MUNICH – With Bayern Munich facing their first trophy-less season since 2011-12 and the clock ticking down on Thomas Tuchel’s tenure as coach, he said the Champions League semi-final, first-leg clash against Real Madrid on April 30 “feels a bit like the final”.
Bayern’s 11-year run as Bundesliga champions was ended by Bayer Leverkusen earlier in April and they were dumped out of the German Cup by third-tier Saarbrucken last November. They were also well-beaten by RB Leipzig in the season-opening DFL-Supercup.
That prompted Bayern to announce in February that Tuchel, 50, would be let go at the end of the season, a year before his contract was supposed to run out.
With Bayern’s president Uli Hoeness saying that Tuchel was not capable of improving young players, the former Champions League-winning coach has extra impetus to put the club in an awkward position before he departs.
If he leads them to their seventh Champions League crown, rather than his shortcomings, the focus may turn to the Bayern hierarchy and their decision to get rid of him.
Speaking on April 29, a day before the clash with Los Blancos at the Allianz Arena, Tuchel said: “The semi-final already feels a bit like the final. My approach is to line up like a final.
“Four injured players would probably be too many in total if we know they can’t play. But there are different injuries.
“But we won’t approach it with the background that there’s still a game to play. We want to play the game in isolation.
“We have the freedom, we’ll put everything in tomorrow and then we’ll see.
“We want to get to (the final at) Wembley and win there. We are ready, we have a lot of confidence.”
Dayot Upamecano, Matthijs de Ligt and Kingsley Coman are injured while Leroy Sane, Serge Gnabry and Konrad Laimer are doubts.
Looking ahead to the match, Bayern’s German international Joshua Kimmich said: “Real’s strengths are in transition. It’ll be a mix. It’s important to defend well, but we still shouldn’t hide, we need to be brave and have possession.
“It’s about the balance between attacking and defending, between high and deep defending, and always having the courage to attack...
“A Champions League semi-final is always special, even more so against Real Madrid since they’re a massive club. Everyone who enjoys football wants to watch a semi-final between Bayern and Real.”
However, former Real captain Iker Casillas believes matches between Bayern and Real have taken on less significance since the rise to prominence of Manchester City – the 2023 champions who were dumped out by Los Blancos in the quarter-finals.
He said: “Manchester City have replaced Bayern Munich in the European rivalry that existed with Real Madrid. It used to be Bayern, but in recent years, City are the ones who have taken over that place.
“They (Real and City) are the two best teams in the world in my modest opinion and they have been facing each other in the Champions League for years now.”
Rodrygo and Ferland Mendy are expected to return after missing Real’s win over Real Sociedad on April 26, meaning Los Blancos are likely to be without only the injured David Alaba and the suspended Dani Carvajal.
