Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel says he is relishing the chance to face Manchester City in their Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday evening.

Bayern will be led by Tuchel to the Etihad Stadium, where they will try to get one step closer to winning the Champions League for the second time.

The 49-year-old led Chelsea to victory over Pep Guardiola’s City in the 2021 final before being fired by the Premier League club last September.

Now, Tuchel is putting in extra hours to figure out how to beat Guardiola again.

“I will try to go to bed early. I just hope I will be able to sleep,” Tuchel told reporters on Monday.

“The best preparation is sleep but sometimes it is hard to get that sleep when you’re thinking about things.

“This morning I woke up really early and I just decided to go to the training ground because I couldn’t get back to sleep. I just kept thinking about the match.”

Tuchel took over as manager of the Bundesliga’s top team after Julian Nagelsmann was fired last month. He will be facing Guardiola for the 11th time in his career.

The German has only won three of their previous meetings, but the Champions League final was the most important, even though Tuchel is trying to downplay how important that night in Porto was.

“I don’t think I can learn much from other games I’ve played against Pep,” he said.

“It’s unique what Pep does. We’ll try to find solutions but we’ll need a complete performance to create problems for City.

“We did not mention this final and we will not do it. That would feel very awkward for me. We focus now on our team.”

Photo by EPA/RONALD WITTEK