Hamburg battled out a 0-0 draw with Italian giants Juventus today in a pre-season match between the two sides. Whilst Hamburg did have quite a few chances to take the lead, strong goalkeeping and a bit of pre-season rust kept it all square.

Hamburg lined up quite strongly, with only few players coming from the reserves or the youth team. Hamburg played a 3-4-3 formation, which allowed for a quick counter-attacking style of play.

Rost – Besic, Diekmeier, Rozenhal – Rincon, Jarolim, Ze Roberto, Pitroipa – Min Son, Petric, Guerrero

Diekmeier is a new signing at HSV who has been brought in to replace Jerome Boateng. Diekmeier signed from Nurnberg just days prior to this match. In the midfield, the experienced Jarolim and Ze Roberto were, and have always been, instrumental to the side’s attacking moves. Jarolim’s workrate and Ze Roberto’s creativity is a perfect one-two combination for the German side. But, on this occasion, the midfield was dominated by another player. Juventus’ Diego.

The nimble midfielder who was billed as the next Kaka during his Werder Bremen days, seemed absolutely in control of the match against opponents he has faced so many times before. The shocking thing, is that Juventus have been looking to offload Diego for weeks now. After a disappointing first season, many in Turin had written the Brazilian playmaker off, but will now be thinking twice.

Hamburg’s Marcus Berg, who in the coming days will move on loan to PSV, showed Hamburg just how much they will not be missing him. He came on and had very little impact, and also allowed a Juve defender to steal in front of him and clear a certain goal off the line.

Another talking point was Lanzafame’s tackle on Ze Roberto, which looked to inflict some serious pain on the Brazilian playmaker. Losing Ze Roberto at the start of the season, if his injury is that bad, would be a bitter blow to Hamburg.

The game ends on a positive note for Hamburg, who will have the happier set of supporters after holding on for a nil-nil draw. Juventus fans, however, are anticipating another season of hurt after seeing new signings Jorge Martinez and Marco Motta fail to make any kind of positive impression.