Hamburger vs Bayern Munich preview - Zinnbauer faces stiff Bayern task

Hamburg boss Josef Zinnbauer faces as intimidating a touchline debut as they come when his team face Bayern Munich on Saturday.

Four days after being promoted from his reserve-team duties following the dismissal of Mirko Slomka, he leads the struggling northern Germany side out at the HSV-Arena to tackle the Bundesliga champions.

As if the stature of the opponents was not intimidating enough, Zinnbauer has to lift the spirits of a side who have picked up only one point from three games, without scoring a single goal and conceding five.

In their last 16 games spanning two seasons, Hamburg have won only three.

"It's a psychological problem," Zinnbauer said. "It's nothing to do with a lack of quality - we've got the experience of hundreds of Bundesliga games in the side."

Shifting that mental block is Zinnbauer's task this Saturday, although he is not pinning too much importance on his coaching debut.

"The result is secondary," he said. "There is no other club in the world who are playing as dominantly as Bayern are right now.

"What's important for me is that we present ourselves well and play as a team. My team have got to show that they love playing football."

The 44-year-old will hope to bring his personal achievements to his success-starved side. This season, Hamburg's reserves have won all eight of their games in the German fourth division, but he is delighted to have moved up to the big time.

"As a coach, you work hard for an opportunity like this," he said. "I'm really looking forward to the Bundesliga."

Bayern coach Pep Guardiola knows about the impact a new coach can have on a club.

"Hamburg are one of the most important clubs in Germany and I remember when Slomka joined them and they won their first game 3-0 against Borussia Dortmund," Guardiola said.

"We've just got to focus on ourselves. It's always difficult after a Champions League game in midweek when you only have two or three days to recover, and that makes it a difficult game."

Guardiola will leave it late to decide whether Medhi Benatia will play after the Moroccan made his debut in midweek.

"It's probably too much for him right now to play every three days," he said. "Before the Manchester City game, he had not played for two and a half months."

Dante is the alternative, should Guardiola decide to rotate his winning team.