The Revierderby is coming up on the 7th matchday of the Bundesliga, and Schalke have a good feeling as outsiders. Bayern’s draw kings are in demand away, while Leverkusen’s weak team at home.
1. FSV Mainz 05 – Hertha BSC (Friday, 8.30 p.m.)
Sandro Schwarz is on the line in Mainz, but this time as coach of Hertha BSC. Schwarz played for 1. FSV from 1997 to 2004 and was their coach from 2013 to 2019.
“I hope that he will be well received”said current Mainz coach Bo Svensson, who could pull his team past FC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund for at least one night.
The prerequisite for this is the fourth win of the season. The Berliners have only clinched one but showed a very appealing performance in the 2-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen last week.
Staff: At Mainz, Alexander Hack is suspended due to a red card, Jonathan Burkardt is out with a foot injury. Hertha has to do without sick Davie Selke and Suat Serdar.
Borussia Dortmund – FC Schalke 04 (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
As is well known, the cup has its own rules, but that should also apply to derbies.
The team, which was treated as a clear outsider, has won the big district derby more often in recent years.
That’s probably why Schalke’s sports director Rouven Schröder said: “We have a really good feeling playing this derby. We deserved it for a year to have this derby again. It’s a happy feeling.”
Many Borussia Dortmund fans should also be happy that the blues are playing against the yellows again. However, they may also be a little afraid of losing feathers. From the role of the outsider, as experienced in the Champions League at Manchester City, you can often play more relaxed.
Staff: Donyell Malen, Karim Adeyemi and Thorgan Hazard were back at BVB after recovering from injuries in Manchester. In addition to the long-term injuries and illnesses, goalkeeper Gregor Kobel will also be absent due to a torn muscle fibre. At Schalke, Marcin Kaminski is out for a longer period of time after an operation on his calf.
Bayer Leverkusen – Werder Bremen (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
Bayer Leverkusen was also involved in the European elite league during the week. The Werkself won 2-0 against Atlético Madrid. In the Bundesliga, on the other hand, Leverkusen have not yet won a point in their own stadium. The games against FC Augsburg, TSG Hoffenheim and SC Freiburg were all lost.
With SV Werder there is now an opponent who has not yet lost away from home. A 2-2 start at VfL Wolfsburg was followed by victories at Borussia Dortmund and VfL Bochum.
Staff: Exequiel Palacios is new to the injury list at Bayer Leverkusen, while Leonardo Bittencourt is at Werder. But goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka is back.
FC Augsburg – Bayern Munich (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
They are record champions and will remain so for at least decades. But at the moment Bayern Munich are also draw kings. After three draws behind against Borussia Mönchengladbach, Union Berlin and VfB Stuttgart succeeded in the Champions League at least a win against FC Barcelona.
The next opponent has a less prominent name, but the Augsburgers have often annoyed the all-powerful FC Bayern in recent years. Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann, who played for FCA in his youth, has a better record against any other opponent in the Bundesliga.
Nagelsmann is also a role model for the new Augsburg coach Enrico Maassen: “For all young German coaches, Julian is someone who has had a great career and who is very innovative. He’s also someone I’ve looked left and right at how he’s doing it because he has good approaches. “
The recent away win in Bremen helped Maaßen enormously to calm the discussions that were already emerging about him. In his own stadium he is still waiting for a point win, so the draw kings are just right.
Staff: At Augsburg, the squad should look like last week, at Bayern the newly injured one should Lucas Hernández from Matthijs de Ligt be replaced. Benjamin Pavard is struck.
VfB Stuttgart – Eintracht Frankfurt (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
Away from the pitch there is a big issue at VfB: With the appointment of the consultants Philipp Lahm and Sami Khedira, the CEO Alexander Wehrle caused a stir, with the personnel Christian Gentner even causing a stir.
The former Stuttgart professional will be head of the licensed players department from January, so he will work in the area of sports director Sven Mislintat, who – according to the legitimate reading – was a little disempowered.
In terms of sport, VfB can see themselves on the right track, having recently managed a 2-2 win at Bayern. However, there is still no victory in the Bundesliga, so the Swabians have had a historically bad start.
