Football Results

A great neighbouring derby is of great importance for both teams in the fight for placement in the Champions League. This time Schalke was better placed and they are in second place with one point more than Borussia, which is third and probably both teams would be happy to keep their current positions. Schalke had a nice series of six wins, but they were defeated in the last round against the last ranked team, Borussia had won in the last round, but they were mastered two rounds ago in Munich. In the first part of the season they played a draw in the already famous game, 4-4.

Schalke 04

Schalke is a great second place for them on the table, and they certainly want to stay there, especially because they are threatened by a big rival Borussia, so they can increase their advantage in this match, but they should not lose. They should not have lost in the last round because they played against the last-ranked HSV, but Schalke failed to repeat a good game like six matches before that and they were defeated for the seventh time this season.

First of all, their defence has failed completely, which in the mentioned six triumphs, capitulated only once, while they lost in Hamburg with 3-2. It did not help that they took early the lead and they have lost with 2-2 at the very end, and coach Tedesco has after the victory over the team of Bentaleb, Oczipku and di Santa after a victory over Freiburg. Now the first two are coming back, but Nastasic will not be in the team due to the yellow cards, so Kehrer will be on the field.

Probable lineups Schalke 04: Fahrmann – Stambouli, Naldo, Kehrer – D.Caligiuri, Bentaleb, M.Meyer, Oczipka – Harit, Goretzka – G.Burgstaller

Borussia Dortmund

However this season ends, it is hard to call it a successful in Dortmund because they have completely failed Europe and will not defend the trophy either in the Cup. There are a lot of oscillations in the championship, but they are now in the positions that lead to the Champions League and they want to keep it. A lot will depend on this and next match against Bayer Leverkusen, which is below them on the table. They had one series of 12 championship matches without defeat, and then two rounds before they played against Bayern and they were mastered with 6-0, which is one of the worst defeats in recent years.

They quickly managed to consolidate, and in the last round they looked much better on the field, so they defeated Stuttgart without major problems with 3-0, with complete dominance. Coach Stoger made logical changes after Munich, and Toprak returned to the center-back, Sahin and Reus jumped in midfield and Philipp in attack. Because of the good game against Stuttgart, Stoger will not probably change anything at all.

Probable lineups Borussia Dortmund: Burki – Piszczek, Sokratis, Toprak, Schmelzer – Dahoud, Sahin – C.Pulisic, Reus, Philipp – Batshuayi

Verdict:

It is hard to expect that big rivals will repeat a duel from the first part of the season, when there were eight goals, with a brilliant return of Schalke, but this game could be meaningful. The win is very valuable and both teams want points, so we expect goals on both sides of the field.

Pick:  both teams to score 1.66 - 66/100 @1XBet