Key duo set for Hamburg return

Pierre-Michel Lasogga and Johan Djourou are set to give Hamburg a welcome boost ahead of their must-win match against Mainz.

Lasogga (calf) and Djourou (hamstring) look likely to be fit for Hamburg’s final-day clash at Mainz as Mirko Slomka looks to keep the only club to play every Bundesliga season out of the automatic relegation zone.

In the Bundesliga, the bottom two clubs are automatically relegated, while the 16th-placed team must play the 2. Bundesliga’s third side in a two-legged play-off for a spot in the top tier.

After losing 4-1 to Bayern Munich last week, Hamburg’s best-possible finish is 16th but striker Lasogga and defender Djourou’s returns to training after injury has given Slomka something to smile about.

“They are both looking good,” Slomka told Hamburg’s website on Wednesday.

Lasogga, in particular, will be a vital addition to Slomka’s squad – if he is passed fit – as Hamburg have looked rather toothless since the 22-year-old striker suffered a reoccurrence of his calf injury in a 3-1 loss to Borussia Monchengladbach at the end of March.

Since then, Hamburg have played five games for one win and four defeats, scoring twice in a match only once.

Lasogga has scored 12 of Hamburg’s 49 goals this season.

“If he can continue to train fully with us, then he’s an option for the starting XI,” Slomka said.

“His (rate of) recovery is making us positive that we’ll make it.”

Hamburg (27 points) must win at seventh-placed Mainz on Saturday if they are to be certain of avoiding automatic relegation, as Nuremberg (17th, 26 points) and Eintracht Braunschweig (18th, 25) could both leapfrog Slomka’s team on the final day of the season.

Nuremberg will travel to third-placed Schalke, while Braunschweig visit Hoffenheim.

Mainz have little to play for as they cannot overhaul sixth-placed Gladbach and qualify for next season’s UEFA Europa League, and Slomka claimed his players produced the kind of performance required last week – if only for 45 minutes.

“We have to reproduce our first-half performance against Bayern for the full 90 minutes in Mainz,” Slomka said.