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#3 Paris Saint Germain vs. Real Madrid, 3-0, Champions League, 2019-20
Thomas Tuchel's legacy at Paris Saint-Germain is still up for debate. He was just one win short of delivering the Champions League trophy to the club's desperate ownership. However, PSG lost the 2019-20 Champions League final to Bayern Munich.
Tuchel's time at PSG is very much under-appreciated. When he was sacked by the French club, he had the best win percentage of any manager ever in the French top division.
One of the brightest games where Tuchel proved his worth for PSG was an emphatic 3-0 victory over Real Madrid. The Parisians' brilliant victory came in the 2019-20 Champions League group stage.
With Kylian Mbappe and Neymar both out, up stepped PSG's (envious) reserves to deliver an emphatic and clinical performance. Former Real Madrid man Angel di Maria shone with a brace as a jubilant Paris crowd celebrated a huge European scalp.
#2 Paris Saint Germain vs. Manchester United, 1-3 Champions League, 2019
It might be unfair to include a defeat as one of Tuchel's definitive games. But the value of the lesson learned when Paris Saint-Germain fell to a late, late Marcus Rashford penalty has not been lost on the German coach.
PSG came into the game as overwhelming favorites, having registered a comfortable 2-0 victory at Old Trafford in the first leg. Manchester United, however, shockingly overturned the deficit via a Romelu Lukaku double and a controversial VAR call at the death.
The match was up there with Tuchel's remarkable 4-3 loss versus Liverpool as Dortmund coach in the 2016 Europa League final. The demoralizing defeat to United is perhaps responsible for Tuchel's shift towards a pragmatic and more foundational style of football. This change has now earned him plaudits and praise at Chelsea and across Europe.
#1 Chelsea vs Manchester City, 1-0, Champions League Final, 2020/21
Unexpectedly back in the finals of the Champions League with a different club, Tuchel's Chelsea team upset Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in Lisbon. The Blues won a tight contest 1-0, with Kai Havertz scoring the lone goal.
In the build-up to this fixture, Manchester City and Chelsea played each other twice, only for Tuchel to outwit an overcomplicated Guardiola. Having gone with a single and double pivot in the prior defeats, Guardiola bizarrely opted to go with no clear defensive midfielder in the Champions League final. This left Chelsea with many clear counter-attacking opportunities that led to their second ever Champions League title.
The victory announced Tuchel as one of the sport's premier coaches, culminating in a rise in reputation. That rise looks set to continue as Chelsea chase domestic glory this season.
