines on Saturday night in the final, he will have a big, big chance to win the Ballon d'Or. I think a lot of you think that this is a low scoring game, which is a potential because you are playing against Inter and everyone talks about Italian steel and defence. But Inter conceded like a ton of goals against Bayern and a ton of goals against Barcelona.

So is there a possibility that this is actually going to be a more open match than we've been thinking it could be? I've become a cynic towards Champions League finals where you always have that excitement just before and then you get a dull game where teams are freezing basically and not playing their best football and you always have like a heroic goalkeeper performance. Yeah, let's see. I'm just going to write this down, Christophe. So we're going to use this for the five live trail. Dull game. That's the way to sell it. Yeah, once you're there, you always have that feeling that you should have done something else, to be fair. Hopefully, yeah, it will be different.

Let's use that as the line. There's two times, Con, that PSG have struggled a bit in the Champions League this season, but overall, even in the league and stuff, was the second half at Villa Park where Villa were two gold down. I think they were four one on aggregate or five one on aggregate. They had nothing to fear anymore. So they went at it. They were super aggressive in that second half. And I am really put a very physical, strong midfield that got into PhD's face in Virginia's face in Jordan Neves, especially in that midfield. And PhD struggled and didn't know how to adapt really.

And then it's the first 20 minutes against Arsenal in the second leg, semi-finals, second leg in Paris at the Paris de Paris where Arsenal were again so aggressive, pressed them super high and PhD struggled a little bit to build up from the back like they usually do and get the ball out. And Arsenal could not do it for more than 20 minutes. It's very difficult physically to do because PSG are so good at moving the ball around. They've got so much fluidity in their game and so many output they can play the ball to Hakimi or to Mendez, to Vitinha, to Neves. They can play long, to Graz.

There's a lot of things they can do. Inter will have to do that. Really if they want to get control of that final. The thing is, Inter don't have the leg to do that. As we said, they're very experienced, but they're also quite old compared to PSG. They're the oldest team in the competition against the youngest team in the competition. There's a striking stat that comes from the UEFA website. PSG are the team that have run the most in the Champions League this season.

They run 118 kilometres per game in average in the Champions League. Inter, 92 kilometres per game in average in the Champions League. Inter 92 kilometers per game in average. This is 26 kilometers difference between how much you run and you can just explain that PSG playing super high all the time and trying to press and counter press and Inter being a little bit deeper and just waiting for you to come at them and then they get the ball and as Mina explained before then have different style of football to go and hit you. But still, it's big and I think if you then they get the ball and as Mina explained before, then have different style of football to go and hit you. But still, it's big and I think if you don't have the legs and the kind of aggressive style

to get at PSG, then they will have the ball and when they have the ball, that's where they are dangerous. So it'd be very interesting to see kind of that midfield battle and who presses well and how and how they do it because I'm not sure Inter have the legs only to do it for 90 minutes. Jules you mentioned that you said you said it's not been perfect for PSG. They've had a few struggles. I mean they have and this is the first season this new group stage format. I think we're all still a little bit getting to grips with it. But can anyone explain to me how have PSG lost five games in the Champions League this season and still got to the final?

I mean at least Inter have been old school. They've lost one game. I take that. How do you lose five games and still got to the final. I mean, at least in Trevina Old School, they've lost one game. I take that. How do you lose five games and still get to the final? Well, there's that one at Villa Park, the second leg, that they won the first leg 3-1. They were in charge of the second half, a half time, and they lost that one. They lost that home to Liverpool in the last 16, first leg, in a game that they over dominated them and they should have never lost that game but still you can lose it.

And then you're right, the other three come from the league phase at the beginning of it where things were just not clicking, just not working for them collectively, individually and credit to Luis Enrique, it took him a little bit of time but he made this team grow and he made this team click and be good together really. And that's how they turned everything probably on that Manchester City second half in January. I think this is what's so brilliant about this style of competition, the way that it's changed a bit, is that it does give you that leeway to sort of start off badly because I think that the mark of a good team is not one necessarily that starts the season well,

but that comes into the business end at the top level and has really built something as the seasons progressed. If you look at Barcelona when they did win the treble under Luis Neriq, there was a lot of criticism for the coach in the beginning about the fact that he kept rotating the squad and experimenting with different players to try to find the right team that would then go on and have different have a plan B as well as a plan A. And the plan B was that they were more

