Labbadia praises HSV’s comeback

(GSM) – Hamburger SV coach Bruno Labbadia has praised his side’s following their coming from behind to earn a 2-1 win over Standard Liege in their Europa League quarter-final tie on Thursday night.

The first-leg result keeps Hamburg on course for a place in the final inside their own HSV-Arena stadium.

The Bundesliga side fell behind in the 30th minute, but turned things around before the interval thanks to goals from Mladen Petric and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

“I cannot speak highly enough of my side,” said coach Labbadia. “We had hoped and believed in it and I must pay my side a compliment for the way they came from 1-0 down.”

Nevertheless, Labbadia has warned that the job is far from complete, saying that his side is “going to have a very tough challenge in Liege” next week.

Those words were echoed by Petric, who says Hamburg will have to play at least as well as they did last night if they are to set up a semi-final clash with either Bundesliga rivals Wolfsburg or Fulham.

“It is a real cauldron in Liege,” he said. “We are going to have to be ready for it.”