Euro Leagues: Valverde, Olise and Kvaratskhelia shine in Champions League

14:54Guillem Balague:One more on Valverde before we move on to Paris Saint-Germain. I think sometimes, James, you look for the way the best players in the world see guys like Valverde when they're a teammate. And there was two things that stood out to me. One was the reaction from Jude Bellingham in the stands when Valverde's second goal. And another is the fact that Tony Cruz actually wanted Valverde to take his number eight shirt. Those are the two of the things that just make you think, well, if those guys see him in this way, you maybe don't even need to be told anything else.

15:28James Horncastle:Yeah, I think he's helped them win so much. They appreciate the value that he brings to the team. I remember, I think, Carlo Ancelotti, when he was writing his book, The Dream, about all of the dreams that have come true for him about winning the Champions League many, many times. It's a recurring dream. He talked about the game plan, I think, against Liverpool in the Champions League final in Paris and how important Valverde was to get up to Virgil van Dijk and stop him making those raking diagonal balls with his right foot. And little details like that, and a player who's prepared to sacrifice himself and do that over and over again and help a team win a game and fulfil a dream like that, I think is why, as you mentioned, your Drew Bellinghams, your Tony Grosses, understand that players like that absolutely, essential to a team that is so often looked upon as a team of individuals and its collective endeavour like that from players like Valverde, which makes them special.

16:30Guillem Balague:Our next individual then is Kvitsha Kfar at Skellia. Scored twice, got an assist as Paris Saint-Germain beat Chelsea 5-2 at the Parc des Parances. I genuinely think he is my favourite footballer at the moment. And he couldn't even get in their starting 11, which is frightening.

16:49Julien Laurens:Yeah, it is frightening because his best position is on the left wing, where it's also Bradley Barcola's best position. And to be fair, Barcola has been the best or certainly the most consistent PSG player of late in attacking positions. So you could understand why Luis Enrique decided to go with Barcola on the left-hand side. Varskelia could have started on the right, and then there would have been a lot of fluidity within that front three with Dembele anyway. But I think part of the thinking from Luis Enrique, who, by the way, got everything right on Wednesday night in his coaching, the lineup that he picked, how he outcoached, outsmarted Liam Rossigno, who's obviously a much younger, unexperienced coach compared to Luis Enrique.

17:31Julien Laurens:And I really hope for Liam that one day he gets to the level that Luis Enrique is right now. But at times yesterday, it was a schooling. The thinking was, if the one player in this whole PSG squad that you want to bring on after an hour or 55 minutes, if you need it, is Gwais Kelly. because you could see that the game had been so intense. PSG went man-marking everywhere, the pressing, the counter-pressing from both teams was really impressive at times. So naturally, players, even of that level, even of that physical, incredible fitness, would get tired. It's inevitable. Anyway, when you get to the hour mark and 65th and 70th minute, things like that.

18:10Julien Laurens:So imagine if you're Malogusto or if you're Wesley Fofana, and then suddenly you see Graveskeliar coming on with the low socks He's just full of energy, you know, the beard, everything. And you know exactly what he's going to do. He's going to get the ball and just run at you time after time after time after time at pace. And that's not what you want to see. And he felt exactly like that. And I think even the Paris de France, the atmosphere was great. But there was a time at 2-2 where he felt it's just the atmosphere just needed something a bit special to bring everybody up again. And that's exactly what he did when he came on.

18:44Guillem Balague:Kfar Etzgelia is like perfect EuroLeague's fodder because he plays for PSG so that's all Jules he came from Napoli before that so that's all James and Guillaume you've been round his house but not his house now where he grew up in Tbilisi

18:59Victor Font:yeah went to Tbilisi and out of everything that was shown to me like his first share with Tbilisi that his mum keeps in a little bit like an open wardrobe where he keeps all the key shares of his career. They show me around his bedroom, the bedroom that he goes to to hide from the world. This is a Soviet-style block of flats in Tbilisi, surrounded by a block of flats, nothing really special. And the bedroom is mostly used by a big bed. And in the corner, there's a computer, and there's a gamer chair, and there's everything that you're required to play. and apparently he spends hours and hours there.

