SV Hamburg chairman Bernd Hoffmann confirmed on Monday that the Bundesliga club has parted company with coach Bruno Labbadia, less than 24 hours after the 5-1 humiliation by Hoffenheim.
The decision comes just three days before Thursday’s Europa League semifinal second-leg clash with Fulham.
Technical coach Ricardo Moniz will take charge for the rest of the season, starting with the clash against Fulham in London which is finely balanced at 0-0.
Hamburg have had a string of poor results over the last six weeks but Labbadia’s fate was sealed after the heavy loss to Hoffenheim, which left the club languishing in seventh spot and out of the qualifying places for next season’s Europa League.
Their only chance of qualifying for European football next season now rests in reaching and winning the Europa League final in their own stadium on May 12.
Labbadia moved to Hamburg from Bayer Leverkusen as successor to Martin Jol last summer on a contract that was due to run until the end of the 2012 season.
However, Hamburg has now decided that he isn’t the man to turn the club’s fortunes around before the end of the season.
