Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has hailed Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp as ‘outstanding’, as he told his pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
It will be the clash of two German coaches on Thursday when Liverpool and Chelsea battle for a top-four place.
At the start of the season, not many expected Liverpool to be in such a position where they are fighting for Champions League places.
Whilst Frank Lampard started the campaign hoping to breakthrough Liverpool-Man City’s top two stranglehold, but in the end, it’s now a one-horse race from those at the Etihad.
Either way, tomorrow will be quite a tactical battle between two teams packed with talent.
This is what Tuchel had to say about his fellow countryman ahead of Chelsea’s visit to Anfield:
“It is always nice to meet him,” said Tuchel. “Liverpool with Jurgen and City with Pep are the two teams with the benchmark. This is our target.
“Of course there are coaches at the moment in the PL, you enter the competition with the best clubs and coaches in the world and one of them is Jurgen clearly, he has proven that.
“It is a challenge for me to play against him and his teams but we will not meet up for a tennis match, we will play with our teams and we have to be prepared.
“Jurgen has proved to be outstanding, he transforms any club into a unit. He is a big, big part of the clubs.”
Under Tuchel, Chelsea are a team who don’t like to lose possession and are pretty keen on dominating and pinning back their opponents in that way.
And whilst Liverpool have lost that spark this season, they are still one of the best pressing sides in the division.
So, it’s going to be pretty interesting how all of that pans out on Merseyside.
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