Euro Leagues: Titanic tussle in Spain
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BBC Sounds. Music, radio, podcasts. We're in good shape, eh? Obviously, we went, I mean, I took Rafa to W31, not S31 first. Otherwise, we would have been even more pumped. Proper. You know, it's a big show and you're in the S, not the W. Yeah, exactly. But I just assumed we were W because that's where I go the most, I think. You've got your own past now here. You're proper staff. I'm legit. I can even invite people around. It's amazing. Free chocolates. It's amazing.

free chocolate I know where the cups are for the mugs are for the teas and stuff we're good to go wow here we go on the football daily podcast the Euroleagues listen on BBC sounds

Hello from me, John Bennett. Welcome to EuroLeagues, the final one of 2024. Can you believe it? So to reflect on another memorable year in European football and discuss this week's big stories, we've got a brilliant panel as always. Joining me this week, Guillaume Balaguet, Julien Laurence and Raphael Honigstein. Hello to you all. Happy Christmas.

Brian Acton, Joyeux Noël, Feliz Navidad. Google Translate working overtime there. The pronunciation, not the best. Rafa, Guillaume, a couple of weeks ago on the pods, I'm not sure if you were on this week, but I predicted that Paris Saint-Germain were going to be knocked out of the Champions League. You did. In the first round. And Julien, he accused me of having an anti-Paris Saint-Germain agenda. Absolutely.

Considering you have French as well, it's really bad for me. Well, I want to make up for it, Jules. Let me reveal a present I've bought for myself for Christmas. Okay. See what I make of this. So for people listening at home, this is a Paris Saint-Germain Christmas jumper.

George Weah special. If I can get my jacket off here. Number nine on the back with Weah in a manger on the front. Paris Saint-Germain colours. This was the best Paris Saint-Germain era though, wasn't it Jules? 1995, downhill from there.

Yeah, Ginola, Valdo, obviously, Riden, not long after too. Brilliant. And George, before he obviously left to go to Milan. Incredible. That goal against Bayern Munich, Rafa's Bayern Munich at that time. Incredible. So lovely. I love, I've seen that, um,

that jumper. I was never brave enough to buy it, even me as a PSG fan, but I appreciate that you did. So well done, my friend. You're amazing. Rafa, I apologise for not having a Bayern Munich one, but I have, I bought my nephew, I hope he's not listening, a Thomas Müller Germany shirt for Christmas. So there you go. Oh, nice. Does it say NSW, like not safe for work on that jumper? Do you not like the colours?

Is it a bit loud? Oh, here we go. Julian has got a Christmas hat on that he's found. Yeah, I brought my hat. Wow. Nice. I'm disappointed by Rafa and Guillaume really not turning up in style. Guillaume tried to match the wallpaper in the background quite well. Guillaume's got one of his shirts on. Guillaume, that's just a normal shirt. Could you not have got an Espanol? Do Espanol do much Christmas merchandise, Guillaume? I don't know. We bought them three. It's the last thing you worry about. Don't remind him of his own team.

Leave him alone. Never mind. Here in England, we're going to... But, because we're united plenty. If you want some, just let's get in touch. He needs the cash. He needs the cash for next year for the budget. So, we don't have the winter break here in England. Rafa, do fans in Germany get jealous about the fact that we have football to watch and go to over Christmas and New Year?

I guess, I mean, you can fill your boots, so to say, by, of course, watching the Premier League. It's a big thing, increasingly big thing in Germany, especially over Christmas. But at the same time, I think that quite a few people are happy that they can at least take a bit of a respite from watching, from traveling. And plus, we have winter sports and they need to be watched. They need to be watched.

well, participated if you can, but things like ski jumping and skiing, they're big in Germany. So they need a bit of airtime as well. What about in Spain, Guillaume? Are all the fans jealous of us here in England getting to go to the games? We get to watch the English games. It's a very, very popular league. So football doesn't stop.

There is a break, as you say. The first weekend in January will be dedicated to the Copa del Rey, which is a newish kind of tradition. There's a game that Valencia have to play, which is against Real Madrid. That will be the 3rd of January.

