Thomas Tuchel, 50, entered the media room on Säbener Strasse on Friday afternoon wearing a medical support shoe. At his press conference before the home game in the Bundesliga against 1. FSV Mainz 05 this Saturday (3:30 p.m., Sky) he briefly hoisted it onto the desk. “The coach is not a malingerer,” said the FC Bayern head coach with a wink.
During his emotional speech to the team before the 3-0 win in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Lazio last Tuesday, Tuchel kicked into a door in the stadium’s dressing room and broke his big toe. During the week he sometimes missed training, against Mainz he has to coach sitting from the dugout, possibly he will sit on a box. “I can walk with some degree of pain,” said Tuchel. “I’m trying to find a solution with a stable shoe. Maybe that will work for the duration of the game.”
The coach was in a good mood despite the injury. And reported that the mood in the team had improved with the win over Lazio. In fact, you can feel it – reaching the quarter-finals in the premier class has clearly changed the atmosphere in the entire club. And the belief in being able to make the almost impossible possible and still become German champions was at least somewhat strengthened. Despite the ten-point gap to league leaders Bayer Leverkusen, who host VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday (7:30 p.m., DAZN).
Tight box? Thomas Tuchel wants to make the championship race exciting again with his FC Bayern
Source: dpa/Tom Weller
Bayern can present this matchday, 30 points are still up for grabs until the end of the season. Leverkusen showed their weakest performance of the season in the first leg of the round of 16 in the Europa League last Thursday, barely managing a 2-2 draw at Karabakh Agdam in Azerbaijan. However, coach Xabi Alonso spared many stars from the starting eleven.
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Bayern are sending the signal to Leverkusen this week: We haven’t given up the title (yet). “We want to give the football god another chance so that he can keep the clichés,” said Thomas Müller, 34, after the victory over Rome. “It doesn’t look like Vizekusen at the moment, but we want to stick with it.” And club president Herbert Hainer, 69, emphasized: “Everything is still possible in the Bundesliga too!”
Thomas Tuchel: “We didn’t give it away”
Tuchel said on Friday afternoon that it was important to become stable. “We didn’t give up the title. There is something between giving something away and declaring war – and that means reality,” said the trainer. And said to the reporters: “If I promised that we would become German champions, you would rightly say that I am schizophrenic or out of touch with reality.”
Tuchel also said: “We have to win, win, win, we no longer have it in our own hands. Leverkusen no longer feels our immediate breath, it’s our own fault. But that doesn’t release us from our obligation to give 100 percent and do everything we can to win the game against Mainz.”
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Bayern’s season is divided into two parts in its final two and a half months: Bundesliga and Champions League. With an international triumph, this so far troubled and unsuccessful season could find a happy ending. The European association Uefa will draw the quarter-final duels in Nyon next Friday; Bayern could meet Paris St. Germain or Manchester City, among others. They have long since been eliminated from the DFB Cup and Tuchel will be leaving the club in the summer. “You should step it up against Mainz,” demanded Max Eberl, 50, the new sports director.
National player Joshua Kimmich, 29, said that the championship title was not necessarily realistic. But: “Of course you never give up hope.” His team still needs a few good games to gain self-confidence. This Saturday she has to confirm the good performance against Lazio. “Otherwise the whole unrest will start all over again.”
Against Lazio Rome, Joshua Kimmich impressed as FC Bayern’s right-back
Source: Getty Images/Alexander Hassenstein
Bayern want to catch up in the league – and at the same time concentrate on the big evenings in the European Cup. “I don’t think it will be a way to give up the Bundesliga and then try to perform in the Champions League,” said Kimmich.
Where does Joshua Kimmich play?
Tuchel used him as a right-back in the last three games. The talented Aleksandar Pavlovic, 19, impressed in Kimmich’s usual position in central midfield. The junior international is suspended against Mainz after his fifth yellow card. Kimmich could now move back to “the six”.
Or he remains a full-back and Tuchel relies on Konrad Laimer, 26, in midfield alongside Leon Goretzka, 29. “I’m not sure whether it makes sense to rebuild the back four,” said the coach. “Sacha Boey is back in training, but not yet fully ready to play. Noussair Mazraoui cannot be in the squad yet. The final decision has not yet been made, the tendency is for Konrad Laimer to play in the ‘six’ and the back four stay like that.”
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There is speculation every day about his successor; alongside Alonso, Sebastian Hoeneß, 41, is considered a candidate. The nephew of Bayern honorary president Uli Hoeneß has just extended his contract with VfB, which originally ended in 2025, until June 30, 2027. The club announced this on Friday morning. Tuchel emphasizes that he will give everything for his club until the summer.
Mainz are second to last in the table with 16 points, but are confident: “We have to know that we can hurt them,” said their new coach Bo Henriksen, 49, before the game in Munich. “If we are brave enough to play, then we have a good chance of winning something.”