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Tricky away games VfB Stuttgart and Hertha BSC are both on UEFA Cup business on Thursday, as they aim to secure a place in the first round proper of the competition.
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| Stuttgart take on FC ETO Györ in Hungary defending a slender 2-1 advantage from the first leg. In the wake of Saturday's poor performance in going down 2-0 to Bayer Leverkusen, coach Armin Veh says "We'll have to put in a different kind of performance - and we will. We can't play that badly two games in a row."
Boulahrouz in the squad Khalid Boulahrouz, signed recently from Chelsea, has recovered from an ankle injury and is in the squad for the first time. The Dutch defender is unlikely to play from the start, but could well come off the bench for his Stuttgart debut at some point. Cacau, Ludovic Magnin and Sami Khedira are all still unavailable through injury. Probable Stuttgart line-up: Lehmann - Osorio, Tasci, Delpierre, Boka - Pardo - Hilbert (Bastürk), Simak, Hitzlsperger - Gomez, Marica (Ljuboja) Referee: Espen Berntsen (Norway) Hertha BSC have the easier task on paper, taking on Slovenian Cup winners NK Ljubljana with a 2-0 lead already in the bag from the away leg. Hertha coach Lucien Favre has had other issues to sort out in recent days, not least Patrick Ebert's public criticism of the team selection. Favre's response: "That's an internal matter. Such things are unacceptable, but it's been dealt with now." Rotation time Josef Simunic, whose absence from the starting eleven against Arminia Bielfeld (1-1) had sparked Ebert's comments, is likely to return for the game against Ljubljana. The Slovenian side are currently bottom of the league, without a win in six games. Favre says he intends to "bring in three or four new players. It's a relief to have some proper competition within the squad at last." Probable Hertha line-up: Drobny - Chahed, Friedrich, Simunic, Radjabali-Fardi - Lustenberger - Kacar, Cicero, Nicu - Raffael, Chermiti Referee: Bruno Miguel Duarte Paixao (Portugal) |
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