Werder versus Schalke – Green-White against Royal Blue – last season’s runner-up against last season’s third placed team – it is a game which promises to be a modern day classic. On Saturday, 23.08.2008 it all gets going again at the Weser Stadium at 3:30pm in Werder’s first home game of the new Bundesliga season: “After the summer break everyone is tense and wants to prove themselves – that was also the case in Bielefeld last weekend,” stated Werder coach Thomas Schaaf and he continued: “That’s even more the case for us when we are at home. We want to perform well here and give our fans something to cheer about. That is decisive for us.”
The chances of a spectacular game are quite good! The fact is that Schalke are possibly the biggest competitor in the race to win the league. Just as it always needs to be before a classic clash, the decisive games are generally close affairs – what makes this one even more interesting is that, at this stage of the season, it’s almost impossible to say who will have their noses in front – a fact that has been curiously clear in recent years. Between September 2000 and August 2004, Werder were unbeaten in nine meetings with Schalke but there then followed six clashes without a win for the Green-Whites. A further example of how close the two clubs are? Werder’s final league table over the past four years read 3rd, 2nd, 3rd 2nd – for Schalke the placements read 2nd, 4th, 2nd 3rd. All that makes it almost impossible to forecast a winner.
Who could have guessed that in April this year, the then third placed Werder side would end their run without a win against Schalke with a 5-1 success against the then second placed side in the league table? It was a curious game. Werder had 13 attempts on goal compared to Schalke’s 12 – a match which truly could have swung either way. It’s certainly not the type of game you would want to bet your house on!