Tuchel Sends Warning to Guardiola Ahead of Chelsea Vs Man City FA Cup Semifinal Clash
- Tuchel faces Guardiola for the sixth time of his managerial career tomorrow
- The German admitted Manchester City have been the team to beat in the league this season
- Tuchel however vowed to ‘attack’ the incoming champions from the first game next season
- The former PSG manager has transformed Chelsea since taking over from Frank Lampard and has only been beaten twice
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Thomas Tuchel has vowed to hunt down Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City next season as the German admitted the Citizens are the “benchmark” across Europe this campaign.
Source: Getty Images
Chelsea and Manchester City clash in the FA Cup semifinal on Saturday, April 17, as Tuchel goes in search of a win over a team managed by Guardiola.
Ahead of the game, however, the Chelsea boss divulged on City’s performance in the league this season.
"We have to accept there is a gap between us and Manchester City," Tuchel, whose Chelsea side are 20 points behind Manchester City said.
"If you look at the fixture in the Premier League and the fixtures in the last years we have to accept this.
"And it's important that we accept this without making ourselves too small. From day one of next season we will hunt them. We will try to close the gap between us."
Tuchel further described Man City and Bayern Munich as the benchmarks of European Football.
Manchester City are well on course to winning a quadruple, having secured a ticket to the Champions League semis where they will face PSG.
In the league, they are 11 points clear off Manchester United and are almost certain to win their fifth title.
The Citizens have an impressive head to head record against Chelsea as well, as the Manchester Club has won seven of the last nine meetings against the Blues.
This includes a 3-1 win in January when Frank Lampard was still Chelsea boss.
Tuchel has had five attempts to beat Guardiola (twice with Mainz and three times with Borussia Dortmund) and has failed in all of them.
The Chelsea boss admitted he has been monitoring Guardiola for years now.
"When he was coach at Barcelona I didn't have the chance to know him personally, but I was watching almost every game," the German said.
“I was very impressed by the way they made success happen, by the style they were playing, all the academy guys, the offensive ball possession."
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Sergio Aguero will not be available for Manchester City's important FA Cup semi final clash against Chelsea at Wembley, Pep Guardiola confirms.
The 31-year-old is yet to recover from a nagging injury during City's 2-0 win over Leicester City after just playing for an hour.
The Argentine striker did not feature in both legs of the Champions League quarter-final clash with Borussia Dortmund in the past two weeks.
However, the Citizens qualified in a 4-2 aggregate scoreline, winning both legs by 2-1 and will now take on Paris Saint-Germain in the semi final.
Man City suffered a shock defeat to Leeds United in their last Premier League game at the Etihad as Aguero looked on from the stands.
Source: Legit.ng
