German Bundesliga
2009-09-26 - Borussia Dortmund vs Schalke 04
A Sports Betting Pick by Niko
Football: Germany, Bundesliga 2009/2010
Signal-Iduna Park
Saturday 26th September 2009 – kickoff 15:30
Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund, just like Schalke, advanced further in the Cup competition by winning 3-0 to Karlsruher SC.
Last week they played pretty good against Hannover but managed to get only one point in a disappointing draw. This team is still under-performing in the league where they have only one win, three draws and two losses.
Borussia Dortmund also have a tendency to concede lots of goals (12 times so far) and defense is not the strongest part of the team.
Coach Klopp can not count on Brazilian International Dede, who has recovered from his injury but he lacks fitness. Latest reports are that he might still get some playing time.
Young German international, Sven Bender made a successful debut for Borussia Dortmund last week in the match against Hannover, having assisted to the goal his team scored. However, he will be sidelined in the Rhur derby because he has caught a cold and needs to rest.
Valdez is back after a one-match break and he will probably join Lucas Barrios up front who has scored twice against Karlsruher, while Mohamed Zidan will be on the bench. Weidenfeller is expected to return as a goalkeeper, after his great performance against Karlsruher, although he had an important role in the failure against Bayern when he conceded five times.
Kehl, Kullmann and Sadrijaj are injured and out of combination.
Schalke 04
Schalke is still searching form and formation to play in. Coach Magath has tried several formations, and in the last few weeks it’s notable that the defense has been strengthened where he uses five defenders, something that was unimaginable last season with Wolfsburg.
Schalke plays much better away than home and they will pose a real threat to the ‘millionaires’. However Schalke needs improvement in the squad in order to keep up with the championship contenders.
Brazilian Rafinha has demanded a transfer but he could not find another club so he is back in the team but his performance on the pitch is questionable.
The midfield of the team is much weakened with the absence of the Jermaine Jonas who underwent knee surgery as well as the absence of the Croatian international Ivan Rakitic who is out with flu.
Schalke beat Bochum fairly easily during midfield even without several starters so probably the line-up will be the same. Besides mentioned, Coach Magath also can not count on the services of injured Mineiro, Stevanović and Latza for this match.
Head to Head
In head to head matches Schalke has a much better record in the last 21 derbies where they have lost only twice. I think that this will be an equal match in the whole 90 minutes and that none of the sides have a major advantage.
Last year in Dortmund, Schalke had a 3-0 lead and the match ended in fantastic 3-3 draw.
The Betting Verdict
This is one of the biggest derbies in Germany, both teams are Ruhr district rivals and there is only twenty miles distance between Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen.
I expect an open match this time too, and since this is a derby match and it can go either way i will go in for goals as a bet.
The Statistics :
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pick :
Borussia Dortmund 2-2 Schalke
