Thomas Tuchel left hoping for Bayern Munich miracle against 'benchmark' Man City

Thomas Tuchel admits that Bayern Munich need a miracle against a Manchester City side he considers to be the best in Europe.

Bayern consider themselves among the European heavyweights and have far more pedigree in this competition than the Blues, but find themselves 3-0 down after the first leg of their quarter-final last week needing to inflict a heavy defeat on Pep Guardiola's side to make it through. The Bundesliga champions may be used to getting their own way domestically but face a serious battle to avoid a third consecutive exit at this stage of the competition.

Tuchel, who replaced the sacked Julian Nagelsmann during the March international break, was pleased with what he saw from his team in the first leg despite the scoreline. However, the performance in the weekend draw against Hoffenheim was disappointing and a reminder of the issues that led to Tuchel getting the job at such an important time of the season.

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"We need a wonder, a miracle. It would be a miracle, actually. It’s different talking to the players, you don’t have to talk about belief.

"You need to be realistic. I don’t know if talking about a 4-0 is appropriate, I don’t know if Saturday contributed.

"We believe in ourselves. If we manage to play a good first half we can make it happen – everything is possible. If the moment comes if we have luck that we didn’t have in the first leg then everything is possible.

"There are periods, decisions by the referees, a shot saved, all these things come together. We need to find the belief in us. It doesn’t mean we dream, we are responsible for it.

"It's a huge mountain to climb and that's why we need to believe in ourselves