Thomas Tuchel, who led Chelsea to victory over Manchester City in the European final last year, will face his former opponent Pep Guardiola again, this time as the new coach of Bayern Munich, in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday at Etihad Stadium. Tuchel, who was fired from Paris Saint-Germain, had only been in charge of Chelsea for four months when he won the title in May 2021.
Guardiola, who led Barcelona to victories in 2009 and 2011, has been seeking to win the championship for more than a decade. The two coaches first met in the Bundesliga when Guardiola was in charge of Bayern Munich (2013–2016) and Tuchel was the head coach of Mainz and later Borussia Dortmund. They shared a passion for offensive play and tactics and once spent an evening together discussing game situations at a restaurant in Munich. Tuchel was a big admirer of Guardiola, and Guardiola also learned from Tuchel.
Tuchel was fired by Chelsea in September and was appointed as the coach of Bayern Munich in late March, which surprised many people. Tuchel’s reputation certainly weighed in on the club’s decision to dismiss Julian Nagelsmann. Guardiola, who has won four Premier League titles in seven seasons with City, knows that his ultimate goal is the Champions League. He believes that he will be judged by his performance in this competition.
This season, City’s acquisition of Erling Haaland seems to be the final piece of the puzzle, as he has scored 30 goals in the Premier League and 44 in all competitions. In his last appearance in the Champions League, Haaland scored five goals in a 7-0 victory over Leipzig in the second leg of the round of 16. The 22-year-old Norwegian striker is now setting his sights on Bayern Munich, his former rival when he played for Dortmund.