Thursday 3rd December 2009
Hamburg through with convincing victory
Marcell Jansen and Marcus Berg were on target as Hamburg advanced to the last 32 of the Europa League.
Jansen opened the scoring after 47 minutes and Berg doubled the lead six minutes later as Hamburg set aside their Bundesliga woes with a solid victory.
Bruno Labbadia's side are without a win in six domestic league outings but things are rosier in Europe, with tonight's win lifting them to 10 points in Group C.
Rapid, meanwhile, remain on four points and cannot advance to the knockout stage.
More than 8,000 Rapid fans braved the long trip to and freezing temperatures in Hamburg, and the visitors repaid their faith with a lively start to the match.
But the hosts soon began to build some pressure, and had the first real chance after 23 minutes as Jansen's free-kick went just over the bar.
Jansen again went close four minutes later but his drilled effort missed to the right of goal.
Hamburg continued to dominate the opening period but did not make the breakthrough until early in the second half when a Milan Jovanovic error allowed Jansen to race through and tuck a left-footed shot past Rapid keeper Helge Payer.
Robert Tesche nearly doubled the lead just four minutes later but his header went just wide of the right-hand post.
But the second goal quickly arrived courtesy of Berg, who collected Guy Demel's pass before volleying confidently past Payer.
Rapid were just inches from pulling a goal back three minutes later but Markus Heikkinen's bicycle kick struck the right post.
The hosts continued to push forward but Rapid keeper Payer did well to keep the score down as he stopped decent efforts from Tomas Rincon and Dennis Aogo among others.
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