Guardiola relishes battle with Tuchel

LONDON • Having predicted his rise while coaching Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is not surprised at how well Chelsea counterpart Thomas Tuchel has done since taking over from Frank Lampard.

The German has enjoyed an extended honeymoon since January, with just one defeat in 17 games, while taking the Blues to their first Champions League semi-final appearance since 2014.

The pair hold each other in high regard, but Chelsea stand in City's way of a first FA Cup final appearance since their 2019 triumph, and the chance of an unprecedented quadruple, when they meet at Wembley today.

Guardiola wants his side to continue riding the high from their advancement to the last four of the Champions League - only the second time in the club's history - against "one of the best teams in Europe".

Confirming that he had a fully fit squad to pick from with the exception of striker Sergio Aguero, the Catalan said: "The guys are training well and tomorrow, try to do a good performance to reach the final. Tomorrow, we face Thomas. He knows how I admire him and how good he is as a manager. It will be a good battle.

"I know him from Mainz. When I was in Munich, after he went to (Borussia) Dortmund and spent one or two games playing exactly the way he wanted to play. It was difficult to take over a team during the season, but he has a lot of experience winning at a top club like Paris Saint-Germain and now Chelsea. I knew from the beginning he would do a good job."

City are closing on a feat no English side have achieved, which is to claim both domestic cups, the Premier League title and the Champions League. While Guardiola insisted that he "couldn't care less" about the potential significance of such an achievement, he admitted his squad's morale was at its peak, with key players like Phil Foden and Kevin de Bruyne all on form.

"When one team arrive in the final stages fighting for all competitions, the players get my respect and congratulations," he said. "We didn't have a break from last season and look what we have done."

Tuchel, who has yet to beat Guardiola as a coach, yesterday agreed that his side are underdogs, given City's position as runaway leaders in the top flight, but he is using the contest as a measuring stick to see how far Chelsea have come.

"If we manage to beat Manchester City, it will be a huge boost, if not, we will have to take it as a challenge and opportunity to grow because we have big fights coming up," he said. "It's about the FA Cup, the Champions League and the top-four race."

Chelsea will be without Mateo Kovacic and Andreas Christensen, but N'Golo Kante has been passed fit.

REUTERS

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