Football Daily - Euro Leagues: Forgotten Messi, PSG’s Salah and the new De Bruyne

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

John Bennett is joined by Guillem Balague, James Horncastle and Kristof Terreur. They unpick the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final ties. Guillem explains why Barcelona are finally over the Lionel Messi era and ask whether there is any chance of a sensational comeback by Real Madrid against Arsenal. The team debate why Inter Milan perhaps deserve more credit than they get and explain who could be PSG’s answer to Mohamed Salah? And with Kevin De Bruyne leaving Manchester City, Kristof sheds light on the talented youngster at Genk who is drawing comparisons with the Belgium legend. Oh – and with Raphinha tapping home on the goal-line to deny Pau Cubarsi, the team discuss the tricky subject of goal theft. TIMECODES 0 mins – After Raphinha nicked a goal from Pau Cubarsi, the team discuss other examples of tapping home to deny a team-mate a goal. 4 mins – The reaction in Belgium to the news Kevin De Bruyne is leaving Man City – and where he is likely to go next. 8 mins – The brilliance of Barcelona and the importance of Raphinha and Lamine Yamal. 16 mins – Do Real Madrid have any chance of going through? And is the writing on the wall for Carlo Ancelotti? 26 mins – Under-appreciated Inter Milan – and their prospects of ending Bayern’s dream of a Munich final. 33 mins – The team pick what they liked most about PSG’s win over Aston Villa. 37 mins – Konstantinos Karetsas – the new name to watch in Belgium football.Forthcoming commentaries Thursday 10th April EUROPA LEAGUE: Lyon v Manchester United 2000 KO - Conor McNamara and Izzy Christiansen. Saturday 12th April WOMENS FA CUP: Chelsea v Liverpool 1215 KO – LIVE ON SPORTS EXTRA - Charlie Slater and Molly Mae Sharpe. PREMIER LEAGUE: Nottingham Forest v Everton 1500 KO - Ian Dennis and Leon Osman. PREMIER LEAGUE: Arsenal v Brentford 1730 KO - Conor McNamara and Andy Reid. Sunday 13th April PREMIER LEAGUE: Liverpool v West Ham 1400 KO - John Murray and Paul Robinson. PREMIER LEAGUE: Chelsea v Ipswich 1400 KO – LIVE ON SPORTS EXTRA - Chris Wise and Curtis Davies PREMIER LEAGUE: Wolves v Spurs 1400 KO – LIVE ON THE BBC SPORT WEBSITE – Lee Blakeman and Stephen Kelly PREMIER LEAGUE: Newcastle v Manchester United 1630 KO – Mike Minay and Pat Nevin.

BBC Sounds music radio podcast. On the Football Daily podcast, the Euroleagues with John Bennett. Listen on BBC Sounds. Hello and welcome to Euroleagues. Joining us today, James Hortcastle, Christophe Terreur and just back from the touchline of Barcelona against Borussia Dortmund, it's Guillem Balaguey. Hello to all of you.

So over the next half hour or so, we'll be reacting to a great week of Champions League football. Anyone going to be brave and predict a Real Madrid comeback? We'll also talk about the new 17-year-old star in Belgian football. But first, I want to talk goal theft. So Rafinha of Barcelona sliding in to steal

Pau Kabassi's goal on Wednesday night. You can see this on the BBC Sport website if you haven't checked it out yet. Literally pushing the ball over the line when it was going in. James, which Italian football legend would be looking at what Rafinha did and thinking that is my guy? I mean it's beyond dispute who this person would be. It is none other than Super Pitippo in Zagreb. I knew it, I knew you'd go there.

I mean, this isn't a perfect comparison, but there was a Champions League game between Milan and Lyon years ago, in which Shevchenko did all of the hard work, had a shot, and the shot careened off, I think the bar or the post hit the bar and the post again and who was there somehow had managed to guess where the ball would drop but Pipo Inzaghi and Inzaghi scored. So definitely it's a Pipo kind of mentality. I remember Luis Suarez's Coyote situation against Manchester United. I don't know if you remember, he dribbles past three players, Luis Suarez.

