Thomas Tuchel admits he still bears the “scars” of a showdown with Pep Guardiola a decade ago, but insists those painful lessons have perfectly prepared him for England’s World Cup campaign. The England manager revealed he remains wracked by self-doubt, sleepless nights, and suffering even after reaching the very top of football management.
Tuchel’s painful lesson from Guardiola
Tuchel’s Borussia Dortmund lost to Bayern Munich in the German Cup final on penalties in 2016, a defeat he attributes to his failure to prepare properly for a shoot-out. “I forgot to prepare for a penalty shootout,” Tuchel said. “So we ended up asking the players: ‘Do you want to shoot? Do you want to shoot?’ And they were ready for it. And we were absolutely not ready. And we lost it. So a very painful experience and a big, big scar on me.”
That experience has shaped his approach to knockout football. Tuchel boasts a 74 per cent win ratio in knockout matches, but the memory of that defeat remains fresh. “It helps you to remember the moment, how painful,” he said. “But it is always possible to redirect your energy. It is always possible to redirect your focus.”
Self-doubt even at the top
Tuchel revealed that he still questions himself, even after winning the Champions League with Chelsea. He cited a 1-0 win over New Zealand as a recent moment of doubt. “I still remember thinking: ‘Am I good enough, am I good enough? Did I get this right? OK, let’s keep on.’”
He also drew inspiration from watching a Netflix documentary on tennis legend Rafael Nadal. “You will not find great athletes who didn’t suffer big defeats,” Tuchel said. “Even me, I thought he just wins every match out there every year. But you see, wow, a year of injuries, a heavy loss there, another big defeat, doubts, sleepless nights, self-doubts and questioning and everyone around him doubting it.”
England’s penalty shootout masterplan
Tuchel inherited a penalty shootout programme built by former England boss Gareth Southgate, which he describes as “one of the best programmes in place that I have witnessed.” He said: “We know exactly what is going to happen. And the platform is there. This is still no guarantee that you win it. I had crazy penalty shootouts. Against Liverpool, for example, with 11 penalties against 11 or whatever. So it is what it is.”
He added: “It is just another example that you sometimes have to have a painful experience to understand where to get better.”
Warning against complacency
As England prepare for their first knockout match against DR Congo, ranked 41st in the FIFA rankings, Tuchel warned against complacency. “Everyone expects us now to beat DR Congo,” he said. “We are the first ones to expect it from ourselves. It just doesn’t mean that it will happen. We still have to do an awful lot to do it. But we still expect it from us, so fair enough.”
