After the big win over Ivbus in the last round, Schalke 04 currently has 51 points, still 2 points behind Werder Bremen in third place, behind Hamburg, Stuttgart, Bayer Leverkusen and Schalke 04 The biggest point difference is 4 points, there are 5 rounds left in the league, these teams are working hard for a Champions League place, and behind them Wolfsburg is basically excluded, now they are 8 points away from Schalke 04, and it is basically impossible to catch up in the next 5 rounds.

So after the last game, many German media also shouted for Slomka, thinking that if he survived the match with Ketbus, he might not be out of class, alas, all this is fate, losing to Werder Bremen is too ugly.

Schalke 04's next opponent is Hamburg, a team with a long history, having won the Bundesliga three times in their history, and they are the only team that has never been relegated from the Bundesliga, the other being Bayern Munich.

The quality of the team has been quite good this season, and the attacking heart of the team, Van der Vaart, has played better than in the previous two seasons, scoring 10 goals in the league, which is a pretty good answer as a striker.

Dutchman Hub Stevens, the coach of the Hamburg team, has a lot of ties to Schalke 04, having previously been the longest-serving manager of Schalke 04 from 1996 to 2002, and he also won the German Cup with Schalke 04, and was voted Schalke 04 Coach of the Year by Schalke 04 fans in 2004.

Although 6 years have passed, he is still very familiar with Schalke 04's tactical play.

The previous match against Cottages was a small test for the two new coaches of Schalke 04, so this away challenge is definitely a big test, so as soon as the two-day relaxation time passed, the whole team was in a tense atmosphere of preparation.

In terms of formation, Buskens and Mulder still use the same formation as the previous game, playing 433, Rakitic returned from injury, but now he is only participating in recovery training, not training with the whole team, Zhang Yuan estimates that his friend's chance of playing may be relatively small, but everything will not be known until the day before the game.

Zhang Yuan also attaches great importance to this game, not because the atmosphere of the team is like this, but because he wants to help his team qualify for the Champions League, and it is best not to play the play-offs directly.

Winning Hamburg can open up the points gap with Hamburg, which is equivalent to kicking out a competitor, and then losing to Hamburg and falling behind, then the ultimate fate is in the hands of others.

The day before the game, Buskens announced the 18-man squad and the starting 11, and Rakitic, who returned from injury, entered the squad, but did not enter the starting 11, and his place was still replaced by Stnett, who performed well in the previous game.

The match was played on April 26 at 3:30 p.m., and Hamburg's starting lineup was:

Goalkeeper: Rost

Defenders: Right-back Boateng, centre-backs Reinhardt and Mathieson, left-back Atouba

Midfielders: De Jong, Kompany

Attacking midfielders: Demer, Olich, Van der Vaart

Forward: Guerrero

The starting line-up for Schalke 04's side is:

Goalkeeper: Manuel Neuer

Defenders: Raphinha at right-back, Bolton Wanderers and Kristadzic at centre-back, Westermann at left-back

Midfielders: Ernst, Jones, Stenet

Forwards: Altentop Jr., Zhang Yuan, Kuranyi

Buskens and Mulder still gave up on Pandel in the choice of defenders, and instead used Westerman, the reason is nothing more than that it is away from home, or it is better to focus on defense, and Pandel's defensive ability is not as good as Westerman.

After the start of the game, the Hamburg team launched a fierce impact on the half of Schalke 04, the Hamburg team's attack is mainly based on ground attack, don't look at their two wings are expanded, but in fact, there are relatively few high-ball crosses, Hamburg's strikers Guerrero, Zidan, and Olic are not outstanding players in the header.

Hamburg's two flanks are more of a diversion role, often getting the ball to get the ball in the hands of Van der Vaart after attracting the defence.

Van der Vaart, the winner of the first European Golden Boy Award, after spending a few years at Ajax, came to Hamburg as a cabbage, and immediately became the team's attacking core, similar to the position of No. 9 and a half is his most comfortable position, and he has played this position in the Hamburg team in the past two years.

