For Schalke fans who have been waiting for their team to find their best form, Tuesday’s 1-0 loss away to Lyon was yet another disappointment. Christoph Moritz made a silly error early in the game to allow Michel Bastos to net the game’s only goal, and centre half Benedikt Hoewedes was controversially sent off not long thereafter. Before half-time, Schalke were really against the ropes, and did rather well to avoid losing by a greater margin.
Heading into the 136th Ruhr derby, Schalke are winless in the Bundesliga since April 23. Die Knappen have lost all of their three league fixtures this term, but will hope to rebound on the grand stage that is the Ruhr derby. The word “crisis” is being mentioned more and more, but coach Felix Magath feels that such a stage has yet to be reached.
“It is normal to see pressure appear after three straight defeats,” he admitted to Deutsche Presseagentur. “We have to deal with this. This should not be a problem for us. There is no need to panic.”
Still, Magath himself is likely feeling pressure from his superiors at Schalke. The coach has splashed cash on the likes of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Jose Manuel Jurado and Sergio Escudero, and financially, his club are counting on a return to Champions League football next fall.
As the proverb goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and that step could be made against Dortmund. In perhaps the biggest derby in Western Europe, and in front of a capacity crowd at the Veltins-Arena, perhaps everything will rapidly come together for Schalke.
Dortmund Enter Derby After Whirlwind In Lviv
Still an extremely young side, Dortmund showed both expected naivety and exceptional maturity in Thursday’s 4-3 victory away to Karpaty Lviv. In that match, the Schwarzgelben went 2-0 ahead early, but saw their advantage disintegrate in the second half, the equaliser coming after defender Mats Hummels fell flat on his back. After twice hitting the post late, they conceded a silly counterattack goal and appeared on their way to a stunning loss. It was a show of pure inexperience.
But that all changed late. Dortmund pushed and pushed, and finally equalised in the 87th minute, when Robert Lewandowski found Lucas Barrios, who leveled with an emphatic finish. Deep in injury time, Barrios set up 18-year old prodigy Mario Goetze with a perfect chipped ball, and the attacking midfielder completed his brace with a cool finish. Their late showing required the kind of composure and coolness that you’d never see from a U-21 side, which almost describes Dortmund.
After the game, Heinz Buese of the Associated Press labeled what he saw as the “craziest game of the club’s history.”
Nuri Sahin, who converted an early penalty, hailed his team’s performance.
“This was a great game, the end was beautiful,” the Turkish midfielder told reporters. “We all made mistakes, and each of us knows what he has done wrong. The fact that we came back as a team shows that we have great attitude.”
Their tremendous comeback will send Dortmund into the Ruhr derby with heads full of steam. Striker Lucas Barrios, who equalised late before assisting Goetze’s winner, issued a rally call on Friday: “We owe our fans one more victory at Schalke!”
TEAM NEWS
Schalke
Christoph Metzelder, Tim Hoogland, Christian Pander and Levan Kenia have been ruled out of Felix Magath’s matchday squad, but the coach still has a number of tough decisions to make in his selection. Known for making surprising squad decisions at the last moment, Magath could use any of a number of formations and combinations of players.
Probable Starting XI: Neuer - Moritz, Hoewedes, Plestan, Sarpei - Jones, Rakitic - Farfan, Jurado, Raul - Huntelaar
Borussia Dortmund
After sustaining a hip flexor injury while preparing for Thursday’s match in Lviv, skipper Sebastian Kehl has been ruled out. He will join Tamas Hajnal, Dede, and Mohamed Zidan as definite absentees from Juergen Klopp’s squad. The only question mark lies over Mario Goetze, who took a knock to the head against Lviv, but is expected to start ahead of Jakub Blasczykowski.
Probable Starting XI: Weidenfeller - Owomoyela, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer - Bender, Sahin - Goetze, Kagawa, Grosskreutz - Barrios
Prediction
It’s only a matter of time before Schalke reach their best form, but at the moment, Dortmund are far too good to lose. Given the defensive woes of Schalke and the fact that Dortmund conceded four in Lviv, expect a goalfest. Either team could win, but a draw seems most appropriate between these bitter rivals.
Schalke 04 2-2 Borussia 
