Football Daily - Euro Leagues: Dembele wins the Ballon d'Or & The Special One returns!

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

Steve Crossman is joined by Guillem Balague, Julien Laurens and Rafa Honigstein on this episode of the Euro Leagues.The team reflect on Ousmane Dembele beating Lamine Yamal to the Ballon d'Or, Aitana Bonmati controversially taking home the women's award, and what the current state of the competition is in the world of football.Is Diego Simeone at risk at Atletico Madrid, and will we be seeing a different Jose as Mourinho returns to where it all started at Benfica?Timecodes: 01:09 General Ballon d'Or chat 10:03 Ousmane Dembele's iconic victory 15:53 Lamine Yamal falling short 20:34 Should Aitana Bonmati have won? 24:05 Harry Kane can't stop scoring at Bayern 28:22 De Zerbi's Marseille beat PSG 38:44 Is Diego Simeone on thin ice? 41:06 Mourinho's return to BenficaUpcoming 5 Live / BBC Sounds commentaries: Sat 1500 Crystal Palace v Liverpool - 5 Live Sat 1500 Chelsea v Brighton - 5 Sports Extra Sat 1730 Nottingham Forest v Sunderland - 5 Sports Extra Sun 1400 Aston Villa v Fulham - 5 Live Sun 1630 Newcastle v Arsenal - 5 Sports Extra

On the Football Daily podcast, the Euroleagues, with Steve Crosman. Hello there, welcome to the Euroleagues on the Football Daily podcast. Before I do anything else, a quick plug for our Ryder Cup coverage, all the big moments of the weekend on Five Live and BBC Sounds. Have I done that just as an excuse to say, we have our own team Europe? Yes, I have. World number one, Guillem Ballagay, hello. Hello, hello.

Hello. Hello. Captain's pick Raphael Honestine. Hi, Raf. Hello. Hello. And Julianne, you can drive the buggy? I would love to. I'm a terrible driver, though. I warn you. No, I don't believe it. Yeah, Paris driver is a terrible. It's well known. Have you seen which European football legend is driving one of the buggies at the rider's Cup?

Yeah, of course. John Franco Zola. He's driving Carlo Molineari, who's his good friend, and Zola is obsessed with golf, so he's perfect. is going to drive the baggie. So we've got coming up today how Marseille beat Paris Sondraman for the first time in 14 years at Letico Madrid's poor start to the season and Jose Marino is back at Benfica

25 years later. Obviously a big part of the pod is going to be the ballon door though. So PSG's Usman Dembele won ahead of Laminia Marl Itanamo Bon Marti won the Women's Award for the third year in a row. Guillaume, you were there in Paris. So give us a flavour.

It was glamour. It was glitz. It was people. wanted to be there, wanted to be seen. You know, Lamin's family and himself were all wearing Dolce and Gavana. I think he thought he was going to win. And just there was a tense Dembley. Former winners were there as well and were happy to stop

and praise what it is, an important part of the calendar. I think if you dismiss the balladeur, it starts to sound now like an old person's tale because all that is rooted, I think, nostalgia and not understanding how football has evolved. On that day, you realize that not just younger fans, but players see the award as part of football's modern narrative. And there is a recognition that both what you do on the pitch,

but the storytelling as well is as important as winning something like this. So there's no doubt that it felt like the big night of World Football. Ralph, is it growing in importance or diminishing in importance or staying the same? The reason I ask that is I think a lot of people find the glitz around it a little bit cringeworthy, but I don't know whether players are as obsessed with it as they used to be. First of all, I mean, anyone who's seen Giam's shirt and Dinner Jacker would not find it cringe-worthy at all. I mean, that was a beautiful ensemble.

And if the ball and door gives us this kind of, you know, glamorous image, then I think we should all support it. But I think we need to differentiate. First of all, I think there is absolutely no doubt that the ball and door is a real thing for footballers. And it's reflected not so much in the award ceremony and so on, but it's reflected in what really matters, which is the money. And it's the contracts.

increasingly players of a certain level will have huge bonuses from their sponsors, sometimes from their teams for winning the Ballandoor. So it is an actual big thing, whether we like it or not. Then beyond that, I think it depends a little bit of where you are. Real Madrid don't seem to have a good relationship with the Ballandoor. They don't turn up anymore. Barcelona and PSJ seem to have made it their thing.

In England, it's not a factor because an English player is not in the running and Germany is not a factor because there's no German in the running. In Italy, it's not really a factor. If the conversation would be a bit broader, and it wasn't so much about a certain kind of a niche, it feels like it's for niche amount of players, then if it could have more global relevance, it feels very much to me as an online thing.

