Hamburg fires coach Bruno Labbadia

Hamburger SV fired coach Bruno Labbadia on Monday, one day after a 5-1 Bundesliga loss at Hoffenheim and only three days before the second leg of the Europa League semifinal at Fulham.

Assistant coach Ricardo Moniz will take charge to the end of the season, club chairman Bernd Hoffmann said.

"We examined the situation and decided that we could not and did not want to continue so," Hoffmann said. "The latest performances did not give us hope that we could be successful in the important game on Thursday and that we could advance to the final of the Europa League."

Some German media reports linked Germany coach Joachim Loew to a move to Hamburg after the World Cup. Loew has not extended his contract with the German football federation and his chief scout, Urs Siegenthaler, is becoming sports director at Hamburg next season. Hamburg has gone through three coaches in the last three seasons.

Labbadia had been under pressure for several weeks and the firing was widely expected after Sunday's disaster in Hoffenheim. Many German media speculated that the players were happy to provoke Labbadia's ouster.

While his assistant Moniz conducted Monday's practice, Labbadia was summoned to the management's office to be told of his dismissal.

"It's a dramatic day," said Moniz, a 45-year-old Dutchman who was previously skills coach at Tottenham. He stayed in Hamburg after the departure of Martin Jol, Labbadia's predecessor.

Hoffmann said Moniz was knowledgeable about English football and could prepare the team "in the best way" for the match against Fulham. Moniz is leaving at the end of the season to join the staff of Red Bull Salzburg in Austria.

There are two games left in the Bundesliga and Hamburg's stadium will host the Europa League final on May 12. Fulham earned a 0-0 draw in Hamburg last week in the first leg.

The firing of a coach in the middle of the semifinals is rare. Otto Rehhagel, now coach of Greece, was fired by Bayern Munich three weeks before the 1996 UEFA Cup final. Franz Beckenbauer took over the team on an interim basis and won the title.

Labbadia arrived in Hamburg at the start of the season. After a promising beginning with the club hoping to win its first title of any kind in 23 years, the club has dropped to seventh place and Labbadia has feuded with some top players. Hamburg has won four of the 15 Bundesliga games since the winter break.

There is practically no chance Hamburg can qualify through the Bundesliga for the European competition next season.

The 44-year-old Labbadia, the ninth child of Italian immigrants, had a similar experience at Bayer Leverkusen last season, although he stayed in the job until leaving at the end of the season to move to Hamburg.

A former striker whose career included stints at Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen and two seasons at Hamburger SV, Labbadia scored 103 goals in 328 Bundesliga games for different teams. He played twice for Germany.

Labbadia's stern attitude won him no friends among players.

The atmosphere in the team worsened after the 1-0 loss at home in the previous round against Mainz, culminating in a loud dispute in the dressing room between Labbadia and his most experienced player, 36-year-old goalkeeper Frank Rost.

Labbadia chided Rost for taking a group of players to a movie on the eve of the match against Mainz. The team traditionally spends evenings before home matches in a Hamburg hotel. The German media compared Labbadia to a schoolmaster disciplining his pupils.

Labbadia also had problems with strikers Ruud van Nistelrooy and Mladen Petric, two of the team's stars.