Tuchel announces his decision on Kimmich
Thomas Tuchel smiled as he slipped a piece of fresh chewing gum between his teeth and then asked his "white ballet" to dance. The mood was great at the final training session for Bayern, dressed all in white for the Champions League match against Galatasaray, with Tuchel's key players Manuel Neuer and Joshua Kimmich joking and laughing with their colleagues.
There are good reasons for the good mood: If everything goes as it has for the past six years, Tuchel will have another success to show his critics after Wednesday night's show of force in the classic: Because Bayern have been undefeated in the group stage of the top flight for six years, or now 37 games in a row. And if nothing changes in this record against the Turkish record champions, Munich will be in the knockout round ahead of schedule after four matchdays. For the 16th time in a row.
The importance of such an early step cannot be overestimated, the coach signaled ahead of Wednesday's game (9 p.m./DAZN and live ticker on ntv.de). "It would give us huge self-confidence, it would be a huge endorsement if we manage to do that," he said, but also added: "We have to push ourselves to the limit again and show the performance we've shown in the league recently."
A difficult question
But what could possibly go wrong with the international comeback of captain Neuer, who is "happy" to "put on the Champions League jersey again"? After all, Bayern have won their last 16 preliminary round matches - that's also a record. Nevertheless, Tuchel warned: "We had enough problems in the first game to learn from them. We had to withstand a lot of pressure, we have to do a lot of things better."
Neuer, who Tuchel praised ahead of his fourth game after his comeback, should definitely contribute to this: "He gives us stability and calm, he leads with his style and makes the players around him better." The coach made similar comments about Kimmich, who is still suspended in the Bundesliga next Saturday. "Jo is an absolute regular and a fixture in our team. He will play in my plans."
The critics, above all Dietmar Hamann, may not like this commitment to Kimmich. "Is it perhaps a better team without Kimmich?" he asked on the Sky90 program on Sunday, adding: "How do you tell Laimer or Goretzka that they won't play on Wednesday? I think it's incredibly difficult now to tear this midfield duo apart." And yet: it will happen.
With the returnees
Tuchel did not want to deny that things had worked out well in Dortmund without Kimmich. The team performance against BVB was "outstanding", "the best over 90 minutes". And yes, "that also applies to our two midfielders". He had also said before the season that it was important "for people to establish themselves", but Laimer "will always switch to the right-back position, that will remain the case until winter".
Tuchel had positive things to say about Dayot Upamecano and Goretzka, who were thrown in at the deep end by him in Dortmund following their injuries. "I assume that both will be fit for action," he said.
Source: www.ntv.de