It's for people who are online, who fight those who support the wrong player, they have battles, there's thousands of people saying, I should win that way I should win. But when I look out on the street in London, I just don't get a feeling that anyone really cares. So it is very important, but at the same time,

I don't think it captures the people's imagination the way a real football game does or something that brings more people into the conversation would be. Well, I say all the time, and I can understand some people not liking individual awards in a team sport. I completely get it. I mean, Luis Enrique is one, for example,

Paul who, even I think if he had been in Paris and not in Marseille playing that postponed match, would not have been to the Tead de Chatelle because he didn't really want to get like best manager of the year, that kind of stuff, I get that. But when you see how much this means to players, how much they want to win this trophy, how much they dream of winning the Ballando, have it there in their house with the other trophies that usually you've won when you win the Ballando, then I think it shows you how important it is. And yeah, of course, it's an individual award

and recognition and reward in a way in what has been very much a team sport without his teammates, Dembele can win or Messi can win or Cristiano can win et cetera, et cetera. But I think it shows you and you saw it with Aitana when she won it, but even the other kind of trophies what they meant to those people. And even people who didn't win anything,

wanted to be there. I mean, players wanted to be there too, to be part of it. So that's why I think is special. I guess, Guillem, it doesn't necessarily matter if it matters externally, if it matters internally to the players, which clearly it does. You know, the people who would have been surrounding you at that event are not there because they're fascinated by who wins the ball and door. They want to see those star players, which is completely understandable.

But so long as the players have it as a dream, nothing else is really that important, is it? They have it as a dream, but let me go a little bit further. Anybody who was anybody was there from the industry, from Georgia Mendez down, if you like. No offense taken. Well, I mean those that take decisions and move the money and move the players and close to the elite, they were all there.

And I do feel that the conversation about the Ballandor is not just an online thing. The amount of questions you will get on Sky Sports News or in five life. We've spoken about it as well. Would it be Lamine? Will it be Dembele? Is it too young for Lamine?

That's part of the conversation, part of the narrative, the storytelling. But you're absolutely right. If it would just matter to the players, that's it, is enough. And for instance, the PFA Awards,

also very glamorous, also matters to the players and the trade union in England. But he hasn't got the universality of the Ballandor. Nothing has. Not even the best, the FIFA Awards.

award. So yeah, don't dismiss it. And Raff is absolutely right. It means money. It means prestige. It means status. And everybody wants a part of it. I've got a quiz question for all of you and for the listeners that we can reveal the answer at the end. Yes. Dembele is only the 10th player in history to have won the Ballando, the Champions League and the World Cup, all three of them. So you need to find basically the other nine. The other nine? Yeah, but like, this is not me or Guillermo, they're a big that you would know it's not like a random dude from Paris

who won that before you know Champions League World Cup and Euros No Champions League World Cup and Ballondeau Let's do one each

Van Basten One Vaston I mean The Dutch have never won the World Cup So I don't know How Van Bastain could have won the World Cup

I I completely misunderstood the question So World Cup Yeah Champions League Yeah And the Ballando

Okay cool Let's die again Let's Let's Let's Let's Let's Go on

If we won. Guillaume and Raff can get in that. You can't say Kroif after I've just said Van Bastian, Guillem. You've got the same problem. Oh, sorry. Yes. Yes.

Yes. I, for some reason, Jules, when you did it, I heard Euros. And Guillaume, straight off the bat. You could have named anyone from any other country. Yeah, Kroif famously won the Euros. There we can. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, all right. You know what I mean. I didn't say, Kroif. Raph. Come on, then. Leonardo Messi? Yes, that's one. I mean, there's a German one as well for you, Raffi.

Rafida, I thought you would go for. Go on, Guillaume. I mean, I know it's not Stanley Matthews. No. Would it be Romanique? No, I won the World Cup. Two Germans, one English guy, one Italian, one French, and three Brazilians. So I am going to say Romario.

No, Romario never won the Champions League. Oh, the Ballando. Excellent. So just the World Cup. Brilliant. Good stuff Well I'm sure

You can find The two German Just to finish with German I mean They're the two Greatest German players ever

So Beckenbauer Yes It's one Yeah And then Mattias Never won

A Chapman Sieg Did he not They're bomber Yeah Gerdmüller Of course Yeah Of course

Come on Well obviously I know Obviously I know the English one Which is Bobby Charlton But Yeah You know your adult in Gabarnes, but you don't know Gerb Muller.

I think next time you do a quiz question, Jules, just sort of tell me beforehand so I can research all of the answers. And then I can go, oh, what, didn't Gern Muller win it? Yeah. Yeah, let's do that. Good. All right, well, there's still what, like six left to go for everybody to pick up on. I think, Jules, there is an argument that for all of the kind of glitz and everything

around the ball and door and not everybody finding it completely, tasteful. I quite like the fact that Dembele has won it because we're in an era at the minute where FIFA are discussing a 64 team World Cup and we've just had the club World Cup that not everybody is a massive fan of.