of a counter-attacking threat than just a team that knew how to possess the ball and play horizontally. And I think that's what made the difference. You see a lot of the times with Real Madrid, they've gone on to win the competition, even when they have started badly in many of their group matches, they've lost sometimes to really odd opposition

that you would never imagine it. But actually the business end is when their fitness kicks in, when their conditioning is at top level, and they go on to win finals. And I almost like the story of how it's been. Obviously Inter is more consistent, they've been together for many years. This is their large chance saloon. But for PSG, it really is the beginning of this project that's coming together and that's come together much faster than I think any of us ever expected. I think that that sort of battle-edness at the end of the season

is an interesting one. We know how dominant PSG have been domestically over the years. Sometimes when they get to this latter stage of the campaign, it's been a while since they've had to to really pull up trees and maybe having that French Cup final, which I know is comfortable for them, but at least it was a final in the build up to this, might help them a bit, maybe more than the previous generations. The big superstar names and Neymarar etc. who maybe were taking it easy for a few weeks before they would come to

these serious knockout games. Is that a realistic factor? Yeah, I think so. I think so. And again, when I stood with Enrique last week, you know usually managers and players always say a game at a time, right? So you just focus on the next one. But even last week he said already, or the week before he said, they still had one league game to be played in the French Cup final. But he said, I'm already watching Inter Milan. And he was not taking for granted the last game in the league and the one in the cup final. But he was already looking at Inter because they knew that this was the big one. They could have lost the title and lost the French Cup final as long as they're winning that Champions League final.

This beats everything. This is the holy grail for the club. They've been waiting for it forever. That's another thing, Mina, like Destiny and I'm holding on, you know, Spurs not winning a European trophy for 41 years, Newcastle no trophy for 71, Crystal Palace no trophy for 120 years. All of that. If only Real Betis did it for you.

If only Betis did it. I know. I wish Betis. I would have added. only Real Betis did it for you. If only Betis did it. I know, I wish. I would have added, I had Betis in my list. But yeah, I think Conor, you're right. And also fitness wise, I think it's important. We said this experience and kind of all the legs against youth and energy. But the fact that Inter had to fight hard until even last Friday to see if they could win the title or not. There was a possibility of a league playoff for them and Napoli to win the title. With PSG have been cleared for a long time, managed minutes, rested players.

I mean, they were a Roland-Garros pretty much all that team on Sunday and Monday. You know, that was not the case for Inter Milan players. So maybe for the last 20, 30 minutes of the final on Saturday, maybe that freshness that PSG should have a little bit more than Inter would have a play to something to play in the final. Isn't there a statuels that's not pointing towards a PSG win because I've only heard stats that are pointing towards PSG will win it. Do you have one against your team? I'm sure, I'm sure there is Chris. He hasn't found them. There must be somewhere. I'm just looking at all the positive as much as I can. Yeah you're building up those nerves now by going to all those positives I think.

The hope is there but hope might kill you. This is the fourth kit I'm wearing now which is the lucky one because I've been wearing under the suit every Champions League game in the knockout stages all over. So the two Liverpool games, the two Villa games, the two Arsenal games, that it was under the shirt, under the suit. So it'd be the case again Saturday. The kids, two of the three kids are here, the two boys. My cousins are coming. My brother is in between either divorcing his wife and coming to the final or going on the holiday that they booked a long time ago and not making the final baby, get it forever, especially if we win. I don't know man, if we win it'd be the greatest night

football-wise in the family. If we don't win I think we're going to cry forever. Okay well listen we're very much looking forward to a live commentary of the Champions League final on Five Live on Saturday night. Our build-up starts from 6.40pm, the kick-off is at 8pm and of course all the reaction here on the Football Daily. The Football Daily podcast. I'm Ian Dennis, John Murray, Ali Bruce Ball and myself, a five live football commentators. We'll be hosting and getting together on a new podcast on the Football Daily feed. Bringing our own insight into what it's like being in the commentary box and in the media areas. If anyone's tuned in for this wondering what commentators we're going to talk about

and thought it might be a little bit geeky then they've got exactly that in the first five minutes. From Wembley to Wrexham and from Bradford to the Burnabout. The commentators view on the Football Daily Feed. Listen on BBC Sounds. and from Bradford to the Bernabéu to commentate his view on the Football Daily Feed. Listen on BBC Sounds. On the Football Daily Podcast. The EuroLeagues. Listen on BBC Sounds. Right, let's move on to Eric Tanhag. He's got a new job. Can he rebuild his reputation in Germany?

