1899 wants to increase the record against Berlin

On Wednesday, the manager witnessed Berlin's cup defeat in Munich versus 1860 München in the Allianz Arena and looked at Hertha's current form: "They will not come with too much confidence after five defeats in a row but we know the danger." Rangnick will decide on the starting eleven after Saturday's training session. The long-term injured Matthias Jaissle and Tobias Weis are not available and the Austrian international Andreas Ibertsberger suffers from adductor problems which make him a doubt for the game.

Hoffenheim's centre-back Josip Simunic left Hertha during the summer after twelve years but he does not rate this game as a special one: "For me, it is a game like all the others. I want to win the game and focus completely and only on Hoffenheim." Nonetheless, the defender has big plans for Sunday's game: "I will give my very best so that we keep the three points in Hoffenheim" adding that "it will be a difficult game as Berlin has a lot of quality. We need to make them react to our kind of game and make use out of their unease."

Berlin's manager Lucien Favre has a lot of personnel-wise problems to deal with. The Brazilian Cicero picked up a muscular injury in midweek's cup clash and will be sidelined for two or three weeks. Other players missing the game against 1899 through injury are Artur Wichniarek (groin), Florian Kringe (metatarsal), Jaroslav Drobny (muscular injury) and Fabian Lustenberger (build-up training). As a consequence of Drobny's injury, Berlin announced the signing of keeper Timo Ochs on Thursday. After his contract at Salzburg expired, he was a free agent and might directly start the game in the Rhein-Neckar-Arena replacing youngster Sascha Burchert who stood between the posts against Freiburg and 1860 München. The Berlin squad started their trip to the southwest of Germany already on Friday as Berlin manager Favre needs to "work in calm surroundings, confidence and without distractions."