19:42Victor Font:And around the room that is number seven and again, memorable pictures of his career. That, if you like humble beginnings again, is where he comes from. He doesn't forget Tbilisi or his country. That same day I ended up, he was at Napoli at the time, I ended up going to a cinema to not watch a movie, but watch him play. and the scene had been full of Tbilisi boys and girls and celebrating every time there was a close-up of him. Never mind if he touched the ball, just a close-up. They're all very proud of him and he is of his country and that was very, very obvious to see.

20:26Guillem Balague:James, have we reached a Kvairat-Skelia mark two in that has he developed from the guy who left Napoli or are we just seeing the same player but on a bigger stage because he's at PSG and he's won a Champions League now?

20:42James Horncastle:I think we're seeing him on a bigger stage because it's Jules' stage. So it gets talked about a lot more. I think, you know what, Steve? I think there's some regret at Napoli that in the year they won the league, and let's not forget, it was the first time they'd won the Scudetto for 33 years. They were also going for the Champions League that year. They broke new ground. They got to the quarterfinals. They'd never been there before and they got knocked out by their fellow Italians AC Milan. And I think a lot of people understood that Napoli were a better team. They just went into those games with an injured Victor Ozymane and a game plan for Cavara.

21:21James Horncastle:Cavara, I think, sort of 18 months into his career at Napoli was getting doubled up, tripled up. And sometimes that wasn't enough. I think Luciano Spalletti, when he had him, he felt that he's such, he's such like a Tasmanian devil, you know, in terms of, he's just, he's all energy. That after half an hour of a game, he, I wouldn't say tire himself out, but he goes on these runs, which is so exhausting and kind of like leave you dizzy, that he had to get him to sort of manage his energy levels better. And I think it's really interesting what Jules was saying there. I know Cavari has had a few ankle issues this season, which is kind of normal when his ankle just gets kicked so much.

22:09James Horncastle:But Barcola has been very good. But to use him in these short spells of 30 minutes, 40 minutes, it's lethal. And he has been lethal in the Champions League this season. I think he's got 10 goal involvements in 10 games. In the league, Jules, he hasn't scored in 2026, has he? He's actually, I think he's only got four goals this season in Liga. But when those bright lights are on in the Champions League and when Jules is on the sideline, that's when Cabara really shows up.

22:42Julien Laurens:He's a man of big games, you know. And I think if there's a little bit of criticism that he's received a little bit this season, and he has, like the whole team, because they obviously haven't hit the highs that they hit last season and it probably was never going to happen anyway to have two seasons like they had, or even two half seasons like they had last year, is that he picks his games. And that's, with me, that's absolutely fine. As long as the one that you pick are the big ones, obviously, because he could not care less if he scores against Oxair or even if he's bothered playing well against Oxair.

23:12Julien Laurens:However, in a night like yesterday, when he knows there's something for him there to bring and you could see his first goal, that curler, everybody in the whole stadium, in the whole world watching on television knew exactly what he was about to do. I think even the Chelsea defenders knew what he was about to do. It was inevitable, really. And he went and the delivery was still perfect. I actually thought on the ball he gives to Vitinha for his little lob, I thought he was going to shoot and I was a bit disappointed. I think Vitinha doesn't expect him to pass him the ball, by the way. He expects Vara to shoot.

23:44Julien Laurens:That's why he's a bit surprised. That's why his first touch is not that good and the ball goes up and then obviously the lob is beautiful. But because usually he takes those chances in those big games and scores them, he would do later with the two goals but it was just he gave a really good interview in the Parisian newspaper the day before the game where he said that he loves everything about Paris he's the best city in the world he's just but he said something really cool he said before even when he was in Naples his wife used to say to him oh imagine if one day you could play for PSG and we would leave in Paris and VAR would say like listen it's never going to happen it's not it's not going to happen and yet look maybe it was destiny you know

24:22Victor Font:What a perfect balance there is at PSG, though. I mean, there is the potential with all the names that we mentioned to actually be big egos that want to be recognized ahead of the team. You know, Cavara and Barcola and Dembele and Bittin. And yet, the only leader of the whole thing is Luis Enrique, who's just has got no shame in admitting that he is the boss. He is the one deciding. If he's got to leave Dembélé out of the team, he does. If he's got to leave Cavada on the bench, he does. Not a problem. And then if he loses, then football is... We cannot use the word that he described football when he lost in the Champions League.

25:06Victor Font:I can't remember who against, but use a bad word. Because he didn't go his way. So he can even say whatever he wants. And now he's even given the press conference in quite good French. Having not done it for the first year. So he is the master of his stage, isn't he?

