MUNICH, Germany: Welcomed with fanfare by Chelsea but then sacked just over a year later, Thomas Tuchel, who is returning to Germany as Bayern Munich’s new coach, is one of Europe’s most sought-after bosses but is not without controversy.
The 49-year-old former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain coach has a reputation as a brilliant tactician who is not afraid to overhaul his side constantly.
But he also has a streak of sackings behind him — with a bad-tempered exit at Borussia Dortmund in 2017 followed by an acrimonious parting from PSG in December 2020, and most recently in September, a tumultous departure from Chelsea.
Yet Tuchel’s turbulent CV has also shown that he has the capacity to bounce back to lead subsequent top flight clubs.
The announcement Friday that he is taking over the reins at Bayern, Germany’s most successful club, from Julian Nagelsmann is yet another testimony to Tuchel’s employability.
“Tuchel is not interested in marketing, in his image. He is interested by his work, he just wants to be judged by his work and only that,” said Daniel Meuren, who wrote a biography on the German coach.
On the field, the verdict so far is unanimous — every club that Tuchel has handled has obtained results and play attractive football.
He led Chelsea to Champions League glory, won two French titles with PSG and lifted the German Cup with Dortmund.
At once charismatic and prickly, Tuchel, by his own admission, can be a challenging personality.
“I wasn’t easy to deal with as a player,” he admitted in a 2009 interview.
A knee injury cut short Tuchel’s playing career as a defender at third-division Ulm in 1998 and he turned his hand to coaching.
He cut his coaching teeth in the youth academies at VfB Stuttgart and Augsburg but his career took off at Mainz where he was promoted from Under-19s boss to first-team head coach two days before the start of the 2009-2010 season despite having no Bundesliga experience.
Like his role model, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, Tuchel is not afraid to switch formation or tactics two or three times during a game, making it impossible for opposing coaches to second-guess him.
But he is also not shy about picking fights with club management.
After a pipe bomb attack that rocked Dortmund’s team bus ahead of a Champions League quarter-final match against Monaco in 2017, Tuchel lashed out at the club’s bosses for agreeing to play the game a day later rather than give players more time to recover from the shock.
At Qatar-owned PSG, the central issue for Tuchel was his relationship with sporting director Leonardo, with whom he did not see eye-to-eye and who was eager to bring in his own man.
Tuchel was eventually pushed out, despite having won the Ligue 1 title in his first season and then, in 2019/20, he secured a clean sweep of domestic honors before reaching the Champions League final in Lisbon, where PSG lost narrowly to Bayern Munich.
Given his record, his relationship with Bayern’s sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic and outspoken chairman and former Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn will be closely scrutinized.
After all, it was also Salihamidzic and Hansi Flick’s tense relationship that eventually led the former coach to leave Bayern to become Germany’s national coach in the summer of 2021.
Thomas Tuchel: brilliant tactician with ‘challenging’ streak
https://arab.news/8vbf7
Thomas Tuchel: brilliant tactician with ‘challenging’ streak
- The 49-year-old former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain coach has a reputation as a brilliant tactician who is not afraid to overhaul his side constantly
- Yet Tuchel's turbulent CV has also shown that he has the capacity to bounce back to lead subsequent top flight clubs
Man City two wins away from another Premier League title
- However Arsenal finish the season, the title will be City’s if Pep Guardiola’s team beat both Tottenham away on Tuesday and West Ham at home in the final round on May 19
- Josko Gvardiol scored twice for City to enhance his status as an unlikely goal-getter for Guardiola, with the left back making it five in his last seven games
LONDON: Two more wins.
That’s all that separates Manchester City from becoming English champion for an unprecedented fourth straight year.
The game is up, though, for Burnley, whose relegation from the Premier League was confirmed on Saturday with a game to spare.
On a significant day at both ends of the standings, City racked up another big victory by routing Fulham 4-0 to climb above Arsenal into a two-point lead. The top two each have two games left, and Arsenal face Manchester United next on Sunday.
However Arsenal finish the season, the title will be City’s if Pep Guardiola’s team beat both Tottenham away on Tuesday and West Ham at home in the final round on May 19.
“My players like to play with pressure. They are used to it,” said Guardiola, whose team have won five of the last six Premier Leagues. “The players enjoy this feeling.