To have somebody win it who's come back from really really difficult times in their career who wasn't like one of the absolute elite generational talents actually that's quite a good thing isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think he was a generational talent.

I think he was born a football genius. But then you're right. Then stagnated, really, for a few years. But I think the beauty of this story is that you can mature and fulfill your potential, whatever job you're in or industry you're in, even later, even at 28 like him. I think this is a story of resilience and perseverance and not giving up on what you believe you can achieve really and we said often on the show

that at that level there's no bad players they are bad context and I think for for Dembele to find the right environment and certainly the right coach to take him to this level

to help him achieving those things and winning the ball and door had to happen and he found that with Luis Enrique and I say really I mean you can look at Tierra and how Arson Venger

changed his career really when he moved from Juventus to Arsone by changing his position to a center forward when he was a winger before, it's pretty much the same that Luis Enrique did with Usman Dembele and look at the success that they've had together. So I just love this story. And even the part of the fact that Usman Demele is an amazing guy,

and I think I said that story before, but last year I went to everywhere where he grew up in the counselor where he grew up with his best friends and his best friend Mustafa Diata, who was at the ceremony who Zeman talked about in his speech. And Usman had taken the decision to invite some of the kids who play for Evro

the underrated and the 9s who like him who played for Evre before to see him at the Par de Prince and they wanted me to announce to the kids that he was inviting them and to see the joy in their eyes

really like it was in April but it felt like Christmas to them was very special and that's it's somebody who never forgot where he came from and who's always looked after his people and I think this is very very valuable as well in the current era of footballers

it was a success of Flamassia isn't it? I mean he was a Barcelona for six years, alongside Aminiamal, Vicky Lopeth, Iitana. He was part of the Barcelona's success. Interestingly, no, Barcelona did not put anything to congratulate in the socials

to congratulate Dembele. And the fascinating part of that story that Julesa described is the fact that he has actually had to fight against attack that it was put on him for a long time to do with injuries, to do with

lack of fulfilling potential. And he's done it by, yeah, by himself and by the advice of the people around him, that all of that comes from the humbleness of realizing that the way he was doing things wasn't the right one, started changing his ways at Barcelona in terms of nutrition and working closely with individual coaches, et cetera, continued that at PSG. And yeah, you could also see what it means to him in the way that, you know, tears were flowing from his eyes, celebration with his mother and all the mothers in the, the world of footballers and all of that makes him a very very likable character who people

starting to know right now at this stage of his career and who perhaps feels that he's not going to come back at this level again that there'll be others taking over he did say himself after winning it that you know be ready because the laminia malera may be starting next I think the election the election the vote for the Mbellis shows both the strength and, if you will, the problem or the weakness of this award. It shows the strength because it rewards not so much the player, but of course there's an element of that, but the story. And I think the storyline of Nimblede is the story of PSG. He's kind of the symbol of a team that had all this potential, but had big egos and never quite got it together. But thanks

through him, through his humility, through his work rate, and also fulfilling his potential, PSJ went where they wanted to be. And a lot of people who look at, you know, who won the champion seego, who won the big trophy, they will look for a symbol and then that player wins it that particular year. And we saw it and of course in the Messi-Runaldo

era when it always went down to who won the bigger trophy rather than anything else. Nobody looked at the numbers because it didn't really matter. And as much as that is nice, I think it also shows you that this is an award elected by journalists. We love stories. We think

stories. If you now stop, again I use the example of London, but it's a football city, if you stop now 100 people in Oxford Circus and ask them, who is the best football in 2025? I don't think Osmandebele would raid very highly.

Marco Van Busten. Yeah, Croft. And here's the problem. Unless your team wins something, unless you come with a story that is sort of bigger than what you do yourself, you cannot win the ball and door. It's very very difficult to win the ball and door.

So I think we need to keep both these things, both the beauty of it, if you will, but also the flaw, always in mind when we talk about this particular award. Okay, which takes us nicely then Raff on to Lamin Yamal, doesn't it? Exactly. And I think he really suffered from the storyline not being perfect. I was surprised, but maybe I read it closely for the first time, that it explicitly says, your off-pitched behavior is part of the criteria for winning the award.

