Jarolim warns against complacency - 7M sport

Jarolim warns against complacency

Posted Thursday, September 17, 2009 by PA

Hamburg midfielder David Jarolim insists his side will have to have "everything in order" if they hope to begin their Europa League campaign with a victory over Rapid Vienna.

The Austro-German encounter is a meeting with plenty of national pride on the line, although the smart money will be on a Hamburg win after the side's impressive start to their domestic Bundesliga campaign.

Bruno Labbadia's troops have won four and drawn one of their opening five matches to sit top of the league, but Czech midfielder Jarolim believes there is no room for complacency to set in so early in the campaign.

Rapid reached this stage of the competition courtesy of an away-goals victory over much-fancied English outfit Aston Villa in the play-offs, and the Austrians are set to pose a threat in a group that also features Hapoel Tel-Aviv of Israel and Scottish giants Celtic.

"We want to make a good start," said Jarolim. "They have a strong team to beat Aston Villa at home.

"We've got to get everything in order to be successful."

Rapid have every reason to be confident ahead of tomorrow night's game with the team boasting a proud record in home matches against German opposition.

In 15 previous home meetings with German sides, Rapid have suffered just one loss, that a 1-0 reverse to Bayern Munich in the 2005/06 Champions League group stage.

Rapid are playing their group stage games at the 53,000-seater Ernst Happel Stadium due to a huge demand for tickets, with which the 18,500-capacity Gerhard Hanappi Stadium could not compete.

The arrival of last season's UEFA Cup semi-finalists to the Austrian capital should push tomorrow's attendance to something approaching capacity, and the pressure will be on Rapid coach Peter Pacult to take something from the match.

Rapid have made a poor start to the Austrian Bundesliga season and sit sixth in the 10-team league after six games.

However, they have support in high places ahead of the match, with Austrian national team coach Dietmar Constantini declaring: "Whoever eliminated Aston Villa can win against this German club!"

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