Fortuna Dusseldorf coach Norbert Meier is not taking anything for granted as his side prepare to host Hertha Berlin in the second leg of the play-off for a place in the Bundesliga next season holding a 2-1 advantage.

Dusseldorf can afford to lose 1-0 on Wednesday night and still return to the top flight of German football after a 15-year absence, but Meier remains cautious.

"The scoreline is very good, but it does not in any way indicate that the tie is over," he said.

"So many things have happened in football. There are those dreams which you wake up from dripping with sweat so we have got to remain realistic."

Hertha avoiding relegation on the final day of the season is a case in point.

They needed to win and hope that Cologne failed to beat Bayern Munich to earn this play-off tie, and now they are hoping for a similar dose of good fortune to stay in the top flight.

"We have got to be prepared for everything," said their coach Otto Rehhagel at the pre-match press conference.

"The second half begins for us now and we want to end it positively."

Rehhagel has left Tunay Torun and Andreas Ottl behind in the capital "for tactical reasons" and will be relying on Adrian Ramos and Raffael to score the two goals that Hertha need to stand any chance at all of avoiding relegation.

Meier can welcome Sascha Dum into his squad, but it is not certain that he will play a part on Wednesday.

"I have not made up my mind yet about the squad," said Meier. "I will make my final choices (on the day of the game)."

Over 51,000 fans will take their place in the sold-out Dusseldorf Arena with the majority hoping to witness Fortuna's return to the big-time in a year when their bitter local rivals Cologne have been relegated to the second division.