The German was appointed as the successor to club legend Frank Lampard in January 2021 and led Chelsea to Champions League glory with a 1-0 over Manchester City in May of the same year.
More success followed in the form of trophies in the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup, but Tuchel also lost two FA Cup finals and an EFL Cup final – beaten in both domestic cup showpieces on penalties to Liverpool last term.
Speaking ahead of Chelsea's Premier League clash with rivals United on Sunday, Tuchel explained that during his time as PSG head coach from 2018 to late 2020, the Ligue 1 champions tried to lure Fernandes to Paris.
The Portugal international was captain of Sporting CP at the time, but eventually signed for United in January 2020 and has since scored 34 goals in 60 appearances across all competitions.
"With my first sporting director in Paris, Antero Henrique, a Portuguese sporting director, and he knew [Fernandes] very well," Tuchel told reporters.
"We fought hard to have a connection to him and to bring him to our team. I got made aware of him more in detail, so we watched more and more games about him and followed him and tried to be in touch with him to make it happen.
"Obviously, he decided [to sign for Manchester United] and I was never personally in touch with him, but we tried and he went another way. [It is] bad for us that we have to play against him."
Fernandes looms as a key factor in Sunday's clash against fifth-placed Chelsea, with both sides fighting to make the top four and secure Champions League berths.
The 26-year-old currently sits second for assists in the 2020-21 Premier League campaign with 10, only one behind Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne and Tottenham's Harry Kane.
Fernandes provided his 10th Premier League assist of the season against Newcastle United last time out, becoming only the fourth different United player to reach double figures for both goals (15) and assists in a single Premier League campaign, after Eric Cantona (three times), Dwight Yorke (1998-99) and Wayne Rooney (five times).
Tuchel has been extremely impressed by Fernandes' impact since joining United, leading the club to a top-four spot last season before helping them move up to second this campaign.
"The impact he has had since he arrived at Manchester United is indescribable and unbelievable," Tuchel said.
"To come from Portugal, from a competitive team, a big club but not from the strongest league and stepping in a year to one of the biggest clubs in the Premier League and the strongest league in Europe and to have this kind of impact, I have nothing but the biggest respect for this guy.
"It is outstanding. He is one of the best midfielders in the world, attacking midfielders, and he has a huge, huge impact and to have this as a single person in football, you must be absolutely top level because this is almost impossible.
"But he has such a big influence on their game, on their attacking game and that it is a big key to defend against him, to be around him and close to him and he is a key player of Man Utd in a way that is outstanding."
United are second in the Premier League, 13 points behind runaway leaders City but six clear of Chelsea.
The pair were left out of Chelsea's starting line-up for Wednesday's EFL Cup semi-final first leg against Tottenham and will now serve a period of self-isolation.
Kante has featured in 17 of the Blues' 31 matches this season, while Silva – who signed a one-year contract extension on Monday – has been used 22 times.
It is the second time in a little over three months that France international Kante has tested positive for coronavirus.
Asked about the duo's absence from the side to face Tottenham, Tuchel told Sky Sports: "Unfortunately, Thiago and N'Golo have tested positive.
"It's huge for us because they are two huge players. We had the last information today in the morning, so it is quite challenging, but we will push.
"The guys who are here have our trust and our belief.
"We will push things to the maximum. The situation hasn't changed since some weeks ago, it's not the moment to repeat it, from here we are looking for solutions.
"I have trust in the guys who play and hopefully we put in a strong performance."
As well as facing Tottenham over two legs, Chelsea also take on Chesterfield in the FA Cup and face Manchester City in the Premier League over the next 10 days.
Romelu Lukaku started the tie at Stamford Bridge, three days on from being left out of Chelsea's squad to face Liverpool after giving a controversial interview.
The striker made a public apology on Tuesday and was back involved against Spurs, with the Blues eyeing a first-leg advantage to take into next week's reverse fixture.
Chelsea have progressed from five of their last seven EFL Cup semi-final ties, failing only in 2012-13 (v Swansea City) and 2017-18 (v Arsenal) in that run.
Since winning three games in a row against Chelsea between 2018 and 2019, Tottenham were winless in their last eight against the Blues in all competitions prior to Wednesday's game.
Di Maria has been in sensational form in 2019-20, scoring 10 goals in all competitions and providing a division-high eight assists in Ligue 1.
It could easily have been different for Di Maria, who has confirmed he was debating leaving PSG in 2018 before a talk with Tuchel convinced him to stay at the Parc des Princes.
The 31-year-old is out of contract in 2021 and, though discussions over a new deal have not yet begun, he hopes to end his time in European football with PSG before possibly returning to Argentina to see out his playing days.
