Hertha’s coach Felix Magath takes action before the game in Augsburg
Source: dpa/Matthias Koch
Hertha BSC urgently needs points in the fight to stay up in the Bundesliga. Before the game at FC Augsburg, Felix Magath is deleting a striker from his squad. That comes as a surprise given the staffing situation.
Dhe boss takes action. On Saturday afternoon (3.30 p.m., Sky), Hertha BSC will face FC Augsburg in a relegation duel and urgently need points in the fight to stay up in the Bundesliga. Before kick-off, coach Felix Magath decided on a particularly tough measure.
A player was not allowed to travel to Bayern. This is reported by “Bild”. According to the report, the professional is Ishak Belfodil.
Ishak Belfodil will not storm for Hertha in Augsburg, coach Felix Magath eliminated him from the squad
Credit: AFP/ODD ANDERSEN
The 30-year-old striker, who switched from TSG Hoffenheim to Hertha last summer and was still playing in the 4-1 draw in the city derby against Union Berlin a week ago, is said to have recently attracted attention with a lack of will and a lack of body language. He is said not to have shown the bite demanded by Magath in training. As a result, those responsible had doubts about Belfodil’s readiness for action.
Does Selke have to fix it now?
Magath said at the press conference on Friday: “Everyone knows that everything is at stake. There are no more excuses. Now we need this fight, this mission.” Apparently Belfodil didn’t show it.
In Augsburg, the capital club are also missing Dong-Jong Lee (ankle injury), goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow (hamstring injury), Kélian Nsona (rehabilitation training) and Stevan Jovetic (hamstring problems).
The Serbian striker is one of three center forwards in the squad, with six goals he leads the Berlin top scorer list. Since Belfodil (three goals so far) is not there either, Davie Selke, who has been so unlucky so far, has to fix it in the top striker. He has scored twice so far this season, most recently in mid-December. Another option in the center could also be ex-Augsburg Marco Richter, who actually tends to come down the wings, but has already scored five times this season.
