Thomas Tuchel has warned Arsenal that Bayern Munich “want to cause them pain” in their Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Emirates Stadium.

The Bayern boss, who managed Chelsea between 2021 and 2022, returns to London to face the Premier League leaders on Tuesday.

Tuchel’s side trail Bundesliga table-toppers Bayer Leverkusen by 16 points after Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Heidenheim.

Despite a lacklustre league campaign, Tuchel insists his team can hurt the Gunners.

“Arsenal are currently the best team in the Premier League and that is deserved, all the data shows that,” Tuchel told a press conference on Monday.

“They are in great form and have been at the highest level for the last two seasons so it’s a massive test for us.

“It’s the second year for them where they’re playing at this really high level, they have so much energy on the pitch and they can keep it for a long time.

“We know about our own strengths and how we want to cause them pain. We know the Champions League is a competition where we have more experience over the last few years. We want to use it to our advantage.”

Arsenal finished fifth during Tuchel’s first full season as Chelsea manager in 2021-22.

Tuchel credited Gunners boss Mikel Arteta as the reason behind their rise in recent years.

“There’s been a complete change in culture since Arteta joined, it is clear what way the club wanted to go with him and the club are harvesting that,” he added.

“It was a difficult start, but the team stood by him and they overcame the difficult phase.

“Tactically they are at a very high level, they are very stable against the ball. You have to give them a big compliment.

“We will try to be strong nonetheless. The style in the Champions League is different to that in the Premier League.”

Former Manchester City winger Leroy Sane worked alongside Arteta, who was Pep Guardiola’s assistant manager until 2019, at the Etihad Stadium.

Sane credited the current Arsenal boss for developing him as a young player.

He said: “It was great and I was pleased to work with him because he helped me a lot at City. We had some talks about how I can improve in my game, what my weakness and strengths are.

“I think I made huge improvements because of the ideas he had and what he gave to me. I still keep them in my mind.”

We have to punish them – Pep Guardiola calls on Man City to ‘hurt’ Real Madrid

Pep Guardiola has urged his Manchester City side to hurt and punish Real Madrid as they clash again in the Champions League.

The holders take on the competition’s record 14-time winners in the first leg of their quarter-final at the Bernabeu on Tuesday.

It is the third successive season the two clubs have met in the knockout stages, with Real having staged a stunning comeback to win the 2022 semi-final but City avenging that loss 12 months later.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference in the Spanish capital, Guardiola said: “It’s the same managers, but we have new players and they have new players, so they will be completely different games.

“We have a little advantage with the second leg at home, where we play strong and are incredibly confident, but we have to play 90 minutes here and the games are long for different reasons.

“They will be able to press high, so aggressive, so dangerous. Everybody knows their strengths and they have incredible pace.

“We cannot come here just to control the game. We have to come here to try to hurt them, to punish them, to let them feel we are here and score goals. That is what we have to do.

“But we are talking about Real Madrid, who have the ability to control many aspects of the game. We have to impose our game with who we are.”

City midfielder Rodri feels the treble winners have learned from their past experiences of playing the Spanish giants and are a stronger proposition as a result of last season’s successes.

The Spain international, who joined City from Real’s city rivals Atletico in 2019, said: “Now we are more mature and have experience of winning the competition. It gives you a bit more composure, serenity on the pitch.

“You learn. We’ve learned from the past and I think we have more maturity than when we first played them.

“The one we lost – the semi-final – that was (because of) 10 or 15 minutes and it happens.

“We didn’t think much about that last year. We played with the desire to win it again and that’s what happened.

“We come here with a different mentality and more composure.

“We know nothing will be done tomorrow, but we need to get a good result. I see the team more mature and the experience will give us the confidence to do things well.”

City are again without England full-back Kyle Walker in Spain due to a thigh injury, while fellow defender Nathan Ake is also out with a calf problem. Josko Gvardiol has travelled with the squad but is doubtful with a knock.

Real Madrid keen to close Bernabeu roof for Manchester City clash

Real Madrid have asked for permission to close the Bernabeu Stadium’s new retractable roof for Tuesday’s Champions League clash with holders Manchester City.

It is thought the record 14-time winners of the competition hope playing under the optional covering of their newly-redeveloped arena can enhance the atmosphere and make it more intimidating for the visitors.

The PA news agency understands Real have approached organisers UEFA with the request and the European governing body will consider it, in collaboration with the referee, on the morning of the quarter-final first-leg encounter.

Some Real players have also been urging supporters to wear the club’s traditional white in the build-up to add a further strong visual element to the environment at the 81,000-capacity stadium.

Real previously had the roof closed for their last-16 second leg against Leipzig last month.

If a decision is made to close the roof, it will remain closed for the entire match. City are not thought to have any influence in the matter.

Davide Frattesi scores winner as leaders Inter Milan leave it late at Udinese

Davide Frattesi scored in the fifth minute of time added on as Serie A leaders Inter Milan snatched a 2-1 win over Udinese.

Frattesi had the simple task of tapping in after Marko Arnautovic’s shot from the edge of the box hit the post and rolled across goal, completing the turnaround after Hakan Calhanoglu’s second-half penalty cancelled out Lazar Samardzic’s goal late in the first half.

There had been an element of fortune about Samardzic’s deflected strike but no luck for Udinese in the end as a battling performance from the relegation battlers went unrewarded, leaving them two points above the drop zone.

Instead, Inter went 14 points clear at the top of the table, still in with a chance of winning their 20th league title when they face arch-rivals AC Milan on April 22.

Simone Inzaghi’s side looked off their best in the first half, dominating possession but doing little with it as Udinese defended in numbers.

Maduka Okoye did not have a serious save to make until the 29th minute, when Lautaro Martinez saw the run of Calhanoglu and pulled the ball back for the Turkey captain to drill a powerful shot at goal, albeit too close to the goalkeeper.

It was against the run of play that Udinese snatched the lead five minutes before half-time.

Samardzic was trying to hit a diagonal cross into the box as Udinese came forward on the break, but the ball took a deflection off Carlos Augusto, with Yann Sommer and Denzel Dumfries looking at each other as it rolled between them and into the far corner of the net.

Inter thought they were level three minutes into the second half when Federico Dimarco curled a free-kick into the box and it came through a crowd of players to fall for Augusto to prod home from close range, but after a lengthy VAR check the goal was ruled out for offside.

Moments later Okoye came off his line to challenge Marcus Thuram for the ball and got his timing wrong to concede the penalty which Calhanoglu dispatched with a drilled shot into the bottom corner.

Inter continued to push in search of a winner but there was a hint of the threat Udinese posed on the break in the 65th minute when Hassane Kamara raced forward and squared the ball. Florian Thauvin looked to have a tap-in but Henrikh Mkhitaryan made a superb recovering tackle to clear the danger.

At the other end, Thuram cut in from the right and tried to pull the ball back for substitute Frattesi, but the pass was slightly behind him and Frattesi could not keep his shot down.

Udinese defended doggedly in the closing stages, with Thauvin playing through injury after they had made all their substitutions, but were cruelly undone deep into time added on.