But, yes, stopping is not a bad thing. I think Rafi was talking about himself when he was talking, what we were saying about a bit of a break would be a good thing. I think a bit of a break would be good for all of us. I'm getting so hot in this Paris Saint-Germain jumper. I'm going to struggle to get through the show here. But look. Tough 30 minutes this is. Later in the show, we're going to reflect on the year that we've just had, some highlights, highlights,

And also we're going to look at the news from the week. Do we have a title race again in Germany after Bayern Munich's defeat? A brilliant 2024 for Stade Brest, the Champions League new format surprise team. And it's all over for Pep. Not that one, the other one. Pep Linders at Red Bull Salzburg. But first, the title race in Spain because...

Yes, it's pretty exciting in the Premier League at the moment, but arguably of all the top leagues in Europe, Spain is the most fascinating. So Barcelona top 38 points, Atletico Madrid second, 38 points and Real Madrid third on 37 points. So, Guillaume, Barcelona had a six point lead, didn't they, before a really bad November that saw them win one of four league games.

So they've now won just one of their last six La Liga matches. What's going on? Why the drop-off?

Also, don't forget, it's 38 for Barcelona, 38 for Atletico Madrid, 37 for Real Madrid. But Barcelona played one more game than both of them. So they could be overtaken by the two Madrid sides. And it's so difficult to explain when you're watching the Champions League and see Barcelona doing so well. And of course, people perhaps remembering that in the first two months of the season, they were completely unstoppable in both competitions. And there are clear explanations of why.

why this is happening. On one hand, teams have found them out. So this is a side that defended very, very high, very extremely high, and managed to get most of their rivals on offside positions, nine against Mbappé, for instance, in the Clásico.

And that came with an aggressive, constant, animal-like pressure when they didn't have the ball. So they took the ball off you and attacked you, took the ball off you and attacked you.

And then Flick started kind of thinking, actually, that doesn't allow as much control. So should we keep the ball a little bit more? And on the other hand, it became easier for teams that had studied the defensive line of Barcelona to attack them. So you will get the midfielders, not the first one that made the run in behind, but the second or third one getting the ball and kind of destroying that line and made them doubt.

So between the doubts of the players, the doubts of Hansi Flick, all of a sudden you've got a team that is more porous. It's easier to attack them. They're not as effective as they have been. Rafinha, Lewandowski missing chances. Plus, of course, is the Lamine Yamal effect. When he's not there...

It's difficult for Barcelona to win and now he's injured possibly for another two or three weeks. I think there's a regression to the mean here happening because a lot of the early results I think were a little bit flattering in terms of the scoreline. There were chances for the opposition, small margins. They looked as if they wiped the floor with teams and of course on the ball they do but even then I thought they were quite open and it just needed a bit more control and a bit more nuance for the opposition teams to find a way through.

And in that sense, I think also Guillaume is right. Teams, the longer it takes, the more they find the ways to do it.

But it's not so easy when the pressure is high. And we saw that. I was at Dortmund for the Barcelona win last week. And when Barcelona put really high pressure in the first half, Dortmund just never had enough control to pick that pass. Because you can't just boot the ball. You have to prepare that. You have to make the runner, put them in the right position. And Pascal Gross did it beautifully for the second goal for Dortmund.

But in the first half, Dortmund never had enough control. Now, when the pressure dropped a little bit, suddenly Dortmund started playing and then they found their way through. And the combination, I think, of...

Pressure perhaps going down a little bit naturally towards the end of the year. Injuries, players getting a bit more tired. And the opposition finding a way to do it just as they did against Hansi Flick's Bayern in the second half of the season where if it wasn't for Manuel Neuer, their XG against was collapsing in the second half of the season. Neuer was saving one or two one-on-ones every week.

because teams just went straight through them. And you even remember the PSG game, which was crazy. There could have been like 10 goals each side.

