What Tuchel can learn from his past meetings against Guardiola
When Chelsea face Manchester City in the Champions League final at the end of May, it will be the eighth meeting between Thomas Tuchel and Pep Guardiola.
The two managers played each other five times in Germany, with Guardiola’s Bayern Munich coming out on top against Tuchel’s Mainz and Borussia Dortmund teams.
But since arriving in England to replace Frank Lampard at Chelsea, Tuchel has found great success against Guardiola.
If Chelsea are to win their first Champions League title since 2012, Tuchel will need to use all that he has learned from his past meetings to defeat the Guardiola juggernaut.
Here, Mirror Football takes a closer look at the two managers’ past meetings…
Meetings when Tuchel was at Mainz
Tuchel only spent one season at Mainz while Guardiola was Bayern Munich boss, taking on the Spaniard twice.
The first meeting saw Tuchel line his side up in a defensive-looking 5-4-1 formation and at first it worked, with Mainz going ahead.
Though they eventually fell to a 4-1 defeat, Tuchel can look to that match as an example of how to set up a counter-attacking side against a Guardiola team.
He certainly did look to it for the return match, with Tuchel this time matching Guardiola in a 4-2-3-1 formation which helped them to hold out until the 82 nd minute.
Being solid at the back will be key in the Champions League final and Chelsea have developed a penchant for defensive nous during Tuchel’s short spell at the helm.
Meetings when Tuchel was at Borussia Dortmund
Tuchel spent a year out of the game before replacing Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool in the summer of 2015, with the German utilising a 4-3-1-2 formation in his first meeting with Guardiola.
It was an attacking-looking team, but failed to work, with Dortmund hammered 5-1, hinting that Tuchel would need a more defensive outlook to defeat a Guardiola team.
But instead of following that advice, Tuchel selected an even more attacking line-up for the reverse fixture and it almost worked perfectly.
Tuchel picked up his first point against Guardiola by holding Bayern to a goalless draw, though with better finishing it could have been a win for Dortmund.
Guardiola would depart at the end of Tuchel’s first season at Dortmund, but they would have one final meeting before the Spaniad jetted off to England, in the DFB-Pokal final.
It was the first showing of the 3-4-2-1 against Guardiola and proved to be successful with Dortmund taking Bayern all the way to penalties, perhaps convincing Tuchel this would be the best way to beat Guardiola.
Meetings since Tuchel took charge of Chelsea
Upon leaving Dortmund, Tuchel spent two years at PSG before replacing Frank Lampard at Chelsea and he has faced Guardiola twice in England.
The first meeting came in an FA Cup semi-final, with the 3-4-2-1 formation helping to keep Guardiola’s Manchester City at arms-length in a 1-0 win.
Tuchel extended his winning run against Guardiola to two games last Saturday, when Chelsea visited City in the league.
Guardiola used an unusual formation for the match at the Etihad Stadium, with Tuchel sticking to his trusty 3-4-2-1.
Again, it worked wonders, with City’s chances again restricted and Chelsea looking free-flowing in attack.
With Tuchel’s success in recent games in would be a shock to see Tuchel move away from the tactics that have seen his sides win their last two games against Guardiola.
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