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 on Tuesday, “I think the issues from back then have long been forgotten and cleared up.”
The new Munich head coach, Tuchel, meets his former club for the first time in the top game on Saturday (6:30 p.m. in LIVETICKER), from which he left 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”.
The BVB sports director downplayed Julian Nagelsmann’s move to Tuchel with a view to the German Clasico. “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 will “not have that many opportunities to work on any tactical things”.
Kehl: “The championship will not be decided now”
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.
Some personnel concerns at BVB
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.