And that is sort of inbuilt with the Hansi Flick style. I'm not sure it's going to end well. Wow. Do you worry, Jules? Jules, do you worry then next year, having heard what Rafa's had to say, what Guillaume's had to say? Or has the break come at a good time? I mean, tiredness seems to be the theme. They've got a couple of weeks off now. Will the break maybe rejuvenate them?

No, but I just think that surely Flick would have learned from what happened at Bayern Munich especially and can adapt now. I think he certainly has also players who can play in a different style and he can vary the high line and slightly deeper line, for example. He doesn't have to go and press so aggressively all the time. I'm sure there's other things he can do. So I'm super excited to see what happens. OK, this weekend is a big one against Atletico Madrid.

the Madrid at Montjuic so we will see and then there will be the break but certainly on the turn of the year when they come back it'd be very interesting to see if Flick just doesn't change anything and goes again for similar philosophy and similar style or if instead there's a bit of variation in what he does recognising all the issues that we've just described now

For them, because I still think it's not a bad season. Clearly not. But we saw the difficulties that they've had and we saw maybe some of the weaknesses that he has to address. Otherwise, then I agree with Raph, it could be the end very, very quickly. The psychology is interesting here because Hansi Flick has only coached at this level in club football now for three years. This is only his third season. And of course...

And of course, the success of Bayern came with that style. When he tried to do something a little bit different with Germany, tinkering with the formation, he sometimes played it back three. The pressing wasn't quite as intense. The high line wasn't quite as high. Things didn't work. And I think it's hard for him to move beyond the original blueprint, if you will, when he knows that's what delivered all the success. That's what delivered all the success early on in the season.

Changing is not the intention. I spoke to Inigo Martinez maybe a couple of weeks ago and he gave me a master on the high line. The high line is not something that the manager says it's got to go exactly there. It depends on...

on the moment. It depends on the pressure high of the players. It depends on a lot of things. But one thing that they brought in is that it has to be high because it allows a bunch of other things happening on the other side and creates space in a different way. So they all geared towards that. But Inigo said, if the players of front, the ones who have to defend first, don't do it, then the whole thing collapses. And I'm thinking, well, it's not happening every now and again. So Inigo,

It's that dialogue that seems to be happening in the changing rooms in which everybody wants to stay in that place, but you start seeing the cracks. Just don't get the video of the geese out again, Hansi, like you did with the Germany national team on that documentary. Please don't do that, Hansi. You mentioned Atletico Madrid. So it's the big game, Barcelona playing Atletico Madrid. No doubt they are the form team in Spain right now. What is it? 11 straight wins, a run that stretches back to the end of October. Yes.

Jules, your boy Antoine Griezmann, seven goals in his last six games. What's going so right for Atletico Madrid at the moment? You'll have seen their matches in the Champions League. Everything they're touching at the moment turning to gold. Absolutely. And it feels like it all started at the Parc des Princes when they were battered by our team, JB, the ones that are wearing the colours right now. And Correa find that winner in the last seconds for Atleti to win 2-1.

very much against the run of play and then after that they've kept winning and winning and winning it feels like El Cholo has found his team with his own son included in it because Giuliano has been doing really well on the right hand side

and Julen Alvarez who for all the money they spent on him in the summer had a slow start of his campaign but now he's hitting form and goals after goal after goal and then I think maybe the fact that Griezmann announces international retirement in October and funnily enough it coincides very nicely with the run of form that he's on and that the team is on

has like maybe lifted a lot of pressure off his shoulder and he seems like a different player and almost the Griezmann of old, the magician that makes everything click within that team. So,

I just think it's been great. And at a time where we thought maybe earlier in the season that they were a bit hit and miss at times, that they're finding form right at just the right time. Yeah, a couple of defeats in October, especially against Betis in the league, started ringing all the alarms. What's going on? There's no real right balance between the defensive work that they have to put in and the quality of their attack. And

Somehow, and you never know exactly how this works, and that's the magic of football, the team has clicked. It's 31 goals between assists and goals between Griezmann and Julian Alvarez. That is working. All of a sudden, Pablo Barrios, the new Koke, if you like, having come through the academy midfielder, comes back from injury and helps the solidity. They've only considered 11 goals, so it sounds like a Simeone side.

