Football is back! Preview Revierderby

Next Saturday will be marked by the return to activity of one of the big leagues of Europe, the Bundesliga will restart the competition after one month of inactivity due to the COVID-19 outbreak. And it´s return is marked by one of the biggest derbies in the competition Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 will battle it out in a match that will be perpetuated in history because of the context on which it´ll develop.

One of the handicaps for both teams will be whether they were able to maintain a competition level physique or in its detriment, how much they lost and how will this be a conditioning factor in the first matches of the return. 

Borussia started the second part of the season in outstanding form winning 6 of the 7 games they've played in the Bundesliga, yes, we need to consider the big setback of being eliminated of the DFB Pokal by Werder Bremen one of the lowest ranked teams in the league. The Champions League elimination at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain wasn´t that surprising because the firepower of the French team is difficult to match. Having said all that Borussia is the better favored side for this derby, Lucien Favre will have high hopes for Jadon Sancho, who when haves an inspired night is a force of nature that will dominate the rival team with his facility to either score or generate a big occasion for his teammates, that alongside the revolution that Erling Braut Halaand has brought to the team in terms of goalscoring will outweigh the defensive problems that the team has suffered all season long. With the title run so close with Bayern being ahead only by 4 points surely the black and yellows will aim towards winning the only tournament they have left this year.

Schalke 04 are standing in the 6th place of the league just barely clinching a Europa League spot for next season, in overall is a pretty young squad that has in Amine Harit its biggest offensive threat but both the team and the Moroccan share the same problem inconsistency with only one victory in their last 7 league games and a elimination of the DFB Pokal against Bayern Munich their struggle is palpable the Gelsenkirchen side have shown some fast, offensive, and scintillating football and some impressive performances from their youngsters but sadly they haven't been able to do it every week to that we have to add the fact that since Alexander Nubel announced that he'll be continuing his career with Bayern next season the coach, David Wagner decided to use Markus Schubert as a starter and he has had impressive performances but still makes big errors in important moments of matches contributing to their inconsistency. Schalke are going to be waiting for the weak defense that their rivals tend to have and capitalize on that, and for the rest of the season they'll try and keep the Europa League spot and solidify the young core so they can be more ambitious next season.

Written by: Federico

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