“This season is the same — don’t think about anything other than the next game. Focus on winning the next game and then we will see what happens.”
Josko Gvardiol scored twice for City to enhance his status as an unlikely goal-getter for Guardiola, with the left back making it five in his last seven games. Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez also netted at Craven Cottage as City extended its unbeaten run in all competitions to 33 matches.
No team in the 136-year history of English soccer has won the top division for four successive years. It’s the latest record in touching distance of Guardiola’s City, which have also reached the FA Cup final against Man United on May 25.
Burnley down
Two of the three teams which came up to the Premier League for this season are sure to be heading back down to the Championship after one year.
It’s not looking great for the third one, either.
Burnley needed to beat Tottenham to stand a chance of a second straight season in the league but lost 2-1 to join already-relegated Sheffield United in going down.
Luton lost at West Ham 3-1 to stand on the brink of being the third team relegated. It was given a reprieve, however, when fourth-from-last Nottingham Forest squandered a lead and lost at home to Chelsea 3-2.
Forest was three points above Luton and has a superior goal difference of 12. In the final round of games next weekend, Forest visits Burnley and Luton hosts Fulham — and there has to be a huge, and improbable, swing in goal difference for Luton to survive.
Last season, all three promoted teams staved off relegation for the first time since 2018.
Spurs retain hope
Tottenham kept alive its Champions League qualification hopes with the come-from behind win over Burnley, which was secured by Micky van de Ven’s 82nd minute goal.
Spurs’ first goal was also scored by a defender — right back Pedro Porro — to begin the fightback.
Spurs trimmed the gap to fourth-placed Aston Villa to four points, with both teams having two games left. Villa can secure fourth spot and the final automatic Champions League spot from the Premier League by beating Liverpool on Monday.
Other results
In the fight to qualify for the minor European competitions, Newcastle stayed in sixth place — but dropped six points behind Tottenham — by drawing at home with Brighton 1-1. Newcastle are tied on points with Chelsea, with both teams three points ahead of eighth-placed Man United.
Brentford won at Bournemouth 2-1, Crystal Palace beat Wolverhampton 3-1, and Everton defeated Sheffield United 1-0 for a fifth straight home win.
Real Madrid rest starters in 4-0 rout of relegated Granada with focus on Champions League final
- Brahim Diaz made his case for some playing time in the title game against Dortmund after the creative forward scored two second-half goals
- Ancelotti and Madrid players will celebrate their league title with supporters in central Madrid on Sunday
BARCELONA, Spain: Real Madrid’s backups eased to 4-0 win at the relegated Granada on Saturday as Carlo Ancelotti rested most of his top players to avoid costly injures before the Champions League final.
Defender Antonio Rudiger was the only first-choice player who Ancelotti started for a Spanish league game that was inconsequential for either side.
Madrid clinched their 36th Spanish league title last weekend. They are now fully focused on the European final against Borussia Dortmund on June 1 in London after eliminating Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
Granada didn’t have much to play for either after Mallorca’s 1-0 win at Las Palmas meant the team from southern Spain was relegated. Granada are in 19th place and join bottom side Almeria in going to the second division. Cadiz are in danger of becoming the third team to drop.
Little used left back Fran Garcia scored and assisted Turkish teenager Arda Guler in the first half. Brahim Diaz made his case for some playing time in the title game against Dortmund after the creative forward scored two second-half goals.
Thibaut Courtois was back in goal for his second appearance of the season after he recovered from an ACL tear and a knee injury. Ancelotti said on Friday he has yet to decide if Courtois or Andriy Lunin, who has played most of the season, will be his pick against Dortmund.
Luka Modric and Eduardo Camavinga, players with real chances to see minutes in the Champions League final, also started.
“My goal is to arrive to the final with the entire team in peak form, and I think we will do that,” Ancelotti said.
Ancelotti and Madrid players will celebrate their league title with supporters in central Madrid on Sunday.
Atheletic held
Fifth-placed Athletic Bilbao needed an added-time goal against visiting Osasuna to salvage a 2-2 draw, dropping points in their fight for a top-four finish and Champions League berth.
The Copa del Rey champions were five points behind fourth-placed Atletico Madrid before they host Celta Vigo on Sunday.
