Week 26 - Match preview

Magath urges caution over Stuttgart run

In VfB Stuttgart the VELTINS Arena plays host to the second best side since the Bundesliga restart on Friday evening. Today Schalke head coach Felix Magath described the game as the first of four fixtures that are set to shape the run-in to the end of the season.


"It's impossible to predict where we'll finish the season until we've come through the difficult phase that sees us face the top sides Stuttgart, Hamburg, Bayern and Leverkusen," the 56-year-old said. Without question, the Royal Blues will be looking to make a good start to this period against the Swabians. "We want to win the game in order to consolidate our position," stressed Magath.

A total of 27 points are up for grabs in the nine remaining games this season, after all. "I hope the players can read the table and understand that we're only in week 26 and, as such, our current position is very meaningless," he said. "We haven't achieved anything yet and we'll have to work very hard to get into Europe." For the time being, however, the focus is entirely on Friday's game and opponents who are not to be underestimated.

"Stuttgart have been outstanding since the new coach came in, not only in the league, but also in the Champions League against Barcelona," warned Magath. "Under Christian Gross they are gelling better as a team." The Schalke boss puts this down to the following factors: "They are a very compact side. They all pull their weight, in defence as well, and they play and fight as a team. They also switch from defence to attack very quickly. All in all Stuttgart are playing some good football at the moment. In addition to Alexander Hleb their attacking players, in particular, have demonstrated their quality at European level."

With Stuttgart travelling to Barcelona on Wednesday for the second leg of their first knockout round clash, there is a chance that some of their players will already have their minds on that game and thus fail to perform as well as they have been doing. "They know they have an outside chance. I'd be surprised if the new coach has already thrown the towel in," said Magath. "Nevertheless we'll have to be even more focused than usual against Stuttgart because their results in the second half of the season have been better than ours."