Hamburg Going For The Jugular
Monday 23rd October 2000
Hamburg coach Frank Pagelsdorf has announced he will play an attack-minded 3-4-3 system for their win-or-bust Champions' League match at Juventus on Tuesday.
"This is a make-or-break match and therefore we will send out an attacking team," the coach said ahead of their trip to Turin.
The German club have to win their last two games in order to stay in Europe's top competition � a situation which has forced Pagelsdorf to dump his usual tactic of playing with two up front.
German B international Marcel Ketelaer is likely to replace the tired Czech Marek Heinz on the left wing, while Tony Yeboah will be the centre forward, with Roy Prager playing to the right of him.
In midfield Argentine playmaker Rodolfo Esteban Cardoso is still missing after aggravating his thigh injury in training this week. The 32-year-old is likely to be out action for another fortnight.
Prager sees his team's chances of reaching the next round as more than plausible: "I believe 100 per cent that we will succeed," but his team-mate Sergej Barbarez is less optimistic.
"I am afraid our chances are rather small, not more than two per cent," the Bundesliga's top scorer said.
But both agree with the talented Ketelaer, who said: "We have to fight until the very last second, otherwise we will only blame ourselves afterwards."
Juventus manager Carlo Ancelotti, meanwhile, are getting fed up with the constant speculation and questioning of Alex Del Piero�s form.
"I am so tired talking about Alex�s condition. I think he played well against Milan and I don�t want to say anything more about it," Ancelotti said.
Del Piero has struggled to find his form after a lengthy injury lay-off and only scored one goal from open play last season. However, he scored a brilliant goal on the opening day of the Italian season against Napoli and Ancelotti is keeping faith in the Juve darling.
Ancelotti will not announce his team against the Germans, who beat Juventus in the 1983 European Cup final, until one hour before the game.
But there is mounting speculation that he will, in fact, drop Del Piero in favour of Darko Kovacevic or David Trezeguet. There is also a question mark regarding the fitness of Felippo Inzaghi.
"We have a lot of good strikers," Juve captain Antonio Conte, who was dropped for the Milan game, said. "Even if you don�t start, you have to keep quiet and play well when you play. Myself, Trezeguet and Kovacevic all did that on Saturday."
The Italians� defence is weakened by the absence of Uruguayan Paolo Montero, who is out injured. His place is likely to be taken by veteran Ciro Ferrara.
Juventus: (probable): Van der Sar, Tudor, Ferrara, Iuliano, Conte, Tacchinardi, Davids, Pessotto, Zidane, Trezeguet, Inzaghi.
Hamburg: (probable) Butt, Hertzsch, Hoogma, Panadic, Tofting, N Kovac, Barbarez, Hollerbach, Prager, Yeboah, Ketelaer.
