Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel has insisted that he is very different to Jurgen Klopp both as a person and a coach, despite being compared to his Borussia Dortmund predecessor throughout his coaching career.
Tuchel took charge of Dortmund after Klopp left the Westfalenstadion in 2015 and immediately the two German coaches were being compared and similarities were being drawn.
The 45-year-old admits that the comparisons started early, when he came in as an academy coach at Mainz, even though Klopp had by then left for Dortmund in the Bundesliga.
The German remains fond of the Liverpool manager and admits that it is no surprise that he gets the maximum out of his players as he has that kind of infectious personality.
However, Tuchel stressed that he remains very different to Klopp both in terms of his personality and coaching philosophy and while he likes the fact that people draw similarities between them, he insisted that most of them are not accurate.
Asked if he is similar to Klopp in terms of his coaching ideas, the PSG coach told French sports daily L’Equipe: “I don’t believe so, but it is true we are very warm when he see each other.
“He is one of the funniest guys you will meet, he can make you laugh for hours. It doesn’t surprise me that his players are prepared to go to war for him. He is a natural leader.
“But he and I are very different when it comes to our approach to the game. Our personalities are also very different.”
He continued: “When I arrived at Mainz as an academy coach, Jurgen went to Dortmund so I never had a chance to see him work.
“But I came so soon after he left that people started making comparisons right away.
“Whenever people found some common ground, it reinforced that sense that we were the same, which was not true.
“But I like it.”
Tuchel's PSG will be looking to get the better of Klopp's Liverpool in the Champions League tonight.
