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Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel used salt and pepper shakers to discuss tactics in a Munich restaurant... But the Chelsea boss will be eager to beat good friend he calls 'the best' for the first time and wreck Man City's Quadruple dream

It must have been an extraordinary sight. Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel politely asking fellow diners for their salt and pepper shakers before frantically moving them about on their table in an explosion of tactical nerdery.

Yet that apparently happened when these two deep-thinking football managers met in a Munich restaurant about six years ago. Guardiola was manager of Bayern Munich at the time, Tuchel in between jobs at Mainz and Borussia Dortmund.

What's for certain is that each part of the cruet, like the players they manage, was expected to fully understand its role within the team and give everything for the collective cause.