Fourth-place Hamburg go into the game against the cellar-dwellers from the capital with a clear mandate. "We want to beat Hertha�, says coach Bruno Labbadia. Not that he is taking such an outcome for granted of course: "They're better than their position in the table suggests, and they made some good signings over the winter break.
Labbadia might be forced to make a couple of late calls on the personnel front. With the exception of Marcus Berg, who has the flu, all his players returned from midweek national duty hale and hearty. Goalkeeper Frank Rost, who took a nasty bang on the elbow in Munich last week, is set to return between the sticks, while Marcell Jansen, another flu victim, should be back on duty as well.
Call to arms by Preetz
Mladen Petric has had a relatively restful week and is ready to lead from the front. Whether Ruud van Nistelrooy is sufficiently recovered from a niggling thigh problem to make his home debut alongside Petric remains to be seen. With Berg confirmed out of action on Friday afternoon, the Dutch star's appearance could be a timely one for Labbadia.
His counterpart Friedhelm Funkel has a full-strength squad at his disposal, and Hertha sporting director Michael Preetz accordingly expects them to produce the goods: "The team have to show more courage and passion going forwards. I expect the players to push themselves to the limit, and beyond. We're going into the final straight and we have to give everything we can for Hertha BSC and Berlin, to ensure we stay up.�
In a similar vein, Funkel added that, "We need a good result and want to make things as hard for Hamburg as possible.� With two of their direct competitors at the bottom meeting in Freiburg (see below), victory would give a massive boost to Hertha's battle to avoid the drop, while even a draw could be of no little psychological importance. |
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