Scores for him the perfect goal because he's not a dribbler, is he? And the goal was going in and Coyote touches it. So he has to count as a Coyote goal, but straight away realizes what he's done. So he starts pointing out at Luis Suarez, who celebrates it as his own goal and could make sure that, yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, stats may say differently, but it's all yours, it's all yours, because you cannot steal a goal from Luis Suarez. But let me say that the Rafinha goal was another test, and perhaps we'll have the chance to talk about this, of the culture that has been created at Barcelona, because Rafinha goal was another test, and perhaps we'll have the chance to talk about this, of the culture that has been created at Barcelona.

Because Rafinha goes to Cúbarci after the game and says, I think I touched the ball, I think they're going to give it to me. And Cúbarci says, oh great, so then they'll give me an assist. So that's another example of a team that they have the bigger picture in their minds and if it's about giving Rafinha the opportunity to be the best goal scorer of the Champions League, not a problem. There's no way that Pipo Nzaghi would have apologised by the way. Christophe, any examples of goal theft? I only remember a Belgian striker missing those kind of chances in World Cup or European games,

so I'm not going to mention him, but listeners will know him, I think. The ultimate example, I think, is David Nugent against Andorra for England. Jermain Defoe crossing it in or shooting and right on the line, Dave Nugent just taps it in. Absolutely no shame as well. Check out that goal if you can, because he absolutely loves claiming that that goal But more on Barcelona a bit later on in Ruffini. I think Guillem is ready to wax lyrical on La Migno mal But with before we get into a detailed Champions League chat so much to talk about it was a great week

I just want to ask you Christophe about Kevin de Bruyne leaving Manchester City at the end of the season How big a story has it been back in Belgium over the last seven days? He picked the right moment to be fair. If he'd done it next week or three weeks ago, it would have been the biggest story. But he sent out a statement that he would be leaving Manchester City like just two days before the Tour of Flanders, the yearly cycling race where everybody in the Flemish part of Belgium is going crazy about it. Cycling over football? Surely not. Yeah, cycling over football. And basically it's all about Wout van Aert, most popular Belgian cyclist and a bit like

the Belgian national team. He's very popular. Everybody has high expectations of him. But yeah, he hasn't won a big monument since five years, I think. So it's a bit like the Belgian national team. So all the talk now is about cycling and not about football. It's barely a bit this weekend. So football is not playing the first string anymore. Where do you think he will end up next? He's only 33, what do you think Kevin Di Brono's next move will be? He's only 33 but for whatever reason he's got 20 minutes per game on him. Even though if he starts games, I think that's been recognised, but Manchester City for a while, a sign of a Manchester City that fell asleep, and I

think everyone will agree on that, is the fact that they're still trying to get Jews out of him. They still try to get a player that can win matches for them and he's not there anymore, which suggests that everybody knows about that. So he's not going to go to Italy, Spain, Germany, nowhere like that. MLS for him next, Saudi for him next. If he doesn't retire, because I don't know what Cristobal think of this, but I think he's not stupid. And the fact that Manchester City have decided not to renew his contract, even though he considered the possibility of staying on. It's a sign of a player that has reached the top and cannot go back to it anymore. Well he still has one thing on his mind that is the World Cup in 26, so he wants to to continue playing football. But you have that

body, all the juice is pretty much out of it. I think he's become very injury prone, so he will pick a league where there's less pressure on him, less games, so where he might stay fit for the World Cup. I think once upon a time Italy would have been a destination and you can see these cliches in that column that Philipp Lahm wrote for The Guardian about how Italian football lacks intensity. Clearly hasn't watched it since since he was playing. Kind of blew up in his face when Inter beat Bayern in midweek. But I mean, Italian clubs these days, particularly the big clubs, Milan and Inter, now run by sort of American hedge funds, private equity, who have been kind of really trying to get this change in culture

within these clubs to go and become younger teams, so that their players are investments. Essentially, you buy low, sell high, get them young, no longer giving contracts to players in their mid-30s, 33 in de Bruyne's case, when you're not going to get anything back for it. So I think that's an interesting kind of mentality shift that we're seeing in Italy, where, you know,

once upon a time, it would have been a destination. There would have been appeal to go and sign De Bruyne on a free transfer. I think that's maybe a little bit more limited, at least at the very top of the league than it was before. What a shame. I think he'd have looked great, wouldn't he, in the Inter kit or the AC Milan kit. But let's get into the Champions League now. We'll start in Spain. Fair to say two very different results for Barcelona and Real Madrid. We'll talk about Real Madrid in a moment, but first, Guillaume,

you're at Barcelona's 4-0 demolition of Borussia Dortmund. Goal stealing aside, Rafinha equaled Lionel Messi's club record for goal involvements in a single Champions League campaign. 19 goal involvements in the competition this term, the same as Messi achieved in the 2011-2012 campaign. No doubt about it, is that, Guilhem, we've got to put Rafinha in the world-class level now. No doubt.

