Watch Thomas Tuchel during a press conference and it will come as no surprise to learn that the key quality he seeks to instil in his players is calmness. Giovanni Trapattoni he is not. Nor even Jürgen Klopp, the coach with whom the Paris Saint-Germain boss is most frequently compared, given their shared career trajectories from Mainz to Dortmund – Tuchel replacing Klopp both times – before taking the helm of a frontline overseas giant.

With his own playing days cut short by injury, and only 35 when appointed by Mainz, Tuchel has had to rely on attributes other than star power and seniority to command respect. Think studiousness, tactical flexibility and, yes, calmness. “‘Calm’ means having the ability to focus on ourselves and not lose our concentration because of external things,” he says, fresh from leading Paris to a second Ligue 1 title in two seasons under his reign. “We’ve been prone to do that, but we’re doing it less and less.”

Even before joining Paris, Tuchel had shown a willingness to protect his players, sometimes from their own club officials but more often from the media. For the tall and svelte native of Krumbach, Bavaria, calmness is dependent on walling off his squad from destabilising forces. “We try to give the media as little as possible to write about when it comes to external factors,” he says. “When there are some conflicts, we try to solve them within our environment. These [conflicts] become bigger once they get outside. This just sidetracks you.

“So ‘calm’ is to train, to prepare games, to have individual meetings, to be honest with each other, to be ourselves. This is an art form which is not easy to do in Paris, of course, because here it’s more about the show – and Paris is all about standing for something special. But it’s always important to create strength through calmness.”