At 11:06 on Tuesday morning, Thomas Tuchel stepped onto the training pitch at Säbener Straße for the first time as the new FC Bayern head coach took his first session at the German record champions' campus. After the warm-up, which included coordination exercises and a passing game, the 49-year-old put his players through their paces with some intense match situation drills in small spaces. For Bayern it also marked the start of the preparation for the Bundesliga top-of-the-table clash against Borussia Dortmund this Saturday.
Because of international call-ups, Thomas Müller, Leroy Sané, João Cancelo, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (first time since back problems), Bouna Sarr, Sven Ulreich and Johannes Schenk were the only players from the first-team squad in attendance. The training group was supplemented by academy players Angelo Brückner, Gabriel Marušić, Younes Aitamer, Taichi Fukui, Justin Janitzek and Aleksandar Pavlović, while injured duo Lucas Hernández and Jamal Musiala trained individually on the adjacent pitch. The other internationals will return to training over the course of the week.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting was back in full training after his back problems.
On Saturday, Bayern host current leaders Borussia Dortmund in a huge match at the Allianz Arena. Victory would see the Munich men reclaim top spot. For Tuchel, who coached BVB between 2015 and 2017, his first game with Bayern has a particularly special meaning. "The challenge of starting with the match against Dortmund couldn't be greater. It's a massive game for all of us," said the new FCB boss. "It's taken on an added edge because of us falling behind in the table and BVB's incredible run."
Lay down a marker against Dortmund
Tuchel and his team want to make the most of the short preparation period ahead of the showdown with the Black and Yellows. "It's about generating trust and anticipation, and getting started together. And it's about laying down a first marker on Saturday," he added.
There's more on Thomas Tuchel's first training session in our live blog:
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