He belongs to that level. He's already part of a conversation about the Ballon d'Or and he's certainly a candidate. But I think we have to take a step back and try to look at what has happened here because this is exactly the same team that Xabi had in his hands with Dani Olmo, who's been missing half of the time because of injury. There are many ways to explain the improvement of the side, including the process of actually giving some of these players a debut before Hansi Flick, but Hansi Flick has made a lot of changes. From discipline, punctuality is a big thing. Kunde has been on the bench three times because he was late to a meeting. Iñaki Peña, the goalkeeper of Barcelona, who was the regular goalkeeper

at the time, missed the start of one meeting. Shesney takes over and that's it. Shesney has been the goalkeeper of Barcelona, have not lost in 23 games. There used to be a catwalk. Barcelona players get into the changing rooms, all filmed by the cameras of Spanish television and Barcelona TV. Now that's not allowed. Everybody's got to wear the club suit. Marc Casado had become a club favourite for the fans and the media, but as soon as the young came back from injury, he goes into it. This is a player that Barcelona wanted to sell. Flick doesn't mind. This is the one that's going to help him. Comes back in January and Barcelona takes off after what it was about November and December with four of the

feet out of seven in the league. But Hansi Flick didn't change one thing. It didn't affect in the pressure of the media. And in all that context, that's brought the best of individuals. If that means leaving Rafinha on the bench three out of the last four games in the league, so be it. He was upset. He was like a caged lion. He wanted to come out and show everyone what he's about. He shouldn't be put on the bench, but of course he was fresh and he showed against Borussia

Dortmund. I had a chat with Hansi Flick at the end of the game just to say to him I'm so happy that you're so happy having met him before Barcelona. Having gone through a period there were a lot of doubts about his ability to run a big football club. Everything is working very well in his direction and everybody's very, very happy with him. So brilliant collectively collectively, the disciplines there. But James, do you think it's LaMina Malle who will make the difference in the latter stages of the Champions League? That was another exceptional performance.

Yeah, it was really following on from the Euros, where, you know, I was reminded watching Bayern against Inter. I was like, oh, when was I last at the Allianz? Oh, it was for France-Spain in the semi-final when he scored that incredible goal. It's interesting listening to some of the punditry on Italian TV last night where those stats were cited and Zvonimir Boban, Boban who doesn't have hairs on his tongue, as the Italians say, because opinions just fall out of his mouth. He was like, you know, he will never, never be the player that Messi is.

And I don't think you have to make the comparison really, as much as the statistics are there and they are kind of forcing these parallels, if you like. Lamine is his own player and what a joy to watch when he's on form like he was against Dortmund. You can find all the stats, like the fact that Lamine Yamal scored his fourth goal in the competition. Nobody ever has done that at his age. Nobody had played 20 games at his age in the Champions League before. You have to go and watch him and you realise what he is about. He puts the cross for Rafinha to head into the six-yard box for Lewandowski to score the second goal. The pass to Fermin for the third goal, that then Fermin assists Lewandowski for the 3-0.

The pass normally is on the outside of the player, it was on the inside in front of him. It's absolutely beautiful. He scores the fourth goal before getting close to the goalkeeper and just every move depresses the rivals because he does things that annoy his defenders. He clarifies a move that doesn't know where it's going, takes the move to another level. He wants the ball when it's complicated. He's so ambitious. He's like he hasn't got memories. Like every game is one to win and every competition is one to win. Pushes the manager because he doesn't want to be replaced. And yet last night he faked Musso problems, raised his hand,

oh, replace me, replace me, said it about five or six times. He really wanted to be replaced this time because he knew that that will allow Ansu Fati to come on the pitch for the first time in three months. And there was a great picture of him and Ansu Fati in the changing rooms just to celebrate the fact that Anso is back. But one thing did the run. Somebody came out with a line that everybody's repeated and make ownership of it.

