Hamburg coach Fink aims to down former side Bayern

Posted Thursday, February 02, 2012 by YAHOO Sport

BERLIN (AP)—Bayern Munich management could rue advising former player Thorsten Fink to accept the coaching position at Hamburger SV if he leads the northerners to a win against their side in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Fink met Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and vice chairman Karl Hopfner at the Oktoberfest in Munich when he told them of the then bottom club’s offer for him to take over. They advised him to seize the chance.

“Both of them raved about Hamburg as a brilliant club and about its huge potential,” Fink told Kicker magazine on Thursday. “I didn’t hesitate and grabbed the chance to build up something big.”

The former FC Basel coach enjoyed an eight-game unbeaten start with Hamburg. Fink’s side currently sits 11th after a win at Hertha Berlin last weekend.

Bayern is top but cannot afford a slip-up in Hamburg. The Bavarians lead only on goal difference from Borussia Dortmund and Schalke while Borussia Moenchengladbach is just a point behind.

They have been dubbed the “Fantastic Four” by German media.

“I think it’ll remain very tough. We have to focus on ourselves and win as many games as possible. I think our toughest rivals are Dortmund and Schalke,” Bayern winger Franck Ribery said.

Dortmund gets the weekend’s action under way at Nuremberg on Friday, with Schalke hosting Mainz and Moenchengladbach visiting Wolfsburg on Saturday before Bayern plays.

And while it’s close at the top, there’s no room for error at the bottom either. Eleven teams are in danger of relegation with only seven points separating eighth-place Hoffenheim from bottom sides Freiburg and Augsburg.

In Saturday’s other games, Hertha Berlin hosts Hannover, Hoffenheim welcomes Augsburg and Stuttgart visits Bayer Leverkusen, where all eyes will be on Michael Ballack to see if the former Germany captain plays after criticism from club management.

Stuttgart—like Cologne and Hertha—has yet to win in 2012. Last weekend’s loss to Moenchengladbach was its fourth league loss in a row to leave the 2007 champion 10th.

“We’re not naive,” Stuttgart coach Bruno Labbadia said. “The pressure is building, the table is getting tighter.”

Freiburg hosts Werder Bremen on Sunday, when Cologne visits Kaiserslautern.

Temperatures are expected to plummet well below zero for the weekend.

Fink said he was “totally relaxed” approaching the game against the club for which he played between 1997 and 2006.

“It’s clear that we can’t compare to Munich over the whole season, but in a game it’s possible,” said Fink, who led Basel to two Swiss league titles and one cup win.

“We can beat them if everything works out.”

Bayern labored against Wolfsburg before eventually claiming a 2-0 win last weekend, but Hamburg is still smarting from its 5-1 loss at home to Dortmund the week before.

The home side will again miss the creative input of Turkey under-21 forward Goekhan Toere, who is out with a knee injury.

“They have lots of problems, but they’re not a bad team. We need to be very focused and aggressive,” Ribery said.

Bayern will be without defenders Daniel van Buyten and Rafinha through injury and suspension respectively, meaning Luiz Gustavo will be asked to fill in at the back, unless Jupp Heynckes opts to give troubled Brazilian Breno his first appearance for Bayern since April.

Heynckes now holds the record for number of Bundesliga wins as a player and manager after overtaking Otto Rehhagel with his 456th career victory last week.

“I never imagined that I’d be so long on the coach’s bench,” the 66-year-old said.

If Fink manages to deny Heynckes another win on Saturday, Bayern’s chiefs may start considering the 44-year-old as a possible future replacement.