Thomas Tuchel said he felt pressure before Paris Saint-Germain’s 3-0 victory over RB Leipzig but admitted his pride after guiding them to their first Champions League final.
Goals from Marquinhos, Ángel Di María and Juan Bernat secured a comfortable victory in Lisbon on Tuesday, with PSG now set to face the winners of Wednesday’s semi-final between Bayern Munich and Lyon on Sunday.
Tuchel, who was appointed in 2018 and tasked with improving big-spending PSG’s performances in Europe’s premier club competition, acknowledged the significance of becoming Ligue 1’s first finalists since Monaco in 2004 but insisted his side are not finished yet. “We are here to play the final and win it,” he said. “We have showed a lot of determination. We deserved to win.
“I felt pressure today before the match, but the players are used to playing under this pressure, they like this pressure. That is football, it is 3-0 but anything can happen. I never relaxed, but how we defended, that is the most important: that mixture between determination, spirit and quality.
“We do this together, football is for the fans, we can feel it when they are with us. They saw a real team.”
Di María won the competition in 2014 with Real Madrid and the Argentina international said PSG’s attacking had proved too much for Leipzig. “We ate them up from minute one – it’s going to be tough to sleep between now and the final,” he said. “We worked hard all game and we showed we deserve to be here. It doesn’t matter who we face: either Bayern or Lyon, we’ll give our all.”
The PSG president, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, said: “This is a historic night for the club, magnificent, I am proud for the club, this is our first final. Honestly, this is a dream but we must not stop tonight.” Continue reading