25:21Guillem Balague:One more on Kavar Atzkelia to finish, James. I wonder if part of the reason he is such a joy is, you know, when people sort of talk about the idea of a street footballer and normally actually what they mean is like a player who'll just do loads and loads of amazing bits of skill. I almost think it applies to Kavar Atzkelia better because he looks like what he is, which is somebody who hasn't come through a major academy and had anything coached out of him, if you see what I mean. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Clearly, loads of unbelievable players come through the world's best football academies.

25:54Guillem Balague:But I do look at Kavaretz Gelya and think the way you have come to the stage you're at is perfect for you.

26:02James Horncastle:Yeah, absolutely. I think you're spot on about this sense that he's been sort of uncoached. I think even when he was in the Russian Premier League with Ruben Kazan. And yeah, let's not forget that when the war in Ukraine started, FIFA allowed foreign players in Ukraine and Russia to break their contracts and leave. He broke his contract and went to play back in Georgia with Dinamo Batumi. And this isn't long ago. And so I think that left a lot of scouts and sporting directors thinking, oh, well, why has he gone back to Georgia? and it made them skeptical of him. And Napoli took a chance on him.

26:48James Horncastle:And, yeah, no one had heard of this player. No one had seen much of this player. And that just doesn't happen anymore, Steve. You know, we are so overwhelmed by clips and content online talking about players when they are 12 years old. And this guy was, you know, practically unheard of. And I remember his first game for Napoli, right from the get-go, just delivered in Verona. And he's never really stopped since. And I think, Jules alluded to it earlier, the socks down, two-footed, in and out, zigzag, and just the speed with which he can move with the ball, but also make the ball move. I mean, that goal where he just wraps it around into the top corner, there are very few players on the planet who can do that, although we might get to one.

27:40Julien Laurens:Yeah, yeah. In a moment, on the other side.

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28:02Victor Font:You can target your buyers by job title, industry, company, role, seniority, skills, company revenue, so you can stop wasting budget on the wrong audience.

28:10Guillem Balague:It's why LinkedIn Ads generates the highest B2B return on ad spend of major ad networks. Spend$250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn Ads and get$250 credit for the next one. Just go to linkedin.com slash broadcast. That's linkedin.com slash broadcast. Terms and conditions apply. Welcome to The Interface, the show that decodes the tech that's rewiring your week and your world. Coming up in our latest episode, we look at the hidden chain of human labor that's actually reviewing your sensitive data, the proposed law that could end the Internet as we know it, and the debate about wired versus wireless headphones.

28:48Guillem Balague:Which should you choose? Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

28:59Guillem Balague:I'm Matt Shorley, coming to you live from Westminster Monday to Friday from 2 o 'clock It's politics, but how it affects you It's the funny stories The people and the personalities that make up the Westminster village But I want to explain how it works Order! Order! I've worked there for 20 years now I really know all the people, the quiet corridors and I know how to find the stories about what's really happening in politics which affect you. As soon as the news breaks, I can bang on the wall and one of the BBC co-sponsors will come running in and tell us what's going on. Matt Shorley.

29:33Julien Laurens:Monday to Friday from 2 on BBC Radio 5 Live.

29:37Guillem Balague:On the Football Daily Podcast, the EuroLeagues with Steve Crossman. Right, let's talk Barcelona. They drew one all at Newcastle in the Champions League last 16 first leg on Tuesday. At the end of this week, club members will vote to decide the club's next president in the running. Joan Laporta, current president, returned five years ago. He was the man at the top during one of their great periods, 2003 to 2010. There were two Champions League wins and four La Liga titles within that. His opponent, a man by the name of Victor Font, who was runner up five years ago. And we're going to hear from him now because he's been speaking to Guillaume about what you need to be the big boss.

30:20Guillem Balague:of Barca?

30:21Steve Crossman:Obviously, you need to have the club in your heart. Barca is not a business. There's a business component, but it's not a business. You need someone who does have economic independence because basically this position and the board members do this basically without salary and And especially the president, if, and in our case, especially given the transformation the club requires, I will need to devote the majority of my time, 100 % of my time to the club. So unless you are financially independent, it doesn't work. You need to have a vision on where the club needs to go, not just run the organization day by day.

31:09Steve Crossman:You need a vision, and especially in the world of sports and entertainment, how to combine the roots of the club, the legacy, our foundational values with where the sports and entertainment industry is going. I think it's very important to understand how to combine that.

