Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 8y

RB Leipzig boss Ralph Hasenhuttl hits back at Hamburg fan protest

RB Leipzig coach Ralph Hasenhuttl has hit back at Hamburg supporters over their plans to protest ahead of Saturday's Bundesliga clash, highlighting tycoon Klaus-Michael Kuhne's influence on HSV.

Leipzig have faced protests throughout the season after their promotion to the top tier after soft drink manufacturer Red Bull funded their meteoric rise since founding the club in 2009. 

Hamburg fans have announced a protest march ahead of the clubs' meeting at HSV's Volksparkstadion, for which Kuhne bought the naming rights in early 2015. 

"What Red Bull does in Leipzig is a very severe form of commercialisation," Nils Kruger, one of the initiators of the protest march, told Hamburger Abendblatt.

Joachim Ranau, a fan liaison officer at HSV, said the protests are acceptable for the club as long as they stay within tolerable limits, adding: "It's not a big secret that RB Leipzig are not among our favourite clubs."

However, Hasenhuttl suggested it was hypocritical for Hamburg fans to protest against outside investment, saying: "What I can promise is that our fans have not planned a protest march against investor Kuhne. I can promise we will only focus on football."

All three of Leipzig's competitive games so far this season have prompted reaction from opposition fans. Dynamo Dresden supporters threw a severed cow's head during a DFB Pokal game, while their first Bundesliga game at Hoffenheim saw the home fans holding up banners complaining they are no longer Germany's most hated club.

Last week, several Borussia Dortmund fan groups did not travel to Leipzig and instead opted to listen to the 1-0 defeat at the Zentralstadion on the radio at their old ground, the Rote Erde. 

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