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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Joe Bray

Joao Cancelo sends brutal reminder to Man City over Julian Nagelsmann sacking at Bayern Munich

After scoring for Portugal on Thursday, Joao Cancelo stood in front of the media, but the win over Liechtenstein was not the only topic of conversation.

As Cancelo was winning back his place for his country, Bayern Munich were reportedly approaching Thomas Tuchel to replace Julian Nagelsmann as manager. It's safe to assume Cancelo knew nothing about this when asked for his reaction, as his face told the whole story.

His answer was diplomatic enough, especially as there was no confirmation of the shock managerial swap at the time, and he still had time to send a message that won't go unnoticed at Manchester City.

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It seems that Tuchel will replace Nagelsmann at the Allianz Arena, with Bayern second in the Bundesliga and one point behind Tuchel's former club Borussia Dortmund. Despite being firmly in title contention, Nagelsmann has clearly not done enough to keep his job.

Tuchel will be tasked with leapfrogging Dortmund to another Bundesliga title, and helping Bayern navigate a tricky route to the Champions League final. If Tuchel wants to add to his existing Champions League winner's medal, he will have to beat City, then either Real Madrid or former club Chelsea, and then one of Napoli, Benfica, AC Milan or Inter Milan in the final. It's hardly a guarantee.

Bayern clearly feel that Tuchel offers a better chance of European success than Nagelsmann, if not this season then next. City will be wary of a manager who got the better of them in the 2021 final with Chelsea, and a two-legged quarter-final against Tuchel is a much different proposition to one against Nagelsmann.

What must Cancelo think, too, after gambling his City future on a loan move to Bayern - with whispers that they have already decided not to buy him permanently in the summer.

His immediate reaction - after one of pure shock - suggested he's still fully committed to his new club, and his first thought when discussing Tuchel was getting a Champions League winner's medal on his hands. That means knocking out City, and Cancelo also referenced that 2021 final as a reason for his new-found confidence in the competition.

He said: "I'm a little surprised. Thanks to Nagelsmann, he was the one who wanted me at Bayern. All the luck in the world to him. I'm going to try to adapt our coach's concepts as much as possible because we have several important games, in the decisive phase of the season. Bayern is a team always ready to win everything.

"As for Tuchel, he made me lose a Champions League final, so I hope he will win it for me this year!"

Not only does that show that Cancelo feels confident of knocking City out of Europe, it also suggests he is fully buying in to the Bayern project. The door has been left open for him to return to the Etihad, but his mind looks firmly in Munich.

City's Champions League quarter-final just completely changed dynamic, and so too might Cancelo's future prospects with both Bayern and City. The full-back summed up the situation with one raise of the eyebrows and puff of the cheek.

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