It therefore goes without saying he knows tomorrow night’s Champions League opponents Lille well, and when he was going head-to-head with them when in charge of Paris St-Germain, it was generally in top-of-the-table clashes.The club from northern France have been on a steady climb for many years and were runners-up to Tuchel’s PSG in 2018/19. They finished fourth the following year and last season during which Tuchel moved to London, Lille were crowned French champions.

However they arrive at Stamford Bridge this week just below halfway in the Ligue 1 table and on Friday, drew 0-0 at home against the second-from-bottom side.Tuchel gives his view on the dip in form but warns who difficult an opponent they remain.‘Lille had a fantastic coach and a fantastic group of players and they were very, very competitive when I was in Paris,’ he begins.‘You could feel that this is a strong group, a strong squad, a very emotional club and very difficult to play in their stadium. The bond, the quality of the players and the quality of the coach was exceptional and you could feel they have a chance to fight constantly for a place in the Champions League.

‘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.

‘The team are always a threat on counter-attacks, very discipline against the ball, and Lille have the chance to play this game as underdogs with the mentality they have nothing to lose.‘Always respect the game, always respect your opponent,’ Tuchel warns. ‘We will prepare our team like we always do and then hopefully find for ourselves the best performance, which we usually do in knockout cup matches, and play a competitive game.’