**Hamburg have sacked coach Bruno Labbadia just three days before the club’s Europa League semi-final second leg tie against Fulham.**After failing to make home advantage tell in Thursday’s first-leg 0-0 draw against the Cottagers, Hamburg were drubbed 5-1 at Hoffenheim on Sunday.
Labbadia succeeded Martin Jol at the northern German club last summer, and had a successful start to the season.
But the loss to mid-table Hoffenheim leaves them seventh in the Bundesliga.
It looked ominous for Labbadia when chairman Bernd Hoffmann revealed he would hold crisis talks with him after the defeat.
“We are going to speak together with the coach and ensure we do what is right for Thursday,” said Hoffmann.
“That is our last chance to leave a route into Europe next season open. There is not really much more that I can add to that.”
Labbadia admitted Sunday’s performance was “depressing” but angrily dismissed rumours he had lost the dressing room.
“If a team were to play against their coach, then they would also be playing against themselves,” he said. “That would make no sense.”
The 44-year-old played for Hamburg and Bayern Munich among others during a prolific goalscoring career as a striker in Germany, and won two caps for the national side.
He began his career in management with Darmstadt 98 in 2003, moving on to Greuther Furth before joining Hamburg from Bayer Leverkusen.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/bbcnewsworldfullfeed?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/bbcnewsworldfullfeed?d=dnMXMwOfBR0 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/bbcnewsworldfullfeed?i=tgGUZfDkRsY:NvTJtg5evOk:V_sGLiPBpWU
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/bbcnewsworldfullfeed/~4/tgGUZfDkRsY