31:29Victor Font:Gian Laporta has been in charge for five years. What has he done right and what has he done wrong in that period?

31:36Steve Crossman:Everyone does right and wrong things. We are human beings and therefore that happens across. Obviously, there's good things that have happened during this mandate. Signing Hansi Flick is a clear one. and another one for example I think that the association with Spotify regardless of whether I believe that we could have or we could generate even more through that partnership but putting that aside qualitatively and strategically the association with Spotify is also a very good thing on the areas of improvement or things that I believe should have been done very differently Obviously, professionalizing the club and being able to run the organization profitably.

32:24Steve Crossman:This administration has lost a billion euros, a billion in the last five years. Obviously, we've recovered part of that selling some assets, but selling them instead of to reputable companies, like, for example, the audiovisual and digital businesses, instead of doing a partnership with, I don't know, Disney's, Netflix, well-renowned organizations that could be a good partner for Barca, like Spotify is. The club has been struggling big time not to sign players only, but to register them. And still today, the last good signing we've done, the goalie, Joan Garcia, could only be registered because Ter Stegen got injured.

33:14Steve Crossman:Without that injury, we could have not registered Ter Stegen. Not being able to take advantage of the potential, the financial potential that an organization like Barca has puts the club at risk, at least the club as we know it. if on top of this because the club is being run very much all style like football clubs were being run in the 80s last century personal priorities go ahead and before the interest of the members that creates a lot of problems and that's why we are going to win on Sunday because the voters are the members not the fans and the members are the ones that feel that have been mistreated that have not been taken care of, that many promises have not been fulfilled.

34:02Steve Crossman:And I think that that's why the majority of members believe that a change is needed and that change will come and will stay here for good.

34:12Victor Font:Let me finish with Xavi Hernandez, former manager, talking about the situation of Messi when he tried to return in 2023. What do you stand with that story? Clearly, Messi wanted to come back, but what happened?

34:25Steve Crossman:I personally knew what had happened. Xavi told me he was a manager at Barcelona and on the three wise men day which is a very relevant day as you know here in Spain he was having lunch with his family and he got a call from Leo that was after he became a World Cup winner his contract in PSG was finishing that year and therefore he told Xavi that he was very keen to come back and he wanted to check with Xavi if Xavi thought that that would be a possibility from a sports perspective, from a sporting perspective. And obviously Xavi was all over it, right? Given the talent that Leo has and given also the squad, the team was being rebuilt at that time, if you remember.

35:17Steve Crossman:So he thought that adding Messi there with his talent, his capacity to score goals, and the combination with the young players that were coming up and that Xavi was the responsible to give them opportunities like Lamine Jamal or Coo Barcy or Fermin, that that combination would be great, right? So sad for all of us members of FC Barcelona is that we continue to live in this way of doing things that it seems as if the former president has the capacity to decide who is a good culé and who is a bad culé. And now I think that that's why change is needed. We need to ensure that we are allowed to work all together to take advantage of all legends, of all talented people that have Barcelona at their heart and create the conditions for them to help the club.

36:14Victor Font:Xavi Hernandez said that it was Laporta who stopped it because he was in fear of Messi overshadowing the president. Laporta denies that and says he was Jorge Messi, in fact, the one who stopped the conversations. Last one, a story that came out actually yesterday that you are in conversations with Manchester City for Erling Haaland if, I guess, Manchester City tries to sell the player. Is that true?

36:43Steve Crossman:Yeah, at the end of the day, what the sports organization that we've set up is trying to do is obviously plan not just for the short term, but also for the long term. We know Erling is very happy in Manchester, that he signed a very long-term contract last year. But we also know that things change in football, right? And very quickly. And the only thing that we need to do, because we also know that Erling loves Spain and obviously the two big clubs in Spain are Barca and Real Madrid. So our role, if we want to do things properly and plan things properly, is make sure that we have a preferential option if that day comes so that he cannot go to Real Madrid and he comes to us.

37:29Guillem Balague:Victor Font, Barcelona presidential candidate. Guillaume, I love these moments when we have massive clubs and presidential elections because, of course, we don't get this in England. and I love that there's always a name. Like there's always, and this time it's Haaland. And there's always like a, yeah, you know, a vote for me is a vote for Haaland in five to six years. Do you know, I love that stuff. It's great.

