Friedhelm Funkel is preparing to face the side he coached for the last few years but insists there is no room for nostalgia.

Funkel stepped down as coach of Eintracht Frankfurt in June after five successful seasons at the helm, during which time he led them into the UEFA Cup.

While Funkel's current team are contesting this season's Europa League, they could hardly be further removed from a likely return to the continental stage next term.

The Old Lady has not won since the opening day of the Bundesliga season and will almost certainly end the calendar year at the foot of the table, unless they can win their remaining four games before the winter break.

And even though Frankfurt are the opponents tomorrow, a win is the only thing on Funkel's mind.

"Yes, it is going to be a special game for me, but also for Hertha," he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper.

"I rarely talk about games which absolutely have got to be won, but that is the case this time - we have got to beat Eintracht.

"There will be a lot of emotion in the game. I worked in Frankfurt from 2004 until this summer and I never made a secret of how happy I was there.

"We achieved a lot together - the board, the coach and the players - and there are obviously still many bonds, but my contacts have quietened a little over the past few days."

Funkel would appear to have a trick up his sleeve for tomorrow's game, having trained behind closed doors this week in a bid to keep his plans secret from a club who know how he likes to play.

"Eintracht have known me for five years, but anybody can change things and they should expect a surprise," he said.

That may be a three-man attack composed of Raffael, Valeri Domovchiyski and Gojko Kacar.

Frankfurt coach Michael Skibbe welcomes back three key players into his side, with Pirmin Schwegler, Nikos Liberopoulos and Umit Korkmaz all recovering from knocks.