Asier Villalibre equalized for Athletic on one of the last kicks of the game when Osasuna goakeeper Sergio Herrera spilled a cross after colliding with a teammate.
Sorloth double
Alexander Sorloth scored his second goal with a stoppage-time header to snatch Villarreal a 3-2 comeback win over Sevilla.
The victory kept alive Villarreal’s chances of catching Real Betis in seventh place and the Europa Conference League spot.
Harry Kewell’s Yokohama edge Hernan Crespo’s Al Ain in Asian Champions League final first leg
- Yokohama made a bright start in front of almost 55,000 home fans
- The second leg will be played in the UAE in a fortnight’s time
YOKOHAMA: Harry Kewell’s Yokohama F-Marinos fought back to claim a narrow Asian Champions League final advantage over Hernan Crespo’s Al Ain on Saturday with a 2-1 first-leg win in Japan.
Mohammed Abbas scored in the 12th minute for United Arab Emirates side Al Ain but Yokohama’s Asahi Uenaka levelled midway through the second half before substitute Kota Watanabe grabbed the winner six minutes from time.
The second leg will be played in the UAE in a fortnight’s time.
Kewell and Crespo were meeting as coaches almost 20 years after facing each other as players in the UEFA Champions League final in Istanbul.
Crespo was part of the AC Milan side that took a 3-0 half-time lead before Kewell’s Liverpool famously came back to draw 3-3 and then win on penalties.
Kewell has led Yokohama to their first Champions League final only four months after taking over at the Japanese club.
Al Ain are the UAE’s most successful club and they are playing in the final for the fourth time, having won it in 2002 and reached the decider in 2005 and 2016.
Yokohama made a bright start in front of almost 55,000 home fans and Elber and Yan Matheus both had attempts at goal within the first five minutes.
But Al Ain threw a spanner in the works with the opening goal just over five minutes later when Abbas stuffed home the rebound after goalkeeper William Popp had denied Soufiane Rahimi.
The UAE side thought they had scored a second in the 30th minute when Matias Palacios fired the ball between Popp’s legs, only for a VAR check to rule it out for offside.
Yokohama had several chances to get back on level terms and Al Ain goalkeeper Khalid Eisa had to tip a Takuya Kida shot onto the crossbar with one of them.
Nam Tae-hee then missed a gilt-edged opportunity in first-half injury time with the goal at his mercy.
Yokohama were much scrappier in the second half but they got their equalizer when Matheus’s cross picked out Uenaka to head home in the 72nd minute.
Yokohama substitute Watanabe put the ball in the net again in the 84th minute only to be flagged for offside.
But the goal was allowed to stand after a VAR check, giving Yokohama a precious lead to take into the second leg.
amk/tym
Neymar left off Brazil’s squad for Copa America. 17-year-old Endrick is included
- Neymar, who plays for Saudi club Al-Hilal and is recovering from a torn ACL, was expected to be omitted from the tournament in the US in June and July
- The 17-year-old Endrick, who will soon join Real Madrid, scored for Brazil in a 1-0 win over England at Wembley Stadium and in a 2-2 draw against Spain at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in March
RIO DE JANEIRO: Neymar was left off Brazil’s squad for the Copa America on Friday and teenage striker Endrick was included.
Neymar, who plays for Saudi club Al-Hilal and is recovering from a torn ACL, was expected to be omitted from the tournament in the US in June and July.
The 17-year-old Endrick, who will soon join Real Madrid, scored for Brazil in a 1-0 win over England at Wembley Stadium and in a 2-2 draw against Spain at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in March — the national team’s only matches since Dorival Junior took over as coach in January.
Striker Richarlison and midfielder Casemiro, who were starters for Brazil at the last World Cup in Qatar, also didn’t make the cut.
Brazil will play friendlies against the US and Mexico ahead of the tournament.
At the Copa America, Brazil will play in Group D with Costa Rica, Colombia and Paraguay.
