Champions League: reunion between Thomas Tuchel and Borussia Dortmund

Text by: Farid Achache Follow

The knockout round of the Champions League between Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, February 18, promises to be a special meeting for Thomas Tuchel. The current PSG coach was sacked by the Ruhr club at the end of the 2016-2017 season.

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Thomas Tuchel has work to do for the resumption of the C1 in February. The German technician must make forget the three consecutive eliminations of the Parisian club in the knockout stages of the Champions League in the last three seasons, against Dortmund, a club he had left on very bad terms in 2017.

Thomas Tuchel to replace Jürgen Klopp

" The first leg was never a problem, " said Tuchel in a long interview with the German Sunday newspaper Welt-am-Sonntag . As for his return to the 82,000-seater enclosure of the Rhur club, the Parisian coach announces: " I decided not to put myself in the middle of all the history, the team has nothing to do in there . "

In 2015, Thomas Tuchel took the place of Jürgen Klopp, idol of Signal Iduna Park. A delicate challenge that the young German technician takes up. After 11 consecutive victories in its first 11 official matches, Borussia is in second place in the Bundesliga, behind Bayern Munich.

It is in the offseason that things go wrong between Tuchel and his management. He said that the structure of his group should not change and that Mats Hummels, Ilkar Gündogan and Henrik Mkhitaryan are the club's priority. Hummels was finally sold to Bayern, Gündogan to Manchester City and Mkhitaryan to Manchester United. However, in May 2016, the club boss Hans-Joachim Watzke was reassuring, categorically excluding the departure of these three executives.

Always complicated relations with Borussia

Between Thomas Tuchel and Dortmund, relations have never been simple. But they turned into a nightmare in April 2017, after the attack on the team bus in which the current PSG coach was found.

During the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League against Monaco, on April 11, the players' bus was attacked. Spanish defender Marc Bartra is injured in the wrist while the players and coach are in shock. The leaders of the two clubs, in agreement with UEFA, however agree to reschedule the match the next evening. But Tuchel is not consulted. Officially, Tuchel did not want to play the next day. But the versions diverge.

Dortmund lost 3-2 to the Monegasques. And Tuchel openly attacks his leaders after the meeting. Watzke, accused of having yielded to the financial interests of UEFA, is ulcerated. Tuchel, he has the beautiful role, he shows humanity by defending his players.

Fired for lack of " loyalty "

A few days later, Hans-Joachim Watzke admits " serious differences " with Tuchel. At the time of the trial, the coach will deliver himself with a shock sentence: " The big difference is that I was in the bus and Aki (Watzke) not ".

In his second season with Borussia, Tuchel finished third in the Championship, won the German Cup and stopped in the quarterfinals of the C1. But the former professional footballer will eventually be sacked. To justify the departure of the coach, Watzke had mentioned in a letter to supporters the lack of " confidence ", " respect " and " loyalty " on the part of Tuchel who had also left Mainz (2009-2014), his previous club, in very bad terms.

" He (Tuchel) will of course be warmly welcomed when he returns to Dortmund, " said Borussia sports director Michael Zorc the day after the draw for the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Neymar, who has missed Paris Saint-Germain's last four games due to a rib injury, is among the group of players selected to face Dortmund. In addition to the Brazilian, Kylian Mbappé, Thomas Meunier, Presnel Kimpembe, Layvin Kurzawa and Pablo Sarabia, also absent from the trip to Amiens in Ligue 1 on Saturday February 15 (draw, 4-4), are also part of the trip to Germany. Unlike Leandro Paredes and Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting, who stayed in Paris. Last season, Neymar could not play in the knockout stages of the Champions League with Paris due to a serious injury to the right foot. Neymar, transferred to PSG against a record sum of 222 million euros in the summer of 2017, has only been able to play one of the knockout stages of the Champions League since he wears the Paris jersey due to two serious injuries to the right foot. PSG, which has made the Champions League its supreme goal since its acquisition by the Qatari QSI fund in 2011, remains on three consecutive eliminations at the stadium of eighths.

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