‘Last season, they became champions which is huge in France but from there they lost players, they lost the coach, so that’s a huge change. If the change is so big there’s a possibility that it takes some time until things settle in. Now they lost another key player in their attacking formation in the transfer window, Jonathan Ikone.’
Christophe Galtier was the manager who resigned after winning Ligue 1. He now works at Nice with Jocelyn Gourvennec the new man at the helm at Lille. Last summer they also lost midfielder Boubakary Soumare to Leicester City.
Former Newcastle United player Hatem Ben Arfa joined them in the summer and Tuchel has a good idea about the type of team Chelsea face tomorrow. They qualified for this stage of the Champions League as group winners.
‘We all know how physical French football is. We know how physical the offensive players are in French football – very fast and very brave in one-on-one challenges.