Hamburg fired coach Bruno Labbadia on Monday, a day after a 5-1 Bundesliga loss at Hoffenheim and only three days before the second leg of the Europa League semi-final at Fulham.
Assistant coach Ricardo Moniz will take charge to the end of the season, club chairman Bernd Hoffmann said.
“We could not and did not want to continue so in this situation,” Hoffmann said.
Some German media reports linked Germany coach Joachim Loew to a move to Hamburg after the World Cup. Loew has not extended his contract with the German football federation and his chief scout, Urs Siegenthaler, is becoming sports director at Hamburg next season. Hamburg have gone through three coaches in the last three seasons.
Labbadia has been under pressure for several weeks and the firing was widely expected after Sunday’s disaster in Hoffenheim. There was much media speculation that the players were happy to provoke Labbadia’s ouster.
While his assistant Moniz conducted yesterday’s practice, Labbadia was summoned to the management’s office to be told of his dismissal.
“It’s a dramatic day,” said Moniz, who was previously a coach at Spurs.
He stayed in Hamburg after the departure of Martin Jol, Labbadia’s predecessor.
There are two games left in the Bundesliga and Hamburg’s stadium will host the Europa League final on May 12. Fulham earned a 0-0 draw in Hamburg last week in the first leg.
Labbadia arrived in Hamburg at the start of the season. After a promising beginning with the club hoping to win its first title of any kind in 23 years, the club has dropped to seventh place and Labbadia has feuded with some top players.
There is practically no chance Hamburg can qualify through the Bundesliga for the European competition next season.
The 44-year-old Labbadia, the ninth child of Italian immigrants, had a similar experience at Bayer Leverkusen last season, although he stayed in the job until leaving at the end of the season to move to Hamburg.
A former striker whose career included stints at Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen and two seasons at Hamburg, Labbadia scored 103 goals in 328 Bundesliga games for different teams. He played twice for Germany.
Labbadia’s stern attitude won him no friends among players.
The atmosphere in the team worsened after a 1-0 loss at home against Mainz, culminating in a loud dispute in the dressing room between Labbadia and his most experienced player, 36-year-old goalkeeper Frank Rost.
Labbadia chided Rost for taking a group of players to a movie on the eve of the match against Mainz. The team traditionally spends evenings before home matches in a Hamburg hotel. Labbadia also had problems with star strikers Ruud van Nistelrooy and Mladen Petric.
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