“Thomas Tuchel? He was the ideal coach for Chelsea manager! “

FM: Chelsea are back in the Champions League final, must that make you happy?

Marcel Desailly: FA Cup final, Champions League final, it’s nice. I am for sharing. I love Zizou’s Real Madrid, I didn’t want it to be always the same who win. Liverpool out, Real out, today we have two teams who have shown that they have to be in the classic circuit of teams that invest in the player. They each found a coach who knew how to develop his philosophy with the quality of players he had in his workforce and that brings them there.

FM: what do you think of N’Golo Kanté, who was incredible during the 2 matches against Real Madrid?

MD: he had some difficult times with Tuchel or as Tuchel was running, he had suffered a little wrath. But I think the time he spent with Sarri really allowed him to understand that he could do more than be a midfielder in front of his defense and collect the balls. Sarri, remember, we didn’t understand why he was playing him on the right, we didn’t understand. And he let him go and play and navigate the attacking front. Sarri had understood that he had more than the simple quality of a relay medium and we can see it clearly. He has three lungs. He has this ability to defend and at the same time to project himself forward.

FM: have you ever worked with such a player during your career?

MD: yes I worked with a lot of them. We had Edgar Davids, I had Claude Makélélé, I had Emmanuel Petit, I had Patrick Vieira, Demetrio Albertini, there were plenty of players, I had Gennero Gattuso at a time. After that he may have a bigger volume of play, he’s a small size, so he’s everywhere at the same time with a big technical quality. It’s never good to compare but he is one of the very, very good relay midfielders that we have seen on a football field.

“Manchester City-Chelsea? We will feast “

FM: Is Thomas Tuchel the right coach for this team?

MD: it is the peculiarity of Chelsea to succeed each time in identifying the coaches … and also to fire them sometimes. They did it with Roberto Di Matteo, they did it with Avram Grant, with José Mourinho on these different returns and there Tuchel, he was the ideal coach to manage a group that was not a group of stars for precisely enable them to acquire this culture of winning. And it worked. Frank Lampard was perhaps limited because a little young in the profession but at least the choice of players that had been made last summer namely Kai Harvetz, Hackim Ziyech, Timo Werner and having the others also like Tommy Abraham , Olivier Giroud, etc., proved with Tuchel that there was a real group, a real energy. He changed the playing system a little, they were at 4, he put them at 3, he strengthened his midfield, he freed the front of the attack a little, he plays a little on the counterattack, they know how to defend well. The importance of the coach is essential in the success of a team. And Chelsea is a good example.

FM: do you see them winning against Manchester City on Saturday night?

MD: we would all like Chelsea to win necessarily (laughs). Afterwards, I am delighted with this final. Since the time we waited for Manchester City in the final. Chelsea, it’s been since 2012 and their victory against Bayern that they have not been in the final. They are new faces with a style opposition anyway, even if both teams know how to defend very well. City like to have possession, Chelsea a little less since the Blues are more in a counter-attacking behavior. So we are bound to see a good match. If there is no expelled quickly, we will inevitably see a match with a lot of goals and we will have a blast.