David Bolchover Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

Author and commentator David Bolchover tells the story of Europe’s first superstar football coach Béla Guttman, a survivor of the Holocaust who rose to twice lead the great Benfica team of the 1960s to the European Cup.

Bolchover tells how Guttmann hid for months in an attic near Budapest while thousands of Jews were taken away to be murdered and how he later escaped from a labour camp. Only 16 years on, he had risen to become coach of Benfica and lifted the greatest football prize in Europe. Bolchover contrasts the grim reality of a continent shattered by genocide with exhilarating encounters on football fields and asks which vision of Europe will win out in our times.

Bolchover is author of three previous books including the bestselling 90-Minute Manager. He has written for The Times, Telegraph and Financial Times and is often seen on television, including on the BBC and Sky.

Here he talks to journalist and LBC radio presenter Matthew Stadlen, a former BBC producer who is a regular interviewer for the Daily Telegraph and has interviewed for the BBC.

Sport