37:54Victor Font:And Victor Fon has changed because in his previous election, he didn't want to put names forward because he thought, no, no, no, it's a programme. And remember, he spoke to us in that election and I think he's just playing the game a little bit. So, yes, there was, picture this. The directors of football, he's got three directors of football in his candidacy, were in the same hotel as Ferran Soriano, the CEO of Manchester City. They all come out of the hotel and there's a camera there. Funny that there was a camera there, picturing all that. So, yeah, the game has been played. And, of course, the agent of Haaland has denied everything and Laporta will put another name at some point.

38:38Victor Font:But it is fantastic, democratic, and it means that you can monitorize the ones in charge when there are elections. And of course, the campaign has been going on for months, but now it's hitting up because the 15th is when it takes place.

39:00Julien Laurens:Can he win, Guillaume? Or is it Laporta really hugely favorite?

39:05Victor Font:He's got polls in which he says he's gone very much up in the appreciation of many people and he's going to be closer than people think. John Laporta, meanwhile, has drove a tractor, has prepared a paella and I think all beans or something like that. What? And mixed with the people because he's one of the people, isn't he?

39:26Julien Laurens:Of course he is.

39:27Victor Font:So that's the idea. And he manages the stage better than anybody. The accusation against Laporta is that it's a group of friends and family, and it literally is, that are working with him, that is all very presidentialist, that he is the one deciding. Like, for instance, according to Xavi, he's the one who stops Messi coming back to Barcelona in 2023 when Messi was desperate to make it. when in fact just to add to that story a little bit of context there was never any documentation presented by Barcelona to La Liga to accept or approve that happening so not so much blocking it but perhaps Laporta wasn't convinced that bringing Messi was the greatest idea and one of the things that Victor Font wants to do is have Messi at the forefront of the future of the club even though maybe not as a player

40:18Guillem Balague:I feel like I'm presenting drive all of a sudden now because I'm doing the sort of politics thing. We did ask to speak to Joan Laporta and we were told he wasn't available. So it's not just that we've spoken to one candidate. Not that it really matters. It's not the same as a general election in the UK, I don't think. I think on the day of Barcelona's presidential elections, we don't just have to talk about photos of dogs at polling stations. I think we'll still be allowed to talk about it. The thing that I found really difficult for Victor Font, though, Guillaume, is that, and this was actually true when Laporta first got the gig many years ago, you probably want the club to be in a really bad place because you want people to vote for change.

41:05Guillem Balague:and stuff like that big partnership with Spotify, stuff like Hansi Flick, that's going pretty well, isn't it? So I wonder if that's going to make life harder for him, even with all of the issues they've had in recent years.

41:18Victor Font:And a new stadium, almost like a new stadium, even though it's very delayed. I just say 2.5 billion euros. That's the debt of Barcelona that has increased by one billion under La Porta. You know what? That doesn't matter. It does not matter to people. You're absolutely right. Things are going well on the pitch. You've got Laminia Mal hiding a lot of cracks and a lot of other youngsters. So it becomes very hard for Víctor Fontes to try and explain his policies, which are professionalizing every department, to get a president who is just a figurehead, if you like, an organizer of people, and to change the model that Barcelona has got at the moment, which feels a little bit old.

42:04Victor Font:at a time when the income is£1 billion. So it shouldn't be wrong like a family company. But I think it's going to have a hard time to convince the right amount, but we'll see.

42:16Guillem Balague:I love that the other thing that separates it from normal politics is that you can just do your own polls. You'd be like, yeah, well, I've seen polls which say I'm really popular. I've seen polls which say I'm the best thing about the Euroleagues. It's a poll of one, but...

42:29James Horncastle:Yeah, it's like one of those WhatsApp polls. Yeah, yes. in a group of four friends. Should I be Barcelona president? Yes.

42:41Guillem Balague:Right, well, it's on Sunday, so we'll know this time next week. Right, let's talk a bit about Bayern's 6-1 winner Atalanta in the Champions League. James, you were obviously in Bergamo and clearly, as an Italian football writer, that will have been predominantly what you were hoping, I would think, to write about, but then somebody stole your heart.

