Dardai confirms multiple outs against Bayern
Hertha BSC trainer Pal Dardai had eight confirmed outs to report ahead of Bayern during his final pre-match presser on Friday afternoon. The capital city gaffer must make do without three of the starters from his previous XI and his two most influential performers off the bench.
Pal Dardai's previous starting XI finds itself in need of a major re-build after injuries in the Hertha camp piled up this week. Starting ten Marco Richter must pass against Bayern due to muscular issues. Dardai's son Marton is also unavailable due to injury, as is de-factor team leader Kevin-Prince Boateng. Defender Marc Oliver Kempf (starter) and Suat Serdar (relief) cannot partake against Bayern on Sunday due to yellow-card-accumulation suspensions.
Dardai confirmed that Richter, Boateng, and son Marton were out during his Friday presser. Midfielder Tolga Cigerci, Dardai reluctantly revealed, is also struggling with a stomach bug. The Charlottenburger trainer dropped strong hints that - whether in place of Richter, Cigerci, or possibly neither - Jean-Paul Boëtius could be in line for a cold start. Dardai specifically praised Boëitus as the team's "second best footballer on the team next to Stevan Jovetic."
On the topic of Jovetic, Dardai was forced to report that the Montenegrin would again be unavailable due to injury and unable to log his first minutes under his new coach. Doing his utmost to put a positive spin on things, Dardai did note that he had confidence in his new back-four system irrespective of who played in it. He also stressed that a lot of time had been put into set-pieces on the training pitch. Hertha may not be able to compete with Bayern in open play, but goals could always come off dead-balls.
"We have invested a lot in set-pieces this week and I expect something to come out of it," Dardai said, "Bayern will give everything to beat us. I don't want to sit here and talk any nonsense here. If I were to say that I knew how to beat Bayern away from home, I'd be talking about something I haven't done yet."