Hamburg's ever present Bundesliga status is in serious threat of being ended with Die Rothosen looking favourites to be relegated with the chance of staying up out of their own hands. Schalke travel north with much anger from the fanbase aimed towards the board and with Roberto Di Matteo under increasing pressure the Italian will be aiming to see his side go out on a high.
The hosts, who come off the back of an awful loss away to Stuttgart last week, are near as they've ever been to the drop down to the 2.liga for the first time. The pressure has been on Bruno Labbadia's side ever since the Darmstadt-born coach took over the struggling Giants, a run of positive results were evened out by a sucker punching defeat to fellow relegation candidates Stuttgart know that for their everpresent Bundesliga status to be kept they have to rely on others to make certain of their safety.
Veteran goalkeeper René Adler said in midweek that he is still optimistic of his side's chances of beating the drop saying: "We just have to do our job against Schalke and hope the other results go our way", the thirty-year-old also admitted: "It's out of our hands now and that's an awful feeling."
Schalke travel north a club in a downslide turn of events in recent weeks, growing pressure from the fanbase has been aimed at the board and coach Roberto Di Matteo who has came under great scrutiny for his defensive tactics which has seen the Gelsenkirchen based side fail to progress and move up the table despite a positive beginning to the campaign.
An unconvincing win against foot of the table Paderborn was one which the underdogs could count themselves unlucky not to take anything away from the Veltins Arena. A 88th minute own goal from the unfortunate Uwe Hünemeier who had stood resilient with his teammates all game. Di Matteo later called for this week to have no public training sessions as tensions are rising high, the Italian who finds himself in a difficult situation will be hoping for a change in fortunes.