bundesliga preview: schalke 04 – borussia dortmund
 
the second weekend of the season sees the first revier-derby at the veltins arena between huge rivals schalke and dortmund. the last derby on the penultimate weekend of last season saw bvb win 2-0 and all but end schalke’s title ambitions. revenge is on the cards!
 
although officials of the two clubs met recently in an attempt to keep the emotions in check, the players will have one thing on their minds- revenge for ‘that defeat’ in may.

fans’ minds will hark back to that afternoon and a particular banner hoisted in the midst of the huge south stand.  on it was a picture of the bundesliga trophy accompanied by the words ‘you can look, but don’t touch!’

"we should not allow it to sink into hate," dortmund business manager hans-joachim watzke said.

but striker kevin kuranyi is still hurting from the experience in the signal-iduna park.  "it makes me sick that it was dortmund that destroyed our title hopes," he said. "well be looking out extra hard for those players who laughed at us."

the revier-derby is always highly charged, but this one has a little added spice.

schalke did well to claim a point at the gottlieb-daimler stadion in the opening game of the season.  it seems likely that ivan rakitic will get his chance from the start after his impressive goal scoring cameo role last weekend, and having impressed during training this week.  he will replace the unlucky mesut özil.  otherwise, mirko slomka will keep faith with the eleven players who took to the field last week.

after their embarrassing loss to duisburg on sunday, dortmund trainer thomas doll may tinker with his formation and include an extra defensive midfielder.  ideally for him, that would be sebastian kehl, although he is not 100% after a knee operation.  florian kringe looks set to replace philipp degen in defence.

come 17:30 0n saturday afternoon, and the königsblauen will be hoping it is their fans with the smiles on their faces.

date: 18.08.2007 (15:30)

venue: veltins arena, gelsenkirchen

referee: kircher (rottenburg)

assistants: walz (pfedelbach), schiffner (konstanz)

fourth official: schriever (dorum)

schalke 04 (4-4-2): neuer, rafinha, bordon, krstajic, pander, ernst, kobiashvili, rakitic, asamoah, kuranyi, lövenkrands

borussia dortmund (4-1-3-2): weidenfeller, kringe. wörns, kovac, dede, kehl, blaszczykowski, tinga, petric, smolarek, klimowicz

last season: 3-1

last 5 fixtures in gelsenkirchen: 3-1, 0-0, 1-2, 2-2, 2-2

overall: schalke: 15 dortmund: 9 draws: 11

mathew burt