Tuchel: We are FA Cup ‘bad guys’
Chelsea manager claims that neutrals want a Liverpool win Comments echo Guardiola’s view of Klopp’s mind games
Thomas Tuchel has backed Pep Guardiola’s claim that all neutrals support Liverpool and insisted that his Chelsea “bad guys” want the FA Cup trophy, not “the sympathy of the country” today.
Tuchel insisted that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who he affectionately referred to as “Kloppo”, was the master of turning his teams into the underdogs to win public affection.
Chelsea face Liverpool at Wembley for the second time this season after losing the Carabao Cup final on penalties, with Klopp’s team still chasing an unprecedented quadruple. Manchester City are fighting the Anfield team for the Premier League title and Guardiola said last week that “everyone in this country supports Liverpool”.
Asked about those comments ahead of Chelsea’s latest clash with Liverpool, Tuchel said: “I can understand why he said it. I can understand why he has that feeling. In general, I would say, it is hard to really argue with it.
“You know, Kloppo is the master of being the underdog. He can talk you into being the underdog against Villarreal and against Benfica, and it’s a miracle, miracle how they even draw against them. He can talk you into it, and he does it all the time, he does it a lot of times. That’s part of it, that’s also from where the sympathy comes. There’s nothing to be jealous of from my side, Kloppo is a fantastic guy, a funny guy, one of the very, very best coaches in the world and that’s what he does.
“When he trained Dortmund, the whole country loved Dortmund. So, now he trains Liverpool and you have the feeling the whole country loves Liverpool.
“It’s big, big, big credit to him and this is what you deal with when you play a team against him, it’s always like this, but it’s always the fun part and so if we are the bad guys on Saturday, then no problem. We take that role, we don’t want to have the sympathy of the country, we want to have the trophy.”
Tuchel has managed in Germany, and in France at Paris St-germain, and believes there are clubs in every country that attract more affection than their rivals.
“I think it’s normal, it’s everywhere,” he said. “Although, I’m not so sure in France, it’s the team I managed! But, yes, it’s similar everywhere. There are huge sympathies everywhere. There are huge sympathies for Liverpool, I feel that as well, in the whole country, and I can understand it. I have friends in
Germany, of course it is also because of Jurgen, but in general what this club stands for and how they run the business, and how the fans push their team.
“You have the feeling it’s purely about football and this is like a huge history in this club, and there is a huge sympathy for it.
“If you fight against it, like Pep for many, many years, I can understand the comment that sometimes it feels like this. But at the same time, I don’t think it’s only here. It’s in Germany like this and in France, too.”
Tuchel said Mateo Kovacic could be a surprise inclusion in his team, despite being injured against Leeds on Wednesday.
The midfielder trained yesterday despite still being affected by swelling on an ankle. Tuchel said: “He’s been excellent in the games against Liverpool this season. So we’ll see.”