Nobody for the first time perhaps in recent history of Arthrona, nobody mentioned Messi. Nobody remembers Messi. Messi has been forgotten now. They moved on from Messi. And that's down to, again, Lamin, who hasn't got memory, Rafinha, who's equal in the stats of Messi, and Lewandowski, who has reduced a little bit his ego to allow the other ones to grow and still doing his thing.

So yeah, Messi has been forgotten. The post-Messier era has finished. That is the title of this week's podcast, Messi Forgotten. I can see it now. So from Barcelona to Real Madrid, James Wancastle, Christophe Thoreau, Guillem Balaguey, will any of you stand up and say, I think Real Madrid will make one of the greatest comebacks

in Champions League history next week and win this tie. Come on, someone be brave. No. Silence. OK, I mean, you're all shaking it. Amazing things happen in football. Amazing things happen at the Bernabeu. I know this Madrid side has injuries, it has flaws, it's not balanced and all that sort

of thing. But I thought the line that Carlo Ancelotti took after the game, there was self-interest in it. But when he said that, just as you can't expect Declan Rice to score two free kicks, who's to say you should expect us to basically go out next week? Football is where the unexpected happens. So, again, I was not surprised to see, again, in the Italian papers and on Italian TV last night, that when they were asked to predict who would reach the semi-finals, you know, three of the pundits, you know, Kostakouta,

Boban and Capello still refused to go against Madrid. You know, it still says a lot about Madrid's reputation that it's not something you can take for granted that Arsenal would progress at the Bernabeu. I'm glad that somebody's taking the romantic view that miracles exist in football because otherwise this would be too logical. But every single time that Madrid did a miracle, the preview should say what we have to say, which is not possible because what what Real Madrid do is impossible. But in this occasion, you are talking about a team that don't defend well.

There is no architecture in the midfield. There is no patterns. They depend a lot on the individuals as always, but the individuals, Rodrigo, Vinicius, were completely missing and they haven't got a capacity to react. In fact, the worst Real Madrid was after 1-0. That was it. It was the worst Real Madrid was seen in a long time.

There's so many details that suggest that it's not possible for them to turn this around, including the amount of running that they do. They run 12 kilometres less than Arsenal. I remember a story came out that early in the season after being defeated by Barcelona, Ancelotti took Vinicius Rodrigo and Mbappé into his office and said, you know, the strikers, the forwards of Arsenal, they run about four kilometres more than each one of you, and this is Arsenal. You should be doing at least what Arsenal do, not knowing that eventually they were going to meet Arsenal. But that didn't work, did it?

Because there's still not players that do their work defensively. And another stat that tells you the story, Mbappé and Vinicius each one did 12 pressures into the ball, 12 runs into the ball. Marinho, Michael Marinho 41. There is enough indications that they think they can just switch on at any minute and turn any game around and I don't think that's possible. No, with this team. But you're right, they have the belief though, don't they? Ju Bellingham saying, one place where crazy things happen is our house, Christophe. I know what Guillaume is saying, but listen to what James said with the pundits on Italian TV. You can never write off Real Madrid, surely?

Yeah, that's true. But I don't think if you've been looking at this Real Madrid side and you compare that side with those that did those miracles, there's a difference, difference of balance and work rate. I've never seen them conceding those goals that easy. I even saw Thibaut Courtois admitting that he might have made a mistake for that first free kick goal, that the wall wasn't where it used to be. And for the second one, he was critical of himself too so as Bellingham, yeah maybe is right, never say never with the helmet it but yeah don't see it at the moment. Where does this leave Carlo Ancelotti James, where does this leave his future obviously

all the speculation anyway that he's going to leave Javi Alonso is going to come in, do you think it's all over for Ancelotti? Look, I mean, you know, Ancelotti won five of six trophies last year, but at Real Madrid, the only thing that counts is the present, not the past. And, you know, he wouldn't be surprised if this is the end for him. But I don't think there's any coach who has experienced more of these situations than Carlo Ancelotti. He's the guy who ultimately works at these very high pressure environments, is very good at managing up. But I don't think anyone expected Carlo Ancelotti to go back to Real Madrid after he was at

Everton to have the success that he's had at Real Madrid since he's gone back there in his second spell. So, I think as much as people are quick to diminish what he's done or what kind of a football Madrid play, ultimately, he's the most successful manager in this competition's history. We'll have to see. I mean, obviously Brazil have sacked their manager. You know, it does feel like we live on permanent loop with Carlo Ancelotti and Real Madrid and Brazil. You know, this stuff just happens. It feels like every time we get to the spring, we have the same conversation.

