Thomas Tuchel says Noussair Mazraoui needs to 'fight, fight, fight' for his spot in the Bayern Munich XI this year

• Mazraoui struggling to get minutes at Bayern
• Tuchel wants him to fight for his place
• Will not rotate just for the sake of rotation

WHAT HAPPENED? The Moroccan defender was signed on a free transfer by the Bavarian giants in the summer of 2022 from Ajax. However, he has struggled to nail down a starting berth under Tuchel which forced him to vent his frustration at the business end of the previous season.

Things have hardly changed in the new season. Although he played the full 90 minutes in the Bundesliga opener against Werder Bremen, his minutes have dwindled since then, and was left on the bench in their previous outing against Manchester United.

WHAT THEY SAID: When Tuchel was asked about Mazraoui by the reporters, the German tactician said: "We don’t need to talk about his technical skills and his understanding of the game – that’s great. But he has to develop some grit and push himself to the physical limit. Nous has to fight, fight, fight.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Tuchel also made it clear that he would continue to field his best XI whenever possible and would not rotate just for the sake of it, which should further discourage Mazraoui.

"There is always the idea of rotation. We'll have to see who's ready. The feedback yesterday was very positive, everyone came out of the last game well. I think we have all the players available. We will not rotate for the sake of rotating," he said.

IN THREE PHOTOS:

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WHAT NEXT? Bayern will be back in action when they host VFL Bochum in the Bundesliga on Saturday.