Hamburger SV general manager Frank Arnesen believes that his club can challenge Bayern Munich for Bundesliga superiority.
His comments echo those of Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness, who claimed that only Rothosen have the capacity to match the Bavarian giants.
Arnesen believes that Thorsten Fink has enough quality at his disposal to qualify for the Champions League next season following the signings of Rafael van der Vaart and Petr Jiracek.
"With the transfers of Van der Vaart and Jiracek, we made two steps forward at the end of August," Arnesen told Die Welt. "This team has great quality now, which only has to be gradually improved to compete for Europe next season.
"Hamburg is a football-crazy city with 1.9 million people living here. In addition, no city in Germany is richer than Hamburg.
"We have everything needed to be on a par with Bayern."
The Dane took over his current post in February of 2010.
Michael Penkman
