Schalke 04 – Magdeburg

The more coordinated actions of the visiting team will lead them to secure at least one point

In one of the key confrontations of the sixth round of the Second Bundesliga will play the clubs, which at the start of the season perform contrary to the predictions of experts before the first round. While Schalke were among the three main contenders for a return to the Bundesliga, Magdeburg were considered one of the candidates for relegation. Now the clubs occupy the positions that bookmakers predicted their upcoming opponents. Christian Titz's team is in third place, being together with the two Hamburg clubs the last representatives of the Second Bundesliga, not knowing the bitterness of defeat. Schalke, in turn, managed to lose three times, which led the club to an unenviable twelfth position. Bookmakers before the personal meeting of the rivals considered the home team as favourites, offering odds of 2.06 on their victory. The hosts of the upcoming meeting have made quite serious changes to the squad in the off-season, the purpose of which was to release unmotivated players and reduce the wage bill. If in the first round, the club from Gelsenkirchen put up serious resistance to Hamburg at its stadium and lost only after a suspension, then further results emphasised the difficult process of adaptation of the team to the realities of the second division. They managed to beat Kaiserslautern at home, as the opponents were already nine men down by the 58th minute. However, one point gained against Braunschweig (0-1), Holstein Kiel (0-2) and Veen (1-1) goes against the Pitmen's high ambitions. Schalke will go into the upcoming match with the task of winning, but can the club in its current state cope with it? Magdeburg returned to the Second Bundesliga after a break last season and managed to finish in a safe eleventh place. The transfer campaign in the off-season seemed to be interesting in terms of acquisitions, but in the five starting rounds only the supporting midfielder Jean Hugonet, who came from Austria Lustenau, really played in the centre. The backbone of the team is made up of the same players as last season. In the opening rounds Magdeburg drew twice and won three times. Including beating Braunschweig and Holstein Kiel, who after these defeats beat Schalke. More favourable at this stage of the season, the guests will not lose in Saturday's meeting.