but they attack him much better. And a lot of it has to do with Giuliano. Giuliano Simeone, who did very well against Alaves last season, but there was still a doubt that this kid could actually make it. It was 22 yesterday at the first team of Atletico Madrid. Even his dad doubted. But then when he came on, every time he came on at the beginning of the season, he had it.

hunger to get the ball back, aggression to attack the spaces, and everything became very contagious. And he is a sucker for lost causes. This team has got it absolutely right. And of course, there's a game at the Montjuic against Barcelona the weekend on Saturday.

with completely different dynamics that makes the game very intriguing. Rafa, did you expect them to challenge in La Liga this season when you saw the transfer window they had? I mean, they spent a lot of money, the likes of Conor Gallagher, Julian Alvarez, Le Normand as well. Do you think we should have expected this title challenge?

I've come to expect the unexpected from Atletico because every time I feel this is over, this needs a change, you know, Simeone has sort of run its course and they need to reinvent themselves. They kind of then have an amazing season again and I really felt that last season was sort of the end of it. It felt like a natural end point, especially the performances in the Champions League were really cool. Yeah.

But here they are. It's hard to put the right frame around this because sometimes you look at a title race and think, wow, you know, these are such amazing sides. They push each other to new heights and no one can afford to drop points because they're so strong. This feels more like there's weakness with Barcelona and Real Madrid and Atletico are there maximizing their potential.

I might be wrong. We might still see that Barcelona and Madrid are really strong sides and they're in development. They're in the process of playing slightly differently and changing. And these are the natural ups and downs. And maybe they'll find more form in the second half of the season. But it feels more like they've dropped a little bit collectively as a duo to let Atleti in. So, Guillaume, let's get your prediction then. This game between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, who's going to win it?

Rafi made a very good point. For Atletico Madrid to win the league, you have to have a poor Real Madrid and a poor Barcelona. Only twice in the last 20 years they've got more points than now around the same amount of points and both they won the league. I think Atletico Madrid is going to win the league and if they're going to do so, they're going to go to Montjuic and get the three points, for instance.

Quick one on Real Madrid because they won the Intercontinental Final against Pachuca. Brilliant goal by Rodrigo in that 3-0 win. But Julien had a point to make after the game on social media.

This was your tweet on X. Real Madrid have won two trophies so far this season and Kylian Mbappe scored in both finals. Thank you very much. He's got nine goals in 15 games in La Liga where Real Madrid are a point off Barcelona with a game in hand. Not bad for a player heavily criticised for not being good enough. So is he answering his critics then?

The L'Equipe headline this morning on the game is Mbappé almost as normal or something like that. He almost is there. He's not probably back to his best yet and the season could have been much better, of course. There's the penalties that he missed both in the Champions League and in the league. There's some games where he's been under par, for sure, for his talent and his level. But I just thought a lot of the criticism has been a bit harsh. And I know there's high expectations, of course, because it's Mbappé and

Even if he came as a free agent, nothing was free in that transfer at all. And he's costing Real Madrid a lot of money. So I can understand the expectations from the biggest club in the world with one of the best players in the world. I get that. And maybe he hasn't fulfilled all those expectations yet. I still think that it's not a bad first half of the season considering he still had to adapt to a new club, a new league, a new country, etc. I think...

In a way, and I've said that before, he took it maybe a little bit for granted at the start because he speaks the language really well already or because he spoke the language already very well. I think he and the Mbappé clan thought it might be easier for him to adapt and he thought that things would click very quickly. That was not the case, but I'm just glad that he's finishing the year very strongly.

I do feel that criticisms were fair. Not just because, yeah, there is an adaptation process, but this is Real Madrid, so you have to be right at your best from the beginning. Immediate success, that's what they demand and that's why they win so much. And some of the controls, his controls weren't good, his passing wasn't good, his finishing wasn't good. But something has happened. And again, going back to the magic click situation,

that you don't know exactly when it's going to take place. I watched the Intercontinental Final yesterday. Okay, it was Pachuca. Easy. But it just feels like that idea that Ancelotti put in Mbappé's head that, listen, you're going to have a lot of fun in the middle. I know that your instinct is to go left or to run into space or to dribble two or three players.

