‘Work, eat, sleep, repeat’: Tuchel on first week as Bayern boss

MUNICH: New coach Thomas Tuchel said on Friday his first week at Bayern Munich “felt like a month” in preparation for Saturday’s ‘Der Klassiker’ clash with league leaders Borussia Dortmund.

“My week was ‘work, eat, sleep, repeat’,” said the manager, who was appointed after the surprise sacking of Julian Nagelsmann. “We need to make it work, no matter how much time there is.”

Bayern host Dortmund with the visitors one point clear at the top of the Bundesliga table, ahead of a German Cup meeting with Freiburg and a Champions League quarter-final clash with Manchester City.

“April and May are very important for clubs like Bayern, who define themselves through titles.” It will be a reunion of sorts for Tuchel who spent two years in charge at Dortmund, taking over when Jurgen Klopp left in 2015.

Tuchel, however, said he would not use his sacking by Dortmund in 2017 as motivation for this weekend. “It’s been six years” Tuchel said. “When I played in Dortmund with Paris, I was hugged by a lot of people.

“A lot of people, including me, regretted that my time came to an end (at Dortmund) but it’s way too long ago to hold grudges.” Tuchel admitted he had little time to determine a starting XI, saying “it’s going to be a very unfair line-up tomorrow because I have to rely on my first impressions.” The manager said he “tried not to overload the players after a turbulent week”, saying “less is more”.