With “fixed point” for “confirmation”
Tuchel announces his Kimmich decision
November 7th, 2023, 6:15 p.m
FC Bayern is about to reach the round of 16 of the Champions League against Galatasaray. After the convincing performance against Borussia Dortmund, coach Thomas Tuchel first has to make a decision: What will become of the Goretzka/Laimer duo? The answer is clear.
Thomas Tuchel smiled and pushed a fresh piece of chewing gum between his teeth, then asked his “white ballet” to dance. The atmosphere was great at Bayern’s final training session, all dressed in white, for the Champions League game against Galatasaray; the leading players Manuel Neuer and Joshua Kimmich, who had been scheduled by Tuchel, joked and laughed with their colleagues.
There are good reasons for the good mood: If everything goes as it has for six years, Tuchel can show his critics another success after the demonstration of power in the classic on Wednesday evening: Bayern have been in the group phase of the premier class for six years or 37 games in a row undefeated. And if this record doesn’t change against the Turkish record champions, the Munich team will be in the knockout round early after four match days. For the 16th time in a row.
The importance of such an early step cannot be overestimated, the coach signaled before the game on Wednesday (9 p.m./DAZN and in the live ticker at ntv.de). “It would give us huge self-confidence, that would be a huge confirmation if we succeeded,” he said, but also made it clear: “We have to go to the limit again and show the performance that we recently showed in the league. “
A difficult question
But what could go wrong with the international comeback of captain Neuer, who is “happy” to “be able to put on the Champions League jersey again”? After all, Bayern have won their last 16 preliminary round games – that is also a record. Tuchel nevertheless warned: “We had enough problems in the first game to learn from them. We had to withstand a lot of pressure and we have to do a lot of things better.”
Neuer, to whom Tuchel attested before his fourth game after his comeback, should definitely contribute to this: “He gives us stability and calm, he leads with his style and makes the teammates around him better.” The coach made similar comments about Kimmich, who is still suspended from the Bundesliga next Saturday. “Jo is an absolute regular player and a fixture in our team. He will play in my plans.”
The critics, especially Dietmar Hamann, may not like this definition of Kimmich. “Is it perhaps a better team without Kimmich?” he asked on Sunday on the “Sky90” show and added: “How do you tell Laimer or Goretzka that they won’t play on Wednesday? I think it’s incredibly difficult now “To tear this midfield duo apart.” And yet: it will happen that way.
With the returnees
Tuchel didn’t want to deny that things had worked out great in Dortmund without Kimmich. The team performance against BVB was “outstanding”, “the best over 90 minutes”. And yes, “that also applies to our two midfielders”. He also said before the season that it was important “that people get established,” but Laimer would “keep switching to the right-back position, and it will stay that way until winter.”
Tuchel had positive things to say about Dayot Upamecano and Goretzka, who were thrown into the deep end by him in Dortmund after their injuries. “I assume that both are operational,” he said.