But if you actually appear in the right spaces in the middle, you'll be able to do all that and more because you'll have more of a space to do that, the right-hand side, the left-hand side. And you have, like he did yesterday for the first time in months, Rodrigo, Bellingham and Benicius in front of him or next to him. So it just feels like, yeah, we've seen the best Mbappé, four goals in five games in different competitions and there is a huge amount of room for improvement.

On the Football Daily Podcast, the Euroleagues. Listen on BBC Sounds. BBC Radio 5 Live. Monday to Wednesdays from 11. Join Nagamon Chetty for the latest headlines. We're going to try to explain what's happening right now. Royal Society in broad terms, I think, is still in shock. Keep your questions coming in. We all have them at this moment in time. Thursdays and Fridays from 11am.

On to Germany now, because for periods of this season, it looked as though...

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Some companies by Munich might run away with it, but a defeat against Mainz. So maybe the title race is back on. Bayern Munich 33 points, Bayer Leverkusen second on 29 points. So Rafa, do we have a title race again? Slight concerns now at Bayern Munich? Yeah, especially if they don't beat Leipzig on Friday night and Leverkusen pick up more points. It could be much closer than it did a few weeks ago.

I mean, Uli Hoeneß, the honorary president of Bayern, said in a, I think in a fan talk or maybe it was a corporate event that I can guarantee the championship. And that was in October. And it didn't feel especially outrageous to say that because Bayern looked untouchable.

and crucially the opposition looked way off. So Leverkusen nowhere near their standards, although everyone realised they could not replicate what they did last year going unbeaten, but they looked much worse. Dortmund nowhere, Leipzig really struggling, so who are you left with? Frankfurt, can they really challenge Bayern? So it looked as if Bayern would walk the league, but they got knocked out in the cup, they had a

Pretty fortunate draw away to Dortmund. And of course, now they lost at Mainz, their first game in the league, and they looked really tired and quite poor. And all of a sudden, I think the opposition, everyone else feels, you know, this is not a foregone conclusion. So Friday's game was,

especially being the last game, going into the break and determining the mood in Munich and the kind of way that they look back on the first half of the season under company is absolutely huge. Yeah, that's a massive game, isn't it, Jules? I'm just looking at the league table. I'll be like, if they had their struggles this season, particularly in the Champions League, we talked about how poor they've been in Europe this season, but they're on 27 points. So,

If they get the win against Bayern Munich, suddenly Vincent Kompany is going into that winter break in a really negative mood. Yeah, the last performances and results have been better, apart from the Villa game, I guess, where they lost but deserved, I think, at least a draw in that game because they played well. And there was a time where we thought Marco Rosso would not survive that.

the bad runs of results and more importantly, I think the bad performances overall with a team that has talent in there. But to be fair, they've recovered really, really well. And let's not forget, they beat Bayer Leverkusen earlier in the season too. So even if this game is in Munich, I don't think it's impossible for Leipzig to go there and get something. And we also should show a little bit of love to Leverkusen because I think we all expected them to be...

really struggling with the Champions League and, you know, it's the second season. Everyone wants to beat them. They were the champions. They won the double. The kind of freshness isn't there. People know the system a bit more, but they've come back so strongly. And the point is, I think, or one of the issues is that Granit Xhaka said to me,

We all sat down and we decided we can't just continue. We have to bring back that hunger. And I guess it's inevitable, something in the psyche of Topp.

sports athletes, when you do something outstanding the year before, maybe somewhere in the back of your mind you feel, "Okay, we know how to do this. We don't have to kill ourselves every single game. We win anyway." And you just lose 5 or 6% per player and then it accumulates and the overall effect is not 6, 7%, but maybe it's 20% or 30%, which makes all the difference at this level.

