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Thomas Tuchel (r.) Hugs his substitute Kurt Zouma after beating Real Madrid
Photo:
TOBY MELVILLE / REUTERS
Thomas Tuchel is one of the best football coaches in the world.
This statement is sometimes disregarded in Germany because his departure from Borussia Dortmund was accompanied by a lot of background noise and good coaches have to be somehow friendly.
After only three and a half months as coach of Chelsea, Tuchel is now in the Champions League final for the second time in a row - and that is his merit.
Chelsea won the second leg at Stamford Bridge 2-0 (1-0) after a 1-1 draw in the semi-final first leg at Real Madrid and met Manchester City in an all-English final on May 29.
Talent won against routine, a solid system against confused experimentation, tactical discipline against ball control - or simply Tuchel against Zinédine Zidane.
Zidane is also a great coach, but ...
The Frenchman has already won the Champions League three times with Real.
For that reason alone, Zidane is one of the great coaches of our time.
In the years 2015 to 2018, it was one of Zidane's great merits to keep a team peppered with world stars happy, to swear them to the decisive games and to instill an incomparable winning mentality.
Sergio Ramos, Toni Kroos, Casemiro, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema are still there, but also five years older than the first triumph under Zidane in the 2015/2016 season.
This quintet, enriched with some great talent, can still make all the difference.
But not against a team like Chelsea, which has been playing in excellent form for weeks and, with its defensive qualities, doesn’t fit Real’s style of play.
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Timo Werner heads in from close range to make it 1-0 for Chelsea
Photo:
Adam Davy / imago images / PA Images
Zidane moved away from his basic tactical idea in both games against the Blues.
Real actually prefers a 4-3-3, against Chelsea Zidane bet on a 3-5-2.
That didn't work in the first leg because there was a lack of coordination between the defense and midfield.
But the 48-year-old stuck to his idea, relied on the trained striker Vinícius Júnior as a right-back in London and thus put an imbalance on his defensive.
N'Golo Kanté towers over the ball as a conqueror
Tuchel, in turn, could rely on almost everything that had already worked in Madrid. His players managed to get completely behind the ball with astonishing regularity and took all the swing from Real's possession football. N'Golo Kanté excelled as a ball conqueror and switch sprinter. Kai Havertz, who moved into the starting eleven for Christian Pulisic, took on his role as a flexible attacker alongside goal scorer Timo Werner (28th minute) and impressed with enthusiasm and physicality. Only the exploitation of chances left something to be desired again - Real could have lost a lot more.
Tuchel's tactical versatility has been known since his time at FSV Mainz. In Dortmund he relied on the attack department and developed a team with tremendous impact on the offensive. At Paris Saint-Germain he managed to keep his back from world stars like Neymar and Kylian Mbappé. And now, at Chelsea, Tuchel - despite all the existing quality on the offensive - relies even more on a functioning defensive basic order. Tuchel has changed the division, in 24 competitive games under him, Chelsea have conceded 18 times.
At the beginning of his coaching career, Tuchel is said to have lost himself in too many details, be it in questions of nutrition or the meticulous implementation of training content.
There was also a skirmish over competence with club management, sports directors or scouting departments.
At BVB, the resulting bad mood culminated in a “dissent” with managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke regarding the handling of the attack on the team bus in 2017. This is another reason why Tuchel does not have the best reputation in Germany.
Here Tuchel has developed further
It is forgotten that Tuchel has developed to his advantage in dealing with his players since leaving the Bundesliga. Meticulousness is still of great importance to him, but he allows more freedom, Tuchel has become more approachable. He had already left the dressing room in Paris, but that seems to be the case again at Chelsea. Tuchel strengthened important players with Kanté, Antonio Rüdiger or César Azpilicueta and they pay it back with excellent performances and a good mood.
In the final, Manchester City is the team that many admirers have just heard that they are currently the best in the world.
A few weeks ago, Chelsea had already shown how to defeat City: The Blues won 1-0 in the FA Cup semi-finals, without conceding a goal, of course.
Tuchel then meets Pep Guardiola, the trainer who is said to have been his role model and with whom he once turned salt and pepper shakers into football figures in a Munich restaurant.
Next Saturday, the foreplay will increase in the Premier League.
City can become champions early, Chelsea need every point to return to the Champions League.
It will be a lot more difficult than against Zidane.