I think if he had a much quieter private life and we wouldn't have seen all the photos and we wouldn't have seen some of the controversy around the 18th birthday party, it would have had a much better chance of winning. Because in terms of pure football, like Liam said somewhere else, the way he moves people, the way people are excited to watch him, I think he is clear of them bail on everyone else but because now the narrative is part of the criteria and it's part of what people look for when they vote for a guy like that

he suffered and I think it's going to be really interesting if he can maybe heed that bit of a warning sign because if you're a young footballer who's got the talent to maybe surpass even the biggest names of the last generation I don't think the first name you want to associate yourself with this is Neymar he's probably the last name you want to associate yourself with

and I'm hearing not from people inside the club Guillem has much better connections than me but from people sort of near to the club that him becoming not the next Leonel Messi but the next Neymar is a sort of a thing that people

are talking about and worried about and I think he needs to be very careful to just not let that impression take a hold with people. There's a lot there. But I would say that first thing, that I think

he links up very, very closely to what they call the Generation Z and Alpha, the young people that were brought up with crisis and they just don't trust institutions and all of a sudden for them. Success has not been, it's not sacrifice,

is not obedience to the system. It's actually challenging it. Nema represents that. There's a lot of young people that see Naima as an icon of the game and they put in the same sentence as Cristiano and Messi, this is younger people, because they see that he actually, you know, enjoyed what he was doing to a point. For this generation, money is not a taboo and showing it off is not a taboo. It's a way of showing their individuality, their autonomy. That's what he did with his birthday. And on the other hand, these criticisms that Lamini's

I think sometimes living in London or whatever major focus on the on the Anglo-Saxon view of things I wrote a piece about Lamine Yamal and what he represents and how it could be a new step in in what it is to be the best play in the world and and what it represents and there's a lot of comments most of them very negative in English of course this was in the BBC about Lamine it's the only place where I've seen that you go outside that you go to Northern Africa What aspect are those comments critical of? The first thing was he's nobody. He hasn't done anything. And, you know, people used to talk the same way about Jude Bellingham, that kind of thing, which suggests that they've only seen them perhaps in the semifinals of the Champions League. And of course, it's difficult to follow La Liga in the UK now. So that affects the vision that in the Anglo-Saxon world they've got of Lamin Yamal,

who perhaps, yeah, focus on one or two games and on the other side of him. those pictures of his birthday, et cetera. Outside that world, outside the Anglo-Saxon world, I think, certainly in the Latin world, in Africa, it just feels like they embracing, you know, the new Messiah football, somebody that actually is getting people really, really excited.

And not to mention the fact that if you actually seen him live, as I've been lucky to see him life for 20 games already or so, oh my god it's just really really exciting to see what he does how he challenges perceptions how he challenges the toughest defenses all that is very exciting and it's part of the narrative you hear you're hearing everywhere else but yeah there's a lot of focus in england perhaps in britain about his personality whatever else perhaps forgetting that he represents very well his generation i just wanted to talk a bit about itana bonatti here because there's a link here, Raff, around what you were saying about the story. And it's quite interesting that the women's ball on door went the other way, didn't it? Because there were people who thought Alessi Russo might win it. And obviously, England winning the Euros was a really big story, winning it away from home, especially, and beating Spain in the final. Rousseau didn't actually finish in the top two.

Mariona Caldente was second ahead of Russo behind Bonnati. So that's three wins in a row. It's almost the opposite argument there, isn't it? And I've seen quite a bit of discourse suggesting, you know, is Bonnarty the right winner of that? Or does the fact that she'd won the previous two? Does her fame and her reputation come into that? So it's just interesting the two things went differently. Yeah, you're right.

And I think this might have been a case where people looked at it in a slightly more abstract way. They said, OK, there are people, their players who've won big things. And Russo, if she was a man, would have won it, for sure, I would say. but because you have this kind of messy type character almost who dominates Spanish football sorry women's football as well through the individual quality I think people are perhaps more prepared

to go beyond the narrative here and I can see why I don't think one way of voting is necessarily better than the other but I think if you're Alessia Russo you have a pretty strong case to be slightly aggrieved jewels discuss yeah I agree I agree I thought she was going to win it

I think, I mean, Mariona has been amazing too and she has won one of the two big finals that you could have won and Aitana lost both obviously, again, it doesn't it's not because you lost both finals that you are not the best player in the world, we know that and one was lost on penalties for example

but still I thought Alessia Russo for the goals that she scored in all competitions, how decisive she was sometimes even if she didn't have much to exploit in a game she was still there scoring or being decisive, I thought she deserved it. But then again, you look at itana Beaumatti

and she's an incredible player, maybe the greatest, or one of the greatest that woman's football has ever seen. Out of the eight ball and doors of Messi, perhaps one or two, were argued that others perhaps deserved it. But we look back and we thought, yeah, of course, he had to take it. He had to win it. With Itana's the same.

