Schalke 04 vs. Bayern Munich preview: Do Schalke even stand a chance?
Bayern play at the Veltins-Arena to face the worst team in the Bundesliga on the final matchday of 2022. While Schalke did defeat Mainz midweek, this game could get ugly for the Royal Blues.
| Photo: Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Schalke 04
The newly-promoted side haven't beaten Bayern in the last 21 games they've played. Luckily, Schalke have a bit more hope heading into the weekend after defeating Mainz on Matchday 14 for their second league victory of the season.
2. Bundesliga legend Simon Terodde will need to provide some heroics up front, while veteran Maya Yoshida will have his hands full controlling play from the back.
The Veltins-Arena will undoubtedly be packed with passionate supporters, but Schalke face quite the formidable task ahead. They are last in goals scored and second-worst in goals conceded on the season.
New coach Thomas Reis commented, "We've got to be aggressive and brave if we want a chance against Bayern. It's the last game before a long break and we have to give it everything and minimize mistakes. We want to get a positive result."
Team News
Thomas Ouwejan, Leo Greiml, Rodrigo Zalazar, Sepp van den Berg, Marcin Kaminski and Ibrahima Cisse are unavailable for the Royal Blues.
Bayern Munich
An NFL game is taking place at the Allianz Arena on Sunday, but Bayern will first have to focus on beating last-place Schalke on Saturday. The Bavarian club are in superb form as of late, having won every single game since their draw against Dortmund on October 8th.
Ending 2022 with a win would give the league leaders their 10th straight victory in all competitions. Many players will have a busy winter at the World Cup, but Ryan Gravenberch was unluckily left out of the Netherlands squad on Friday.
His teammate from Ajax, Noussair Mazraoui, will likely start at right-back. Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala, Leroy Sané and Eric Choupo-Moting are expected to be in the starting 11 up front.
In his press conference, Julian Nagelsmann said, "It has been a turbulent 6 months. We want to beat Schalke tomorrow, then we'll have done a good job in all competitions. Not a perfect job, but a good job. The development of the individual players makes me feel positive."
Team News
Sadio Mané, Thomas Müller and Bouna Sarr are out. Matthijs de Ligt will travel with the team, while Alphonso Davies will stay back in Munich.