Because on Monday Bayer Leverkusen confirmed that the former Manchester United boss is going to replace Xabi Alonso as head coach. Now we're going to talk about Real Madrid in a moment, but Jules, good move for Ten Hag? I think it's a tough job. I think it's really tough to come after Xabi Alonso and what he did especially last season with the unbeaten domestic double and then the Europa League final that they lost to Atalanta but still they had an incredible season and even last season where they were not as good but they could not have been as good as the first season obviously and still finishing second and I just think for Ten High considering Bale Leverkusen are going to lose Spring Pong and very surely Florian Wirtz, maybe a bit of Schick or Boniface, I'm just not sure what kind of squad it will inherit it from and I think it's a tough job and I think for Bayer Leverkusen it's a really

bold pick to go for somebody who failed so much at United. Remember what happened to Bayer Munich last year, hiring a manager that had failed at Burnley too. So that might be, we can't predict it to be fair. But yeah, anyway, it's going to be a hard job, rebuilding job. There won't be a lot of pressure on him to perform. Maybe from the inside, yes, but from the outside, yeah, all the focus in Germany is usually on Bayern Munich media-wise, just like Manchester United, to be fair. So he will have less pressure, less questions at press conferences.

He might suit well over there, but yeah, it's going to be a tough job, I think. It feels to me that the fact that Ruben Amorim has struggled at Manchester United too, that just for me, Ten Hag's stock price goes up. The core problem might not necessarily have been him. If Amorim comes in and they finish in the top four and they win the Europa League and we're all saying, well, Ten Hag was the problem. But surely, you know, this is, I mean, it's a huge moment for him to rebuild his reputation. Yeah, I think so. I think that everything that you've mentioned exactly true, because it seems like everyone who leaves Manchester United goes on to have a quite

a fruitful career, whether it is, for example, Ted Hag did bring in Anthony, it was completely panned, that transfer, he goes to the Aperture, takes them to a final, their first most historic final in 118 years of their history. Then you've got Marcus Rashford, who did well, obviously, in Aston Villa, and McTominay then goes on to Napoli and wins the title. It seems like it's a bit of a poison chalice at the moment that any player who does arrive at Manchester United, regardless of how good they are

or how they performed previously, to have attracted the interest, doesn't end up doing as well as you imagined them to be. And every coach has suffered. I mean, right now we're looking back and thinking, wow, Mourinho had such a good, you know, good few seasons, even Solskjaer did. And it just seems to get progressively worse, regardless of how good the names are that are being employed. So I don't know whether we should judge coaches by their Manchester United experience. He understands German football, the language, the culture, everything to do with that. And I think Bayer Leverkusen as a whole is a very well-run club.

I think Erik Ten Hag has all the qualities to do that. And I think this is the time that we start judging him because Leverkusen is a club that's done really well, has a good project. Let's see what happens. Speaking about tough tasks, it's going to be tough for Ten Hag, but is it going to be even more difficult for Xavi Alonso? Not only going to the huge club that is Real Madrid, but replacing the three-time Champions League winner Carlo Ancelotti as well. Christophe, the size of the task for Alonso, we wish him well, but boy, this is a step up. This is a step up, but it's the one he wants to do. I think everybody's been predicting,

like even Jose Mourinho, like six, seven years ago was was pointing at if one of my players will become a top coach it will be Xabi Alonso and yeah I'm really looking forward to the chance but yeah if they don't win the league you basically, oh they win, don't win the trophy, you failed so he knows the club that's for sure because he's been there as a player. So that might help to have that Hala Madrid feeling and know what pressure you will be on as a manager. So he will be under pressure if he loses one game, to be fair. It's a fair point about, you know, he has to win silverware, it doesn't matter who you are in that job.