The sad thing that made Schalke 04 up and down came in the second minute, De Jong midfielder stole Stenet's pass, straight to the left side of Olich, Olic ran with the ball, when he met Westerman, Olic passed the ball to Van der Vaart in time to follow in the middle, Van der Vaart did not stop the ball and directly to Olic came to a two-one, and passed the ball back to the left side, playing behind Westerman, Olic is very fast, he is famous for his stunt is speed, Westman where is his opponent, he was directly left behind by Olich, this is not the end, to the bottom line, Westman finally arrived, but Olic a cross feint to lure him to put the shovel, this time was completely gotten rid of, Olic buckled, went to the penalty area, Bolton stepped forward to defend, Olic was a fake shot and a real pass passed the ball back to the front of the penalty area, Van der Vaart rushed in front of Jones to meet the ball angrily, the football shot out like a cannonball, Kristadzic who came forward to block did not touch the ball, Neuer did not touch the ball, so the ball went straight into the dead corner, and the Hamburg team fighting at home started with a 1:0 lead.

Neuer yelled at his teammates, and the players of Schalke 04 were stunned, obviously they hadn't come back to their senses, and the ball went in like this?!

We're lagging behind?!

Van der Vaart ran to the corner and knelt down in celebration, his team-mates surrounded him in jubilation, and Hamburg are currently fourth on goal difference, and if they win this game, they will climb to third place with Schalke 04's corpse in the Champions League.

Stevens on the sidelines smiled and hugged the assistant coach next to him, as early as before the winter break, he announced that he would leave Hamburg at the end of the season and return to the Netherlands, because his wife's health reasons made him have to stay closer to home, the news Hamburg team knows that he has handled the relationship with the top management since he moved into Hamburg, and the relationship with the players below is okay, and everyone is reluctant to let him go.

Before parting, he certainly hoped that he could lead Hamburg to a Champions League place, and it would be a good thing to win this game.

Compared to Stevens's happiness, Buskens and Mulder couldn't be happy at all, what's going on, the coach's seat butt is still hot, and the two of them jumped up as if they had been pricked by a needle!

Lost the ball in two minutes?!The well-set defense was like a fictitious and completely unreliable, and a special defensive ability was made so strong that Westerman, and the result was that this guy was pierced and slapped in the face alive.

The joy of the last sweep of Cottages was instantly lost in these two minutes, and Boothens shouted at the field: "What are you going to eat!

Schalke 04 clearly did not come to their senses after conceding the goal, while Hamburg continued to threaten the door guarded by Neuer, and just five minutes later, Hamburg once again threatened the Schalke 04 goal.

Van der Vaart won the ball in the middle and successfully passed the defending Jones and sent a lethal through ball, and Guerrero's one-handed shot from the left side of the small penalty area was bravely blocked by Neuer.

Immediately after the corner kick of the Hamburg team, the 20-year-old Boateng jumped high to head the goal, and it was Neuer who relied on his super reflexes to hold the ball, and the ball smashed on the crossbar and bounced off the bottom line again.

Neuer roared loudly, brothers, you have to concentrate, if you do this again, sooner or later, my door will be lost!

Zhang Yuan is a little incomprehensible about the current situation on the field, Schalke 04's backfield is completely unable to resist the attack of the Hamburg team's frontcourt, Hamburg's two midfielders De Jong and Kompany limit the operation of Schalke 04's midfield, and the forward trio on his side has been completely disconnected from the midfield.

The key to this problem is that there is a problem with the coach's arrangement, Buskens asked the three forwards to go forward as much as possible today, the purpose is really ironic, that is, to reduce the pressure on the defense, but now the Hamburg team today does not rely on the pressure of the back line at all, and the attack is mainly handed over to the midfield and the front, so that the defensive pressure in the midfield and back of Schalke 04 has not been alleviated at all. (To be continued.) )