Champions League: Tuchel insists focus not just on Haaland
As Bayern Munich prepare to host Manchester City, coach Thomas Tuchel insisted they’re focusing on how to stop the whole team - not just Erling Haaland.
Bayern Munich will host Manchester City at Allianz Arena at 3 p.m. ET today for the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals. The winner will advance to the semifinals to play against Real Madrid. Bayern has a tough task ahead to try and catch up and win after falling 3-0 to City in the first leg.
Anything can happen
In the first leg, City dominated, with goals by Rodri, Bernardo Silva, and Erling Haaland. Coming back from a 3-0 deficit is a big ask, so of course, City are the favorites to advance to the semifinals. However, City manager Pep Guardiola knows that they can’t just sit back and relax, especially considering their history of being knocked out in the late stages of the tournament.
“We are here in Munich against one of the most historical sides in the Champions League - we are not here to defend something [the lead],” said Guardiola. “It’s 11 men against 11 and try to be better than the opponent in this specific game. Our mindset is to try and win the game.”
City midfielder İlkay Gündoğan echoed Guardiola’s sentiments that nothing is impossible and despite their strong lead, they will still have to fight in the second leg.
“We know from experience, from our own games but also games we watched, everything is possible,” said Gündoğan. “This competition is special and sometimes you can get incredible results that you probably wouldn’t believe beforehand.”
Bayern not focusing on Haaland
In the Champions League, Bayern has only lost both legs in the knockout stages twice before, both coming against Real Madrid. Today, however, they know they will have to play harder than ever both on defense and offense in order to overcome the deficit. Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel said they “need a miracle.”
“It’s hard, and it’s a huge mountain to climb. We need to believe,” said Tuchel. “We believe in ourselves but we don’t want to be dreamers - dreaming for me is close to sleeping and if you cannot do one thing, you cannot sleep for one second. We need to believe and make it happen by performance, team spirit and energy.”
City’s striker Erling Haaland is one of the biggest threats on their team as he has proven to be extremely difficult for opposing defenses to stop. He has scored 11 goals in the Champions League this season, just one goal behind the season record for a Premier League player.
“In all of the Champions League games, he always scores goals,” said Bayern’s Benjamin Pavard. “He is one of the best number nines in the world. But we also have great central defenders who have been really good all season. So we shouldn’t only focus on him. There are other players at City who are very important...we’ll have to play a big game to win.”
Tuchel also emphasized that Bayern is not focusing solely on Haaland. In fact, he seemed a bit frustrated with the question of how they plan to deal with him.
“I’m absolutely the wrong person to ask about Erling Haaland,” said Tuchel. “I know that it’s a very popular question, who is the best player, and everybody wants to know who the best player is. We will never find out, because from goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, and strikers, I’m pretty sure he can’t win if he plays alone...he will have 10 guys around him.”
Tuchel knows they will need to get the momentum going strong and early. They have the benefit of getting their top scorer, Eric Choupo-Moting back after he was out with a knee injury plus forward Sadio Mane will be back as well after a suspension kept him out after the first leg.
“Playing against Manchester City is a massive challenge. They are in great form recently,” said Tuchel. “It’s in our own hands, we need to give it everything.”