She is so much better than the rest. She does things that nobody else. those in a way, you know, she's a mixture of messy, chavi, niesta, all in one. So it's logical that again, in such a subjective award that you give it to her. But it's a good thing that she gets it to because she represents a series of values that had to do with, you know, family. She knows what's good. She knows what's bad. About equality. She had the opportunity to come to say, which is the only one that said it, that finally the same you get the men get the same awards as the woman or the other way around

that now it's all getting closer to equality she always has a message that has to do with that and i think she's represented by about 11 brands and every one of them could be 20 but she prefers to just work with those that represent what she wants to transmit to the world so it's a good thing that she gets it. But, you know, again, we'll look back in 10 years' time and we'll think, yeah, of course she got it like five, six, seven, or how many she's going to get. Right, Raff, Harry Kane, going back to the men's ball and door, 13th. And I know, look, it's calculated over here, all that good stuff. If you were a Bayern Munich fan and you heard that Harry Kane was the 13th best player in the world,

I think you might raise your eyebrows slightly. Yeah, but in a way you're used to it because you know that a Bayern Munich player can only win if he wins also the World Cup or the Euros and or the Champions League. And even then, Manuel Noir didn't get it, Frank Uri didn't get it. And it's not really so much the Bayern expectation to have sort of the world's best player. But he's certainly, I think, the number one player for Bayern at the moment in a way that even had Zututscher Tsaitung made him sort of the final word in this row of strike. that Byrnev had as a club that has had big number nines in the last 10, 15 years,

they think he is the best of all of them. And that, of course, includes Lewandowski as his predecessor. And he's done it in a way that is so unique because center forwards, we associate them with a lot of things, but not selfishness and humility. And wanting to defend in their own box as much as. as attacking the other goal, but Harry Kane, who always had all this, has gone to another level over the last two, three weeks or so, and has captured kind of the imagination of the German public that is, I think, unusual for a non-German player.

And people are kind of just in awe of what he does, and you can see his teammates being in awe of what he does. And right now, the one player that everyone talks about in Germany is Harry Kane, not because he does something different, not because he does something unexpected, but he does it in a way that I think people who even knew that he was more than a centre forward didn't appreciate just how much more he is. And I think crucially, on top of that, he now seems very, very fit and gets around the pitch in a way that, again, you wouldn't necessarily think somebody the wrong side of 30 could do so

much. So Ballondor is not a thing, but number one player in Germany as far as sort of dominating all the headlines. And we haven't even talked about the numbers and the goals yet. This is just purely his playing style. He's the one player that everyone is watching at the moment. So if you could pick one thing, Raff, which best symbolizes the difference between, let's say, Kane, last season and this season, if we're talking about someone who you think has gone

onto another level, what sort of most stands out? Well, he had a great season last season as well, of course. He's got lots of goals in the season before, even better. But now he does it, I think, in a team that as a team is happier, is more evolved, more in a different stage of development in company's second year. And you can see kind of how things click and he just moves through the gears. And there's this wonderful clip you might have seen it online where he picked. up the ball from the goalkeeper basically and then lays it off and then a couple of minutes,

a couple of seconds later, he's in the opposition box and he plays a killer ball to Michael or Lisa who sadly doesn't score. But it's the ideal team goal, but at the same time with Kane as a centre forward, starting it and nearly kind of finishing it off or at least assisting. And that kind of brilliance, so consistent. consistently, we haven't even seen from him last year. So it's not, again, it's not something new. It's not something unprecedented,

but it's the sheer consistency and the sheer brilliance, and I must stress, the humility, the selflessness that just takes people's breath away at the moment. Raph, we're going to finish with a bit of Marseilles and a bit of Atlatico, Madrid. But you've just said you're not willing to take part in those segments, right? It's not that you've got something that you need to go and do. you've just refused I would never refuse

to take part in a PSJ defeat discussion when Jules is on the air so let me just quickly say something about that and then I can then I can move on

to other things obviously a PSJ didn't have their best team out there were lots of issues and it was a fairly edgy game it could have gone the other way but I think

this game and this was still a decent starting 11 very good starting 11 I think this game combined with the Club World Cup the feed just shows to me that maybe there's a little bit

and I'm interested to see what Jules Fings, a little bit of a hangover that a team had to have basically played at the highest level possible throughout at least the second half of last season maybe have come to a point

where they're just a little bit out of breath and perhaps they should have maybe mixed it up a little bit more maybe put in another two or three or at least one or two sort of big players to just give a bit more freshness, something a little bit new. I think right now they're a team

to being asked to do again what they did the year before. They did it so brilliantly that it's impossible almost to surpass and they're just falling a little bit short of the own standards that they have set. You see Raph's got to go but he makes a nuanced, intelligent point

before he rolls out. I try. Couldn't resist. Thank you, Raff. Lovely to tell you with this as always. That's Raphael Honixstein. Jules, let's Let's carry on the chat then on Marseille, beating PSG first time in 14 years. Yeah, the Velodrome, because they've won in Paris once since. But yeah, and Rapha is right. There's a bit of that.

