体坛英语新闻：Analysis: Dortmund's unpleasant reunion with Tuchel

BERLIN, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- The last-16 round duel in the Champions League between Borussia Dortmund and its former coach Thomas Tuchel, currently in charge of Paris St Germain, remains a delicate case in Europe.

The 46-year-old Paris manager and his Dortmund counterpart, 62-year-old Lucien Favre, desperately need success on the international stage. The relationship between Tuchel and his former club comes near a visit of unpleasant relatives.

Since the German coach got the sack in 2017, after having won the German Cup, a tense relationship could be witnessed.

Tuchel and Dortmund claim to face another ordinary challenging knock-out duel of which dozens take place after the group stage in every year's campaign.

Michael Zorc is admitting: "There has been no contact whatsoever since 2017." Dortmund's managing director said that's nothing unusual in football. "Tuesday's duel is not about Dortmund versus Tuchel, but Borussia Dortmund versus Paris," the former professional added.

The Paris coach's statements go in the same direction as he said: "This game is not the stage, to work through things of the past."

Things have been sorted out, he claimed. "Things remain where they are." It's only about football he is claiming, but "it is far from a stage to battle over things not connected to football."

In 2017 the relationship between both parties creepily worsened after a fatal bomb attack on the team's bus on the way to the Champions League quarterfinal duel against Monaco.

While Tuchel pledged for a temporal deferral, the club's CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke was in favor of a new attempt a day later. The then coach expressed his disapproval and accused the club leaders of having neglected the players' damaged mental condition.

Despite having lost no home game for over two years, the coach was sacked at the end of the season.

"I have decided not to put me in the center of the game, but to prepare my team," Tuchel commented in a recent interview.

His team, he said, "has got nothing to do with the case." He spoke about two years of work with the Dortmund team and three years of living in Dortmund with his family. His Dortmund friends might be torn between supporting him and their desire for the Blacks and Yellows.

"We take this as a sportive issue."

Tuchel sees his time well prepared to face the enthusiastic atmosphere in Borussia's arena delivered by the "yellow wall" shaped by the BVB's large fan crowd. Paris' squad is containing several experienced performers used to a noisy atmosphere, he said.

To get along with pressure, he is relying on a "shift of meditation or yoga" and enters a treadmill. "We only do sports. We don't operate children; we don't save lives," he said, adding there were so many people out there doing relevant jobs. "Doing sports, even on a high level, requires a certain amount of calmness."

While fans hope not to experience too much calmness but a thrilling game, Dortmund's club boss Watzke seems on a peace mission.

"We have worked together for two years, and things got tough at the end, but that was three years ago," the 60-year-old said. He called the Paris manager a "great coach" and said he intends to shake hands. "I guess, he is doing the same."