Do you think Jules, the expectation slightly helps though, compared to say 12 months ago, because a year ago Alonso had won the Bundesliga with Leverkusen, Real Madrid had won La Liga Champions League, it would have been, right, we absolutely demand trebles here. The fact that they've both cooled down a little bit, does that help the expectations or is Madrid just massive expectations regardless? No, I think what helps him as well is that everybody recognise now that it's a rebuilding job. Whoever would have come in after Carlo, it's a rebuilding job, right? This team is not good enough collectively to compete in the Champions League as we saw against Arsenal. They were well beaten over the two legs and I think this has to come with less

pressure now because his job is not keep winning and winning because this team no If this team was was quite bad this season barca destroyed them arsenal destroyed them You have to rebuild this squad hence carrera is arriving pretty much done. Hoesson already there trent on his way But maybe a bit less pressure because even he can say this is year one of my project and I really took the team Quite low in the sense that I I had to give this team another identity, different style of football, being more collective, more cohesion. I guess probably less pressure from him, for him, because of that, because it's a rebuilding job, which is not easy and cannot come with the pressure. Nobody expects him to win the quadruple next season. That's not going to happen. We've got to say goodbye to Jules. Jules, quick question. If PSG win on Saturday,

are you going to retire the shirt or would that then even more be the lucky shirt for every game going home? Will it ever be washed? That's such a great question, Colin, because I think I was going to have the players sign it all and be forever the memory of Munich 2025. But you're right, actually, I might just keep it and wear it every single time I cover a PSG game. Excellent. We look forward to talking to you on Saturday. Thanks, Jules. Thank talking to you on Saturday. Thanks Jules.

Thank you guys, cheers. Now on Friday, Napoli were crowned champions of Italy with their 2-0 win over Calgary. What a week it's been, what a season, what a year for Scott McTominay. He wins Serie A in his first campaign in Italy. He's named the MVP for the league. He spent the weekend appearing in various different nightclubs across Naples and it all ended as any good night out does with a visit to the Vatican on Tuesday. I was reading Emelian Begley's piece about Mcdominay on the BBC Sport website. He's had a shrine

built in his honour. People in Naples are getting his face tattooed on their bodies. Napoli fans even starting to wear kilts. Mina, this is going to go down as one of the best moves any player has ever made in football. Yeah, I think so. To win MVP on his first season at the club, for Napoli to win only their fourth ever Scudetto after managing those great two with Maradona, he's making history. This guy has become legendary.

Not just for the goals that he scored, but how much he's ingrained himself into the Neapolitan culture, how involved he is, how much he's trying to speak Italian in his interviews, even though he can't, he'll say certain words, whether it's troppo alto or whatever it is, he'll throw that in. He's totally embraced all the nicknames that he's been handed, like Macfratemi.

So this man has- What does the nickname mean? Brother in the Neapolitan accent. And they put a mick before everything. So, you know, to honour his Scottish heritage. And, Christophe, of course, as football does, you look to the future. Conte's future at Napoli, still very much under question.

And there could be an even bigger Belgian interest for you next season. I know the rules of radio shows and podcasts, everything could change as soon as we stop speaking here. But what do you think is the current state of play with Kevin de Bruyne? Well, Kevin de Bruyne only basically has to sign the contract and has to do his medical test, I guess. He's given his word to Napoli at the end of last week when basically the family gave his yes,'re moving there. Also because you have the Belgian angle there, Romelu Kaku is a good friend of his and then you have Dries Mechthens who's become a legend at Napoli between 2014 and 2022 I think when he left. And he's basically, everybody is expecting Mechthens to retire from football after he

became champions with Galatasaray now. And he's moving back to Napoli. So you have three Belgians that are really close to each other in the same city. And then Mrs. de Bruyne also like Napoli because they've been married in the area. So they would love the son, the kids. The most important thing was finding a good school for the kids. They found the American school in Napoli because the kids grew up in England and they're speaking better English than Dutch, I think.

So they had to find a place where the kids felt that the American school convinced them to. So now they're set to move over there and it's just waiting for the deal to get done. So it can happen in the next 24 hours. It can last for two, three weeks. But yeah, he's my descendant, Nap Napoli and everybody knows he's moving there. So... Mina, have you anything to add to that?

