Bayern Munich's hard-man midfielder Mark van Bommel says his side need a win at Hertha Berlin tomorrow to restore flagging confidence as the league leaders recover from a turbulent week.
Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld banned captain Oliver Kahn for the trip to Germany's capital and fined him 25,000 euros (US$36,500) on Tuesday after the goalkeeper criticized Bayern's star players Franck Ribery and Luca Toni.
After just two wins in their last six league games, Bayern are looking vulnerable and need a convincing win in Berlin to guarantee them top spot for the six-week long winter break which starts after this weekend.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"Things have not gone so well for us in recent games," said the Dutchman. "We have to keep battling away and always give 100 percent, if we don't do that things won't work out for us the way we want them to."
Van Bommel admits teams raise their game when they take on the league leaders and today promises to be just as tough.
"Wherever we play it is always our opponent's game of the year. The fans give 120 percent, as do the opposing team, which means that anything less than the same is not accepted at Bayern," he said.
With Kahn suspended Michael Rensing steps into the No. 1 shirt.
In the day's other big game, second-placed Werder Bremen must bounce back quickly from the disappointment of their Champions League exit when they take on fourth-placed Bayer Leverkusen.
Seventh-placed Schalke, take on Nuremberg and can expect bad-boys Mladen Krstajic, Ivan Rakitic and Jermaine Jones back in the starting eleven.
They were suspended for Tuesday night's 3-1 Champions League win over Rosenborg after breaking a team curfew last weekend, but are allowed to play again after being heavily fined by the club.
Resurgent Borussia Dortmund, who have hauled themselves up to ninth in the league play VfL Wolfsburg while Bielefeld face defending champions VfB Stuttgart and third-placed Hamburg take on Karlsruhe.
Tomorrow, strugglers Hansa Rostock and VfL Bochum will slug it out while second from bottom Duisburg are at home to Eintracht Frankfurt.
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