Friday Football Tips: Schalke to sink Hamburg in opener

Schalke v Hamburg
Friday 23 July 19:30 BST kick-off

The Bundesliga is back! That’s what you may think if you glance upon this fixture, but sadly for these two German giants it’s a second division clash this season with both sides desperate to get back into the big time.

Schalke endured a catastrophic campaign last season as they won just three of their 34 Bundesliga games and scored just 25 goals while conceding a whopping 86.

Hamburg have endured three frustrating seasons in the 2. Bundesliga having dropped out of the top flight for the first time in league history back in 2018 casuing riots in the city, and they’ve just not been able to get their act together since.

Schalke have shuffled their pack drastically after their first relegation since 1991 and armed themselves with players that have plenty of experience at this level – the headline move being the signing of veteran striker Simon Terodde from Hamburg of all teams.

The 33-year-old marksman has scored 185 goals in his career, with 142 of them coming in this division and he’ll be charged with firing Schalke back into the Bundesliga at the first attempt.

Terodde scored 24 in 33 for Hamburg last season and you’d have to think he’ll bag a goal in his Schalke debut against his former side – he bagged two in their last friendly against Vitesse and is a nice 5.04/1 OddsBoost on the sportsbook to open the scoring.

Former Cardiff City striker Robert Glatzel has arrived at Hamburg as part of the plan for replacing Terodde, and Hamburg should still have plenty of goals in them with new coach Tim Walter’s entertaining style of football.

Schalke have had a decent bit of turnover, but they’ve still got quality and crucially some second division experience as well, so they can hit the ground running in this big-name start to the season.

Hamburg have lost their top striker, but they’ve still got goals in them – they only failed to score in four games last season and they should get a goal here at least.