Gomez, 21, has bagged 14 goals this season, despite missing eight weeks with a knee injury, and only made his return in dramatic fashion a fortnight ago to score the late goal which put Stuttgart top of the Bundesliga.

Having used him as an impact player from the bench, Stuttgart coach Armin Veh revealed his plans to hit the Nuremberg defence with Gomez, who has been included in the squad for Germany's Euro 2008 qualifiers, from the start.

"There is a strong chance he will play from the outset," said Veh, who will tempt fate by not be wearing his trade-mark lucky grey suit, the one he wore when his side captured their first Bundesliga title for 15 years last weekend.

Having been hammered 3-0 and 4-1 by Nuremberg home and away this season, Stuttgart are in the hunt for some sweet revenge in Saturday's DFB Cup final at Berlin's Olympic Stadium.

Champs on the end of two thrashings

Stuttgart opened the season with a 3-0 defeat at their Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadium and after the winter break went down 4-1 away at their deadly rivals Nuremberg, so are looking to lay a few
ghosts on Saturday.

This is the first cup final clash between these two particular sides and both clubs have won the cup three times apiece, so it promises to be an emotional afternoon for both teams - especially their goalkeepers.

Stuttgart's shot-stopper Timo Hildebrand is set to join Spanish giants Valencia, while Nuremberg's Raphael Schaefer, in an ironic twist which could add to the drama, is leaving this summer to join... Stuttgart.

Schaefer will no doubt be hoping the game will not be decided on penalties and that his likely back four of Dominik Reinhardt, Andreas Wolf, the Brazilian Glauber and Javier Horacio Pinola give him little to do.

Nuremberg smell a cup upset

Pinola said after training on Thursday that he feels a Nuremberg win is in the air and Wolf was just as optimistic, saying: "We are very confident of our chances."

But for Nuremberg striker, Markus Schroth, who wants to give Hildebrand the worst possible send off in his last game having spent the last 12 years at Stuttgart, the Bundesliga is now history.

"The league is over," he said, "now we are onto something quite special, we play as a tight unit and we'll know exactly what to do on Saturday."