Euro Leagues: Mbappe and Courtois return from international exile

Football Daily

BBC

Soccer, Sports, News, Sports News, Sport

4.3 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

John Bennett is joined by Julien Laurens, Guillem Balague and Kristof Terreur to discuss Kylian Mbappe and Thibaut Courtois returning from the international wilderness.

We ask whether Virgil van Dijk is heading to PSG and if a strong Barcelona equates to a strong Spain.

And why are Real Madrid threatening to boycott La Liga games?

Topics: 00: 34 - Players reporting for international duty like they're walking the catwalk 05:09 - Kylian Mbappe returns for France after six-month hiatus 15:54 - Desire Doue's first France call-up and PSG's new approach to recruitment 21:02 - Virgil van Dijk's future 24:33 - Thibaut Courtois returns for Belgium after 18-month absence 34:28 - Rudi Garcia as new Belgium head coach 36:43 - Does a strong Barcelona equate to a strong Spain? 42:11 - Carlo Ancelotti says Real Madrid shouldn't play La Liga games if they're not given 72 hours between matches

BBC Sounds/ 5 Live commentaries this week: Greece v Scotland - Nations League playoff - 19:45 - Thursday 20th March England v Albania - World Cup qualifier - 19:45 - Friday 21st March Man City v Chelsea - Women’s Super League - 19:45 - Sunday 23rd March England v Latvia - World Cup qualifier - 19:45 - Monday 24th March

Transcript

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0:00.0	Football, a game of passion, rivalry and loyalty.
0:05.0	But decades ago, beneath the cheers and the chance,
0:09.0	lay a different kind of warfare called hooliganism.
0:13.0	On a match day, everyone was your enemy.
0:15.0	We'll uncover the brutal, bloody battles where punching below the belt was a way of life.
0:19.0	It was just a die of my him. Gangster presents hooligans.
0:22.6	They were destroying the football club.
0:24.8	The game I won't.
0:25.9	Listen first on BBC Sounds.
0:30.8	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:35.1	On the Football Daily Podcasts, the EuroLeaks with John Bennett.
0:41.1	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:44.2	Welcome to Euroleagues on the Football Daily podcast.
0:47.2	Hello from me, John Bennett.
0:48.3	Great to have you with us.
0:49.7	It's international break.
0:51.1	So an international football feel to the pod today.
0:53.4	But don't worry,
0:54.7	we will be talking club football as well with Julien LaRons, Guillain Balagay and Christoph Terrer.
1:00.5	Good to speak to you again, guys. Hello to you all. Now, I can't believe I'm allowing this to
1:05.8	happen again, but we are going to start with some fashion chat. As you know, I'm on shaky ground here.
1:12.0	But the trend started by Jules' France national team of turning up to international duty,
	...

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