Hertha Berlin hope to grab one of final nine Europa League berths

London: Hertha Berlin are desperate to boost their troubled season by securing one of the final nine spots in the next round of the Europa League this week.

Berlin are six points adrift at the bottom of the Bundesliga standings and seven short of safety after 15 winless matches in the German league.

But coach Friedhelm Funkel's team salvaged a last-minute 2-2 draw on Friday against Bundesliga leader Bayer Leverkusen and could get another useful boost to morale when they host Sporting Lisbon in one of 24 games in this week's final round of group matches.

Hertha need only to avoid defeat against the already qualified Group D leaders to advance to the next round ahead of Heerenveen, who host Ventspils.

But Sporting Lisbon want a victory to ease pressure at home. The Lions have managed just four victories in 13 games for its worst start to a Portuguese championship campaign in 42 years.

Ajax, Hamburg, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Sporting, AS Roma, Galatasaray, Red Bull Salzburg, Villarreal, Fenerbahce, Benfica, Everton, Shakhtar Donetsk, PSV Eindhoven, Werder Bremen and Athletic Bilbao have already clinched their places in the round of 32.

Sparta Prague and FC Copenhagen go head to head in another of Wednesday's matches to decide which of them will advance from Group K alongside PSV.

Sparta will miss central defender Tomas Repka through suspension and playmaker Patrik Berger is out because of a long-term knee injury, but another central defender, Roman Hubnik, has recovered from an instep injury and should be available.

"We were a group outsider at the beginning," Sparta coach Josef Chovanec said. "Now, we're fighting to advance. It's still open. It has to be clear from the start that we want a win."

Two former Sparta players, defender Zdenek Pospech and attacking midfielder Libor Sionko, both Czech internationals, play for Copenhagen now.

"It's good to play in the Czech Republic but not a decisive match," Pospech said.