PSG boss Tuchel defends tearful Neymar and Mbappe after shooting blanks in Champions League final

Paris Saint-Germain head coach Thomas Tuchel insisted Neymar "cannot do everything" after the star forward failed to score in the Champions League final defeat against Bayern Munich.

Neymar fired a blank as PSG – featuring in their first Champions League decider – lost 1-0 to German giants Bayern in Lisbon on Sunday.

The Brazilian, along with star team-mate Kylian Mbappe, did not score for PSG in the "Final Eight" tournament, failing to find the back of the net in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.

Neymar's last 14 shots in the Champions League were all unsuccessful, while he lost 47 per cent of the touches he made against Bayern, per Opta.

But Tuchel backed Neymar – who was in tears post-match – and Mbappe, with the duo leading PSG to a domestic sweep of all four titles in France in 2019-20.

14 & 47% - Neymar’s ?? last 14 shots in the Champions League: The Brazilian lost 47% of the touches he made tonight (27/57) Mess.#UCLFinal #PSGBayern pic.twitter.com/BRRkvJHKQT

— Optajean (@OptaJean) August 23, 2020

"Neymar has had a great tournament, he cannot do everything," the German boss said.

"Mbappe, it's a miracle that he was with us after sustaining a serious [ankle] injury [in July]."

After the match, speculation emerged that Tuchel could be replaced by former Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri.

Tuchel has won back-to-back Ligue 1 titles among other honours since arriving in 2018, and the former Borussia Dortmund coach was asked about his future.

"We will see, it is not always the head coach's decision we will talk about all that not only about my contract extension but also about how to rebuild the team," Tuchel told reporters.

"How we can strengthen the squad because we need fresh blood, new, more quality in the side to show that we can maintain this level so that we are not going to drop off.

"We are going to move forward and this is only the start and we haven't reached the top of the mountain yet that's the most important thing as opposed to my contract per se, we can talk about all that once we have built the team and once everyone is on the same page as to the sort of game you want to play."

FULL-TIME. It’s all over in the @ChampionsLeague final. Bayern Munich are the champions#UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/Ex9oUwM3qq

— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) August 23, 2020

Tuchel added: "I think of the last two years we have really built a special atmosphere in the camp and without that mood in the camp, without that respect with the players and the atmosphere with both the staff and the players, without all of that day in, day out, naturally you can't win four pieces of silverware and make it into the Champions League final.

"We really need to keep that spirit to maintain that mentality, it is absolutely crucial to do that so that we can continue to forge a strong squad. You need a lot of big characters, big players and that is why we need to once again build another strong powerful side that can really kick on and continue this run.

"It is never easy it takes a lot of effort and that will be the challenge to try and re-discover this spirit and try to kick on from this. That is really our challenge going forward."