"I haven't spoken to anyone in the club [about a renewal]," said Di Maria.
"I am not really thinking about that now, I still have a year ahead of me. I am very confident. I keep working.
"I said that I want to end my career in Europe here at PSG and I am very happy here. Then, maybe I will see if I want to play in Argentina again."
Di Maria added that Tuchel is one of the coaches who has had the most faith in him.
"He has shown me a lot of trust and has given me confidence. He talked to me in Barcelona before the World Cup in 2018," he said.
"He really tried to convince me to stay at PSG and I think this is why I decided to stay. My family and I were feeling good.
"It has been hard because [former PSG coach Unai Emery] said I was going to play and I didn't, which hurt as a player.
"But the coach gave me 100 per cent trust. I think I had a few coaches like that, they all gave me trust and this is a very nice thing."
Tuchel, meanwhile, is thrilled to have a player of Di Maria's quality at his disposal.
"It just works, I really like him. I have been watching him for a few years and at Real Madrid, I was a huge fan," said the German.
"The way he is when he plays football, he is reliable, he doesn't quit, he works for the team. He is the first one to arrive at the training centre. He is really competitive and tries everything to be decisive.
"He is working a lot and is a super professional, a great guy. We talked for the first time in Barcelona and for me, it was like a spark. Since the beginning, we found a chemistry.
"I am really happy that he changed his mind, that he stayed, gained confidence and he found his quality again because he is a really important player for PSG.
"He could play in every team in the world. Sometimes, you have to calm him down in order to avoid doing too much, but our relationship is great."
Antonio Rudiger scored the only goal of the second leg at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday as the European champions secured a 3-0 aggregate win over their London rivals.
It was a frustrating night for Spurs, who were awarded a penalty in each half by Andre Marriner, but the decisions were both correctly overturned.
Marriner pointed the spot in the first half for a foul by Rudiger on Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, but the VAR informed the referee that contact was made outside the box.
The referee then realised he got it wrong again when he took a look on the pitchside monitor after ruling that Lucas Moura had been upended by Kepa Arrizabalaga, who clearly got the ball when he came out to deny the Spurs forward.
Harry Kane then had a goal disallowed for offside following another VAR check and Chelsea saw out another victory to set up a final against Arsenal or Liverpool on February 27.
Yet Blues boss Tuchel was not impressed with the way his side went about booking another trip to Wembley.
The German told Sky Sports: "I think we started okay, started good. We created big chances, we were in the lead, but we played with fire.
"We allowed chances from easy and sloppy mistakes and we were lucky, almost gave a penalty away for absolutely no reason, from a bit of over-confidence.
"We started again very well in the second half and the same happened for the last 20-25 minutes. There was a mixture of lack of focus, over-confidence, I don't know. Suddenly we need luck to not have another penalty [awarded against them], to have another VAR decision with a little offside.
"We can play much better, we need to play much better if we want to really deserve results like this because we did play well over long phases of the match, but we need to do better."
Asked if he was unhappy with the performance, he replied: "Yes, we need to have the standards because that is why we work for Chelsea and we play for Chelsea and nothing else matters.
"It's about our standards and not about getting a result somehow. We can do much better, we can close spaces much better, we can do better defending individually, we can control the match better with less mistakes.
"In any part of the match we can do better and we have to do better."
While Robert Lewandowski and Alexia Putellas, who won the women's Ballon d'Or last year, took home the prizes for Best Men's and Women's player respectively, the Blues had winners in the form of Thomas Tuchel, Emma Hayes and Edouard Mendy.
Tuchel, who guided Chelsea to Champions League success last season, scooped the Best Men's Coach award, while Hayes was named Best Women's Coach.
Hayes' team won the Women's FA Cup and Premier League in 2020-21, while also finishing as runners-up in the Women's Champions League to Barcelona, who Putellas plays for.
Mendy, meanwhile, won the Best Men's Goalkeeper award. However, he did not make the Men's XI, with Italy and Paris Saint-Germain shot-stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma preferred.
Tuchel's triumph also means that a German coach has won the Men's award for the last three years, after Jurgen Klopp in 2020 and 2019.
The Denmark national team won the Fair Play Award for their actions in helping to save Christian Eriksen's life after the midfielder collapsed on the pitch in Copenhagen at Euro 2020.
Erik Lamela won the Puskas Award for his incredible rabona finish in the north London derby.
Cristiano Ronaldo, meanwhile, was given a Special Award for his career achievements.
