Thomas Tuchel wants to win the Champions League with FC Bayern – even if the title with Chelsea felt different than expected.
Where will FC Bayern be at the end of the new season? Thomas Tuchel knows what to say back. “I don’t think any Bayern coach throughout history has given any other answer than: right at the top!” he says in members’ magazine “51”. So: “We want to be champions, finally go to the Cup final in Berlin again, and in the Champions League FC Bayern is always one of the title candidates.”
Accordingly, Tuchel does not want to set the title in the top flight as a concrete goal for 2023/24, but “absolutely” wants to win it again, as he says. Yet his experience with Chelsea was very different from what he expected. “I have to admit: It’s actually curious,” he recalls of the 2021 triumph. “You work hard for a dream, at some point it becomes a concrete goal – and when you have the Champions League trophy in your hand, it suddenly does a lot less to you than I had thought. If someone had told me that before, it might have shocked me. “
Perfectionist Tuchel: “A strength and at the same time weakness of mine “
In the end, all that would remain would be “a fleeting moment” that you “can’t hold on to for long” – but which is nevertheless addictive. “I know that sounds like a contradiction. But it’s good because it means you’re not too bothered about the next day’s hard work – and the next game,” he explains. “My own standards become even higher and at the same time become an engine for my own development. “
Tuchel is not considered a perfectionist for nothing, and knows full well that he is one. “Yes, unfortunately. A strength and at the same time weakness of mine. I can’t get out of my skin there. That’s not always helpful, because it can exhaust others and also myself. I’m always looking for the perfect game – even though I know it doesn’t exist. That’s where I’m Sisyphus, rolling my stone up the hill again and again.” After all, mistakes are part of football. “Perfectionist and football coach is a pretty disastrous combination. But you have to learn to accept that. “
“I was pigeonholed at a very early stage in Germany “
Despite this, Tuchel wonders about the image he had in Germany, at least before he signed for Munich at the end of March. “I think a drawer was opened for me very early on in Germany and then I disappeared into it – and no one looked in between,” said Tuchel, who is often described as ascetic and secretive. “But life always has something to do with moving on. In France or England, a different picture of me will probably be drawn – and maybe I’ll come out of the drawer in Germany again one day. “