Eintracht Frankfurt maintains the reputation of the diva these days. A terrible performance in the home defeat against VfL Wolfsburg was followed by success in the Champions League at Olympique Marseille.
Staff: Konstantinos Mavropanos could miss VfB, Josha Vagnoman is sure to be out. Luca Pellegrini is out at Eintracht.
Borussia Mönchengladbach – RB Leipzig (Saturday, 6.30 p.m.)
Florian Neuhaus out with a cruciate ligament injury, Ko Itakura with a torn ligament and Alassane Plea with a muscle fiber tear: “Not ideal conditions, that doesn’t make it easy”said Gladbach coach Daniel Farke, who also raved about the opponent. “We’re playing a top Bundesliga team. With Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, they have one of the best squads in the league. They also have a top coach and had a top transfer window. When all of these things come together, it’s actually a successful season unavoidable.”
“Top trainer” means Marco Rose, who just over a week ago started the work of Domenico Tedesco took over. Since then there has been one win against Borussia Dortmund and one defeat in the Champions League at Real Madrid. The two performances had in common that the people from Leipzig were convincing.
There’s a lot of explosiveness in the game as Rose’s move from Gladbach to Borussia Dortmund in 2021 caused a lot of irritation among the fans. Now there is also the fact that Max Eberl, who is on leave, is about to move to Leipzig. The manager, who has been successful in Mönchengladbach for so many years, is said to be working for the Saxons from January.
Staff: As mentioned, Neuhaus, Itakura and please with the Gladbachers. Whether Nico Elvedi can play again is questionable. Leipzig still has to do without Dani Olmo, Lukas Klostermann and Konrad Laimer. Expect some changes in the starting XI after the midweek game at Real Madrid.
1. FC Union Berlin – VfL Wolfsburg (Sunday, 3.30 p.m.)
For the first time in its history, 1. FC Union Berlin will be leading a Bundesliga game. The team from Köpenick benefits from an efficiency that is unique in the league, just like the mileage.
However, there was another setback in Europe leaguein which the second group game was also lost without scoring a goal.
Wolfsburg comes to the Alte Försterei with the recommendation of an away win at Eintracht Frankfurt and – at least on the match sheet – without Max Kruse. Kruse left there not long ago to earn more money in Wolfsburg and have better sporting prospects. One of them has come true.
Staff: It looks like Union survived the game in Braga without any injuries. At Wolfsburg, Mattias Svanberg is questionable.
VfL Bochum – 1. FC Cologne (Sunday, 5.30 p.m.)
Thomas Reis is gone, Heiko Butscher makes his debut as interim coach of VfL Bochum. The situation is precarious, extremely precarious. Not only did VfL start the season with six defeats, the presumed rivals in the fight for relegation also have at least five points more.
1. FC Köln has a better record against VfL Bochum than any other current Bundesliga side. He won 33 of 60 games and lost only eleven.
The current developments speak even more for the Cologne team, because VfL conceded by far the most in the league with 18 goals, and he has only scored one goal in the previous three home games.
The Bochum team must primarily rely on the effect of the change of coach and hope that 1. FC Köln will be in the Europa on Thursday conference league left a lot of strength in the wild game against 1. FC Slovacko.
Staff: Takuma Asano will be missing from VfL for a long time. Butscher could make a change in goal by favoring Michael Esser over Manuel Riemann. FC have to do without the suspended Luca Kilian.
1899 Hoffenheim – SC Freiburg (Sunday 7.30 p.m.)
It’s fitting that SC Freiburg is showing up for Oliver Baumann’s probably 400th Bundesliga appearance, because the TSG goalkeeper played for the team from Breisgau before moving to Kraichgau in 2014.
Anyway, there will be some reunions. Vincenzo Grifo, Manuel Gulde, Jonathan Schmid and Michael Gregoritsch used to be active for TSG. Grifo especially enjoys the duels with his former club. He has always been involved in goals in the last five competitive games against TSG, in the cup last season he even scored twice against Hoffenheim.
The second in the table from Freiburg comes with the recommendation of a sovereign away win in Europe league near Olympiakos Piraeus to Sinsheim.
Staff: Hoffenheim can probably fall back on the staff from last week, while SC Freiburg will have Roland Sallai out after an eye operation.