Tuchel returns to England for the first time since being fired by Chelsea in September when City hosts the opening leg of the quarter-finals on Tuesday. (20:00 BST).
Tuchel has only defeated Pep Guardiola’s team three times in their previous ten meetings.
“I’m going to try to go to bed early.” “I’m hoping I can sleep,” he said.
“The best preparation is sleep, but it can be difficult to sleep when you’re thinking about things.”
“I woke up really early this morning and just decided to go to the training ground because I couldn’t sleep.” I couldn’t stop thinking about the game.”
Tuchel’s last victory over Guardiola came in 2021, when Chelsea defeated City in the Champions League final to earn the first of three titles in Tuchel’s 20 months at Stamford Bridge.
City went on to defeat Chelsea twice in the Premier League before Tuchel’s departure, but they have not met Bayern since November 2014, when they defeated the Bundesliga side 3-2 to advance to the last 16.
Tuchel, who took over for the dismissed Julian Nagelsmann at league leaders Bayern Munich in March, believes his team must be at the “top of our game” to upset City, who have won their last eight games in all competitions.
“I don’t think I can learn much from previous games against Pep,” he stated.
“What Pep does is unique. We’ll strive to find solutions, but to cause problems for City, we’ll need a complete performance.”
“We have a major task ahead of us,” he added. I was just outside [at Etihad Stadium], which is our current gold standard.
“We want to live up to that, but the team has earned the right to be confident based on our results and performances in the Champions League thus far, and we must try to maintain that.”
“Perhaps we play the role of a minor underdog, which isn’t an issue. We’ll do our best to make the most of it. We must be confident and at the top of our game.”
Guardiola compares himself to Nicklaus and Jordan.
Bayern full-back Joao Cancelo will return to Manchester for the first time since joining City on loan in January.
The 28-year-old Portuguese defender fell out of favor at the club and moved to Germany for the rest of the season, with Bayern having the option to sign him in the summer for 70 million euros (£61.4 million).
Tuchel stated that he is “pleased” Cancelo is in his team, but no decision has been made on whether Bayern would make his move permanent.
Tuchel stated of Cancelo facing his parent club, “I hope he can manage his emotions and is not over-motivated and over-excited.”
“But I’m hoping he’s not too shy.” Knowing it is not enough. Many people are aware that smoking is unhealthy for them, but they continue to do so.”