Schalke 04 – Hertha BSC: Schalke Send Out A Statement In The Relegation Battle (5-2)

Exciting relegation battles seem to be the norm across Europe's big leagues this season. Whilst the Premier League's nine-team scrap steals a lot of the spotlight, the battle at the bottom of the Bundesliga is not much less tense. The 28th round of fixtures kicked off with a huge six-pointer between the bottom two, with both Schalke and Hertha having a great chance of jumping into the play-off spot with a win.

Tactical analysis and match report by Neel Shelat.

Schalke were once powerhouses in German football, but they seem to be on course to become a bit of a yo-yo club now. They followed up their disastrous relegation in 2020/21 with a 2. Bundesliga title, but found themselves back at the very bottom of the top flight going into this fixture. With a tough fixture list coming up, they really needed to win this one.

Hertha also are a side on a downward trajectory. Their decline has been slow and painful, with vast amounts of investment unable to arrest it due to overall mismanagement. Their last visit to the second league was ten seasons ago, but a return has seemed inevitable of late. The capital club still have a couple of clashes against relegation rivals scheduled after this, but no one would like to be in the drop zone at this point.

As usual, Schalke lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Ralf Fährmann continued in goal behind Cédric Brunner, Moritz Jenz, Marcin Kamiński and Henning Matriciani. Danny Latza and Alex Král had Dominick Drexler ahead of them in midfield, whilst Tim Skarke and Marius Bülter flanked Simon Terodde up front . . .