Magath: Stuttgart are second-best team this year
09.03.2010
At Tuesday morning's training session Marcelo Bordon (thigh strain) and Jefferson Farfan (hip problem) did some laps of the training ground while the rest of the squad worked with the ball.
Head coach Felix Magath was unable to say whether the injured duo would be back in time for Friday's visit of VfB Stuttgart. "Both are feeling better than they did last week," he explained. "How much better we'll have to wait and see."
Although the Royal Blues are just two points behind leaders Bayern Munich, Magath is playing down the importance of the league table. "Of course it doesn't lie, but all it tells you is how good we are after 25 matches," he said. And Schalke now have four season-defining games against Stuttgart, Hamburg, Leverkusen and Bayern. "We've been taking our opportunities recently, but we'll have to wait and see what we get from the next few games," Magath continued. "For example against VfB Stuttgart, the second-best team since the winter break."
The Schalke boss has been impressed not only by Stuttgart's Bundesliga form, but also by their performance against Barcelona in the Champions League. "They've done well in the Champions League and they'll be tough opposition for us," he said. "The way they're playing I can see them getting a result in Barcelona."
Magath still feels his own side have a problem dominating games once they have taken the lead, the 2-2 draw in Bochum and the 2-1 defeat in Wolfsburg being prime examples. "Against Frankfurt it wasn't really any different," he said, referring to the goal the home side pulled back in the 52nd minute. "Frankfurt caused us problems after the restart, but we handled the situation better than we did in the other two games," the Schalke boss explained, "so now we'll have to see whether it was just a coincidence or whether we really have improved."
