Mathijsen calls on Hamburg to bounce back

Defender Joris Mathijsen believes Hamburger SV's German Cup defeat at the hands of local rivals Werder Bremen will serve as added motivation ahead of their UEFA Cup semi-final first leg at the Weserstadion on Thursday.

Motivation
Hamburg were knocked out on penalties in the semi-finals of the German Cup, the first match in a sequence of four meetings between the Hanseatic rivals in 19 days. Mathijsen, though, is expecting a positive reaction from his side in round two. "We lost the cup game last week and now we are extra motivated for the match tomorrow," said the 29-year-old.

'Good chance'
The UEFA Cup ties come in the thick of the Bundesliga race as Hamburg, three points off the top, chase their first title since 1983 and Mathijsen called on his side to ensure an excellent season ends on a high. "A lot of the younger players think these kind of chances come often, but when you are older you realise that it might only come once and I try to explain this to them. The fact is we want this title. A chance like this might not come again."

Mertesacker confident
It is the 27th all-German UEFA Cup tie and both sides have met domestic opposition in this competition before. Bremen indeed have lost at this stage to German rivals, falling in the last four in 1987/88 to Bayer 04 Leverkusen who also knocked out Hamburg, finalists in 1982, in the last 16 last season. Bremen have reached the UEFA Cup semi-final on three previous occasions without reaching a final, but defender Per Mertesacker is confident this time they are ready to go one step further.

Second step
"It has not been a great season for us and it is not enough to be in tenth place, but I hope we can take motivation from the German Cup and maybe win the UEFA Cup," he said. Bremen seem to have the momentum in their favour having followed up that victory in Hamburg last Wednesday with a thrilling come-from-behind 3-2 victory over VfL Bochum 1848 on Saturday. "It was important for us to take the first step in the German Cup, but it is up to us now to take the second step in the UEFA Cup," Mertesacker added. "This second match will be important for us but we have to take it game by game and then we will see. The players on each team know each other and it will be very interesting."

Focus
Seven Bremen players are within one booking of a one-match and three from Hamburg, but Mertesacker does not believe it will affect the way they approach Thursday's game. "I don't think about that and the other players won't either because we have to play with focus," he said.