Schalke 04 - Hertha Berlin - 01-08-2025

Then the 2. Bundesliga finally kicks off again and we get a real treat in the opening match! It is very rarely boring or goalless when Schalke meets Hertha Berlin, and it is one of the matches of the season that is most looked forward to from the fans' perspective. Schalke disappointed and struggled last season, but that was as expected. The club is still under construction after struggling financially in recent years, so the patience among the fans of the entire apparatus and the players is great. Still, it is disappointing to see a big team like Schalke struggle as they have, which can sometimes eat away at the fan relationship, and which became visible towards the end of last season. There have been a few changes over the summer including a somewhat controversial change of manager, where Miron Muslic left Plymouth after a short time in the manager's chair, which we will return to. Hertha Berlin ended up in no man's land last season, and it also somewhat exceeded expectations based on the squad they had and the phase the club was in. There were some bright spots, for example, they tended to grab solid points away from home, but they still struggled at home. There were about the same number of goals for and against and they could win and lose against everyone in the league. The management at Hertha has also not been sitting idly by over the summer, which we will take a closer look at as well. Veltins Arena is (as always) sold out and the setting for this match is guaranteed to be brilliant – here's to looking forward to!

Schalke – is this the year things can turn around?

Schalke's pre-season has been a bit of a mixed bag. They have spent some time in Austria, where they have rotated the squad and had 2 games per day. The last proper test was the home game against Sevilla, where they lost 2-4. They did not go astray here and it was in that sense a nice last test before the end. Schalke were early in finding a new manager, already on May 31st the deal with Miron Muslic was signed. He came from a short 6-month period in Plymouth, which did not go down well with the management who had done a lot to facilitate a lasting relationship. But such is the world of football, Muslic wanted to be closer to family and it is safe to say that exchanging Home Park and 17,900 fans for Veltins Arena and 62,271 fans, certainly played a role in the decision as well. Muslic has already made his mark on the team, he wants it to be an attacking Schalke, especially at home, who does not give in to anyone. But we've seen it from several people before Muslic, they want to but haven't managed to do it. We'll see what Muslic can do. The signings certainly seem promising.

Timo Becker has arrived in the door, after 4 seasons away from Schalke. El-Faouzi has signed from Alemannia Aachen, where he had a brilliant season, and Katic has signed from FC Zurich – a defensive bauta. The last one who signed as late as 29.07 was Hasan Kurucay. Some may recognize that name, as he has a past in Florø, Strømmen and HamKam. He is not intended as a permanent fixture, but as a backup who is definitely needed in the defensive ranks. Out the door, a lot of 'dead meat' has disappeared – Aydin, Barkok, Fährmann, Hoffmann, Kaminski, Murkin, Tempelmann and Meissa Ba. All good players on a good day, but they unfortunately had far too few and consistent performances – it simply did not work with the complex team they were a part of. Fährmann is perhaps the exception, he has been at the club for a long time, but here there was a bit of trouble behind the doors, contract disagreements and uneven performances.

There is a lot of young talent in Schalke, with a mix of experience in the ranks. Karaman is out with injury, but other than that, the squad is mostly injury-free and very ready to take on Hertha Berlin. We won't go into too much detail about the lineup, there is too much uncertainty around that, but an offensive formation is expected where they will try to take the lead from the start. It feels pretty certain that there are goals in this team, but exactly where we have them in relation to the away team is uncertain. The team has had a lot of substitutions, including the manager, and it is difficult to speculate too much in the opening game of the season anyway.

Hertha Berlin – all good things come in 3, time to make the move up?

Hertha Berlin is now entering its 3rd season in the 2nd Bundesliga – a place a big team from the capital would rather not be in. Hertha had a pretty poor season until Stefan Leitl took over – then there were only 3 losses in the 12 remaining games. And that is something worth noting for a team that ended on an upward trend. With that, they have also received a stamp of being able to keep up with the top this year. As always, the title race in the 2nd Bundesliga is wide open – it is difficult to say who will end up where. We saw examples of that right up until the last matchday last season and the same is expected this year. In any case, something more than an 11th place finish is expected from Hertha.

The management at Hertha has not been idle this summer either. Among others, Grønning has come in from Ingolstadt – where he had a brilliant season with 17 goals and 2 assists in 30 games. A potentially great addition to the Hertha squad. Jensen has made the move from Karlsruhe, where he was a regular fixture and ruled the midfield of a Karlsruhe that had long been a promotion candidate. They have also brought in some talent from the Bundesliga – Kownacki is on loan from Werder Bremen and Krattenmacher is on loan from Bayern Munich. Others who are worth mentioning are Seguin who comes from none other than Schalke – how he will be received is uncertain, he never made it to Schalke. Some well-known names have disappeared: Bouchakalakis and Kenny did not get a renewed contract, while the talent Maza has gone to Bayer Leverkusen where he comes with a certain pressure of expectations. One of (many) Dárdai's at Hertha, namely Pálko, has made the move to the Puskás Akadémia. It can also be mentioned that Niederlechner has disappeared to 1860 Munich, a player at the end of his career who did not contribute much going forward at Hertha last season.

It is a stronger Hertha team we see ahead of this season and expectations are somewhat higher. The team comes from a good end to last season and it is naturally expected that this team will get back to the Bundesliga. But it is far too early to talk about that – the competition there will be fierce, the teams that are in the same category that can be listed are Bochum, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Hannover 96, Holstein Kiel, Karlsruhe, Paderborn and as a small outsider: Arminia Bielefeld. The latter may possibly surprise this year.

History, gut feeling and starting point dictate goals

If we take a little history into consideration here, we see that in the last 7 matches we have had BTS + over 2.5 goals – it has almost become a synonym when these two meet. Losses are out of the question and a lot is sacrificed going forward to get the win. These results are also with very different teams – both teams have had a lot in and out of the doors since 2021. But there is something special about these matches, which the fans love, and which is sure to rub off on the players. Before the text was written, it was BTS + over 2.5 goals that immediately appeared with this match, and that is where we are moving on the main tip. It is available at good odds and must be tried. As two alternatives, we add corner bets on Schalke which are available at good odds, they averaged 8.76 corners at home last season and much of the same is expected this season. But as always with the start of the season, we need to form a picture with some matches under our belt before we see trends. Over 4.5 corners to Schalke seems like a safe bet, it can even be tried at over 5.5 to 2.23 in odds as a bonus bet. The other option is over 1.5 goals to Hertha. The reason is that Hertha has a small ace here, the squad seems somewhat more stable and the conditions are somewhat better for the capital team. Schalke were sometimes terrible at the back last year, it takes time to correct such things. The newcomers need to be established and it could be tough in the opening match.

2. Bundesliga at 20:30: Schalke 04 – Hertha Berlin: Both teams score + over 2.5 goals

Alternative games:

2. Bundesliga at 20:30: Schalke 04 – Hertha Berlin : Schalke 04 over 4.5 corners (1.67)

2. Bundesliga at 20:30: Schalke 04 – Hertha Berlin : Hertha Berlin over 1.5 goals (1.89)