Thomas Tuchel declared Bayern Munich are "dying for revenge" after their humbling by Manchester City as he revealed Manuel Neuer is stepping up his comeback from injury.
The Bayern head coach oversaw a 3-0 defeat at City in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday.
It was only in the last quarter of the game that City brought down the hammer, taking advantage of generous defending from the Bundesliga leaders.
Many would suppose the tie is all but over, yet Tuchel does not see it that way, with Bayern looking to make their home advantage count in the second leg next Wednesday.
"It's important not to lose focus," Tuchel said. "The task seems almost impossible, but nothing is impossible in football. I can feel that we are dying for revenge and the second leg."
Neuer will play no part in that game against Pep Guardiola's City, but the Bayern captain is making promising progress after the broken leg he suffered when on a skiing holiday after Germany's early exit from the World Cup.
There is no expectation of Neuer featuring again this season, which continues for Bayern with a home Bundesliga clash on Saturday against a Hoffenheim side who have won three games in a row.
"At the moment it is a great pleasure to watch Manuel Neuer in rehab every day," Tuchel said.
"Yesterday he did the first goalkeeper-specific exercises in the rehabilitation area. That gave me a good feeling to see he's making some good steps forward.
"I'm 100 per cent sure that Manu wants to come back to play at the highest level. We encourage him along the way, he is our captain and the captain of the German national team as well."
It remains to be seen, once Neuer is fit, whether he swiftly takes back the first-team goalkeeping role from Yann Sommer, who was brought in from Borussia Monchengladbach in January as an emergency recruit.
In 17 games for Bayern, Sommer has a save percentage success rate of only 63.79, compared to Neuer's 75.44 per cent before he was injured.
It would be a huge decision not to reinstate Neuer, even though at 37 he has entered the twilight years of his career.
"He's a great personality in German sport," Tuchel said. "He gets every possible support and Yann also gets every possible support."
Tuchel also backed Dayot Upamecano, who was at fault for City's second goal when he haplessly lost possession to Jack Grealish when striding out of defence, creating an opening for the hosts that saw Erling Haaland cross for Bernardo Silva to head in.
Upamecano had a shaky second half and looked out of his depth at times, but Tuchel believes the France defender has plenty to offer.
“We have to protect our players. He knows himself that he made mistakes. I don't have to tell him," Tuchel said. "But at this level, where he took the decisions with a lot of risk, we don't want to see that. We have been badly punished for it.
"In the second half he was a bit insecure which is a pity because he was in top form before that. We support him, talking openly about it. We need to be critical here and there, but he needs to feel that nobody plays the blame game."
Hurtig the hero after late goal sends Arsenal into Champions League quarters
Lina Hurtig's 89th minute winner ensured Arsenal progressed to the quarter-finals of the Women's Champions League after edging Juventus 1-0 on Thursday.
After being frustrated for large parts of the encounter, Hurtig bundled home from close range after Martina Lenzini's poor clearance to book the Gunners' place in the last eight.
Despite Arsenal dominating the early exchanges, it was Juventus who had the first sight of goal, though Eva Schatzer's effort was easy for Daphne van Domselaar to gather.
In a first half that saw just two shots on target, both coming from the visitors, Renee Slegers' substitutes proved to be the difference for Arsenal.
Slegers introduced Beth Mead, Stina Blackstenius and Hurtig late on, with the latter somehow putting Kim Little's cross over the bar from five yards out.
However, the Swede would atone for her earlier error, combining with fellow substitute Blackstenius to net against her former club and send them out of the competition with two group games remaining.
Meanwhile, in Group D, Barcelona edged closer to the quarter-finals of the competition with a convincing 4-1 victory over St. Polten at the Generali Arena.
The reigning champions are still three points behind Manchester City following their 2-1 win over Hammarby, and know a win against the Swedes next month will see them progress.
Kika Nazareth opened the scoring in the 20th minute after capitalising on a mistake by Kamila Dubcova, notching her second nine minutes later from close range.
Barca found themselves three goals up at the break when Vicky Lopez netted her first goal in the competition to put the result beyond doubt.
There was also a landmark moment for Alexia Putellas, who netted her 200th goal for the club with a well-taken effort into the far corner.
Valentina Madl took some of the shine off an otherwise impressive display from the visitors, who have now taken their tally to 20 goals from their four matches in the competition.
Guardiola agrees two-year contract extension with Man City
Pep Guardiola will be Manchester City manager for at least two more seasons after 2024-25, after he signed a two-year contract extension on Thursday.
The 53-year-old was coming to the end of his City deal, which was due to expire at the end of the current campaign, but he has opted to remain at the Etihad Stadium.
The deal itself will take Guardiola's tenure at the club to over a decade, making him City's longest-serving manager since Les McDowall in 1963.
There had been suggestions that he may leave at the end of the season following the announcement that director of football Txiki Begiristain was on his way out.
Guardiola was strongly linked with the England job after Gareth Southgate resigned in the wake of their Euro 2024 final defeat, but the Football Association appointed Thomas Tuchel last month.
“Manchester City means so much to me," Guardiola said. “This is my ninth season here; we have experienced so many amazing times together. I have a really special feeling for this football club.
“That is why I am so happy to be staying for another two more seasons.
“Thank you to everyone for continuing to trust and support me – The Owner, The Chairman Khaldoon, Ferran, Txiki, the players and, of course, the fans… everyone connected to Manchester City. It has always been an honour, a pleasure and a privilege to be here.
“I have said this many times before, but I have everything a manager could ever wish for, and I appreciate that so much.
“Hopefully, now we can add more trophies to the ones we have already won. That will be my focus.”
Having been appointed in 2016, Guardiola is by some distance Manchester City's most successful manager of all time, having won 18 major trophies during his time at the club.
That list includes their first-ever Champions League triumph in 2023 and six Premier League titles, including an unprecedented four on the spin.
He also boasts a 72.04% win percentage across all competitions, which is unsurprisingly the highest of any full-time City manager in history.
Shaw at the double as Man City progress in Champions League
Khadija Shaw scored twice as Manchester City beat Hammarby 2-1 to seal their place in the Women's Champions League quarter-finals.
Gareth Taylor's team entered Thursday's game with a perfect record in Group D, and their fourth win in as many European matches ensured they finished in the top two.
Shaw—the leading scorer in the Women's Super League this season with eight goals—put them ahead in the 31st minute, driving into the area after taking in Yui Hasegawa's pass before seeing her shot deflect into the top corner.
Shaw was booked for celebrating in front of the home fans despite appearing to have objects thrown at her from the stands, and Hammarby should have levelled when Julia Blakstad fired wide 10 minutes later.
The hosts did draw level three minutes into the second half as Ellen Wangerheim tapped home while City's Laura Blindkilde Brown was down appealing for a free-kick.
That parity was short-lived, though, as Shaw blasted into the top corner from 25 yards out, taking her overall tally for this season to 12 goals in all competitions.
In Group C, meanwhile, Bayern Munich lost their perfect record as they played out a 1-1 draw with Valerenga, boosting Arsenal's hopes of topping the pile.
Jovana Damnjanovic came off the bench to put Bayern ahead 15 minutes from time in Norway, but Elise Thorsnes headed home following an 88th-minute corner to snatch a point for the hosts.
Arsenal could now move within a point of Bayern when they face Juventus in Group C's other match later on Thursday.
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