Tottenham beware: Nagelsmann has reached a crisis point in his career

I f only Julian Nagelsmann had never become manager of Bayern Munich, the world might have believed he would be a very good manager of Bayern Munich. It was a job to which he had seemed destined since becoming the youngest coach in Bundesliga history in 2016, taking charge of Hoffenheim at the age of 29. He had already led Hoffenheim’s under-19s to the Bundesliga youth title. He seemed preternaturally gifted and in Germany the gifted always end up at Bayern, especially when they come from Bavaria.

Taking over with Hoffenheim seven points adrift, Nagelsmann inspired them to unlikely survival and the following season took them into the Champions League. After a third-place finish in 2017- 18, Nagelsmann’s upward journey continued at RB Leipzig, as he took them to the Champions League semi-finals. A Bundesliga title in his first season at Bayern may have been expected, but his first silverware was no less welcome for that.

And yet, and yet … Leipzig’s 3-0 defeat by Thomas Tuchel’s Paris Saint-Germain in that one-legged Champions League semi-final in 2020 was damaging. They were flat from start to finish, devoid of the aggression shown against Atlético Madrid and Tottenham in the previous rounds.

PSG have habitually been rattled by hard-pressing opponents and their starry but lackadaisical forward line means they can be overwhelmed in midfield. Leipzig, though, were so timorous that the extraordinary trousers sported by Nagelsmann that night came to seem compensatory.

It’s one game. Failures can happen, particularly when a team are playing on a stage they have never previously reached. But it fitted a pattern: Nagelsmann faltering in big games against non- German opposition. It began when Hoffenheim were drawn against