Thomas Tuchel admits Chelsea still lag behind Manchester City as he prepares to face the runaway Premier League leaders in an FA Cup semi-final but vowed to hunt down Europe’s “benchmark” club next season.
Chelsea face City at Wembley today, with Tuchel chasing a maiden managerial win over Pep Guardiola, whose side are still on course for an unprecedented quadruple. The Blues’ German boss believes Chelsea still have long-term ground to make up on City but has exhorted his players to close that gap just for 90 minutes.
“We have to accept that there is a gap between us and Manchester City,” said Tuchel, who replaced Frank Lampard in the Stamford Bridge hot seat in January, “If you look at the fixture in the Premier League and the fixtures in the last years we have to accept this. And it’s important that we accept this without making ourselves too small.
“So from next year on, from day one of next season we will hunt them, we will try to close the gap between us,” added Tuchel, whose side are currently 20 points adrift of City in the Premier League. “And this the benchmark. For me in Europe there are two teams who are the benchmark, there is Bayern Munich and Manchester City.”
Tuchel said his side, who have lost just twice since he took charge, had the belief they could close the gap for one game. “I arrive happy to compete against the benchmark in England and Europe,” he said. “We want the momentum of football on our side, and to play at the top level it’s not to force things, and we’ll need a bit of luck.”
Former Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain boss Tuchel has taken on Guardiola five times and remains winless against the City manager, whom he could also face in the Champions League final.
He revealed the Catalan had had a major effect on his coaching style, conceding he was glued to the screen during Guardiola’s Barcelona tenure.
“He’s a huge influence on me because when he was coach at Barcelona I didn’t have the chance to know him personally, but I was watching almost every game,” he said. “I was very impressed by the way they made success happen, by the style they were playing, all the academy guys, the offensive ball possession. And what was maybe most impressive about this team was the mentality and how they defended when they lost the ball.”
Meanwhile, Guardiola said he will have no problem getting his side to re-focus after the emotional high of Wednesday’s Champions League victory against Borussia Dortmund.
He said: “It’s much, much easier. Imagine playing after not qualifying for the semi-final of the Champions League. It would be much tougher. Of course I would love to have more days to enjoy our qualification, for recovery and to prepare for the game, but the schedule is the schedule and when you are a contender in all competitions you have to handle this schedule.”
It will be Guardiola’s first meeting in English football with Tuchel. Guardiola said: “He took over a team here in mid-season but has a lot of experience at top clubs like PSG and now Chelsea. I knew from the beginning he would do a good job. It will be a good battle in this game.”
Guardiola confirmed City record goalscorer Sergio Aguero remains on the sidelines with a muscular problem but he has no other injury concerns.