Thomas Tuchel wary of Frankfurt manager’s inside knowledge of Bayern Munich

Thomas Tuchel expects Eintracht Frankfurt manager Dino Toppmoller to exploit his inside knowledge of the Bayern Munich players this weekend.

German champions Bayern return to action after the postponement of last weekend’s clash with Union Berlin as they travel to Frankfurt in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Toppmoller was a member of the Bayern backroom staff under current boss Tuchel’s predecessor Julian Nagelsmann before he was sacked in March.

Full focus #MiaSanMia #SGEFCB pic.twitter.com/NQ1YtpZZDE

— FC Bayern Munich (@FCBayernEN) December 8, 2023

“We haven’t made too many changes since and so he’s going to look back on our recent games and analyse them,” Tuchel told reporters at his pre-match press conference.

“But that is nothing unusual. We cannot leave out every player that worked with him because we wouldn’t have a team then! It’s part of the business.”

Frankfurt appointed 43-year-old Toppmoller in the summer and Tuchel has been impressed with his start in the job.

Frankfurt head into the weekend’s fixtures seventh in the table, 14 points behind second-placed Bayern, who have also played a game fewer.

“I think you can tell his style of playing,” said former Chelsea manager Tuchel.

“They’re just missing the results but, when we were analysing the games, we couldn’t really see the defeats and that is definitely credit to him.

“I’ve only heard good feedback about him here from the staff, from the players and it’s good that he’s going about his business. He’s going to make life difficult for us.”

Tuchel feels his players are raring to go after the frustration of last week’s cancellation due to heavy snow in Munich.

He said: “We wanted to up the ante against Union Berlin with more aggression and investing more. We were ready until everything was called off.

“Now it is our job to really keep the level up. It was unusual but these are things you cannot change. We’ve trained intensively and aggressively. Now we want to take the next step and win.”

Tuchel on the squad: “@JamalMusiala will be in the squad. He won’t play 90 minutes, and we’ll have to wait and see if he starts. Apart from Matthijs de Ligt and Bouna Sarr, everyone’s available.”#packmas #SGEFCB pic.twitter.com/YeD6smD1Ar

— FC Bayern Munich (@FCBayernEN) December 8, 2023

Forward Jamal Musiala is back in contention for Bayern after a month on the sidelines but is not ready to play a full 90 minutes. Matthijs De Ligt and Bouna Sarr remain on the sidelines but Tuchel otherwise has a fully-fit squad available.

Bayern this week announced a deal to sign 22-year-old Spanish winger Bryan Zaragoza from Granada next summer.

Tuchel said: “We’ve signed up a very young and hungry player. He’s a good dribbler, strong in one-on-ones. He has a lot of confidence and hunger. We’re glad he’s coming to us.”