The Ruhr Valley is famed for it's football, and that goes hand in hand with the various local rivalries. After an absence of clashes since 2011, Saturday sees Schalke 04 and MSV Duisburg lock horns once again in the DFB-Pokal. Despite Schalke's main rivals being Borussia Dortmund and Rot Weiß Essen, for Duisburg the area is intertwined with numerous other rivalries and Saturday's game is sure to be full of hostilities.

Form

The hosts head into the match in what can only be described as retched form. Since returning to the 2. Bundesliga after promotion from the 3. Liga, the Zebras have yet to win a game - shipping six goals in the process with one in reply. Despite what could be classed as a difficult opening set of fixtures, against promotion hopefuls in 1. FC Kaiserslautern & VfL Bochum, the signs suggest nothing other than an immediate return to the 3rd tier.

Last time out in the DFB-Pokal Duisburg caused an upset, defeating 1. FC Nürnberg before eventually falling at the hands of Bundesliga side 1. FC Köln.

The opposition, Schalke 04 have yet to begin their league campaign as the Bundesliga returns next weekend, and so the game against Duisburg will provide the first opportunity to watch André Breitenreiter in charge of the Royal Blues. Pre-season has seen a mixed bag of results, with victories over VfL Osnabrück and Lechia Gdansk and draws with FC Porto and FC Twente respectively. 

Schalke have had an illustrious history in the DFB-Pokal, having won the trophy on five separate occasions. However, last season was not as successful as the Gelsenkirchen side slumped to an embarrassing 2-1 defeat at the hands of Dynamo Dresden.

Squads

Duisburg will be without a number of first team players heading into the game. Both Kevin Scheidhauer and Martin Dausch will not have overcome their respective injuries in time for the game, and long term absentees Erik Wille and Dan Poggenberg will also miss the match. 

What formation Gino Lettieri fields will be interesting, after both the 3-4-2-1 and 4-2-3-1 were both used during the opening two 2. Bundesliga match days. However, something that is expected to remain a constant is the attacking duo of Thomas Bröker and Kingsley Onuegbu, which one of Zlatko Janjic or Dennis Grote will start in the front three also remains a talking point.

Breitenreiter has an almost unblemished squad to choose from in his first competitive game in charge of Schalke, with Fabian Giefer the only expected absentee. It'll also be the first opportunity to see some of Schalke's new summer signings; Franco Di Santo was recruited from Werder Bremen, Junior Caiçara from last season's Champions League opponents Ludogorets Razgrad. 

However the player Schalke fans will be most excited to see take the field in Royal Blue will be Johannes Geis, signed from 1. FSV Mainz 05 for €10 million, after winning a lengthy transfer pursuit ahead of teams such as Borussia Dortmund and SS Lazio.