“No game against Thomas Tuchel”
BVB tries to dwarf coach reunion
03/28/2023, 3:50 p.m
Thomas Tuchel is back in the Bundesliga and his first opponent is his former club Borussia Dortmund. It’s about nothing less than the top of the table. So everything ready for the big showdown? BVB sports director downplays the reunion.
Rival Borussia Dortmund followed the surprising change of coach at FC Bayern with interest, but is relaxed about seeing Thomas Tuchel again. “It doesn’t matter at all,” said sports director Sebastian Kehl, “I think the issues from back then have long been forgotten and cleared up.”
The new Munich head coach Tuchel will meet his former club for the first time in the top game on Saturday (6.30 p.m. / Sky and in the ntv.de live ticker), from which he did not part in 2017 with the best of understanding. Kehl, who had just ended his playing career at the time, was “able to get to know him at one point or another” and “always met him”.
Decisive for championship?
The BVB sports director downplayed the change from Julian Nagelsmann to Tuchel with a view to the German Clásico. “I don’t think it’s a game against Thomas Tuchel at the weekend, but in the end it’s a comparison between the first-placed and the second-placed,” emphasized Kehl: “All parties are so professional. It’s part of the process that coaches change and sometimes play against old clubs becomes.” Due to the short preparation time, Tuchel “doesn’t have that many opportunities to work on any tactical things”.
Instead, Kehl made it clear that the duel with Bayern is finally more important again. “It’s nice that we’ve put ourselves in this situation over the past few weeks, that we can make it such an exciting game,” he said. “The fact that the Bundesliga is still so exciting overall shows how attractive this league is.”
Although Dortmund could pull four points away with a win, he emphasized: “The championship will not be decided at the weekend, we all agree on that.” A win would be “very important for self-confidence” and that could “give a real boost”. BVB has not won a Bundesliga game in Munich for nine years.
The league leaders still have some personnel worries before the top game. However, Kehl was optimistic that the recently injured Karim Adeyemi, Julian Brandt, Youssoufa Moukoko, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Gregor Kobel as well as Nico Schlotterbeck, who left the national team, could be part of the squad on Saturday. “I can’t say for all of them yet, but we’ll have some back,” he said.