Thomas Tuchel is still grateful for the talks with Pep Guardiola. “There are these special encounters, with Pep is part of it. I learn from his teams,” said the FC Bayern coach ahead of Bayern Munich’s quarter-final first leg today (9 p.m. / Amazon Prime Video) in the Champions League against Manchester City. “But I’m not a fanboy. We’ll do everything we can to get a good result and put our mark on the game.”
At that time, Tuchel was studying as an aspiring coach at FC Barcelona under Guardiola, later he met him during his time at Bayern. Tuchel’s overall record is negative, but he celebrated a big win in the premier class final in 2021 when he defeated City and Guardiola with Chelsea. But that’s not what Manchester is about. Just as the preparation is “not a philosophy lesson about Barcelona”, emphasized Tuchel. “What counts are City’s last four weeks. We analyzed them.” In three sessions, two on matchday, he wants to prepare his team for this duel.
Guardiola: “I’m very happy to see him again”
On the eve of the game, Tuchel not only emphasized his thanks to Guardiola. “There was such an encounter with Jupp Heynckes, and that also had a big impact on me,” revealed Tuchel, who was hired to succeed Julian Nagelsmann almost three weeks ago. Heynckes won the treble with Bayern in 2013.
The Catalan had previously revealed how much Guardiola Tuchel appreciates. “He’s definitely one of the best coaches. He’s done a good job everywhere: in Germany, in Paris, in England. I’m really happy to see him again,” said Guardiola. The dazzling showdown is the eleventh trainer duel between the football strategists. Although Guardiola is ahead, the Tuchel teams never conceded a goal in knockout duels in regular time. Eight days before the second leg next Wednesday in Munich, that also gives hope for the city test.
“It’s a completely different game to PSG. I’m sure there will be moments where we will suffer. But we also want to have moments where we want to play on them and hurt them. We have the characteristics and the talent in the squad,” said Tuchel.
