Karlsruher ´can only win´ – Kauczinski

Karlsruher coach Markus Kauczinski heaped pressure on Hamburg ahead of Monday’s promotion-relegation play-off second leg, claiming his side have nothing to lose.

Hamburg have travelled south for the critical fixture, with Karlsruher looking to end the north German club’s perfect Bundesliga record.

Hamburg are the only club to have played in every season of the Bundesliga, while Karlsruher have not played in Germany’s first division since 2008-09, having even dropped into the third tier for the 2012-13 campaign.

“They’ve got something to lose, while we can only win,” Kauczinski said at his media conference on Sunday.

“We’re in the Bundesliga 2 and no one can take that away from us. We could win something on top of that: we could win ourselves Bundesliga football. In that sense we have nothing to lose, because you can’t lose what you don’t have.

“Hamburg have something to lose. They’re coming here and for them it’s about a little bit more. They have more to lose, nothing has changed in that respect.”

The first leg in Hamburg finished 1-1 but Karlsruher arguably had the better chances, opening the scoring in the fourth minute and then wasting other opportunities before Ivo Ilicevic equalised with 17 minutes remaining.

It leaves the tie delicately poised.

“We’ll play to win and not for a result, like a 0-0, even though that would be enough,” Kauczinski said.

“You can’t do that – it doesn’t work… We want to put in just as impassioned a performance here as we did in Hamburg. I’m convinced that we’ll be able to do that again.

“I also believe that it could work out even better for us because at home in front of our own fans, we’ll also try to give a little bit more. I think raising our game together with these people will motivate us even more. We’ll have to do that.

“Hamburg will also want to raise their game. It’ll be more intense and it’ll be more exciting. I think that’s something everyone here can look forward to.”