After the game, Tuchel provided his assessment and indicated his pleasure at the grit and guile of the boys in blue.
‘It was a very, very strong performance,’ he remarked. ‘I’m very happy and very proud. We played an excellent 35 minutes in the first half and then we had to suffer 10 minutes of some easy ball losses and of course the quality of City.
‘In the second half, we played another half an hour so strong and deserved the lead. We could even have been one goal higher but then in the last 15 minutes we suffered a lot because they played with a lot of risk and with many offensive players.
‘We were becoming a bit tired but it was a very strong performance and I’m very happy for my team that they performed on this level today.’
Ziyech and Werner combined for the game’s only goal…
‘You can only win against City if you have everybody on top level and the two guys were very good up front with their speed and acceleration, and also the impact that Mason had with the pass.
‘Timo and Hakim was the same line-up as against Liverpool where they were also very strong in an away game and a 1-0 victory so I‘m happy. On the other side, it has to be absolutely like this. Everybody who is on the pitch has to perform and now is the moment in the season where we cannot drop one per cent. That’s the way we want it.’
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