43:02James Horncastle:yeah no a little bit in like in the champions league final um because you know when i was sat next to jules and jules was punching the air and celebrating um i sort of had to pivot from writing about inter who lost 5-0 to um writing about desiree duey um who who was fantastic that night and you know it's it never ceases to amaze how france continues to produce um these maverick dribblers. I mean, we've talked about Cavaraz-Skelia, but yeah, I mean, even in the PSG game that Jules was at, Ousmane Dembele scores a goal, which is a magnificent individual goal. And to see Michael Alisse performing the way that he did in this 6-1 win for Bayern, where, you know it was it was kind of done after half an hour this game and uh yeah from what people who follow the bundesliga tell me um yeah the bundesliga teams that face by and have figured out that you have to double this guy up or maybe get someone to to give whoever's marking him as much help as possible and atlanta didn't do that atlanta decided to change move away from the system that's worked for them for eight years three four two ones play four four two still man marked all over the pitch um and and boy did Michael Elisa have some fun I mean just to see someone so nonchalantly play back heels you know ball up in the sky so everyone in the stadium is looking up and then watching this ball come down and he just cushions it perfectly and in the same movement plays Serge Gnabry threw on goal um to then score you cut inside and find the far corner and he did it twice he's like i'll do the low corner in the first half top corner second half just magnificent uh to watch and yeah i know some people thought buy and spending 53 million or something on him was maybe a lot of money i mean it just looks like such good business um that and you know vinnie company after the after the game delighted not only with the performance in his in the first half, but they kept going.

45:15James Horncastle:Bayern just relentlessly kept wanting to score goals. Michael Elisse wanted to score more goals because companies said, you never know what happens in the Champions League. If we get comfortable with being 3-0 up and then Atalanta score that goal at the end and it's 3-1 instead of 6-1, then all of a sudden that second leg in Munich, okay, Bayern would still be favourites, but you never know on these Champions League nights. we do know what will happen when I go to Munich next week for this second leg. Bayern will definitely still be going through.

45:49Guillem Balague:Guillaume, bear in mind where the England captain currently plays his football when I tell you this. So Christoph Kramer, who's become one of kind of the top pundits in Germany, people might remember he's a World Cup winner. He said on TV last night, Michael Alise is the best signing any Bundesliga club has made in the last decade. So there you go.

46:09Victor Font:Wow, yes. And perhaps it's what we've seen and what we're about to see. The room for improvement is fantastic. And it's based on not just intuition. There was a little interview that he gave CBS after the game, and he was talking to Thierry Henry and touching on how he learns what he learns, how he applies what he learns, how he visualizes what he's going to do next. And even though he's not a man of many words, and next I want to ask you for advice, you could tell that he studies the game. The advice is as follows. So there was a meeting today. I'm desperate to sit down with him and talk to him.

46:54Victor Font:And there was a meeting today on that. What has come back is, yeah, he may do it if I don't ask him any questions.

47:03Guillem Balague:Okay.

47:05Victor Font:No questions.

47:07Guillem Balague:Are you sure it's if you don't ask him any questions? Yeah.

47:10Victor Font:Well, it'll be him and I, but I won't be able to ask questions. Interesting.

47:17Julien Laurens:He doesn't talk much even in the dressing room, to be fair. It's not just to the media. He's not a talker.

47:22Guillem Balague:Gilles, can you give us an idea of how he is different to someone like Kfaritz Gellier then, Elise?

47:28Julien Laurens:Yeah, and I think the most interesting thing is maybe what's going to happen at the World Cup. I mean, I don't want to remind you English people that he obviously chose to play for a country that can win the World Cup in France and not for England. But the interesting thing, more seriously, is obviously, as James has rightly said, he's incredible on that right-hand side, coming onto his left foot and all of that. Deschamps wants him as a number 10, which is a very different position, very different role, very different bearings on when you are on the pitch, what's in front of you, what's behind you, how you position your body to receive the ball.

48:04Julien Laurens:All of that is very, very different from that right-hand side into the middle. One, I'm not too sure about changing him position, by the way. I think if you're Deschamps, you go into the World Cup, why would you move the guy that is one of top five in the world right now? In his position, he's definitely top three, but maybe in the whole world in terms of form, top five. And why would you move him into another position? Even if you think he might be great in that position, sure, I think he can play anywhere. He's that good. but maybe just keeping where he feels the most comfortable and that would be it and that's why I think he's different than somebody like Varskelia and maybe even to some extent somebody like Lamine too who plays in the same kind of position Lamine maybe later on when he's the edge of Olysses can move into a number 10 position and be great but I think Olysses gives you that because he's also that good and certainly in Deschamps' mind he's the guy that will lead France in the number 10 position which is a heavy number to, he won't have the number, but it's a heavy position to play in, obviously, because of whoever played there before.