I mean, does Conte potentially leaving, does that impact any chance for de Bruyne to make this deal? Or do you think it's irrelevant? I think it's irrelevant because de Bruyne has been leaving directly with the club. It would be interesting and I think this is... Him arriving is actually one of the temptations for Antonio Conte to stay because what Conte has constantly complained about before is the lack of investments whether it came to players and just bringing in quality. He didn't have a replacement for the likes of Kavita Kravatskelia who left in the winter. He didn't get Garnacho who he had so desperately wanted

but actually Aurelio Duranentzis has promised him 200 million investment into the market in the winter. He didn't get Garnacho, who he had so desperately wanted. But actually our Elio Duran enthuses have promised him 200 million investment into the market, better infrastructure, investments being made into the club, and they are trying everything they can to persuade him. And Kevin de Bruyne is saying, yes, I think it's just another tempting thing for Conte. And just before we go, we have to mention Christophe, new champions in Belgium Union Saint-Géloise, they ended that 90 year wait to win the championship. People in England who don't know the story yet, the team was bought a few years ago by Tony Blum, the Brighton owner, he invested in it and

then they're working with the data that Brighton are using and as Belgian football wasn't that advanced in data as yet, they had that huge advantage of finding strange players in the German third division and turning them into stars. So they've been there like now for three years. They were competing for the title. And now for the first time they did it. Everybody was expecting them to choke like they did in the last few seasons when they always gave away an advantage with a young manager that hadn't been into first team management before this season, a former

Belgian international and former Brighton player Sebastien Poconoli had a brief spell over there. But yeah, he's called now the Belgian Diego Simeone basically because he likes to wear a nice dark suit. And not a lot of fans of you near Sergio Loaza have a title feeling that we found a, our newspaper in Belgium found one who was I think two years old in 1935 when they won their first title. It was a pub owner and he said, I will be very, very, very drunk when we win it again. So there's only one fan left that left the title.

Love it. I mean, you mentioned sharing of data with Brighton and they seem to so regularly replace managers who are highly coveted and bring someone else in to do the job. And that's where any Scottish listeners to Euroleagues will be interested because Tony to so regularly replace managers who are highly coveted and bring someone else in to do the job. And that's where any Scottish listeners to Euroleagues will be interested because Tony Bloom hoping to have that similar sort of impact with hearts when he takes on the latest investment. Yeah, if he gets the same data in place, I think they will just make a copy paste of

what they've done at Brighton and at Union. I think that data are a huge advantage. Definitely if the other clubs don't have that data. Some of the English clubs have a good data department too, but they can still use that in a league where they're not as advanced as in the Premier League, I think. But I think it's such an important lesson because so often we talk about, you know, teams that are suffering and we think,

let's go and find a coach who has this great identity who can implement his philosophy and which next coach is coming up and and has this particular style of play that's really aesthetically pleasing but actually a well-run club doesn't need any of this it doesn't even need great players it can actually sell off all their players if they want to and I think this is this is the difference between what we have is that sometimes we focus too much on what a coach can do, but if you have a great management in place that is driven by data, that is one that

can work together, not necessarily best in class, but just managers that can work together and that you can actually divide all the work between you and combine effectively to bring the results, that makes a difference. And I think that a well-run club, like for example Inter, for example, it doesn't mean if Antonio leaves and some of their star players left, like Ashraf Hakimi, Lukaku, they're still winning. And I think that's what a well-run club can do.

And it doesn't matter who the coach is sometimes. It just doesn't matter who the players are, even if they're sold, a well-run club will always succeed. For instance, at Union, they have like a president, Alex Mugio For instance at Union they have a president, Alex Mugeo, English president, they have a sporting director and they have a CEO. Often at clubs you have the fanaticism of everybody wants to get his thing through. They do everything with the three. If the three agree on something, they do it. If they don't agree, they don't do it. So that's the thing that I think is the key to success.

If a manager wants something, we say, if we don't agree, we don't do it. So often managers have a lot of demands. They don't see fitting in the long-term strategy. They would just say no. And that's basically been their key to success. They just stick to the plan that they have. Right, happy Champions League final week to us all. Let's hope we all enjoy it. Thanks so much to Mina and to Christoph and the Euroleagues. We'll be back next week to review the season and to look ahead to the summer as well. The Football Daily

is going to bring you all the latest reaction from Munich and the Champions League final across the weekend. You can listen to live commentary on 5Live on Saturday night. Coverage starts from 6.40. Steve Crossman will be back in the chair for that one inside the stadium. Next to the Football Daily, it's the Commentators' View. Bye for now.