Thomas Tuchel will lead Chelsea to his first final in English football at 17:15 today, May 15, and the German coach said he would deal with the pressure that comes with such an event by meditating for 20 minutes. The final is between Chelsea and Leicester City.
Tuchel has been one of the most talked-about tacticians in English football since late January this year. His fame is not just because he replaced Chelsea’s football legend, Frank Lampard who had only 18-months to coach the club before he was sacked, but because of how well he has performed so far.
Talking about performance, the German tactician who was jobless for over a month after Paris Saint Germain sacked him in 2020, has been phenomenal at Chelsea. In less than four months at the club, he has taken the club from the 9th spot to the 4th spot on the league table.
Besides that, he might land his first title in English football later today if he can lead Chelsea to defeat Leicester City at Wembley Stadium in London.
During a pre-match press conference ahead of the game, Thomas Tuchel revealed how he would spend the match day. He said he would meditate for 20 minutes which would help him relax ahead of the match. Afterward, he would go on with other routines.
“I wake up early and do some sports and some meditation and then be ready to prepare the first meeting,” Tuchel said on Friday.
“You try to get into some routines, sometimes I try to run after matches when they are late, to get rid of energy to sleep better. Sometimes I am very disciplined, sometimes not so.
“I think it is normal to be excited and nervous, sometimes more or less so, and sometimes it can catch me before normal matches, and sometimes you can feel calm even if the pressure is on.
“It’s just 20 minutes, breath in, breathe out. And try hard to do nothing. In the room.
“Some years ago I came into this. It helped me, it was a nice experience. When I was a coach at Dortmund, or maybe between Mainz and Dortmund.
“Sometimes I am disciplined and do it twice a day, other times I forget and go without it for a couple of weeks. It is nothing special. It is breathing and trying hard to do nothing.”
Chelsea plan no FA Cup celebrations according to Thomas Tuchel
Meanwhile, Thomas Tuchel has revealed that Chelsea are not planning any celebrations if they win the FA Cup title later today due to how tight their schedule is. They will play Leicester City again on Tuesday, May 18, in a must-win Premier League game.
Tuchel knows that the league game is so important that he described it as a second final for the London club.
If Chelsea fail to win the league game, making the top four this season would no longer be under their control going into their last league game of the season. If they win, they will have 67 points in 37 league games which might be enough to secure a top-four finish.
“There are no celebrations planned, this is a special time,” he said. “It’s too close to the next game. For both teams, I think it’s too close that we play on Tuesday again.
“But this is the schedule and we have to adapt to all needs. The situation in the league does not allow us to celebrate. We have two finals coming up and want to win both of them.
“We would have to delay any celebrations – if there would be a reason to have any.”
Next stop, @wembleystadium. 👀#FACupFinal prep. ✅ pic.twitter.com/yDBUmLTMu7
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 14, 2021