So they seem to have found the right frame of mind again, the right attitude. And it's really hard to play against this team. And I think they're going to go really strong, both in the Champions League and in the Bundesliga. Yeah, fascinating title race in Germany developing as well. That's such a big game on Friday. There must have been more written about Pep Guardiola than any other manager over the last month or so. We've talked a lot about Pep Guardiola.

over the last few weeks, even on EuroLeagues. But it's another Pep who lost his job this week. Red Bull Salzburg announcing on Monday former Liverpool assistant coach Pep Linders sacked as manager of the club after just seven months.

This had been coming for a long time, hadn't it, Rafa? You look at the league table, fifth place for Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian Bundesliga. I mean, and then their performances in the Champions League, where they were terrible. What is it, one win so far? What do you think went wrong for him? Because a lot was expected, wasn't it, Jurgen Klopp's assistant manager?

Yeah, it was a big surprise. I think... Well, a big surprise that he got the job or that he didn't? A big surprise that he did so badly. I thought, you know, somebody who's coached with Klopp should have...

a lot to give for a team that expects to dominate and win the league. So the combinations look very strong. But you look a little bit closer and perhaps the quality of the squad isn't quite as high as it used to be. They used to have players that everybody else in Europe really coveted. There was a Mane there, there was a Haaland there, there was a Mane. Did I say Mane already? Yeah. Soboslai, there were so many big players there.

And this team, their best player, the most interesting player, Konate, is injured. And what they're left with isn't that exciting. So I wouldn't put all the blame on him. Also last year, of course, they didn't win the title, which was already a big surprise. But he clearly wasn't able to bring that kind of intensity and that kind of system that Salzburg had.

intrinsically should know how to play well and make it count. And you looked at the Salzburg team and it was really hard to figure out what it is they're actually playing. So there were elements of pressing, there were elements of possession, but it was all over the place. I spoke to somebody close to the club who said he's a genius in certain ways. Like he'll figure out a throwing routine that is absolutely amazing and he'll train that throwing routine until the players really get it.

But then he kind of misses the sort of the bigger picture. And it's like, what are we trying to do today? You know, what is the game plan? Because he's on that detail and he'll go to another detail. And maybe that is a little bit the reflection of having been an assistant manager where you can and must, to a certain extent, concentrate on the details while the big stuff is being taken care of the other guy.

And I'm sure it's a learning process for him and I don't think it's the end of it. So for him, I'm sure he'll get another chance and hopefully it'll go better next time. I remember talking to Klopp about him and saying, I look at him and it reminds me of me. I'm sure it's something that Rafi has heard having written a book on Klopp, that he wanted to monitor him and look after him and shape him in a way that

Obviously, at some point, let him fly. And the possibility was there, wasn't it, of Klopp and Lindes get together. But I just wonder if the falls are so obvious that the club has decided to move him aside before Klopp has to do that himself ahead of football at Red Bull. Yeah, Klopp was joining. Well, he's joining, isn't he, in January. Do you think there's a significance, Rafa, that the decision was made now before Jurgen Klopp comes in?

I think it helps. It helps you not to be seen as involved in a decision. Even if he's not directly involved, people would always make that connection. And they brought back Thomas Letch, who is at Bochum, who has, of course, a history with Salzburg. He's a much more experienced manager, maybe perhaps more

Not quite as sexy, not quite as interesting with the catchphrases and with the charisma that Lyon just has. But they clearly wanted somebody who sort of knows the drill. Jules, you wanted to talk about the surprise team of the year. Brest. Oh, yeah. Stade Brestois. What an incredible story this has been. The Champions League table, 7th.

seventh place just below Inter, above Dortmund, who are ninth above so many other teams, including Paris Saint-Germain. What a story this has been. So third last season and then doing so well in Europe this season. Their first ever season in Europe. Yeah.

