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Thomas Tuchel declares he's 'not a fanboy' of Pep Guardiola ahead of Bayern vs Man City
Bayern Munich boss Thomas Tuchel opened up on his relationship with Manchester City's Pep Guardiola as the teams meet in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.
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Thomas Tuchel has praised Pep Guardiola's influence early in his coaching career but insists he is "not a fanboy" of his managerial counterpart as they prepare to meet in the Champions League on Tuesday. The Bayern Munich boss, who succeeded Julian Nagelsmann following his sacking in March, opened up on his relationship with the Manchester City head coach ahead of their quarter-final first leg tie.
The 49-year-old gushed with praise for Guardiola's work and revealed he met with the Catalan earlier in his career to discuss his ideas about football, something the German says he still cherishes to this day.
However, despite their positive relationship, Tuchel has dismissed any suggestions that he is a Guardiola "fanboy" ahead of the clash at the Etihad Stadium.
"That was a great opportunity for me to exchange ideas with him. I studied Barcelona a lot back when Pep was coach and it was a great opportunity to meet him in person," Tuchel said, speaking at a news conference.
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"I'm very thankful he shared his thoughts, gave me an insight on how he sees football. I was very happy about it. I had similar encounters with Jupp Heynckes for example, which helped me a lot. The class, respect he [Guardiola] showed towards me in this meeting was really impressive. He shared a lot with me, and whenever I question something today we talk.
"We have these encounters with Pep and I learn a lot from his teams, not only with personal talks with him. But I'm not a fanboy, I just enjoy it."
Tuchel will face Guardiola in the competition for the first time since his Chelsea side overcame Man City in Porto in the 2020-21 final to seal their second Champions League title.
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Kai Havertz scored the only goal of the game as Tuchel was hailed for guiding the west London side to unexpected success. Guardiola remains without a European crown in his seven years at the club, but his side have been backed as favourites to finally claim the elusive trophy this year.
Tuchel's Bayern stand in their way of a place in the semi-finals and, after dumping out Lionel Messi's Paris Saint-Germain in the last-16, the former Chelsea boss is confident his side can get a result and opened up on their gameplan.
"We'll give our best tomorrow to get a good result. We're prepared to impose our game, it will be a different match compared to the one against PSG," he added. "They have a different style, higher pace, great squad and especially in attack. You can't compare these encounters.
"There will be moments where we have to suffer and defend deep and defend as a block, very compact. But also we want to have moments where we can have more possession and hurt them. We have the qualities in our team to make this happen."
Erling Haaland goes into the game with an astonishing run of 11 goals in his last four matches, with Cristiano Ronaldo's record of 17 goals in a single campaign in his sights after bagging 10 goals in the competition so far. And Tuchel warned that the striker will be hungry to inflict damage on Bayern just as he did in his two-year spell with Borussia Dortmund.
"His numbers are incredibly impressive. His athleticism and hunger for goals stand out. Of course it's not just him. City create many chances for Haaland. We can only find solutions together. It will take diligence, willingness and presence in duels."