shying away from a possible matchup against
Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool in the Europa League,
but he hopes it doesn't come in the round of 32.
Tuchel's side fell to a surprise 1-0 defeat at home
to PAOK on Thursday, finishing as runners-up in
Group C and subjecting themselves to a difficult
draw as the knockout stage begins.
Dortmund will face one of the group winners or
one of the top third-placed teams from the
Champions League group stage: Porto,
Olympiakos or Manchester United.
With Liverpool earning the top spot in their
group, Dortmund could potentially be drawn
against Klopp, who led BVB to the Bundesliga
titles in 2011 and 2012. Tuchel said he wouldn't
mind facing his predecessor in the later stages.
"What I want is completely unimportant here. We
will just face who we get in the draw," Tuchel
said. "We believe that we can beat any opponent.
"A tie with Liverpool would be a real blessing for
every reporter out there. But I would say: the
later, the better. Because that would mean that
we would still be in the competition for a while
yet."
Despite conceding 77 percent of possession,
PAOK won with their only shot of the match, and
Tuchel called the result "disappointing."
"We are disappointed because we did not
manage to win the match," he said. "We did
manage to dominate proceedings and to create
some good chances on goal. But nothing more."
Tuchel blamed the busy fixture slade for his
team's failure to win a group in which they were
major favourites. Russia's Krasnodar topped
Group C instead, while Dortmund edged PAOK
and Qabala.
"It was not particularly easy for us because we
knew that we had pretty much already lost our
battle with Krasnodar and that we were playing
again on Sunday," Tuchel said.
"It was also difficult for me to decide on a line-up.
The absolute exertion you need, respect for the
task and that real sharpness and passion about
your game -- we didn't have all those things you
need to win games.
"And so that's why our performance looked like it
was missing a certain something tonight. That's
how it was possible to beat us today with one
shot on goal."
He added: "Our group was a complicated group,
even if the teams in it were not the biggest
names in European football. Amid all the
harshness and criticism, it is important not to be
unfair and to demand too much.
"The expectations were for us to win. However,
we failed to ensure we put in the effort needed to
win. The defeat hurts us and is unnecessary, but I
don't want to over-dramatise it either. We still
have three very important games ahead of us this
year."
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