WE WILL HUNT CITY DOWN, WARNS TUCHEL

WHEN Thomas Tuchel started coaching in the Mainz academy, he adopted Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona as his template, scrutinised their every game for information and aspired to become the best. Before taking the job at Borussia Dortmund, Tuchel clinched a dinner date with Guardiola, then in his second season at Bayern Munich, and picked his brains as they shifted salt-and-pepper pots around the table. Now at Chelsea, Tuchel’s task is to topple Manchester City after his mentor has led them to the brink of their third Premier League title in four years. ‘From day one of next season, we will hunt them,’ he warned on the eve of today’s FA Cup semi-final. ‘We will try to close the gap between us. This is the benchmark.’ Tuchel rates City and Bayern Munich as the leading teams in European football; both bear the hallmark of Guardiola. ‘For me, he was a huge influence,’ he said as he recalled their meeting in a Munich bar in December 2014. ‘If you are out with Pep then why not talk about football? ‘I won’t say too much but it was about positions on the field and what he did at Barcelona. ‘He explained it to me and we had some drawings on the table to go through the positions and the tactical situations. ‘We were talking about how he changed Barcelona when he bought Cesc Fabregas, what changed with the team and how to play Lionel Messi as a false nine and sometimes with a single six or a double six, how to create spaces, playing with a back three and a back four. ‘Just like two coaches talking normal stuff and we used what was on the table. Sometimes it is easier to explain a formation when you use something.’ Tuchel has yet to beat him, although he came close when Dortmund lost on penalties in the German Cup final in 2016. It was Guardiola’s final game at Bayern and he won the last of his seven major trophies with the club. ‘To play against him is not always a pleasure,’ said Tuchel. ‘It’s time we beat him and this is the next try. We truly believe we can close the gap for one game. This is the target and I arrive with a team that I’m happy to have to compete against the benchmark in England and in Europe.’ They trail City by 20 points in the League but Chelsea are improving, losing only twice in 18 games under the new boss, including a 1-0 defeat by Porto which did not stop them easing into the Champions League semi-finals. ‘The crucial moments come now,’ said Tuchel. ‘You get to know your team best if there are tight games and the pressure is on.’