Bayern Munich are keeping busy. Twin dates against SC Freiburg this week (Tuesday in the DFB-Pokal, Saturday in the Bundesliga) will be followed by next Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-finals first leg at Manchester City. It’s a hectic start to life in the Thomas Tuchel era.
The new head coach previewed the upcoming Freiburg fixture at his pre-game press conference, as captured by @iMiaSanMia.
“We have a difficult game ahead of us,” Tuchel said. “It’s knockout game that we really want to win. Freiburg is a club that acts as a unit, we’ve seen that over several years.”
Bayern are now in the quarter-finals of the DFB-Pokal, having not won since 2019/20. “The DFB-Pokal is a huge competition,” Tuchel added. “The final in Berlin is a big event and we want to be there.”
In terms of availability, a number of important players might miss out. Tuchel gave updates on Noussair Mazraoui (illness for the past two days, missed training), Mathys Tel (rehab) and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (missed training due to “a knock”). “As of now, [Choupo] can play tomorrow,” Tuchel said, though the status of the other two are less clear.
“We have so many important games where we need everyone. It’s important that there are fixed automatisms. It’s also important to have leaders on the pitch, especially during a bit of a turbulent time,” Tuchel summarized. “There were a few tough decisions because we had to decide after a day and a half of training. Now the race is on. We’ll need every player. Nothing has been decided in the Bundesliga, we have to keep delivering.”