French Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain have sacked their German head coach Thomas Tuchel. PSG have fired the former Borussia Dortmund boss after two-and-a-half years in charge at the club.
Tuchel’s last game was a 4-0 win over Strasbourg on Wednesday. That result took PSG to just one point behind top two Lyon and Lille but it was not enough to save the 47-year-old German’s job.
PSG had topped their Champions League group, that included Manchester United, and are due to face Barcelona in the last 16 in February – but will do so under new manager
It was only four months ago that Tuchel had steered the Parisiens to within 90 minutes of a first ever Champions League crown. The closest the club has reached so far. But PSG were beaten 1-0 by Bayern Munich and the hunt for European silverware at the Parc des Princes goes on.
Before getting the axe, Tuchel had complained to Sport 1 about a lack of recognition for his work, stating it was ‘sad’ his achievements were underplayed by the club's management.
In the interview before Wednesday’s game, Tuchel was reported to have claimed it was difficult to keep his big name players happy and even said he felt more like ‘a sports politician or sports minister than a coach’ during his first year in Paris.
But the now departed boss had come out and tried to clarify his comments, suggesting they had been mistranslated and that he was ‘ just making a joke’.
Speaking to Canal +, Tuchel said: “I didn’t say it’s more about politics than sport, nor that I lost the fun of training. This is not true.
“It was translated out of context."
“Watch the video interview. I just said that PSG are unique and that it’s a big challenge for me. It’s always been like that. I like this challenge and nothing has changed.”
The German coach went into further detail about the saga in his post-match press conference – which turned out to be his last.