So let's see. When they come back against Arsenal, win the Champions League, win the Copa del Rey and sort of what and then pull back this four point gap with Barcelona, you know, we'll then, you know, be bowing our knee to King Calhau again. So let's see. There are two ways in which you can more or less find out, Dramadrid are happy for Ancelotti to be criticized and eventually let him go. And this has been going on since October. One is messages directly from the top to certain journalists that will come out with lines against Ancelotti that

perhaps are not in the debate, but obviously comes from the inside, like, why is Hendrik not playing? Why are the Gulas not playing? That started with that. Then more and more stats that perhaps are only known by the people inside as well comes out like, oh, they're not running as much, et cetera. That's one way. The other way is when you start pushing with criticism, oh, he's made a mistake by putting Valverde right back.

And you don't hear anything back from Madrid. And then you just push a little bit more and go like, ooh, Vinicius and Mbappé, they're not working together. Silence, good. When that happens is because the Ramadhi are allowing that wave of criticism to push little by little and Celote away. And those were things are happening.

Those two things are happening. Chavía Alonso, I think we all agree is what Real Madrid needs because what Real Madrid are saying, this is only one person really the chairman, is that Real Madrid are not looking after the details. These are players, two of them that are not defending, that there is no reaction. How is it that you put Valverde as right back and don't move into midfield when he will be more influential? A lot of things that works against Ancelotti. And yes, of course, you can make a case like James Stone in favour of Carlo,

but I think the sense, the feeling, the wave, the wind suggest that it's the end of an era. suggest that it's the end of an era. Every Friday, as we look ahead to the weekend's football action, with a few untold stories along the way. A wasp flew into my mouth while I was talking and I panicked. The commentators view only on the Football Daily. Listen on BBC Sounds. Let's go to Inter Milan now. 1-2-1 at Bayern Munich on Tuesday evening.

Christoph, we saw this coming, didn't we? Because Bayern Munich were really weakened. I mean, a few weeks ago, Raphael Honigstein was telling us that their future, their season have been completely changed by the Alfonso Davis injury. And then you get Jamal Musiala getting injured as well. You couldn't see Bayern winning this tie, could you? Well and then there was a huge surprise of most of the German media. Vincent Kompany picked Guerrero as an attacking midfielder here. Tom Itt killed against Bochum, I think he scored twice. But in a big

tie as against Inter Milan, they expected the old guy Thomas Müller, who's leaving Bayern 2 at the end of the season, to come in and start from minute one. And then ironically, he scores that de-equalizer too. So there was lots of criticism on Vincent company for his strange choice, basically, in attacking midfield. But yeah, it's been, yeah, you expected this to happen definitely within the, yeah, you can't call them an Italian team, but they are very smart and they're waiting for basically, for a team to make that mistake. And Bayern make a lot of mistakes. They have been very vulnerable in the Bundesliga too.

So didn't come as a surprise. Definitely with Muzialla being out, no Neuer, no Davies. They're just in a bad moment and then they have to play Dortmund in the weekend too. So there's lots of pressure on company, they can lose their season, even maybe their title too in the home court. So crucial weeks for Vincent Co. at the helm of Bayern. And Inter ruining the romantic story, James, of Thomas Muller getting that late equaliser. But it was a great moment for Inter, wasn't it? Did you expect them to sit back when it was 1-1? Did you expect them to have that chance near the end?

Does that tell us a lot about where this Inter team is right now? They saw that as an opportunity to win the game. It was a really good game. Yeah, both teams had their moments. Let's not forget that Kane, for example, missed that chance at 0-0, hit the post. And also, I thought, you know, when Inzaghi made his changes, you know, he brought on Bisek and Frattese. Yeah, from a defensive point of view,

that seemed to swing the momentum even further in Bayern's favor. And, you know, when Muller scored, I feared for Inter at that moment that, oh my God, this is going to follow the trend that we've seen recently in Serie A where they've been in the lead and they don't just give away one goal,

they might give away a couple. And so, you know, for Bisek and Frattese to kind of be at fault for the cross getting in for Muller's goal, for Frattese then to kind of do what he does, this kind of, you know, sort of end to end sort of scores a big goal. You know, it was huge for Inter. They really needed this.

