Wolfsburg make the trip to Berlin on Sunday minus the man whose superb goalscoring record helped make them Bundesliga champions last season.

Grafite, who netted 28 times in 2008-09, has only found the back of the net twice all season and has thus been sent back to Brazil to take his mind off things for a week.

"It was my idea," explained Wolfsburg coach Armin Veh. "He needs to get his mind free and to do that, he needs to switch off completely.

"The best way for that to work is if he changes scenery for a few days. I am convinced that it will do him good and he will come back stronger."

His place in the Wolfsburg attack tomorrow against Hertha Berlin will go to Obafemi Martins - who, despite being given less action this season, has actually scored one goal more than Grafite.

Berlin coach Friedhelm Funkel would probably take his whole team to Brazil for a week if he could, simply to escape the nightmare they are enduring in Germany.

They have lost their last eight Bundesliga matches and are already five points adrift of safety.

Furthermore, a 1-0 defeat to Heerenveen in the Europa League in midweek has practically ended any hope of reaching the next round of the competition.

Nevertheless, Funkel, who replaced Lucien Favre just three weeks ago, is maintaining a positive outlook.

"We will do it," he proclaimed. "We will get out of this situation and I will lead the way."

To this end, Funkel has wiped the slate clean and will no longer pay attention to the past performance or reputation of his players. Instead, he will judge each member of his squad by the impression they make in training.

"I will take a very close look at who is capable of coping," he said at the pre-match press conference.

"Whoever makes the best impression will be in the starting XI."

That leaves his team selection up in the air - unlike Veh, who is set to make no further change to his side, apart from Martins for Grafite.