‘Happy to play the bad guy against Klopp’ – Tuchel reveals ahead of FA Cup final against Liverpool
At Wembley, Tuchel believes Jurgen Klopp’s personality will entice most neutrals to support Liverpool. This is according to GOAL.
Thomas Tuchel is aware that his Chelsea squad will face Liverpool in the FA Cup final on Saturday with little fan support.
The Blues are looking to avenge their Carabao Cup loss to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool on penalties in February.
However, Chelsea have been in turmoil since that match as a result of government sanctions against owner Roman Abramovich, who is planning to sell the club to a consortium led by Todd Boehler.
Tuchel told reporters on Friday: “Klopp is the master of being the underdog,” “He can talk you into being the underdog against Villarreal and against Benfica, and it’s a miracle how they even draw against them.
“He does it all the time. That’s part of it, where the sympathy comes.
“There’s nothing to be jealous of; Klopp is a fantastic guy, funny guy, one of the best coaches in the world and that’s what he does. When he trained Dortmund, the whole country loved Dortmund. Now he trains Liverpool and you have the feeling the whole country loves Liverpool.
“It’s a big credit to him and this is what you deal with if you play a team against him. But it’s always the fun part and so if we are the bad guys tomorrow, then no problem. We take that role. We don’t want to have the sympathy of the country tomorrow – we want to have the trophy.”
With the Premier League final and the Champions League final still to come, Liverpool enter the field at Wembley in search of a quadruple.
Tuchel, on the other hand, believes the Carabao Cup final showed his team has what it takes to upset Liverpool.
“They allow chances. We proved it – we had big chances in the Carabao Cup final. But it’s their approach,” he added.
“They are the team who put strikers of other teams into offside by far the most. They only play this high line because they always have pressure on the ball.
“It’s very hard to exploit these spaces because you need perfect timing. But you can find solutions if you have a perfect day.”