Thomas Tuchel becomes "irritated" when likened to Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, a former colleague of both managers has revealed.
Tuchel is currently in charge of Bayern Munich and guided the German giants to the Bundesliga title in dramatic circumstances last season, pipping Borussia Dortmund to top spot on goal difference on the final day. Prior to this, the 49-year-old was at Chelsea and went head-to-head with Klopp during his time in London.
Klopp earned his reputation as a manager during his seven years in charge of Mainz, a club Tuchel would go on to manage one year after the departure of the current Liverpool boss. Tuchel then later became Klopp's successor at Dortmund after he called time at the club following a further seven-year spell.
The pair have often been known to praise each other in public during press conferences, though it appears Tuchel is not content with being compared with his German counterpart. Axel Schuster, currently the CEO of Vancouver Whitecaps, worked as Mainz's head of first-team football between 1999 and 2016 and spent time working with both coaches during this lengthy period.
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Sharing insight into how Tuchel is often "misperceived by the public", Schuster has stated Tuchel has not taken well when being seen as a similar character to Liverpool's long-serving manager.
"It didn't annoy him, it irritated him - for two reasons. Firstly, because he was often portrayed in public as a Klopp pupil. That's not true at all, the two were never at Mainz at the same time. Secondly, because comparisons were usually only made in the area in which Klopp has his absolute strengths: closeness to the people," he told GOAL.
"Kloppo makes people feel very close to him, even when they aren't. Tuchel, on the other hand, exhausts himself in his original work as a coach in such a way that apart from that he only has energy for his family. He then no longer has the energy to present himself as close to the people. On the other hand, no comparisons were made where Tuchel performed better than Klopp: hard facts such as points or table positions."
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