I'm a bit surprised by the tone of the kind of questioning as we've gone into this topic about, it was kind of inevitable. This was not inevitable. Yeah, Inter were under a lot of criticism going into this game, which Inzaghi found unfair. The players felt they're underappreciated by the Italian media, because they're 14 points off where they were last year.

There's a feeling that Inter should be running away with this title race in Italy, particularly because Napoli keep dropping points themselves. Inzaghi also, you were pointing out the injuries that Bayern have. Inzaghi really keen to point out that, hang on a minute, my squad is knackered as well. This is our 47th game. If we play all the way in the Coppa Italia, if we play all the way in the Club World Cup, we'll play 70 games this year. They were without their two first choice wing backs who were really important to Inzaghi.

Di Marco is like a playmaker. Dumfries has scored eight goals this season. None of them were playing in Munich. And then the weekend in that draw against Parma where they were two nil up and ended up giving away a couple of goals. Yeah, four of the five substitutions that Inzaghi made where he has to take off Bastoni

at half time, he has to take off Lautaro after an hour, he has to take off Chalonolou, they were all forced because they all picked up knocks. And yet Inter showed, I think, how mature they are as a team and how Inzagage deserves a lot of credit still for removing the psychological complex that they had in Europe on the Spalletti and under Antonio Conte. It's a team that isn't afraid of going anyone and playing anybody. It's the most difficult second leg to call, isn't it? It's really tight. I mean, James probably makes a good point there that I'm

underestimating Bayern Munich going into that second leg and maybe overestimating the way that Inter went into this game. But it's only three goals conceded, Guillaume, by Inter in this whole Champions League campaign. How are you seeing this going in the second leg? I really, really like what Inter are doing in a completely different way to the rest of teams almost. You are talking about five out of the last, the quarter finalists, five of the eight quarter finalists are Pebba Guardiola pupils, the people that, the teams that defend and attack in a way

that Pebba Guardiola has shown us. Some of it is copycat of it, others have evolved a little bit. There's a lot of talk that that produces robotic players disagree, just look at La Minyamal, look at Desiree. But certainly Inter propose something different which is as effective and deserves as much as much price. They're taking a lead and I see Inter in the next round. Talking of non-robotic football, let's talk about Paris Saint-Germain making football fun again. taking a lead and I see Inter in the next round.

Talking of non-robotic football, let's talk about Paris Saint-Germain making football fun again. We've talked about them a lot on Football Daily. The Champions League debrief is available now with Julien Lerons getting very excited about his team. But I just want a quick one from all three of you on this about Paris Saint-Germain and their performance against Aston Villa. What impresses you the most about PSG? Christophe, let's start with you. I in a way, I like how such a young team does it so well. It's like young energy. And I just see all season, you see the hand of the manager basically. It's like a real in my eyes,

a Luis Enrique team. And I really like to watch them, they're enjoyable, but you can't forget, it's one of the youngest teams, I think, in the Champions League, even. So young and energetic. It's like they have the future now they left their stars. That's what surprised me the most. I think for the first time in a long time, or for the first time ever at Paris Saint-Germain

under the Qataris, the project is about the football. It's not about having stars. It's not about having a World Cup. It is football front and centre. The noise is gone. The noise around everything is gone. Yeah. And so I think where people were antagonised by PSG in the past,

you know, look at these upstarts, this Nouveau-Riche club with their superstars. Guilla mentioned the kind of catwalk before games at Barcelona, you know, the same when you get off the bus at the Parc des Princes and there is the red carpet and they walk in. Yet that has been turned down a bit. And you can see, you know, kind of the team that's been turned down a bit. And you can see, you know, kind of the team that's been assembled by Louis Campos,

how it's been coached by Louis Henrique. I think what I really like about this team is, yes, okay, there's a kind of French element to it as well, which they've tried to go back to, but also the thing that everyone is afraid of, if you're a defender, if you're an opponent. And that is, in Italian you say, tecnica in velocità, which is skill at speed. It's the thing that you can prepare really well structurally and that sort of thing.