FIFA Best Awards 2021 winners:
Robert Lewandowski (Best Men's Player)
Thomas Tuchel (Best Men's Coach)
Edouard Mendy (Best Men's Goalkeeper)
Alexia Putellas (Best Women's Player)
Emma Hayes (Best Women's Coach)
Christiane Endler (Best Women's Goalkeeper)
Denmark men's national team (FIFA Fair Play Award)
Erik Lamela (Puskas Award)
Denmark and Finland fans (FIFA Fan Award)
Cristiano Ronaldo (FIFA Special Award)
Christine Sinclair (FIFA Special Award)
Tuchel this week said Chelsea had discussed a move for Haaland and did not rule out partnering the in-demand Norwegian forward with Lukaku at Stamford Bridge.
However, Tuchel backtracked on those comments as Chelsea prepare to host Norwich City in the Premier League on Saturday.
"I fell into a trap," Tuchel told reporters, referencing his Bild interview. "I got an award in Germany. I got an award from a newspaper and they asked me about a player.
"Normally I never, never speak about other players because simply I never, ever do.
"Then we were making more or less fun about it. I should have known better because [I was] making fun about it and being a nice guy and answering a question instead of 'no, I don't want to answer a question'.
"Getting this award and I joke about a double striker with Romelu in October and then it gets like we put in an offer. That was the context but OK, I should have known better."
Haaland has 70 goals in 69 games for Dortmund since his arrival in January last year, only Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski (89 goals in 74 games) has a better return among players from Europe's top-five leagues.
In this season's Bundesliga, Haaland surpassed his expected goal (xG)-value by 2.9 (nine goals, 6.1 xG) – only Bayer Leverkusen sensation Florian Wirtz eclipsed his value (3.0), per Opta.
Since Haaland joined Dortmund, he exceeded his xG-value (38.7) in the Bundesliga by 10.3. It is the highest value of a player in Europe's top-five leagues in this time.
Since Haaland's arrival in Dortmund, he has scored 13 Bundesliga goals after carries – in Europe's top-five leagues, it is only bettered by six-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi (15).
In the 2021-22 league campaign, Haaland is one of four players who has been involved on 10 open-play sequences which ended in a goal – together with Hoffenheim's Andrej Kramaric, Bayern veteran Thomas Muller and Wirtz.
"It is interesting that we as German staff, we become very humble when we see the difference in performance in the Bundesliga and obviously how much harder it is to produce the same numbers in the Premier League," Tuchel added.
"It is, by the way, the big question in every transfer you do. This player performs in Germany, Spain, Italy or the other way around in England, can he also perform in the other country, the other culture, in the other team, in the other style of football? That is for me one of the big questions because you can scout them on any physical, mental level, do tests with them and observe them, how they behave.
"On social media, they let you observe their lives so you know pretty much everything except for the fact what does it mean if you perform in club A in country B, what does it mean for your club C in country D? This will be the question.
"Every player is different so to make it a general rule, it is maybe not possible but it seems it is the toughest league here and to produce outstanding stats. This cannot be a surprise. You are proud to have this league in England and you should be. It is big fun to watch and maybe bigger fun to work in it. That's the way it is."
The France international sprained his ankle in last week's Coupe de France final victory over Saint-Etienne and scans on Monday revealed he will miss around three weeks.
PSG face Atalanta in a one-legged tie in Lisbon on August 12 and Tuchel, while not completely ruling Mbappe out, concedes it is almost certain he will be without the striker.
"We still have hope and every day counts to achieve a miracle," Tuchel said at a news conference ahead of PSG's Coupe de la Ligue final with Lyon on Friday.
"But tomorrow we will be without him and his absence will have an influence on us. I hope that a solution can be found."
Thilo Kehrer and Colin Dagba are expected to miss out against Lyon, while Juan Bernat remains doubtful, but Marco Verratti will be hopeful of earning a recall to the side.
Tuchel left Verratti on the bench for 75 minutes last week, instead preferring Leandro Paredes alongside Idrissa Gueye, and has hinted he may again elect for a 4-4-2 on Friday
"It was a super complicated decision to leave Marco on the bench, but I felt I deserved to let Idrissa and Paredes play together after the Borussia Dortmund result," he said.
"If we do keep our 4-4-2, we can do that with Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Angel Di Maria or Pablo Sarabia.
"We can make the decision tomorrow. I want to wait until after the final training session."
PSG have won the Coupe de la Ligue a record eight times, including five seasons in a row before last year, and are strong favourites to overcome Ligue 1 rivals Lyon.
But Tuchel says it would be wrong to write off Friday's opponents, who lead Juventus 1-0 in their Champions League last-16 tie, and look ahead to the clash with Atalanta.
