Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel refused to be drawn on his former side Chelsea reappointing Frank Lampard as caretaker coach.
Tuchel spent 20 months in charge of the club, having been appointed as Lampard’s replacement in 2021. He went on to guide them to victory in the Champions League, masterminding a 1-0 win over Manchester City in the final.
But, Tuchel was sacked by new owner Todd Boehly earlier this campaign after a poor start to the campaign.
Chelsea then poached Graham Potter from Brighton as Tuchel’s replacement, but he lasted only less than seven months before getting sacked.
Potter departed this month with Chelsea languishing in 11th place in the Premier League and they decided to reappoint Lampard until the end of the campaign. Tuchel, meanwhile, took over at Bayern in March after the exit of Julian Nagelsmann.
Tuchel is preparing his Bayern team for the Champions League quarter-final clash against Man City and when asked about Chelsea’s decision to appoint Lampard as caretaker manager, he said: “No. No more Chelsea. I am wearing a different shirt and I will not comment.”
Despite getting the better of Guardiola in the 2021 Champions League final, that game was the third time Tuchel has come out on top in their ten matches.
“I don’t think I can learn much from other games I’ve played against Pep,” he said.
“It’s unique what Pep does. We’ll try to find solutions but we’ll need a complete performance to create problems for City. We did not mention this [2021] final and we will not do it. That would feel very awkward for me.
“We focus now on our team. It is a major task in front of us. I was just outside [the Etihad Stadium] and that is the current gold standard for us.
“We want to live up to that but team is entitled to be confident after our results and performances in the Champions League so far and we have to try to continue like that. Maybe we play in a role of slight underdog, which is not a problem.”
