Our prediction for this Bundesliga 2 match:
Hamburg
Match Time & Date:
18/12/2021
20:30
Prediction: 2-2
Schalke
Hamburger SV play host to Schalke 04 at their Volksparkstadion in the 2. Bundesliga round 18. HSV are on a three-game winning run at home ground, with the team netting ten goals in total in those fixtures. Robert Glatzel, who scored a brace in a 3-0 win over Hansa Rostock, will be the man to watch in the home team, while all Muheim, David, Leibold, Fernandes, Rohr, Mickel, Vagnoman, and Ambrosius should miss out with injuries.
Die Knappen, on the other hand, aim to build on a 4-1 win over Nurnberg. Injured ace Simon Terodde was not missed at all in the last league match, and given Schalke’s attacking potential, we believe that there is a big value in betting on both teams to score. The likes of Latza, Fahrmann, Bulter, Langer, and Sane remain in the recovery room alongside aforementioned top scorer Terodde.
Highlighted Player (Toni Leistner):
The 28-year-old central defender Toni Leistner spent the majority of his professional career playing in native Germany, before arriving to Queens Park Rangers in 2018. Having made his professional debut in 2008 for his boyhood club SC Borea Dresden, Leistner enjoyed a mixed spell at a hometown club Dynamo Dresden before he was shipped out on loan to Hallescher FC in 2013.
It wasn’t until he arrived at Union Berlin in 2014 that his true colours were beginning to show. Four years and 115 league matches later, a towering right-sided defender arrived in England as one of the best centre-backs in the German second tier over the past couple of years.
Aston Villa were reportedly among the clubs looking to bring Leistner during the summer of 2018 but ended up being beaten to the punch by QPR who made the German defender a new captain heading into the 2018/19 campaign.
Highlighted Team (Schalke):
Schalke 04 are a professional football club founded in 1904. Die Knappen (The Miners) compete in German Bundesliga and they have won seven domestic titles. Schalke have clinched five German Cup trophies as well, while lifting the UEFA Cup title in 1997. The German club defeated Italian side Inter on penalties in the title game and that was the last time the final of the competition was played in a two-legged format.
Schalke 04 play their home matches at Veltins-Arena, the stadium that has been the home of the team since 2001. The capacity of Veltins-Arena is 62,271. It is well known that Borussia Dortmund are Schalke’s main rivals and the Ruhy neighbours face each other in the Revierderby.
The likes of Klaus Fichtel (477), Norbert Nigbur (355), Rolf Russmann (304), Klaus Fischer (295), Olaf Thon (295) and Herbert Lutkebohmert (286) are the players with most appearances for die Knappen. The colour of Schalke’s home kit is blue.