Yeah, first ever. And I know we work in seasons in our jobs, but just for the calendar year, just for the sake of the show now and to talk about Brest and just 2024 has been an exceptional year, the best ever they've ever had.

in their history in terms they broke all the records in terms of goals scored and wins and everything plus on top as you just said JB the discovery this incredible adventure of the Champions League for them who'd never even qualified for the Intertotal Cup in previous years the first cup if you want in the years where you were born JB in the 60s none of that never happened in the history of that club but

And now it's there. And I don't think they will ever match 2024. It's impossible. They will never be that good again. But they will cherish this year forever and ever because it's been an incredible 12 months for them in terms of how they turned this team around with Eric Roy, who I know we've said it many times, we're just going to say one last time, had not coached for 11 years. He'd been a pundit, a marketing director, a sportsman, anything you want, but not a coach, not a manager. For him to arrive, save them from relegation,

and then qualifying them for the Champions League finishing third and now like you said having this great run in the Champions League that only Barca have stopped because they're the only team to have beaten them in the Champions League so far

It's really remarkable. So they deserve a lot of love and a lot of credit and a big award for one of the best teams in 2024. He used to answer the phone to me, Eric Roy, when I needed a guest to talk about French football. Not anymore. Not anymore. Ignores the calls now he's doing so well with Brest. Right, I'm going to give you all a bit more time to think about your favourite footballing thing from 2024 and your standout player because a transfer story. So much talk this week about Marcus Rashford.

and potentially leaving Manchester United in January. Let's get the definitive on this, Julien, because every time Rashford is spoken about, Paris Saint-Germain gets mentioned. Would this be realistic as a destination in January? I don't think so. I mean, there were contacts before when Kylian Mbappé was still at the club. Marcus Rashford and Kylian Mbappé are quite close. His brother, who's also his agent, travelled to Paris and met Nasser Khalafi and all the...

the big heads at the club. I think at the time it was maybe more to almost force the end in a way of Manchester United to give him a new deal, which they did eventually. But it was never going to happen back then already to start with. Right now, it's true that PSG, especially if they let Rondal Colomwani go, would maybe get another forward somewhere there.

I just don't think that Marcus Rashford right now ticks the boxes that Luis Campos and Luis Enrique want.

OK, now the moment you've all been waiting for. No shortage of highlights from 2024. The Euros in Germany. We had the Champions League win for Real Madrid. Late comeback after late comeback for Bayer Leverkusen as they made history in Germany. Atalanta winning their first ever European trophy with that Adam Ola Lukman hat trick. But I want your favourite footballing moment this year. And Guillaume, the honour is with you. You're going to start us off. What was your best moment?

This is the perfect program for it. Quarterfinals against Germany, semifinals against France, final against England. And the Euros have to be one of those gifts that you don't expect. There was no ambition or hope for Spain. You never believed in them. We know that. You never believed in them.

That's right. Correct. Dodgy refereeing as well in the quarterfinal, Rafa. Yeah, dodgy refereeing. Rafa. There's always a reason why somebody else could have won, but actually we did. And he was on the back of the best football I've ever seen on an international tournament. And yeah, I'm never tired of watching that final. I put it on every now and again when I'm down. Yeah.

He's at his moment now. Let's move on quickly from that because we're still not over losing in the final. Rafa, where are you going for your standout footballing thing from 2024? I have to mention Bayer Leverkusen winning their first championship. I mean, it's hard, I think, to put into words just how monumental a moment for that club that was. For a club that's come so close so many times with historic teams, with the Balags and Berbertovs and Zerubertovs and Lucios and...

this team in Xavi Alonso finally did it. And they did it by rewriting the whole script because they didn't kind of just squeeze in or, you know, took advantage of a poor Bayern side. They went unbeaten the whole season and won the double and nearly won at Europa League as well, but they're beaten by a fantastic Atalanta side. So that I think will echo in eternity to use a gladiator term.

meme it is it is truly truly historic what we saw there so Jules where are you going then Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League campaign yeah I'm going to yeah but you're right actually because I'm going April 16th in Barcelona it's the second leg of the quarterfinals between PSG and Barcelona six days before PSG lost 3-2 at home to Barcelona so

And my children are on holidays. And my two boys were 15 and 11. My little girl, she was six, so she could not travel. But the two boys said, do you think we could come with you? I was going to cover the game. And I said, I would love you too if you wanted. But I never, you know, it has to come from the children, I think. So they said, we would love to come. So here we flew to Barcelona. I got tickets for them. We had a day there. And then we went to Montjuic and they had their shirts and everything.

