Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel has admitted that Pep Guardiola will be missed in Germany when he swaps Bayern Munich for Manchester City.
Guardiola's last match in charge of Bayern comes on Saturday when the Bundesliga champions take on Tuchel's Dortmund in the DFB-Pokal final.
After taking over in the summer of 2013, the former Barcelona coach secured consecutive league titles each year but never progressed past the final four of the Champions League.
Speaking at Friday's pre-match news conference, Tuchel said: "Guardiola's teams always have something special.
"It is always something special to measure yourself against the best and Pep is the best. So his departure will be a big loss to German football.
"Of course, I could say that it will be nice that I will no longer face his team, but it would be more honest to say he will be missed."
Tuchel has impressed in his first season in charge of BVB after replacing Jurgen Klopp and he is delighted with the progress the team has made throughout 2015-16.
"We deliberately did not distance ourselves from anything Klopp did. We did not try to be different. We just tried to help the team develop and did it in our own way," Tuchel added.
"What matters most is that you can see what the players have done. It is a matter of giving and taking. You try to help each other reach a new level and the players and coached did that to each other."
Saturday marks Dortmund's third Pokal final in as many years - having lost on each occasion - and their boss continued: "We do not accept the underdog tag. We want to win."
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- Goal