Beyond their nationality or their background, if there is one thing that brings Liverpool coaches Jürgen Klopp and Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel together, it is an insatiable appetite for trophies that will be tested yet again in the Cup final. of the League on Sunday at Wembley.
For the moment, the youngest, Tuchel, 48, leads 1-0 on the season, with the recent triumph of the Blues at the Club World Cup, an honor that the eldest, Klopp, 54, had enjoyed in 2019.
But the score will not stop there, the two still being in contention in four other competitions, even if the national title seems compromised for Chelsea, with 13 points behind leaders Manchester City, despite one game less.
A German final in England
From Sunday, they will have to decide in a competition monopolized these last 4 years by City which fell in eighth.
A clash between the two German coaches who have established themselves as world references by conquering an often ruthless England with its technicians.
Both passed through Mainz and Dortmund, their English trajectories are very different, reflecting two diametrically opposed club philosophies.
Klopp paved the way by taking charge, at the end of 2015, of the Reds still traumatized by the failure in the title race in 2014.
His early years have long had the bitter taste of defeats in the final: in the English League Cup in 2016 on penalties against City, in the Europa League the same year, or in the Champions League in 2018.
Liverpool shaped in the image of Klopp
But he benefited from a rare confidence and patience at this level to shape the club in his image and take it to the roof of Europe and the world in 2019 before, the ultimate Grail, to offer him his first title. national in 30 years in 2020.
A luxury that Tuchel knew he could not afford at Chelsea, a big consumer of coaches and where only victory protects coaches, for a time.
Arrived at the very beginning of 2021, he had a spectacular impact by snatching an improbable qualification for the C1 and above all by going to stifle Manchester City in Porto (1-0) to deprive him of a coronation in the Champions League after which he is still running.
The European Super Cup and the Club World Cup have since joined the Londoners’ trophy cabinet.
But the two coaches know the fragility of a record that reflects the past when leaders and supporters almost immediately think of the next triumph.
«We all know that people are very satisfied at the moment. But 20 years from now when they talk about this (Liverpool) team, I won’t be surprised if they say, if we don’t win anything, yes they were good, but they should have won moreof titles, Klopp told a press conference.
«No feelingsfor Tuchel
Little in verve at Wembley, where he lost a C1 final with Dortmund and in the League Cup, Klopp will be deprived of Roberto Firmino against Chelsea, injured in the adductors, but he may be able to count on Diogo Jota, recovered from an ankle injury.
Tuchel, for his part, will have to resolve two dilemmas at both ends of the field.
Will he trust until the end in this competition in Kepa or will he align his “talisman“, Edouard Mendy with whom he is undefeated in the final?
«Kepa was fantastic in the period when we didn’t have +Edou+ (during the African Cup of Nations). But I can’t afford to have any feelings about it. I have to do what’s best for the team“, he confided to the press, seeming to tip the scales on the side of the Senegalese.
His decision on whether or not to start Romelu Lukaku, who remained on the bench against Lille in C1 on Tuesday, will be even more commented on.
«He’s an important player, there’s a lot of attention on him, but if you take a step back you’ll see he started a lot of games for us.“, relativized Tuchel, who ensures that there is”no hard feelingsbetween them and that they will not be able toachieve (their) goals that together».