I think PSG were not up for the battle. What I liked about Marseille, what I liked, some people might not like it. But they went back to the old recipe, right? Let's make this a battle. Let's make this, let's make the velodrome incandescent and a fortress, and let's be aggressive and let's be in their face, even if it's borderline acceptable at times

and the Zerby got sent off after the end after the end of the game there was RG bargy between security stewards and some of the PSG players there was a lot of booze and insult towards PSG players

from the Marseille fans all of that which is what you expect really in such a big derby I know it's not a local derby but it's a huge derby is the biggest game

in French football really and PSG were not up for that battle the game was supposed to be played on the Sunday night it was moved to the Monday. A lot of those PhD players would have rather been

at the Ballando ceremony with Guillem than at the Velodrome with the likes of Guiri and Greenwood and all those guys it's a defeat that is not good

obviously and Rapha is right there's part of this PhD game that people are trying to find out and certainly a high very aggressive press

like Marse did for the first 25 minutes paid off plus a mistake by Chevalier there was also this weird back three that Luis Enrique tried in this game

where I'm not sure it was the right place or the right time to do but in my eyes he can do anything you want he would still be a legend anyway so no problem but yeah

it was one of those old school recipes of like you know let's do what teams used to do in the 80s in those kind of games and that worked. Guillaume can I just read you a quote from Roberto Deserbe who is just the perfect man

to have in charge of Marseille for this reason the way he reacts to things so he said after the game one of the reasons I came to Marseille was to beat PSG because they represent power and I don't like power.

That's what you want to hear I think if you're a Marseille fan from your manager having beaten PSG and got so into the game he got himself sent off. Totally. I got a little bit of distorted picture of Marseille in recent times close to Marcelino Garcia Doral

who was there for a few months and a couple of other managers that have been there and perhaps struggled. But having spoken to the Serbi himself after the Real Madrid game. I'm going to keep watching them because he's managed to put together him and Pablo Longoria, the chairman,

a mixture of misfits, veterans and quality players that are going to do whatever the Serbic wants them to do. And you're absolutely right. He feeds from the environment that is at the Belladrome for the first time ever,

friends of mine close to a member of the squad were at the Velodrome for that game and they have been at Celtic Park in an old firm and the Velodrome beats it which is a big thing to say 70,000 people just shouting there

it was fascinating and actually that energy was transmitted into the team but what is even more interesting is that these people with a lot of talent until Gomez and over my yang even though a striker perhaps is a week

composition, Bermarine, Matt O'Reilly, Pavard, all those guys are good and Adam Marseille because individually have got a lot of talent. But what the Serb is going to do, of course, is trying to fit them into a system. And I thought he was quite fanatical of the system at Brighton, for instance. But he allows the forwards to be relatively free. So that mixture seems to work. And everybody is so in love with the manager and him with the players. there is a lot of room for improvement.

And even though they beat PSG, there were times where they couldn't control the pitch midfield and the attack that wasn't as accurate as normally would be. But they're going into one place that they want to insist on. They were at the Bernabeo and were playing from the back and they kept losing the ball, but they were doing it again. So in three, four, five months time, this team, more than last season with the Zerbi,

will be definitely one that I think, I don't know if you agree, Jules, will challenge PSG for the title, perhaps. Yeah, I think they should. I think they should be. We'll be between them too. It should. I mean, they had lost two of the first four league games

before Monday night because they also have showed the limitations in what he wants them to do and sometimes they're not delivering. But it's a team that changed a lot, a squad that changed a lot again in the summer because that's what Longoria and Benatia do every six months, pretty much.

This is part of the kind of business model. and it's not easy for the Zerbie or previous managers, as you know, with Marcellino to have to integrate or to lose 10 players every summer and to integrate 10 new players and then half of that in January. And then again, 10 in the summer, ins and outs. But he's doing a great job. And yeah, the problem is the consistency with them, which was the same problem last season where at times they were excellent and other times, even at home at the Velodrome where

they lost to teams that they should have never lost to like Oxair, for example. you think like how can they play so good one week and then so average the next week and that's why he will have to sort out really but on Monday night just did what they had to do in the first half where they were outstanding in the second half they defended for their lives

and they defended really well together and again we saw Mason Greenwood or I mean we usually don't really put the shift in defensively which has created a lot of tension between the Zerby and Greenwood last season for example but this time everybody was on the same page and when you are with the talent

that you have on the ball, if you are doing that off the ball, then I think on your day you can beat anybody. I've got to say, I'm disappointed with how comfortable praising Marseille's is. I thought, I'm always objective. I know you are, I know you are, but I just wondered if this might be one of those stories or I might just be able to needle you along the way. But, I mean, fair enough. Can we just say, Jules, to finish on this, on the velodrome, though?

