(eca080) Guerrero incident highlights Hamburg woes (News Feature)

By John Bagratuni Apr 5, 2010, 15:29 GMT

Hamburg - Paolo Guerrero's infamous hurling of a plastic bottle into the face of a disgruntled fan marks a new low as SV Hamburg's season turns from bad to worse.

Guerrero was fined and apologized on Monday, but the incident after Sunday's 0-0 Bundesliga draw against Hanover 96 highlighted a growing deep rift between the players and the fans.

Coach Bruno Labbadia is also under fire after just one league win in seven games and the imminent danger of ending up without a place in Europe.

The latest setback came a week after a crisis meeting between players, coaches and officials and now overshadows preparations for Thursday's Europa League quarter-final return leg at Standard Liege.

The sum was not disclosed but Hamburg president Bernd Hoffmann named it 'a fine (of an amount) we have never had before' on Monday.

Guerrero could face a ban from the German football federation (DFB) which is said to decide on Tuesday whether to take action.

'I apologize to all I have done harm. This is the first time something like that has happened to me,' said Guerrero.

Guerrero, who only just returned from a ruptured cruciate knee ligament, was seemingly insulted by the fan as he headed to the dressing room after the game amid jeers from all around the stadium.

Television footage showed him stop together with defender Joris Mathijsen, exchange a few words with the fan - located on the more expensive seats and not among the die-hards - and then hurl his water bottle into the face of the man before being led away by team-mates.

The local Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper spoke of a 'mega-scandal' on its website Monday and the worst player/fan confrontation since Eric Cantona's infamous karate-style attack on a Crystal Palace fan in 1995 which saw the Frenchman banned for eight months.

'That is totally unacceptable. He will face the relevant consequences. This does not belong in football,' said Hoffmann after the game.

Labbadia said: 'This can not happen. He was insulted in the most extreme way. But we must withstand that and react more professional.'

Captain Frank Rost agreed that Guerrero should have simply walked away but also insisted that 'he did not do it without a reason' and that fans must face the consequences in such cases.

'It was a clean hit - the New York Yankees would sign him up on the spot,' said Rost.

Other players like Dennis Aogo also complained that the fans had turned against the team early in the match instead of supporting it.

Disgruntled fans have made their presence felt and turned against their team before this season in the Bundesliga.

Hundreds tried to storm the VFB Stuttgart headquarters after a lost match in the final countdown to the sacking of coach Markus Babbel last autumn, and around 150 Hertha Berlin fans stormed the pitch after a recent home defeat against Nuremberg.

Ralf Bednarek, head of the influential Hamburg fan group Supporters, said that Guerrero's action had to do with the team and not the fan dissent.

'The team is trying to distract from its own problems. Guerrero lost it because the team is under pressure,' Bednarek said.

'There is nothing that justifies this bottle-throwing. A fan would get a two-year stadium ban for that,' Bednarek said.