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Manchester (AP) - The second victory of his FC Chelsea against Manchester City within three weeks makes coach Thomas Tuchel confident for the Champions League final against Man City on May 29th.
"We go there knowing that we can beat them," said the Chelsea coach on Saturday after the 2-1 (0-1) win at Sky Sports.
At the same time he warned: “This result does not change the fact that the final is a one-off game.
You can't predict what will happen there.
So you have to be well prepared. "
City coach Pep Guardiola, for whom Tuchel is developing into an unpleasant opponent, also sees it this way.
In the semi-finals of the FA Cup, the Guardiola-Elf was thrown 0-1 against Chelsea in April.
Due to the recent defeat in the Premier League, Man City now had to postpone the almost certain championship again.
For the Champions League, however, both games would have no meaning at all, Guardiola emphasized phrase-wise.
"We'll see what happens in the final," he said, visibly disappointed.
"This is a different competition."
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Tuchel knew, however, that the game at the Etihad Stadium could have gone differently if Sergio Agüero had scored the 2-0 for Man City after Raheem Sterling's (44th) opening goal before the break. "If they make the 911, it might be over before it starts," said Tuchel. But club icon Agüero, who will leave the Citizens at the end of the season after ten years, failed with his Panenka-style penalty. Guardiola took the striker in protection. "Now he's selfish because he missed," he said, "if he had scored a goal, we would say: he's a genius."
And so Chelsea turned up in the second half.
The equalizer from Hakim Ziyech (63rd) was followed by hits from Timo Werner and Tammy Abraham, who were both offside.
Tuchel was particularly satisfied with national player Werner, who scored against Real Madrid in the premier class.
"He worked really, very hard."
In stoppage time, the guests from London celebrated an away win thanks to Marcos Alonso (90 + 2), which Tuchel and his professionals encouraged for the Champions League final.
"That gives us confidence, and it's all about performance and confidence."
As early as Saturday, the Blues could secure their first title in the FA Cup final against Leicester City.
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Liverpool FC, meanwhile, retained a bit of residual hope in terms of qualifying for the premier class in the next season.
Sadio Mané (31st) and the former Bayern professional Thiago (90th) with his first goal for the Reds gave coach Jürgen Klopp an important home win against FC Southampton and initially sixth in the table.
Liverpool have a game to catch up against Manchester United, but with six points behind fourth Leicester City and seven points behind third Chelsea, they are reliant on mistakes by the competition in the remaining three games.
What does that mean for the hopes for fourth place in the table?
"That they are still alive," said Klopp.
"That's all, nothing more."
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210508-99-522447 / 4