Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel claims Manchester City and Bayern Munich are currently setting the ‘benchmark’ in Europe.
City are on the verge of winning the Premier League title, they are 11 points clear of second-placed Manchester United with six games of the 2020-21 campaign remaining.
Guardiola’s side have also reached the semi-finals of the Champions League and face PSG for a place in the final, where they will meet Chelsea if Tuchel’s side get a win over Real Madrid.
PSG reached the semi-finals at the expense of Bayern but Tuchel still rates the club as one of the two best sides in Europe alongside Manchester City.
Tuchel said: ‘In Europe, for me there are two teams that are the benchmark: Manchester City and Bayern Munich.
‘We have to accept there is a gap between us and Manchester City. If you look at the fixtures in the last few years we have to accept it, but without making us feel too small. From day one of next season we will hunt them and try to close the gap.’
Tuchel was speaking ahead of Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final clash against Man City on Saturday. He has never beaten a Guardiola team in five attempts and expects a ‘high intensity match.’
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‘I don’t think these teams are chess teams,’ Tuchel said. ‘English football, City’s game, our game is about intensity without the ball. So I expect a high intensity match.
‘City define themselves with a clear DNA and style. They want the ball and high ball recoveries. We want that too so we have to fight for these moments and make them suffer.’
Tuchel added: ‘We are in a good moment. We had a setback against West Brom but we had an excellent response. We had tough challenges to face and we did two very good, intense matches. It was a good challenge against Porto.
‘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.’