Brazil squad:
Goalkeepers: Alisson (Liverpool), Ederson (Manchester City) Bento (Athletico Paranaense)
Defenders: Danilo (Juventus), Yan Couto (Girona), Guilheme Arana (Atletico Mineiro), Wendell (Porto), Beraldo (Paris Saint-Germain), Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain), Eder Militão (Real Madrid), Gabriel Magalhães (Arsenal)
Midfielders: Andreas Pereira (Fulham), Bruno Guimarães (Newcastle), Douglas Luiz (Aston Villa), João Gomes (Wolverhampton), Lucas Paquetá (West Ham)
Forwards: Endrick (Palmeiras), Evanilson (Porto), Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal), Raphinha (Barcelona), Savinho (Girona), Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Vinícius Junior (Real Madrid)
Mbappe confirms he will leave PSG at end of season
- Mbappe’s arrival in the capital as a teenager in 2017 came after he had helped Monaco win the league title
PARIS: Kylian Mbappe confirmed on Friday that he will leave French champions Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season, with Real Madrid widely expected to be his next destination.
The announcement brings an end to a prolific association with his hometown team, which began when he signed from Monaco in 2017 in a deal worth 180 million euros ($194 million).
“I wanted to announce to you all that it’s my last year at Paris Saint-Germain. I will not extend and the adventure will come to an end in a few weeks,” Mbappe, 25, said in a video posted on social media.
“I will play my last game at the Parc des Princes on Sunday.”
PSG have already secured the Ligue 1 title, their 10th in the last 12 seasons, and the Qatar-owned club will pick up the trophy after Sunday’s game against Toulouse, which will be their last of the campaign on home turf.
Luis Enrique’s side were eliminated from the Champions League by Borussia Dortmund in the semifinals on Tuesday when a 1-0 loss in the second leg at home sealed a surprise 2-0 aggregate defeat.
It means Mbappe will be denied the send-off he had hoped for in the Champions League final at Wembley on June 1 and will end his seven-year spell at PSG without ever having won Europe’s elite club competition.
Mbappe informed PSG privately in February of his intention to depart when his contract expires at the end of the current campaign.
The 2018 World Cup winner had never confirmed publicly he was leaving, though, far less said where he will be going next, but it appears certain that he is bound for Real Madrid.
Spanish media have claimed for several months that Mbappe has signed an agreement which would see him join the Liga champions in July once his PSG deal runs out.
“It’s a lot of emotions, many years where I had the chance and the great honor to be a member of the biggest French club, one of the best in the world,” said Mbappe.
“It allowed me to arrive here, to have my first experience in a club with a lot of pressure, to grow as a player of course, by being alongside some of the best in history, some of the greatest champions,” he added.
“It’s hard and I never thought it would be this difficult to announce that... but I think I needed this, a new challenge, after seven years.”
Mbappe’s arrival in the capital as a teenager in 2017 came after he had helped Monaco win the league title.
After initially joining PSG on loan, his transfer fee became — and still is — the second largest in football history.
It came just weeks after PSG paid a world-record 222 million euros to sign Neymar from Barcelona.
PSG have dominated French football since their 2011 Qatari takeover, but despite also adding Lionel Messi to their line-up for two seasons, European success has remained tantalisingly out of reach for a club that has spent billions on some of the world’s best players.
The closest they came was the 2020 Champions League final defeat by Bayern Munich, when PSG academy graduate Kingsley Coman scored the winning goal against his former club.
The defeat to Dortmund this week ruled out the prospect of Mbappe facing his likely future employers, 14-time European champions Real Madrid, in this year’s final.
Mbappe did not find the net in that tie but has scored 43 goals in all competitions this season, with 26 of those coming in Ligue 1.
He will still hope to add to his club-record tally of 255 goals for PSG and win another medal in the French Cup final on May 25 — Mbappe has so far won six Ligue 1 titles, three French Cups and the now defunct League Cup twice in his seven years at his hometown team.
After Sunday’s game, PSG will complete their league campaign with away matches at Nice and at relegation-threatened Metz, before Mbappe wraps up his career with the club in that Cup final in Lille.
Mbappe was frozen out at the start of the campaign with the club putting pressure on him to sign a new deal or agree to be sold rather than simply run down the last year of his contract.
His relationship with PSG boss Luis Enrique has also come under the spotlight since he told the Qatar-owned club of his plans to leave earlier this year.
Now the worst-kept secret is out and Mbappe’s departure follows that of Messi and Neymar at the end of last season, which left PSG in a period of transition, but the loss of the France captain is an even greater blow.
