Schalke vs Leipzig: A Battering Ram Meets a Battered Wall
Matchweek 8 brings RB Leipzig's firepower to a Schalke side running out of bodies
RB Leipzig have scored 17 goals in their last six Bundesliga matches. Schalke 04 have scored four. That's the story right there, really, but let's dig into how bad this situation actually is for the hosts.
Schalke head into Saturday's matchweek 8 fixture carrying eight absentees, and the names missing are not fringe players. R. Gosens is out with a head injury, both central midfielders S. El-Faouzi (broken nose bone) and R. Schallenberg (leg injury) are unavailable, and M. Wöber won't be back until the end of 2026 according to our records. The spine of a football team — goalkeeper cover, centre-back depth, and central midfield — is exactly where Schalke are being hollowed out. L. Karius has made 17 saves in just two appearances this season, which tells you everything about how hard this defence has been working already. A. Aouchiche is their most productive outfield figure with 1 goal and 5 key passes from 2 games, but he'll be carrying far more of the burden with the midfield so light.
Leipzig, by contrast, are swaggering into this one on the back of a 6-0 demolition of Eintracht Frankfurt, even if a 6-1 loss to FC Bayern München earlier in the same six-match run shows the wild swings this team is capable of. Their record reads W3, D0, L3 across those games but they've plundered 17 goals in the process. T. Gomis has 2 assists in 109 minutes, A. Nusa has contributed 1 goal and 3 key passes, and D. Raum sits at an eye-catching 6 key passes from the left-back position across just 2 appearances. That's the kind of attacking width that will cause Schalke real problems. Leipzig are also without several players — N. Seiwald suspended, M. Estève and A. Ouédraogo out injured — but with 29 available players versus Schalke's 23, they simply have more to throw at the game.
Here's the thing: Schalke did hold FC Köln to a 0-0 in their recent fixtures, so they are not incapable of digging in. L. Karius will be busy again. But that run also includes a 2-1 defeat at SC Freiburg and a home loss to FSV Mainz, and Leipzig's recent 4-0 win over Elversberg shows they can deliver dominant performances when the conditions are right. With the Bundesliga's top scorers L. Díaz and M. Olise both in formidable nick elsewhere in the division, Leipzig will know they need to keep winning to stay in the conversation.
Schalke need something remarkable from their remaining fit players. Leipzig, even depleted, have too much quality here. Back the visitors to make it count on Saturday.
| Club | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | SC Freiburg | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 13 |
| 4 | Bayer 04 Leverkusen | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 13 |
| 5 | RB Leipzig | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 12 |
| 6 | Werder Bremen | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| 7 | FSV Mainz 05 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 10 |
| 14 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | -7 | 8 |
| 15 | VfB Stuttgart | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | -3 | 6 |
| 16 | Schalke 04 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | -3 | 6 |
| 17 | FC Union Berlin | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | -12 | 6 |
| 18 | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | -11 | 3 |