what an amazing stage it is for what is I think one of the biggest games in world football this, you know, La Classique I think it's a fantastic game but you know the Velodrome is one of those grand

and I was lucky enough to be there for the semi-final of the years in 2016 when France beat Germany it's one of those where the acoustics are amazing I always think it's like being it's like being really near the stage at like a massive gig

where you can actually feel it almost fluttering like in your chest? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, for the listeners who've never been, it has to be on your bucket list like, like Dortmund, like, I don't know,

the Bonbonera, like other stadiums like that where I think this is, this is a place because even against smaller teams, those two virage, so curvers or like behind each goal,

really where the ultras are, the Marseille ultras are, are just incredible. And they really are. And Guillaume gave them 10,000 more fans than actually in the stadium it's a 60,000 seater. But it's 60,000 that sound like 160,000

to be fair to them. So it's incredible. You're right, the noise. Often players say they can't hear the referees whistle sometimes because it's so loud. And if you don't play on the side of the benches, and I know it's hard to hear anyway, but even more there, you can't hear what the manager is trying to tell you.

So it's an experience for sure. And you know, I think the fact that the game was postponed from Sunday night to Monday at another 24 hours for them to get hyped up and to get pumped and for the Zerbi to get pumped to get his players pumped up for the game and the fans as well that's also why we had such an incredible atmosphere. weekly. We'll continue to bring you the latest news, insights and analysis from across the

women's game. They're throwing some big money around. I want to see how they line up, how everyone fits in. Episodes will be available every Tuesday as ever, alongside special, unfiltered player interviews from the biggest names in WSL and beyond. To make sure you never miss an episode, just search for BBC Women's Football Weekly and hit subscribe once you get there. with Steve Crossman. Let's do a little bit quickly, Guillaume, on Atletico Madrid, because we kind of talked about them a couple of times already and whether or not we're in the midst of Diego Simeone's long goodbye.

This would have felt even more pertinent had they lost to Raya Vallacano, which it looked like they were going to do after 80 minutes. They would have gone down to 14th in the league. Julian Alvarez scored twice late on, so it completed his hat trick. They won three, two. They're still eighth. They're nine points behind rail.

Madrid. So are we still in Simeone's long goodbye or what? He'll leave whenever he wants to. That's the first thing to say. But it's the first time as well that we're hearing people within the club like the chairman, Miguel Angel Hill, saying

it's not enough just to finish third. It's an obligation and we should aim for more. Because they've spent so much money and the idea, of course, with a new stadiums, to play better football, to get titles and that's not happening. But you're absolutely right, minute 77

after six points out of 15, it was Aletico Madrid 1, Rayo Vallecano 2. And you start at Real Madrid fans were salivating because of course it's the Madrid Davy next. But just generally, those are the things that Aletico Madrid should go to a new era

were thinking, right, okay, this is it. And yet Julian Alvarez, who has been upset because he's been in and out of the side, he had injury problems as well, had come back into the side for this game and scores a hat trick. He wants to finish the games. He wants to score hat tricks all the time. But if he doesn't, at Aledico Madrid, if he's not respected, I tell you who is waiting to see if they have the money, Barcelona will approach him

at some point and say, are you happy there? But meanwhile, Simeone is saying, we have to look after him. He's got to be with us forever. But he added the line, we look after him. He looks after us, suggesting that if he's not playing every game, it's for a reason. Perhaps his body doesn't allow him to do so. But what a player they've got in him. They've got good players. Hanco as well, the new centreback is, you know, Jurentes is playing the best football of his life.

Coker is in a good form. But generally this is a team that I think is only like three victories in 15 away that is still not hitting all cylinders. But you beat Rayo and you beat Real Madrid. Not only you get closer in the table to the top, but the

story will be different. Last five minutes of the Euroleagues then. think if it wasn't for the fact that Benfica were about to go to Chelsea in the Champions League, we probably would have done a solid 15 minutes on Jose Marino going back there. So we're going to do a bit now just to kind of set it up. And then obviously, there'll be a lot more discussion after that game. So in case you've missed it, Marino was at Benfica 25 years ago. He is back as manager having left Fenerbache at the end of August. He's two games in. So he started with a 3-0 win at

AFS and then his first home game back was a really kind of drab one-all draw against Rio Ave after which he said the referee had no personality which some might say is a good thing but he definitely meant it as a bad thing. This is what he said when he walked in the door.

I made a mistake going to Fenabarche it wasn't my cultural level it wasn't my football level it wasn't my level. I gave everything until the last day but coaching Benfica is returning to my level. My level is coaching one of the biggest clubs in the world. I have loved the Jose Marino story over the years, Jules.

