Miron Muslic: Our full focus is on Friday

The two teams will do battle again next Wednesday (29/10) in Darmstadt in the second round of the DFB-Pokal, though head coach Miron Muslic ascertained that his preparations this week have only been for Friday’s league game. “Our focus has solely been on our meeting in the league. We’re not thinking about Wednesday yet, our full energy is being directed towards Friday,” explained the 43-year-old. “We’re coming up against another side full of quality and the challenge could hardly be greater.”

With nine games played in the 2. Bundesliga so far, the Lilies are currently in fourth place with 18 points. Their only defeat of the campaign was a 3-1 loss away against 1. FC Kaiserslautern, with the side from Hesse unbeaten in their five games since. “Our opponents are very well set up and excellently coached by my opposite number Florian Kohfeldt, who I already got to know during my time in Belgium. They play with great intensity and physicality, without being tied to one specific system. But we’re also in a good place ourselves and full of confidence,” commented Muslic.

Schalke have won each of their last four league games and occupy second place in the table with seven wins and 21 points on the board. “We want to build on our recent performances and are making sure we are as well prepared as we can be,” added Muslic. “We don’t need to focus too much on the opposition if we make sure we play well.” Despite that, the S04 head coach is still well aware of the strengths SVD possess. “They have lots of quality in attack with the likes of Isac Lidberg and Fraser Hornby.” Lidberg is one of the league’s most prolific players this term with eight goals to his name, while Darmstadt have also been strong at the back, keeping five clean sheets already in 2025/26.

One strength of the Knappen in recent times has been their set pieces, with two goals in the 3-0 win at Hannover last time out coming from a corner. “Dead balls are important moments in every game and they can make the difference in a tight league like this one. That’s why we’ve worked hard on them,” stated Muslic. Another positive trend for Schalke has been the team’s ability to take the lead early on in games. “We want to catch the opposition off guard under pressure and take control early on, then find the right balance between attacking play and counter-attacks as the game goes on.”

Peter Remmert available again

The S04 boss will not be able to name the same starting XI from the win at Hannover as Christopher Antwi-Adjei suffered a calf injury last Friday and will miss the Darmstadt game. An MRI on Tuesday confirmed the midfielder’s injury. “We have several different options and types of players who we can replace him with,” revealed Muslic, who also had some good news regarding attacker Peter Remmert. The 20-year-old is an option for Friday’s squad after completing a full week of training for the first time since his ankle injury in August.