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Miron Muslic: We’re full of belief and know exactly what we’re doing
FC Schalke 04 can seal promotion back to the Bundesliga with games to spare by beating Fortuna Düsseldorf at a sold-out VELTINS-Arena on Saturday night (2/5). Even Miron Muslic is feeling the excitement ahead of the 20:30 CEST kick-off: “We’re looking forward to an incredible atmosphere. The ‘12th man’ in the stands will give us a huge lift, just as they have done throughout the season.”
At the same time, the head coach stressed that with so much emotion around the game, his side will need to stay calm once the first whistle blows. “We haven’t changed anything about our routine or how we’ve gone about preparing for the game. We’ve stuck with the same approach that has served us so well over the last few weeks and months,” explained Muslic. “The team have worked with real focus and attention to detail. We’ve worked hard together to earn this opportunity to get over the line, and everyone knows we’ll only do that if we perform as well as we have done in recent weeks.”
The 43-year-old has no doubt that his side will produce another strong team performance against a Fortuna side who are 15th in the table and still fighting to stay up. “We’re full of confidence and know exactly what we’re doing. We’ll get over the line together.”
We’ve worked hard together to earn this opportunity to get over the line.
Muslic’s belief comes from what he has seen over the course of the season. “Even setbacks along the way, like during recent games in Elversberg or in Paderborn, haven’t knocked us off course. We’ve created a high-performance culture within the first-team setup, taken the team up another couple of gears and made ourselves as difficult to play against as possible for every opponent.”
Džeko to return to the squad
Just under four weeks after suffering a shoulder injury in Bosnia’s World Cup qualifier against Italy, Edin Džeko is fit again. “He completed the full session in training and will return to the squad. If we need Edin, he’ll be there,” explained Muslic. The Bosnia and Herzegovina captain being back in contention says a lot about his character and willpower: “Edin wants to make one more push and help us achieve our shared goal,” added the Royal Blues’ head coach. Nikola Katic is also making good progress after his knee injury. “He’s much further on than expected, but we don’t want to take any risks,” stated Muslic.
Düsseldorf will arrive in Gelsenkirchen needing points themselves. Fortuna recently claimed an important 3-1 home win over Dynamo Dresden, a result that lifted them out of the bottom three with four games of the season remaining. Their position near the foot of the table remains precarious, however. “They won’t be able to just sit deep,” predicted Muslic, who has watched them in person several times in recent weeks.
He has also seen Düsseldorf change their system since Alexander Ende recently replaced Markus Anfang on the touchline. “Alex has brought in a few new ideas. One of them is that Düsseldorf are now playing in a 4-2-3-1,” noted Schalke’s head coach. “But we’re prepared for other formations too.”
Muslic believes there is far more quality in the Düsseldorf squad than their current league position suggests. Fortuna have a real focal point up front in Cedric Itten, who always carries a threat. The Swiss striker has already scored 13 goals this season, while Fortuna have 30 as a team. Ultimately, though, Muslic stressed that the decisive factor will not be the strength of the opposition, but how his own side perform. “We’re focusing on the things we can control – and that’s our own performance.”
