Chance sometimes reserves curious coincidences.
Six months to the day, after leading the first PSG Champions League final against Bayern Munich (1-0 defeat), Thomas Tuchel returns to the European scene tonight.
As a nod to the festival of his former team on the Barcelona lawn on February 16, the new Chelsea coach will also have to deal with a severe Iberian: Atlético Madrid, leader of the Spanish league.
Convoluted in its organization since decentralized in Bucharest (Romania) due to the pandemic, the return of the German to the Champions League is accompanied by an equation that could not be simpler.
Unbeaten since taking over from Frank Lampard on the Blues bench on January 26, Tuchel will have no other goal than to stay the course.
The one he gave to his team by allowing him to jump from 10th to 5th place in the Premier League (4 wins and 2 draws) and to qualify for the 6th Cup round.
But also to maintain the flame that the Blues had rekindled by knowing how to remain invincible during the group stage.
Without Thiago Silva, injured in the thigh
In this first fight towards the quarter-finals that Chelsea have not played since winning the 2012 competition, Tuchel will have to do without one of his most loyal soldiers, Thiago Silva, who was injured in a thigh on February 4, in the victory against Tottenham (1-0).
“It will be a big test for us, it is a club convinced of its level, explained the German about his opponent on Monday at a press conference.
I hope this can bring out the best of our qualities.
We will do it our way.
It's clear that when you play against Atlético, you can expect combat, experience and a team with a good mentality.
"
In Paris, the Suarez temptation
Tuchel, who has signed up for eighteen months with an additional year if he places Chelsea in the Big Four, took the opportunity to compare the pressure that accompanies expectations around the Blues and PSG.
“In Paris, you have the impression that everything will be judged on your journey in the Champions League, because everyone expects you to be the winner of the championship, of all the domestic cups, and he is more or less less heard that you will always win everything, explained the German.
As a coach, you know how difficult it is to maintain a level of requirement to be champion all the time, to win all the qualifying matches in the cups and to reach the final phase of C1.
We know what it takes every day to have this mentality permanently.
Here, the value and competitiveness of the Premier League is much higher than what Paris is experiencing in its home league.
"
Before being confronted with Luis Suarez, tonight in this round of 16 first leg of the Champions League, the German technician also confessed to having tried to attract the former Barcelona into the ranks of PSG.
“There was a possibility, even admitted Tuchel.
We had heard that he was about to leave Barcelona.
Who wouldn't be interested in signing one of the best center-forward in the world, in history and in the present?
We tried our luck.
It didn't, he chose to stay in Spain, at Atlético, where he continues to prove his quality.
He's a born striker.
He has this mentality that only forwards have.
This mentality of showing his will, his intensity, his thirst for goals, and he is never satisfied with it.
What a mentality!
What a player!
[…] He could well have matched our team in Paris.
But now I believe he's under contract.
"