49:06Guillem Balague:And we've got three minutes left of the Euroleagues, guys, which basically means if you're batting your average here, you're getting one answer each on our final topic. And we've talked about so many wonderful personal individual stories. We're going to finish with Igor Tudor after Atletico Madrid beat Tottenham 5-2. But we're not here to talk Tottenham because this is the Euroleagues. What we want to know about is Tudor, James, and whether what's happening, whether that's four defeats in a row or what he did to Antonin Kinski subbing him off after 17 minutes, whether any of this is in or out of character.

49:42James Horncastle:Look, I've followed his career in Italy. I've never seen him take action like that. So drastic. And something that is not only damaging to Kinski, but I think also damaging to him. Because I think it will be the decision that he is going to be most associated with in his Tottenham career. Because I think it's very hard for us to expect him to turn it around at Tottenham now. And yeah, that's the big surprise to me. Because as much as he's had no Premier League experience, he has experience of these kinds of situations. And to see him flounder and make mistakes in pretty much every game, I think has been very disappointing.

50:28Victor Font:Can I defend Igor Tudor very quickly? Three reasons why he was right to do what he did, right? When two mistakes happen in quick succession, sportsmen can go through analysis paralysis, which means that the goalkeeper, in this case, stops acting automatically, begins to overthink, and another mistake can happen. So if Igor Tudor saw that, he's got to get him out. Canizares, Santi Canizares, famous goalkeeper, said he played his whole career through fear. The fear of making a fool of himself. So he says, not me, that if Tudor saw the goalkeeper was overwhelmed and struggling to cope with all of that, he needed to get him out.

51:09Victor Font:And I've asked four managers and I said, what would you do? And they thought we needed to defend. We would defend. Difficult decision, they all said, but we would defend the team. it wasn't the right decision. And football has to accept that sometimes the changes have to happen in a minute 15 or 13 or 10.

51:26Guillem Balague:Which allows me then, Jules, to throw this to you to end the show. Regardless of that, is the real issue here, just letting him walk off the pitch and not going to see him and not going to console him, is that bigger than the decision?

51:41Julien Laurens:Probably, yeah. I think that adds insult to injury, really. I think Igor Trudeau was, I think it was all disgraceful what he did. I completely disagree with Guillaume. By the way, it's Romero who told Tudor to take him off. It's not even Tudor's decision. So I've got nowhere. I'm so disappointed by what Tudor has done since he arrived. Really, mistake after mistake. I thought he should have resigned after the game. It was another humiliation, like the Palace game, like the Arsenal game. It's a lot of humiliations when you've only been in charge for four games, by the way. And right now, he's on course to be the worst manager.

52:11Julien Laurens:I know he's only a permanent, like, he's not an interim anymore. He's permanent. I know he's for a short term, but he's still a permanent coach. is on course to be one of the worst we've ever seen in the Premier League.

52:19Guillem Balague:And we've been joined live by Frank de Boer. No, I'm kidding. By him, yeah.

52:23Julien Laurens:They're together.

52:24Guillem Balague:Thank you very much, guys. Great stuff as always. Right, that's it for this edition of the EuroLeague. Big thank you to Guillaume Balaguet, to Julien Leroyne and to James Horncastle. John Murray, Ian Dennis, Ali Bruce Ball will be here on Friday with the excellent The Commentator's View. Look out for a great interview with Brentford captain Nathan Collins as well, which you'll be able to hear on the Football Daily Feed from Friday. As always, thank you so much for listening.

53:15Steve Crossman:entertainer.

53:16Victor Font:Mark pushes the boundaries of what is socially acceptable. No chance.

53:21Guillem Balague:Texas. It's really strict, but then the more thoughts about it. What are you about? Sports Strangers Crimes presents Confessions of a Super Bowl Streaker. Listen on BBC Sounds.

53:37Guillem Balague:Welcome to The Interface, the show that decodes the tech that's rewiring your week and your world. Coming up in our latest episode, we look at the hidden chain of human labor that's actually reviewing your sensitive data, the proposed law that could end the Internet as we know it, and the debate about wired versus wireless headphones. Which should you choose? Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.