Having already outperformed Jose Mourinho and Diego Simeone in the Champions League, RB Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann now faces Paris Saint-Germain and Thomas Tuchel, who helped boost their training career 12 years ago in Tuesday’s semi-finals.
Nagelsmann, 33, is the youngest coach to triumph in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, underlining his reputation as one of Germany’s brilliant tactical tops in Leipzig’s first appearance in the elimination phase of the competition.
Nagelsmann took the lead over Atletico Madrid de Simeone in a 2–1 win on Thursday, claiming a remarkable scalp after Mourinho’s move to Tottenham, a finalist last year who had been defeated at home and was in the eighth round.
PSG and fellow German Tuchel, whom Nagelsmann took his first steps as coach of the Augsburg reserve in 2008 after a persistent knee injury forced him to retire at the age of 20.
“Of course I’m his player, but so many years ago,” said Nagelsmann, a decent central defender in his youth.
“I’m more interested in day-to-day business, just like him.”
– ‘I’ve never been close’ –
As coach of his former club Hoffenheim, Nagelsmann lost twice and tied against Tuchel, then in borussia Dortmund’s bundesliga rate between 2016 and 2017.
“The games that oppose it are attractive because it has a smart concept of football,” Nagelsmann added.
“I’ve played (as a coach) as opposed to him (Tuchel) but I’ve rarely won.That deserves to be replaced now,” he added.
“It is transparent that the quality they have (PSG) – Angel Di Maria will be back and (Kylian) Mbappé will have enough compatibility to start.
“We’ll want world-class functionality to succeed in the final.”
A knee injury disrupted his player career in 2008, “otherwise he would have needed a synthetic knee at 40,” Nagelsmann said.
Barely out of his teens, he introduced a scout role through his Augsburg reserve teacher Tuchel.
“It was a pragmatic resolution – as Augsburg paid me, I spotted warring parties for Tuchel,” Nagelsmann said in an interview in 2015.
The couple “never had an incredibly close relationship,” Nagelsmann revealed.
“He was not my mentor, even though many were.
“Our appointments are too pragmatic for that, but I’m grateful to him for giving me the concept of having a coach.”
Tuchel then worked in Mainz and Dortmund, which led to the name of the 2017 German Cup before joining PSG in 2018 and the back-to-back names of the French league.
During this time, Nagelsmann reveled as youth team coach in Augsburg, 1860 Munich and Hoffenheim before moving to Leipzig in 2019.
After his under-17 team, Nagelsmann rose through the ranks at Hoffenheim.
He was the youngest head coach in Bundesliga history in February 2016, aged just 28, while Hoffenheim was just a moment from the back of the table, but kept them to win the German coach of the year award.
Under Nagelsmann, Hoffenheim controlled the four most sensitive spots over the next two seasons, winning a first Champions League crusade in 2018/19, but achieving an organization-level exit.
He turned Hoffenheim into a player capable of beating the mighty Bayern Munich twice, and the icing on the cake was a 2-0 home win at the Allianz Arena in 2017.
Good luck with Hoffenheim attracted RB Leipzig subsidized through Red Bull, which Nagelsmann joined before the start of this season, completing 3rd place in the Bundesliga.
– ‘Heavy load’ –
Now, more than a decade after passing through the Augsburg reserves, Tuchel and Nagelsmann battle for a spot in the Champions League final next Sunday.
However, the Champions League “does fear duels against Mourinho, Simeone or now against Tuchel,” Nagelsmann insisted.
“It’s a sport, and he (Leipzig) played very well.”
Nagelsmann believes PSG’s quarter-final victory over Atalanta eased Tuchel’s “heavy burden,” which he is forced to make the last four.
“I’m satisfied with him.”
However, any cordial exchange with Tuchel before kick-off will be a facade, Nagelsmann insists.
“That’s what the media would like to see, but it doesn’t exist in the genuine world of football.”