The clash between PSG and Leipzig for the semi-final of the Champions League, this Tuesday in Lisbon, will be the meeting between two old acquaintances.
Thomas Tuchel, the PSG coach, and Julian Nagelsman, the brain of Leipzig, will coincide as rivals after having been something similar to the teacher and the student, although the youngest in history does not like so much speculation on the subject.
The clear thing is that both shared a dressing room and it was Tuchel who ended up, perhaps unintentionally, promoting Nagelsman’s career: “Julian was injured and in the reserve team we did not have the means to sign someone for the ‘staff’, so We suggested that he go and observe our opponents. He did so with great attention, detail (…) and immediately began as a coach at Munich 1860, “Tuchel told a press conference.
Indeed, Nagelsman in a previous interview said: “Thomas Tuchel came to me. He did not tell me ‘you are going to become a coach’, it was rather a pragmatic decision.”
In history, they have met twice both in the Bundesliga, during the 2016-2017 season. In the first game they tied and in the second Tuchel’s Borussia Dortmund won against Nagelsmann’s Hoffenheim.
“I have played against Thomas but I have not won, it would be good if that changed,” said Nagelsmann after qualifying for the semifinals.
Both are exponents of the German school, obsessive with details, demanding with physical work, with a winning mentality. It will be a particular duel, this time on the benches.
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