A man spoke up in the front row of the room. It was the sports reporter Ian Abrahams, who has been writing and speaking about English football and therefore also about Arsenal FC for 33 years. That Monday evening he was sitting in the press conference room at the Emirates Stadium, which, with its old folding seats and steep architecture, one would expect to find in an independent cinema, but not in the stadium of one of the world’s largest sports clubs.
And when Abrahams was allowed to ask his questions there, it not only made him happy, but also the man who sat at the small podium in a suit and tie and looked at him.
„How are you“, fragte Ian Abrahams.
“I’m fine,” replied Thomas Tuchel.
“Good to see you again,” said Abrahams – and then asked Tuchel, the football coach who has to leave FC Bayern Munich early at the end of this season, a question that ended as follows: “Is this also a good opportunity “To remind people in this country what a good coach…” He hadn’t finished asking the question when Tuchel spoke into the microphone and said: “Have you already forgotten about me?” Have you already forgotten me? ?
Then Tuchel laughed. Then Abrahams laughed.
“It was a bit of a bumpy start”
It wasn’t that long ago that coach Thomas Tuchel worked in London. Not for Arsenal FC, but for Chelsea FC, with whom he won the Champions League in May 2021 after just a few weeks in office. And even though he had to leave the club again in September 2022 (among other things because a new American owner suddenly got involved), you could tell from the way he talked to the reporters that he felt comfortable in this city feels particularly comfortable in this country.
In the minutes before and after it wasn’t about the past or the future, but about the present. And Tuchel and his FC Bayern face the first quarter-final game of the Champions League this Tuesday (9 p.m. CEST in the FAZ live ticker for the Champions League and on Prime Video) in the stadium in London – against Arsenal FC and therefore also against Mikel Arteta.
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When Ian Abrahams asked his questions, Thomas Tuchel was also asked to talk about the Spanish coach of Arsenal FC, who has been employed there since December 2019. And when he did that, you could think that he was at least talking between the lines about his own club – and about the culture he might have wanted there.
Because he said these sentences: “It was a bit of a bumpy start. But I think that the club and the coach remained strong together.” Or this: “At the beginning they went through this difficult phase. But then they also created a new culture. When things got rolling, they really got rolling and never stopped rolling.” Or this: “The club was clear about the path they wanted to take with him. This is paying off massively right now.”
It’s clear that such sentences will no longer be said about Thomas Tuchel and FC Bayern Munich. But even if they are the underdogs this Tuesday evening against Arsenal, against the first team in the Premier League, they should not be underestimated. Because unlike on Saturday in Heidenheim, Tuchel can plan again with his players Manuel Neuer, Aleksandar Pavlović, Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sané.
And because he probably doesn’t just want to remind Ian Abrahams why he and all other football fans in England shouldn’t forget him.
2024-04-09 13:05:00
#forgotten
