Soccer

Bundesliga 2012, Week 21 Preview And Fixtures: Gladbach Host Schalke In Massive Tilt

The match of the weekend takes place Saturday when Borussia Mönchengladbach host Schalke 04.

Feb 10, 2012, 1:52 PM UTC

Marco Reus of Moenchengladbach celebrates his team’s second goal during the Bundesliga match between VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Moenchengladbach. Gladbach play Schalke 04 on February 11, 2012. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Bongarts/Getty Images

The Bundesliga returns for another weekend of fantastic football and raucous crowds.

Bayern Munich has to cope without Bastian Schweinsteiger... again.

Just when he returned to the squad and appeared to be getting back into the swing of things, Bastian Schweinsteiger will be out again. The Bayern midfielder injured his ankle in the 2-0 win over Stuttgart in the DFB Pokal. This injury is expected to keep him out for a few weeks.

In your humble writer's personal opinion, there is no player in Europe as valuable to the performance of his club than Schweinsteiger is to Bayern Munich. Not having him available for a match dramatically exposes the lack of depth that Bayern has. Jupp Heynckes has been trying to find the best formation that (a) works and (b) gets all of the best players on the pitch. A combination of Schweinsteiger and Toni Kroos in the central midfield hasn't worked. There needs to be a defensive presence in this position like Luis Gustavo. I think it's likely that Heynckes partners Gustavo and Kroos in the midfield with Ribery, Müller, and Robben in the attack.

Bayern faces Kaiserslautern this weekend and Freiburg next weekend. Neither should put up a strong challenge tot he Bavarians. February 26 sees them taking on Schalke in another huge clash at the top of the table. Schweinsteiger likely won’t make it back before then. These next two matches are huge for the club to figure out the best way to be productive offensively while retaining and defensive shape.

Did Felix Magath figure it out?

Two of Wolfsburg’s three Rückrunde matches were against Bayern Munich and Borussia Mönchengladbach. While they lost to Bayern, they managed to pick up a point last week in a rather dull draw with Gladbach. Combine that with the three points they picked up against Köln, and they have to enjoy their current situation.

They face Freiburg on Friday. On paper, this is a match that Wolfsburg should win. A win sees them jump into 8th place, and they would be only 3 points behind 7th. After some awful performances early in the season, Magath seems to have figured out his team.

Did I doubt The Magath? No. I never doubted The Magath. (Just take my word on it!)

Gladbach and Schalke will battle the death! Sorry... They’ll play an entertaining match.

Gladbach and Schalke are set to engage in an epic battle on Saturday afternoon. The match is very important for both clubs as they sit on 41 (Schalke) and 40 (Gladbach) points. If Schalke can manage a victory and push their lead to four points, it will have Gladbach playing catch-up for the final automatic place in next season’s Champions League Group Stage.

I want to make a prediction for this match, but I'm conflicted. Gladbach have the best defense in the league, but I see The Hunter striking in the match. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has scored 16 goals this year, With the return of Jefferson Farfan, Schalke will boost their attack tremendously. Chinedu Obasi has been impressive since his move in the transfer window, and he and Farfan should cause chaos against the Gladbach back four. Filip Daem and Tony Jantschke will have their work cut out for them from the fullback position. Keeping Obasi and Farfan from getting too deep down the wings will be their top priority.

Mike Hanke and Marco Reus going up against the Schalke centerbacks Benedikt Höwedes and Kyriakos Papadopoulos will be the match-up to watch on the other end. Papadopoulos hasn’t always been the most convincing defensive presence, and Höwedes is still recovering from his facial injuries. Lars Unnerstall will need to be massive in the goal if Reus is able to get through the back line.