And we could feel the tension. And I said to them, listen, whatever happens, we're going to enjoy it. It's great for you to go away in Europe to watch PSG play. It's very important. We were not with the PSG fans. So I said, you have to behave in case PSG score, because if we celebrate too much, we're going to get chucked out. And the atmosphere around Montjuic was really intimidating before. And they were really brave, bless them.

And then the game was incredible from a PSG point of view, although we could not celebrate. So we were sat like this, holding hands and going like, yeah, yeah. But we could not go too much until the end. And there was a few Parisians around us, like Christophe Jallet, for example, the former PSG player, who sat the world behind us.

And it was just one of the best memories I've ever had since I've been covering matches because the boys were there with me because we had such an incredible emotional relationship with that game and to see PSG win and yet they didn't, then they were knocked out in a typical PSG fashion in the semi-final against Dortmund a few days before, later. But to be there with my kids and my sons to see that win

that win away in Barcelona was very special. A heartwarming tale. I feel bad now about trying to take the mickey about Paris Saint-Germain's current Champions League campaign. I was in tears there. That was emotional. That was lovely. Yeah, it was great to have the boys with me there. It was amazing. Right, last but not least, forget FIFA Best Awards, forget the Ballon d'Or. I want your standout player from the year. So this is the EuroLeague's Awards. Give us a name then. And Rafa, I'm going to start with you this time. Lamin Yamal.

Wow. Do you need anything else? No, that's good. That's what we want. Laminia Mal gets the prize. Julien? I mean, I wish I'd gone first because now it looks like I copied on him. I can always pick Mbappe. I wish. I mean, if I start picking Kylian, people are going to say I'm biased. So my pick was Laminia Mal even before Rafi said it. So a bit Laminia Mal for me as well. Guillaume, two Laminia Mals. Are you going to stick with him? That's why Vini thinks everybody's against him.

He gets forgotten in the most knowledgeable Pundit team you could imagine in Europe and doesn't get to be the best. He is the best. 25 goals in 40 games. Scores in the Champions League final, in the Continental final. Um...

wins the best. Yeah, Vinicius for me. Vinicius Junior, yet again, misses out. So he had that great moment. He won the FIFA Best Awards, answered all his critics, but now it's 2-1. Luminia Mahl, standout player from the EuroLeague's team in 2024. Where's the trophy? Yeah, we'll have to... Go and get it. Yeah, we'll get a trophy. We'll sort it out for him. Send him that jumper. That's what he's got, send him the jumper. Can I take this jumper off now? It is so warm in this studio.

Guys, thank you so much. Thanks to Raphael Honigstein, thanks to Julian Laurence and to Guillaume Balaguer as well. On behalf of everyone who appears regularly on the show and helps make Euroleagues what it is, I'd like to wish you all a very happy Christmas. Let's hope you get some pointless football presents like my Christmas jumper.

And don't forget, while plenty of people hope to enjoy some time off over Christmas, the Football Daily rolls on with a new one to download every day at BBC Sounds, including the Commentator's View with John, Ian and Ali taking you behind the scenes of life as a five-life commentator. And we have another question for them from the EuroLeague's team. What was their favourite goal scored by a European footballer in 2024? So have a listen to the Commentator's View live

to hear which one they'll go with. But from EuroLeague's team, Merry Christmas.

Hello, Gary Lineker here. Join myself, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards for The Rest Is Football, the essential podcast for football fans. We'll be bringing strong opinions on all the latest stories from the Premier League and indeed the wider world of football in a show that combines topical debate with the most outrageous tales from our own careers. Will Liverpool have enough to win the Premier League this season? Will Real Madrid's new Galacticos era be a success?

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