Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan

Schalke 04 hosts Borussia Dortmund at the Veltins-Arena in another edition of the magnificent Ruhr derby. This is a game from the 22th round of the Bundesliga. Are you ready to dive into some details now?

Schalke 04 are getting closer and closer to relegation to the 2. Bundesliga. The Royal Blues have won just one game since the beginning of the season. Schalke are currently 18th in the standings with 9 points and the future is looking very dark for them.

You can’t hope of survival when you are not winning games. In the previous round Schalke did not win again. They faced Union Berlin in the capital, but the game ended with no goals scored – 0-0. It seems that whatever the manager Christian Gross and his players are trying is simply not working.

Borussia Dortmund arrive in Gelsenkirchen from 6th place in the standings. Die Borussen have some work to do because they are 6 points behind the 4th Wolfsburg and the Top 4.

During the week Edin Terzic’ team made a marvelous performance in the Champions League. Dortmund paid a visit to Sevilla in a 1/8-final from the competition and achieved a spectacular 3-2 win at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. The Norwegian goal machine Erling Haaland scored a brace for the visitors while Mahmoud Dahoud scored one as well.

What the manager Edin Terzic must try to do is make his team perform in the same way in the Bundesliga. Borussia Dortmund won just one of their last six games in the Bundesliga and that’s the reason why they fell from the Top 4.

In this preview we must state the obvious – Borussia Dortmund are true favourites against Schalke 04 in the Ruhr derby. Die Borussen had a Champions League game during the week, so most likely the manager Terzic will do some rotations to keep the team fresh.

Sevilla versus Roma is the big derby of the Europa League 1/8-finals. On Thursday these two teams will face each other in the first leg at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. Which one is going to get an advantage before the second leg? We shall watch and see.

Sevilla are always playing with the confidence of being Europa League’s most successful team ever. Los Rojiblancos already qualified for the next edition of the Champions League, but you should not have any doubts that they will try to win Europa League again. The manager Julen Lopetegui is looking for his first trophy with the club and the players are hungry for trophies as well.

In the previous round Sevilla eliminated Romania’s CFR Cluj, but they didn’t shine in the way we expected of them. Lopetegui’s team didn’t win neither one of these two matches against the Romanians, but went through after two draws. At the same time you should not underrestimate Sevilla – they remain one of the strongest teams in Spain and one of the big favourites for the Europa League trophy.

Roma reached the 1/8-finals after eliminating the Belgian side Gent. For Roma it would be important to win Europa League. The Wolves finished 5th in the Serie A, so winning this competition would be their only chance of playing in the Champions League next season. The manager Paulo Fonseca and his players are perfectly aware with this, so we believe they will make an effort to do it.

In conclusion we can say that we expect a pretty great game between Sevilla and Roma. It’s pity that there won’t be fans at the stands because it’s a match which deserves attention from the public. The result in the first leg could be really important for the whole tie. We expect to see some goals at the Sanchez Pizjuan.

Schalke 04 – Borussia Dortmund

Sevilla – Roma