But there are some things that you cannot defend against. And that is when it's skill at speed in the way that you see it with Cavaradzchelia in particular. Cavaradzchelia who you know I think and I drew this comparison when he was at Napoli and kind of made the biggest impact on the league since um Cacà but also since Salah went to Fiorentina. I think yeah Cavaradzgelie can be the salat of PSG. And that will be perhaps one of the most impactful January signings that we've seen in a long, long time. I'm gonna go back to my point

and go a little bit further in 30 seconds. The Syre du Oe for me, 19 year old who is a maverick, the same way that is Caravagelia, the same way that is Dembele. And there's this dangerous debate going on in England, especially in which the teams that are structured in the way that Pep Guardiola showed, like PSG certainly is, cannot produce mavericks.

It's just all very boring. And that is dangerous because if people start believing that that's the case they're gonna be abandoning the the train that's going the fastest and the dominant force of football in the world right now which is the Pépo Ardiola style. That allows space for Mavericks. It'll be leaving England behind. PSG have shown that you can have structure, you can dominate, you can transition and you can have Mavericks like Douay. Absolutely amazing to watch. I mean, Kravos Kali, I've got to agree with you, James. I mean, that is going to be one of the most impactful January signings ever. It's just

unbelievable at the moment to watch and they are so much fun. Right, we've been to Spain, we've been to Italy. We're gonna end in Christoph's home. We're gonna go to Belgium because we've had that split in Belgium, haven't we? The time of the season when the league is split into so many different sections, nobody outside the country can really understand it, but Christoph, it means we have a huge match

coming up this weekend, featuring one of the most exciting young players in the country right now. Well, yeah, Henk, who are the current leaders in the league, in the champions play of the six best teams of the country basically are playing against Club Brugge. Club Brugge were chasing them and they have lost some points because they were good at the Champions League and were focusing on the Champions League basically so they are known to bridge gaps and to come closer but Genk against British is a huge game because if Genk win this one they are seven points ahead and Genk have been very stable

and consistent almost the whole season under the helm of Torsten Fink that some of you will still know of his time at Bayern Munich even playing in the Champions League final against Manchester United, that famous game. So they are an energetic young team and Koska Redsas, a young Greek midfielder of 17 years old, is basically one of the stars of the league. He's the closest that comes to Kevin de Bruyne. We've seen him, yes.

Same position. He dribbles a bit more. Kevin was better at that age because he already saw those passes and didn't have to make that dribble too much that Karetsas makes at this point. And yeah, Karetsas during the international, just before the international break, everybody expected him to be called up for Belgium, but he picked Greece. So Belgium have lost the talent and it's a bit the way that Belgium as a national team are right now when guys who had two nationalities used to pick Belgium 10 years ago, 15 years ago, they now opt for other countries like for

instance Bilal El-Khanouzou plays for Leicester, he picked Morocco over Belgium a few years ago. But Koska Rezas will be, everybody's convinced convinced will be the next star and the next big transfer leaving the Belgian league. Have you seen this kid, Guillermo James? I was speaking to Pat Nevin the other day and he was raving about Karetsas. Yes, YouTube clips of it at the moment. But yeah, again, the possibility of shining if you have ability and you choose well, then that takes you to places. I think it seems to have both of them.

James, Italy bound at some point? It's very difficult for Italian teams to compete. If we're already talking about this kid, it'll be very well known to every scout at the richest clubs in the world. You have to be so quick these days. We're seeing clubs more and more sign players for more money younger to get there first. Remember the name, Konstantinos Kouretzis. Thanks to Guillaume, thanks to James, thanks to Christoph. There'll be another Football Daily for you to download at BBC Sounds later on Thursday. Reaction to Manchester United's Europa League tie at Lyon.

Goodbye for now. The new series of Match of the Day Top 10 is out now. Only available on BBC Sounds. Join myself, Garelenica, Alan Shearer, Micah Richards and my dog as we dig into the Top 10 of the Champions League. We go through our favourite goalscorers, best moment and even our all-time 11s. Now that, gentlemen, is a list. I will need to get on a list.

Correct. He didn't get on the reserve list. You can listen right now on BBC Sounds.