Coach Tuchel: 'It is very difficult to stop Haaland'

"It is impressive and unbelievable with Haaland's statistics, fitness and desire to score," Tuchel said on April 10 at a pre-match press conference. "It's difficult to defend against Haaland, but Bayern will try to do it by playing as a team and in top form."

Sitting next to the German coach, Matthijs de Ligt shared his opinion when praising Haaland as one of the best strikers in the world, in great form, dangerous both inside and outside the box. According to De Ligt, the Bayern defense needs help from the midfielders to neutralize the Norwegian striker, because the best way to do this is to prevent Kevin de Bruyne from getting the ball to Haaland's feet.

"Man City is the strongest club in Europe," added the Dutch midfielder. "They won the Premier League four of the last five seasons, and now have Haaland. We have to focus, because if we give Man City any chance, they will score."

By Dortmund in 2020, Haaland has grown tremendously when he scored 86 goals in 89 matches, achieving a performance of nearly one goal per game. In the 2021-2022 season, the Norwegian striker contributed 22 of Dortmund's 85 goals in the Bundesliga, thereby setting a record for the number of goals in a season. Before that, he scored a brace to help the home team beat RB Leipzig 4-1 in the final of the National Cup in the 2020-2021 season. However, Haaland did not have a good head-to-head record as Dortmund lost all seven matches against Bayern.

In the summer of 2022, after landing at Man City for $ 63 million, Haaland continuously shone when he scored 44 goals in only 37 matches in all competitions, including 30 in the Premier League, 10 in the Champions League, and three in the FA Cup. and one in the League Cup. Coach Pep Guardiola admitted that Man City recruited striker Erling Haaland with the ambition to claim the throne for the first time in the Champions League.

According to Tuchel, Man City did not change the game because of Haaland, despite the striker's scoring record. "The style of Man City is still the same as before Haaland," he said. "Of course, Haaland is unique and when recruiting him, Man City have a type of player that they have not had in recent years. So they have to adjust to Haaland."

While working at Chelsea, Tuchel faced Guardiola's Man City five times, the most memorable of which was the 1-0 victory in the Champions League final in 2021. Tuchel praised Guardiola's influence and assessed Man City. One of the best clubs in Europe. He said he would apply his experience while working in the Premier League and analyze the videotapes of Man City's recent matches to come up with the best plan.

Tuchel also half-jokingly revealed that he had lost sleep before the quarter-finals of the Champions League. "I will try to go to bed early and hope to be able to sleep," said the Bayern coach. "The best preparation for a game is sleep, but sometimes it's hard to do that when you're thinking about everything. This morning, I got up early and went to the training ground because I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking. about the game".

One of the problems Tuchel had to deal with was the absence of Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. The striker has scored four goals in the Champions League, but is recovering from a knee injury. Serge Gnabry can be pushed to the top when he possesses speed, dribbling ability and good finishing with both feet.