But even as someone who used to be a big fan of him, he sounds a bit delusional now, doesn't he? I don't know. I like what he said. I like that dig at Fenabachi, who to be fair, were quite critical of him once they sacked him too I love that

his back where he all started 25 years ago because Benfica had not for long to be honest but still was his first was the first time he was the proper manager he said also

that he always thought he would go back to Portugal but as the national team head coach which I think we all thought that would be possible or that would happen etc but for him

to come back at Benfica like this with a good squad a talented squad, a young squad too. It's very interesting. And let's see how they do for him to start the Champions League campaign, although it's the game week two,

but still for him, it's the first game, away at Chelsea. It's just whoever wrote that script that nobody knew about three weeks ago, it's just incredible. That will be the biggest point of next week. It would be very special. You would expect an incredible reception

from Stanford Bridge. It has to be because, yeah, it was not perfect for Marine. you are Chelsea, but it was still pretty good over the two stints and it's just brilliant I think so I just can't wait for the ride for how long it lasts

for how good it is for up and down it would because inevitably it will be it would be quite fascinating to follow I think his words are deflection, manipulation self-preservation calculated

and he knows it obviously by blaming the Okay, he shields the players from criticism for a result like this and builds very quickly and as versus them kind of mentality adds pressure to the referees, reinforce his own brand as headline making person. You already quoted him. And it serves as an excuse for now and for the future. But we've seen all that before.

wouldn't we? Yeah, it feels a bit like when he went into Tottenham and talked about the new pillows. And it's like, I slept here last night on the world's greatest pillows. What else did he say in his press conference? I'm more altruistic, this is in Bedfika, not spurs, less egocentric. I think more about the others. I'm last in line. I'm here to serve.

I think, Guillem, Jules, is right, that it's box office and it's going to be great fun. but it can be great fun and at the same time look at him and thinking are you just finding ways to say, no, no, no, no, now I'm back. No, no, no, now I'm back. It's his methodology.

Others dedicate more time to focus on the team or analysis, whatever. It's part of what he does. It's his methodology. And my educated guess is that he will have a full season. Who knows, maybe even a second full season.

But at some point in his contract, he will go halfway through a season because that has got financial rewards and allows him to especially if he's a bad ending to blame others. It's just done now.

I don't think he adds that much to football apart from five minutes at the end of the Euroleaks. So the two things that I think our YouTube viewers on the BBC Sport YouTube channel will have enjoyed most about the show. One is Guillem's shirt,

which is for listeners to the Football Daily podcast, is covered in penguins and why not. The other is your quiz question, Jules. So do you want to give the rest of the answers? Have you got them? Yeah, I've got them all. So Dembele, the 10th player in history

to win all of the World Cup, the Ballando and the Champions League, joining the ones that you already found. So Beckenbauer, Gatmuller, Charlton, and Messi. Van Bastion. Not Croft, not Ambassador. The one you didn't get were Paolo Rossi.

Yeah. Where Rivaldo, Zinidad. Zidan, Kaka and Ronaldinho. Nice. Well, well done for those of you that got them right, and I'm sure you'll have been screaming at the radio slash YouTube screen. Before we go, Guillem, do you want to tell us a bit about your new book? Oh, it's out.

It's out today, actually. So happy publication day to everybody who held me, and his rise of the villains. I've been very lucky, blessed with the timings of my books. There's a bit of a crisis going on, and I don't know right now. And that means that people have to look at the book for answers because all the answers that they need to the questions about what's going to happen to now

and why Monchi gone and who is Roberto Labbe, they're all in the book. So, yeah, that's the little block. And it gives me a chance to say that we'll have full commentary of Aston Villa versus Fulham on Premier League Sunday. We'll also be bringing you at 4.30, Newcastle versus Arsenal at five sports extra. And Jules, you'll be with us as always.

Absolutely in the studio in Manchester with you. Beautiful. Salford, Jules. Solford, sorry, Solford. Sorry, my bad. Take the train to Manchester and then the tram to Solford. That's the one. Jules, Guillem, lovely stuff as always. Thank you both very much. See you later.

Thanks. Julianne, Leone, Guillem Ballagay and Raphaonicstein, who was with us earlier on the Euroleagues. If you want to listen live to the next Euroleagues, we've got a two hour special coming up on 5 Live next week. So that's Thursday, October 2nd from 8pm. We will catch you then. And as always, thank you so much for listening. Five live sports.

Go see the end zone. Touchdown. NFL. Touchdown. Philadelphia. Great play design. I think you just have to go out there and be the best that 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. Super Bowl 59. Five light for NFL. Listen on BBC Sounds.