PREVIEW: Dortmund put heat on Hertha as top three face strugglers

By Barry Whelan Feb 16, 2012, 11:04 GMT

Berlin - Borussia Dortmund are at crisis club Hertha Berlin aiming to defend a two-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga as the top three all visit sides in the bottom four.

Hertha are again looking for a coach after the sacking this week of Michael Skibbe following Saturday's 5-0 humbling at VfB Stuttgart and five successive defeats since he replaced Markus Babbel.

Under-19 coach Rene Tretschok - a former Dortmund player - is in charge for the visit of the champions, who are on a run of five straight league wins, while Hertha have slumped to fourth last.

'Our focus must be on this game and this game alone,' Tretschok said.

'I was a player myself for 17 years and of course know that in this situation words alone don't help. We have to keep things simple. We don't have to reinvent the game or anything.'

Tretschok said he had talked a lot to the players and tried to get them to put last weekend's heavy defeat out of their minds.

'I told them to close their eyes and think of Saturday - a home game against the reigning Bundesliga champions and 70,000 fans in the stadium,' he said.

'We want to create that goose-bump feeling, so that the lads only have to go out and do what they are here for. Play football.

'It is not a life and death situation, but far more about wanting to put total effort in, passion and identification with your club. That is what the fans expect and I hope that we can show that on Saturday.'

Dortmund - who expect to have 18,000 fans in Berlin - will be wary of a Hertha side with a lot to prove in the Olympic Stadium.

'We know we have a really hard task ahead of us,' defender Marcel Schmelzer said. 'There is going to be a reaction from Hertha and we will have to be prepared for that.'

Second-placed Bayern Munich are meanwhile at bottom club Freiburg at the start of a busy phase of four matches in 15 days, including a Champions League last-16 trip to Basel.

'We're not right at the top of the league, so we have to come away with points,' captain Philipp Lahm said.

Borussia Moenchengladbach, a point behind Bayer, visit third-last Kaiserslautern with injury concerns over the club's top scorer Marco Reus, who suffered a groin strain in training Wednesday.

Fourth-placed Schalke meanwhile are aiming to bounce back from a 3-0 defeat at Moenchengladbach which has left them two points behind Lucien Favre's side, with Wolfsburg - and former Schalke coach Felix Magath - the visitors on Sunday.

Improving SV Hamburg will be aiming to close ground on rivals Werder Bremen, lying fifth, when the two meet in the northern derby, while also Saturday Bayer Leverkusen host second-last Augsburg, and Nuremberg take on Cologne.

The weekend programme begins Friday evening with Hoffenheim against Mainz, while Sunday's other game sees Hanover entertain Stuttgart.