Schalke will be hosting Premier League side, Stoke City at their training base in Austria at the Kufstein Arena on 29th July, 2014. (20:00 GMT).
Schalke’s youth development project has been much lauded and the emergence of young players like Max Meyers, Julian Draxler and Kaan Ayhan has improved Schalke’s first team talent pool.
A third place finish in Bundesliga for 2013-14 season will see them play again in the Champions League for another successive year.
Schalke’s two major signings this transfer window have been Bayer Leverkusen’s Sidney Sam and FSV Mainz’s Maxim Choupo-Moting.
Both the players do not represent a major transfer risk as both have been playing in the Bundesliga for the past few years. Anticipating a bunch of changes in the side which demolished DJK Sportbund Rosenheim in their friendly match.
Winger Chinedu Obasi was the star player for Schalke in that match.
Stoke City has improved their gameplay a lot and the much renowned long ball specialists from the Premier League played much more cultured football under ex-Manchester City manager, Mark Hughes in 2013-14 season.
Like last year, the Potters have managed to surprise all by signing a Barcelona graduate in Bojan Krkic. Last year it was another Barca graduate, Marc Muniesa.
Hughes now has a willing and a technically superior upgrade over current strikers in Peter Crouch and Peter Odemwingie.
Winger Marco Arunatovic’s mazy runs and pinpoint balls will find a good player now that they have Krkic in their ranks. A loss to 1860 Munich in previous friendly should not be much of an issue as Hughes will try to find his best starting XI.
Key Battles:
Schalke’s midfield and defence are really good compared to what Stoke will field.
The likes of Bardsley-Shawcross will have a task at hand to keep the Schalke forwards quiet.