"Tomorrow will be a huge challenge against a Champions League-level opponent," he said.
"We won a complicated match against Saint-Etienne and this is now another step up against a side on course to eliminate Juventus.
"We cannot prepare to face Atalanta yet. I don't know another team that plays like them. All we can do is work on our state of mind and how our hunger to win matches.
"That will prepare us well if we get a positive result against Lyon."
Nagelsmann was replaced as head coach by Thomas Tuchel during the international break, with the new boss leading Bayern to a 4-2 win over Bundesliga title rivals Borussia Dortmund in his first game in charge on Saturday.
The 35-year-old was said to have learned of his imminent exit while enjoying a skiing holiday in Austria, with Bayern's decision widely reported 24 hours before it was officially announced.
Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic denied anyone at the club leaked the news, an assertion that was repeated by Kahn on Saturday.
Speaking to Sky Germany ahead of the win over Dortmund, Kahn referred to Nagelsmann's departure as a "disaster" but insisted the coach was "the first to know" about his sacking.
However, Nagelsmann's management agency Sports 360 has now disputed those claims, saying Bayern did not make contact with the coach before his exit was reported.
"There has been no contact or attempt to get in contact from Bayern," a representative from Sports 360 told Sky Germany.
"After all the rumours in the media, the management of Julian Nagelsmann contacted Hasan Salihamidzic by themselves."
Bayern cruised into a four-goal lead within 50 minutes as they leapfrogged BVB at the Bundesliga summit on Saturday, posting a ninth successive win in home meetings with their Klassiker rivals.
Mbappe is in doubt for the Champions League last-16 second leg after battling illness and L'Equipe reported on Tuesday the forward had returned a negative test for coronavirus.
Tuchel, whose side lost the first leg in Germany 2-1, said PSG would give Mbappe every chance to be fit, while Thiago Silva was set for a return from a hamstring injury.
"Kylian Mbappe is sick. He has a sore throat and we will see if he comes to train a little this Tuesday evening, but he has not been with us for two days," the PSG coach said, via the club's website.
"We will wait and decide on Wednesday morning.
"Thiago Silva did all the training, so we will decide tomorrow if he plays or not, but he is with the group. All the others are there except Ander Herrera.
"We will make the final decisions regarding Kylian and Thiago tomorrow morning."
PSG's Ligue 1 clash against Strasbourg, scheduled for last Saturday, was postponed due to coronavirus, while their meeting with Dortmund in Paris will be played behind closed doors.
Tuchel felt not playing on Saturday worked against his team, but he remains confident of reaching the Champions League quarter-finals.
"For me, it's negative because we flew there. We arrived in Strasbourg and we couldn't play," he said.
"That was our last test. A match on Saturday before the one on Wednesday. We had no problems including this game in our preparation. It's a pity.
"It's still weird because we're now going to play without spectators and without our fans. In a game – especially a second leg – it's very important to create a special atmosphere to put pressure on our opponent and create tension.
"With coronavirus and now with Kylian Mbappe's [illness] a lot of things have happened. We have to think and adapt, but at the same time, it's a football game and we have to adapt.
"I really hope we can do it. We're confident we can do it. These changes are huge."
COVID-19 cases are skyrocketing, the climate crisis continues unabated, Donald Trump is crying election fraud and everyone is talking about cryptocurrency without really knowing why. If Bill Murray appeared on television to tell you we're stuck in a 2020 time loop, you'd barely even blink.
Well, 2021 really did happen, and we have the data to prove it. Here, Stats Perform presents a selection of the biggest footballing moments of the year, and the numbers that help to make them unforgettable – even if you can't remember what day it is...
Tuchel your fancy
Expectations are pretty high for Chelsea coaches, but winning the Champions League before you've been in the job for half a year – after replacing club legend Frank Lampard, no less – isn't a bad way to impress the owner! No but seriously, Thomas Tuchel is brilliant.
The Blues beat Atletico Madrid, Porto, Real Madrid and Manchester City in the knockouts as they became kings of Europe for the second time. They only conceded twice in those matches; in fact, Edouard Mendy became the first goalkeeper to keep as many as nine clean sheets in his debut season in the competition.
From Tuchel's first match in charge until the end of 2020-21, no Premier League team lost fewer games (five), conceded fewer goals (16) or kept more clean sheets (19) across all competitions than Chelsea. It's worth remembering that, Thomas, if you really do think your title hopes are already over at the halfway stage of the season.
Live and let Daei
Football's greatest-of-all-time debate is likely to drag on until humanity has long since gone extinct, with nothing left of civilisation except decaying ruins and NFTs of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, most likely dressed as goats, stored on a giant blockchain server at the centre of the Earth (no, we don't understand it all, either).
We can at least agree on one non-fungible Ronaldo record, though: as of 2021, he is the leading international goalscorer in the history of men's football.
A brace against the Republic of Ireland on September 1 took him to 111 for Portugal, two more than previous record-holder Ali Daei of Iran. Ronaldo will start the World Cup year on 115 goals in 184 international appearances – but without the Ballon d'Or on his mantelpiece...
Gerd lord, another record
With practically the final kick of the 2020-21 Bundesliga season, Robert Lewandowski pounced on a loose ball to score his 41st league goal and break Gerd Muller's previous single-season record of 40, which had stood since 1972.
Not satisfied with the greatest goalscoring effort in Germany's top flight for nearly half a century, Lewandowski ended 2021 with 43 goals for the calendar year (in only 34 games), again surpassing a previous best tally set by Muller. During that run, he became the first player in the competition to score in 13 consecutive home matches, beating the 12-game runs of Jupp Heynckes and, yes, Muller. The late Bayern great's record of a goal in 16 Bundesliga games in a row still stands, though, Lewandowski having been stopped from matching it by the crossbar in a 3-1 win at Greuther Furth in September.
This year also saw the Bayern Munich striker reach 120 away goals in the Bundesliga, which is, you guessed it, another record. At least this one was previously held by a different name: Klaus Fischer, on 117. Muller is third on 115, for what it's worth.
Let's talk about six, baby
Liverpool started the year boasting the second-longest unbeaten home run in the history of England's top division: they had gone 68 games without defeat after losing 2-1 to Crystal Palace in April 2017, a streak only bettered by Chelsea (86 games ending in October 2008).
Then, they lost 1-0 to Burnley at Anfield. Then, 1-0 to Brighton and Hove Albion at Anfield. After that came a 4-1 battering by Manchester City, an almost unthinkable 2-0 loss to Everton, and then another pair of 1-0 defeats, this time to Chelsea and Fulham... and all at Anfield.
Six consecutive home defeats: something never endured by any Liverpool team before, nor any reigning champion of England's top flight.
Pep-pered with records
City were top of the Premier League on Christmas Day for the third time in their history. They won the league on the previous two occasions (in 2011 and 2017), so the omens are positive for 2021-22 – not that they need much divine intervention right now.
The reigning champions, boasting a 10-match winning streak, broke the record for the most victories in a calendar year in England's top flight with their 34th of 2021 against Newcastle United this month. The previous best was 33 set by Bob Paisley's Liverpool in 1982.
In the process, Pep Guardiola's men also set a new top-tier record of 18 away wins in a single year, beating the previous best of 17 set by Bill Nicholson's famous Tottenham side of 1960-61. Oh, and their 112 goals scored in 2021 is the best such calendar-year return in the Premier League era.
An Argentine tango – and a Messi divorce
Lionel Messi ends 2021 with 23 goals and eight assists in LaLiga, the most direct goal involvements of any player aside from Karim Benzema (41). And he hasn't played in the competition since May.
Messi's tearful departure from Barcelona, who decided they simply couldn't afford to keep the player they previously couldn't afford to lose, heralded the end of an era in Spanish football. It hasn't gone particularly well for either party, either: Barca, who sacked Ronald Koeman in November, sit seventh in LaLiga, while Messi has scored one goal in 11 Ligue 1 games for Paris Saint-Germain.
Club football might have been more of a nightmare than a dream for Messi this year, but the same cannot be said for his international exploits. He was the joint-top goalscorer and the tournament's best player as Argentina finally ended their long wait for silverware, defeating Brazil 1-0 in the final of the Copa America. It was enough to secure Messi a record-extending seventh Ballon d'Or, even though he seemed to think Lewandowski actually deserved to win (and, let's be honest, a lot of us did).
It's a Lille bit funny...
Last season, Paris Saint-Germain replaced Tuchel with Mauricio Pochettino ostensibly so they might win the Champions League. Instead, while Tuchel took Chelsea to European glory within just five months, Pochettino's PSG could not even keep hold of their Ligue 1 crown.
Lille won the French top flight for the fourth time in their history, becoming only the fourth side to win it at least twice since the turn of the century (the others being PSG, of course, Monaco and Lyon). Their triumph was inspired by the late-career renaissance of Burak Yilmaz: his 16 league goals were the most scored by anyone over the age of 35 in Europe's top five leagues last season, with the exception of Cristiano Ronaldo (29).
While their title defence isn't going too swimmingly – Lille are eighth in the table after 19 games, 18 points behind leaders PSG – they managed to win their Champions League group for the first time in seven attempts. They also boast the top scorer in Ligue 1 this term: Jonathan David, who was an 11-year-old playing for Ottawa Gloucester Hornets when Lille won their third league title in 2011, has scored 12 times already.
Get Inter the spirit
This year saw Inter end their decade-long wait for the Scudetto and bring about the end of Juventus' recent stranglehold on Serie A.
Inspired by Antonio Conte – who started Juve's nine-year title streak back in 2012 – and league MVP Romelu Lukaku, the Nerazzurri finished 12 points clear at the top as their coach became the man with the best points-per-game ratio (2.26) in the modern history of Italy's top flight.
Despite a close-season of upheaval in which Conte walked, Lukaku returned to Chelsea and Achraf Hakimi went to PSG, Inter go into next year with a four-point advantage at the top and just one defeat in 19 league games, having scored over 100 league goals in a calendar year for the first time in their history.
Mancini's miracle
Italy's second European Championship trophy, secured courtesy of a penalty shoot-out win over England at Wembley, was the pinnacle of a quite remarkable run of results under Roberto Mancini.
The Azzurri would go on to set a new world record in men's international football of 37 matches without defeat, during which they won 30, scored 93 goals and conceded only 12. The run ended when they lost 2-1 to Spain in the Nations League semi-finals in Milan, marking their first competitive home defeat since 1999.
In the first 33 of those matches, starting from a 1-1 draw with Ukraine in October 2018, they were behind for only 44 minutes. At Euro 2020, they had five players who scored at least twice, they ended the tournament with a joint-high 13 goals and conceded only four. And yet, in 2022, they must navigate the play-offs – and potentially a meeting with Portugal – if they are to avoid failing to qualify for the World Cup for the second time in a row.
Palmeiras pull off the unbeliev-Abel
The Copa Libertadores final is not something Andreas Pereira will want to remember: it was the Manchester United loanee's error that allowed substitute Deyverson to win it for Palmeiras in extra time.
This was a historic result, though. Not only were Palmeiras the first team since Boca Juniors 20 years ago to win back-to-back Libertadores trophies, but Abel Ferreira became the only European coach to win the competition twice.
Before his time in Brazil, arguably Abel's finest achievement in his post-playing career was helping PAOK reach 51 league games unbeaten – although he was only actually in charge for 17 of those matches, including the 4-2 loss to Aris that brought the streak to an end.
While not officially confirmed by the German club, widespread reports on Thursday suggested Nagelsmann had been dismissed.
Bayern sit second in the Bundesliga, one point behind Borussia Dortmund, and it is one of their rivals' former coaches who is favourite to replace Nagelsmann.
TOP STORY – TUCHEL SIGNS BAYERN DEAL
According to Fabrizio Romano, Tuchel – who was sacked by Chelsea in September – has already agreed to become Bayern's new coach.
Tuchel's first game would be against his former team Dortmund on April 1.
Bayern face Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-finals. Nagelsmann, meanwhile, is sure to be linked with plenty of high-profile job opportunities.
ROUND UP
- The Sun, citing a Sport Bild report, claim that Eintracht Frankfurt have placed an £88million (€99.7m) price tag on Manchester United target Randal Kolo Muani.
- The father of Brighton and Hove Albion's Alexis Mac Allister has informed ESPN no clubs are in concrete talks with his son, but that there are interested parties.
- According to 90min, Chelsea, Newcastle Unitedand Manchester Cityare all scouting Juventus winger Samuel Iling-Junior.
- Fabrizio Romano says that Barcelona, Real Madridand Liverpoolare interested in Florian Wirtz, though Bayer Leverkusen are confident of keeping hold of the youngster.
Messi, 33, is contracted at Barcelona until the end of the season, having stayed at the club after sensationally requesting to leave earlier this year.
With uncertainty still surrounding his future, the Barcelona star is apparently wanted by PSG.
TOP STORY – PSG EXPLORING POSSIBILITY OF SIGNING MESSI
PSG are exploring the possibility of signing Barcelona star Messi, according to ESPN.
Along with Manchester City and Inter, PSG have been among the clubs most heavily linked with a move for the Argentina international.
The report says Neymar and sporting director Leonardo have discussed bringing Messi to PSG.
It comes just days after Neymar said he wanted to play with Messi again and was keen for it to happen "next season".
ROUND-UP
- Still linked with Borussia Dortmund star Jadon Sancho, Manchester United could look elsewhere. The Sun reports United are eyeing Leicester City winger Harvey Barnes as a possible alternative.
- Staying at Manchester United and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been under some pressure. Bild reports the Premier League giants are interested in PSG coach Thomas Tuchel if they decide to sack Solskjaer.
- With Christian Eriksen seemingly set for an exit, Inter are considering their midfield transfer targets. CalcioMercato reports Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante remains Inter's dream signing, but Liverpool's Georginio Wijnaldum is also an option with his contract expiring at the end of the season. However, the report also says Inter could challenge Liverpool for the signing of Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder Yves Bissouma.
- Also at Liverpool, the Premier League champions are reportedly still eyeing a centre-back amid their injury woes. Bild reports RB Leipzig defender Dayot Upamecano is on their list, as is his 21-year-old team-mate Ibrahima Konate.
- Atlanta United could be close to appointing a new coach. TyC Sports says former Manchester United, Real Madrid and Argentina defender Gabriel Heinze, most recently in charge of Velez Sarsfield, is a step away from taking over at the MLS club.
Los Blancos, along with Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Manchester United, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, were keen on the former Borussia Dortmund forward.
Ultimately, the Norwegian decided to join Manchester City, starting on fire with 14 goals in 10 games in all competitions, but Madrid are keeping an eye on him.
TOP STORY – MADRID PLANNING LONG-TERM MOVES FOR CITY DUO
Spanish giants Real Madrid are plotting moves to sign Manchester City pair Joao Cancelo and Erling Haaland, reports AS.
Madrid will attempt to sign the 28-year-old Portuguese full-back in mid-2023, with Cancelo contracted until 2027, although the report claims he will cost around €40-50million (£35-44m).
The Spanish champions are planning a swoop for Haaland but not until 2024, with Karim Benzema in the twilight of his career.
Haaland reportedly has a termination clause in his City contract worth €180m (£158m) up until 2024.
ROUND-UP
– The Daily Star reports that Manchester United and David De Gea are set for key talks on his future, with the goalkeeper's contract expiring in mid-2023. United hold an option to extend his stay.
– Manchester United may struggle in their bid to sign Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, with the Villans to turn down any offer for him in January, claims Football Insider.
– Barcelona are keen to sign Wolves 25-year-old midfielder Ruben Neves as a long-term replacement for 34-year-old Sergio Busquets, reports Sport. Neves will be the Blaugrana's top target at the end of this season.
– Gerard Pique is not interested in joining Atletico Madrid in January, claims Sport. The defender has fallen out of favour at Barcelona, but he is determined to fight for his spot.
– Calciomercato claims that Chelsea are interested in Inter wing-back Denzel Dumfries. The Italian club may be willing to part with the Dutchman for approximately £44m.
– Colombian forward Luis Muriel is ready to leave Atalanta, with a move to Fiorentina on the cards, according to Calciomercato.
– PSV striker Cody Gakpo is likely to have more offers in January with Manchester United, Southampton and Everton all still interested, claims Football Transfers.
– Thomas Tuchel is Real Madrid 's preferred replacement for Carlo Ancelotti, according to El Nacional. The Italian has told the club he does not intend to manage Madrid beyond this season.
This time around, it was Borussia Dortmund's turn to lament the most galling of near misses, while their rivals lifted the Meisterschale following Jamal Musiala's late winner at Koln.
The most topsy-turvy title race in Europe's top-five leagues this campaign, therefore, ended in familiar fashion, with Bayern maintaining their stranglehold on the German crown.
After Bayern overcame a stern Dortmund challenge to win their 11th consecutive Bundesliga title, Stats Perform looks at the best facts and figures to emerge from their triumphant campaign.
The headline stats
There has never been much doubt regarding Bayern's status as the dominant force in Germany. Their latest title win represents their 33rd overall, and their 32nd since the Bundesliga was founded in 1963. Combined, all other clubs in Bundesliga history have 28.
Meanwhile, Bayern's current streak of 11 consecutive domestic titles is the longest such run in the history of Europe's top five leagues.
However, as the decision to dispense with Julian Nagelsmann's services and bring in Thomas Tuchel in March would suggest, this has not been a vintage campaign for Bayern.
Having edged out Dortmund on goal difference after both teams finished with 71 points, Bayern's class of 2022-23 collected the fewest points of any Bundesliga-winning team since 2009-10, when Die Roten were crowned champions with 70.
Bayern's tally of 21 victories this term was actually bettered by Dortmund (22), who became just the second team in the three-points-for-a-win era to boast the most wins in a Bundesliga season and not win the title (after Leverkusen in 1996-97).
Tuchel takes the prize
While Tuchel's Bayern did not get close to the incredible point tallies recorded under Jupp Heynckes, Pep Guardiola or Carlo Ancelotti, the new boss did enough, rallying his team to collect 12 from their final five matches and pip his former employers at the last.
Tuchel became only the second coach to take over a Bundesliga club during the second half of a season and lead them to the title, after the legendary Franz Beckenbauer did so with Bayern in 1993-94.
While Beckenbauer took the reins from matchday 21 of that campaign, Tuchel did so from matchday 26 this term, making it the latest managerial change from a Bundesliga-winning team.
Muller extends his record, Musiala the main man
Bayern's last-gasp triumph also ensured several key players kept up their own incredible records of domestic success.
While attacking stalwart Thomas Muller won a record-extending 12th German title, Kingsley Coman – who opened the scoring in Bayern's final-day win at Koln – preserved his record of finishing every season of his professional career as a domestic champion.
Having won Ligue 1 twice with Paris Saint-Germain and Serie A as a Juventus player in 2014-15, Coman has now lifted the Meisterschale eight times during his spell in Bavaria.
Those records, however, owe everything to Musiala's intervention against Koln, with the 20-year-old stepping off the bench to fire into the bottom-right corner as stoppage time loomed.
That strike was his 12th of the Bundesliga campaign, one more than he had managed in 57 combined appearances in the competition before this season.
It was a fitting way for Musiala to cap a season in which only Eintracht Frankfurt's Randal Kolo Muani (26) bettered his tally of 22 Bundesliga goal contributions.
James, 22, has had a rough run with injuries after tearing his hamstring against Brighton late in December, briefly returning in the first week of March before getting sidelined once again.
The impressive full-back is having a great season, with five goals and six assists from 17 Premier League appearances.
England manager Gareth Southgate turned heads when he named James in the squad for upcoming friendlies against Switzerland and Ivory Coast, but Tuchel was firm when asked for his thoughts.
"[Technical and Performance Adviser] Petr Cech will have this chat because, of course, the recommendation is that [James] does not go [on international duty]," he said following Chelsea's 2-0 FA Cup win against Middlesbrough.
"He is still in individual training, otherwise, we would have brought him to Lille and we would have brought him here for sure. There is no doubt about it.
"He is still in individual training, he needs one more week of rehabilitation and I think we can provide this much better – it is not the job of the national team to do this."
Chelsea will next play Brentford on April 2, before hosting Real Madrid in the Champions League a few days later.
United States star Pulisic featured as a substitute in the Blues' frustrating 1-0 Premier League defeat to Everton last Sunday, and though the former Borussia Dortmund man has made 34 appearances for Chelsea this season, only half have been starts.
In a since-deleted tweet, Pulisic's father Mark lamented the "sad" situation the 23-year-old found himself in, sparking rumours of an exit for the attacker by saying there was a "big six months ahead".
Speaking ahead of Chelsea's home encounter with Wolves on Saturday, Tuchel brushed off suggestions that Pulisic was unhappy in west London.
"I'm not concerned if a father says a player loves me or not. I am not concerned about that, for sure," he said. "It's a normal thing.
"Every manager, we have our reasons to choose a line-up and have our reasons to go for players in the first 11. You will never see, in this kind of level of competition, happy faces from players that are not selected.
"Between Christian and me, there exists zero problems. He had a fantastic training week so far, he has a huge impact from the bench in some matches.
"I didn't even know [about] it [the tweet]. I don't want to get affected by it in my judgement, it has nothing to do with it.
"The players, in the end, are responsible to be and stay in the team. I will do my best to do the right judgement. Am I always right? For sure not. Is it always fair? For sure not.
"This is what you sign up for in a club like Chelsea. I haven't experienced the same reaction from Christian lately, it was actually the opposite – very strong, very positive in the last weeks."
After playing 1,866 minutes this season, Pulisic will be hoping to feature against Wolves as he looks to play his way into Tuchel's team for the FA Cup final against Liverpool on May 14, having scored in the Blues' 2-1 final defeat to Arsenal in 2020.
Chelsea have lost three of their last six Premier League matches (two wins, one draw), as many losses as they suffered in their first 28 league outings this season (17 wins, eight draws), and only 44 per cent of the Blues' Premier League points have come at home this campaign (29/66).
Only Watford (32 per cent) and Brighton and Hove Albion (36 per cent) have won a lower share of their points on their own grounds in the Premier League this season, although Chelsea are unbeaten in their last eight home league games against Wolves (three draws, five losses), last losing to the midlands outfit at Stamford Bridge in March 1979.