Magath set for an emotional return to Schalke

(GSM) – Schalke 04 coach Felix Magath will return this weekend to his former club and defending champions VfL Wolfsburg, as Schalke look to keep up the pressure at the top in the Bundesliga title race.

Magath led the Wolves to an incredible maiden league title last year before moving to Schalke in the summer, where he is still on course to complete an even more unlikely title triumph with limited financial resources.

“I don’t know what kind of a feeling it will be to go back to Wolfsburg as coach of Schalke,” he said.

“This is the first time I will go back there with another team since winning the title.

“But at the end of the day, it was my decision to end the chapter of Wolfsburg at the end of last season.

“I still cannot deny that I am looking forward to going back. I had two fantastic years there.”

Since Magath left, the Wolves have slid dramatically down the Bundesliga table and they now find themselves on the brink of a relegation battle, but Magath feels this is not a true reflection of the side he left, and which remained largely intact.

“There are always situations in which clubs find themselves where they don’t want to be,” he said.

“But although they don’t seem to be in good form, they still have a good team like they did before.”

Schalke are currently three points adrift of league leaders Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern and must rely on one of them to slip up if they are to move to the top themselves eventually.

And although Leverkusen have yet to lose a game all season, they will face a tough test of that record against a rejuvenated Werder Bremen on Sunday.

By then, Bayern will have had the chance to move three points clear in the Bavarian derby against Nurnberg, although they too will have their work cut out against a side fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table.

Hertha Berlin are also in danger at the bottom, but there have been very few signs that they are actually fighting to stay up.

They have won only twice all season and need to make amends in Freiburg on Sunday, otherwise their Bundesliga future will look gloomier than ever before.

Meanwhile, Hannover have lost seven in a row and they go to Dortmund in search of their first win since last October.

Cologne host Stuttgart, and Mainz play Bochum with those four sides also not yet guaranteed their place in the top flight next season while the weekend starts with Hoffenheim’s clash with Borussia Monchengladbach at the Rhein-Neckar Arena on Friday night.

Finally, Ruud van Nistelrooy could make his first start for Hamburg in their clash with Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday