Thomas Tuchel returns to Liverpool with scars and a point to prove

PSG’s manager resumes his rivalry with Jürgen Klopp two years after his Borussia Dortmund were beaten in an Anfield epic

When Thomas Tuchel steps out at Anfield on Tuesday the memories will come flooding back. He will wince at how the Kop sucked in that late Dejan Lovren header and what it felt like to be on the wrong end of Jürgen Klopp’s red wave. He will remember how Liverpool drew inspiration in a frenzied atmosphere, fighting back from an almost impossible position to win their Europa League quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund in April 2016, and it will not be easy for him to ignore the lingering mental scars.

It was one of the great European comebacks and if it was sweet for Klopp to beat the man who had replaced him at Dortmund a year earlier, imagine how galling it must have been for Tuchel to fall short against his predecessor. He was powerless to resist when Liverpool made that Istanbul sequel, and Paris Saint-Germain’s manager will be desperate to write a new narrative when the rivalry resumes on Tuesday evening.

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