Thomas Tuchel recently lacked the time to deal with the highlight at Manchester City. After the successful revenge at SC Freiburg, the Bayern coach now has his head clear for the first leg of the quarter-finals in the Champions League.
The pressure was too great after Bayern were eliminated from the DFB Cup, said Tuchel. “I haven’t thought about Tuesday because we were busy enough.” The lack of consistency in his players continues to worry the 49-year-old.
De Ligt is worth seeing for Bayern’s success
After all: The dress rehearsal before the first part of the premier class quarter-finals in Manchester was successful when they met again with the sports club in the Bundesliga, because the front runner won 1-0 (0-0) in Breisgau and retaliated for the four days previously suffered defeat in the DFB Cup (1:2).
How great the pressure was could also be seen in the emotional jubilation of national player Joshua Kimmich, who clenched his fists in front of the Freiburg fans and a few moments later found himself surrounded by opponents. “It was also a bit over the top,” said Kimmich, who was “provoked” by a film on the scoreboard about SC’s cup victory in the quarter-finals.
Because the playful solution did not work in Freiburg, the football crowbar had to be used with a powerful long-range shot when central defender Matthijs de Ligt scored the winning goal (51st minute). But that alone will not be enough on Tuesday in the premier class against the star squad around the recovered Erling Haaland. “We’ll have to step it up a notch against Manchester City,” tweeted FCB CEO Oliver Kahn.
The players also emphasized that. “Of course it’s always difficult against such an opponent,” said de Ligt in an interview with TV station Sport1. “First of all, we have to regenerate well and then we have to put in a top performance. I think we still have a lot of room for improvement.”
The people of Munich still lack the lightness – and Tuchel the time. “Now there are only felt cup games. That will not change in the coming weeks,” he said. “It’s a countdown to the end of the season and it’s about adding, adding and adding again if we want to reach our goals.”
In the championship and in the premier class, Bayern want to save a season in which they have too often shown changeable appearances. In Freiburg, too, it remained exciting until the end because FCB missed the second goal despite plenty of chances. In the end, the post saved against Ritsu Doan (44th) and Yann Sommer in a duel with Roland Sallai (70th).
“We lacked the efficiency to clear the game earlier,” said Sommer. Despite their great dominance, Bayern lacked penetrating power. The club’s second-best goalscorer, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, is also missing due to knee problems. Representatives Serge Gnabry in the lead and Leroy Sané on the wing made an effort, but missed numerous opportunities.
FCB meets Haaland, Guardiola and Co on Tuesday
That summer, de Ligt
Tuchel announced: “There is no tactics, we have never done that before.” Nevertheless, he noticed the problems of his new team: “We lack a bit of self-confidence, a bit of creativity, and we are aware that we need top performances to survive against Manchester City.”
The only thing that helps his team is a sense of achievement, like the one in Freiburg – even if the win was hard work. However, there is no time to work intensively on the weak points. Tuchel knows that he and Bayern have to make the “switch” quickly so that the next title dream doesn’t end prematurely after the cup defeat against Freiburg.
