He sat at the desk in the Signal Iduna Park press room with a big smile. On the eve of facing Dortmund, his former club, in the first knockout round of the Champions League, Parisian coach Thomas Tuchel displayed a lot of relaxation.
What changes the fact that Neymar is back in the group?
THOMAS TUCHEL . Neymar is there and he is fine. If nothing happens during training, he will play tomorrow (Tuesday). It changes almost everything if he plays.
In what state of mind do you find Dortmund, your old club?
I lived two exciting years here. Since my departure, I had never returned. I met a lot of faces that I know. Many rejoice, too. It's a great feeling. I am happy to be here, but I am also happy to coach another club. If I did not have the privilege of being at PSG, I would watch this match on TV. It is a great challenge to come back here in the costume of the opposing coach. But my situation doesn't matter. We come with a good team and we want to show good football.
Guardiola said that the Champions League is won over emotional control. Do you agree ?
He won it three times ( Editor's note: once as a player, twice as a coach ), if he says it is because he is right. It's really difficult to control your emotions in this stage, even almost impossible. But we have to play with intelligence, adapt and fight our emotions. In a very high level match, it is necessary to remain calm, attentive and intelligent.
What do you mean when you say that Neymar can change everything ?
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It's very easy. When Ney is in the field, he brings confidence, quality and the ability to be decisive. It changes everything for his teammates, for Kylian, for all of us. He gives confidence to the whole team, as to me. We don't have other players with the same qualities.
Is PSG confident when it comes to approaching the round of 16 first leg?
Without confidence, we cannot play this game. Without confidence, we do not survive in this stage. But we have the right to be confident. We are very consistent and have a good frame of mind within the team. We have the ability to adapt to different scenarios, to several situations. This is the key to staying awake. We know that they are strong in the transition game, have a lot of speed and that the statistics of offensive players are huge. This is where we have to be smart: avoid counter attacks before they happen.
You who know the Yellow Wall well in this stadium, what words will you say to your players so that they resist it?
Words cannot describe it, the wall, you have to feel it yourself. During my first match, I was amazed for 10 minutes, as the atmosphere was breathtaking. I'm not going to talk about it too much, they have to live it. Words will never be fair enough. And the players are used to it. They will do their best, they love to play decisive games. It awakens the best in them.
How do you manage the emotions linked to such an appointment?
The bigger the matches, the less we do! The atmosphere is special. But we don't need to add more. We don't prepare a match like that in the last two days, it's been preparing for weeks, months. The team has shown in recent weeks that it is ready.
What is the best position for Sarabia? Will it start on Tuesday?
I will not answer the second question. But his best position is close to the surface in order to make aggressive races and assists. He is very strong in this area.
The last campaigns were marked by two spectacular reversals against Barcelona and Manchester? Have you worked on the psychological side?
After Manchester, I told the guys that being in the same situation would mean that we're still here. You can lose terribly, weirdly. After Manchester for example, we were sad, mentally dead. But in the end, it’s sport, no more. It is necessary to accept to return with joy, with a smile. It's sport, competition. We are still here, this is the most important. Don't we want to play Champions League? Of course yes. We had a good first phase, we can control our preparation, our match. We will try to fight, to win this challenge and at the end we will accept the result.
Do you feel a trauma to the club linked to these failures in 8es?
I do not know. If you lose 3 times in a row, the 4th time is not necessarily the same. But each year has its history. You have to accept that it's like that. It's sport. There are doctors, many professions more important than ours. We play sports. We don't want to lose, but we have to accept defeats to grow. The 1st game was not the problem. We have to win both, maybe after we breathe. It's soccer! We're here, we have to take advantage because it's the best thing to be here.