Mike Büskens: The fans should and will push us on again

It was announced on Thursday that the VELTINS-Arena can finally have a capacity crowd again. 62,271 fans are now allowed to attend the home game against Hannover 96. “To return to a full VELTINS-Arena will be fantastic. Football thrives of the emotions, passion and packed stands,” commented an excited Büskens.

Ouwejan and Sané could make the squad

Buyo was confident that Malick Thiaw, who had to finish training early with a knock on Wednesday (16/3), will be available to face Hannover. “We hope that he can return to training tomorrow,” revealed Büskens. Thomas Ouwejan and Salif Sané may also be options for Saturday’s clash. Ouwejan missed the games against Rostock and Ingolstadt with muscular problems, whilst Sané picked up a muscle injury in the Hansa match. The duo have now been training individually over the last two days, so the coaching team will wait and see how they respond to the workload. Marc Rzatkowski, however, will definitely not play. The midfielder has missed the last two training sessions, though he is expected to return for Friday’s session (18/3).

Büskens: Hannover better than the table suggests

Hannover 96 are, according to Büskens, a side that posses more quality than their position in the table (14th) suggests. “Hannover won 3-0 at St. Pauli just four weeks ago. After that, they beat Kiel but then lost their way a bit after the defeat to Leipzig in the Pokal,” summed up Büskens, who believes they are a side that are capable of playing really good football.

The 53-year-old wouldn’t let slip which formation he would use for the Hannover game, though he also doesn’t want to place too much importance on it. “During the game, you often switch formations anyway depending on the run of play,” explained the former S04 player.

One thing more important than the formation will be the support of Schalke’s fans during the run-in. “We know what kind of a difference the fans can make. We need their support from the stands. We’re massively excited for that,” said Büskens, finishing by saying: “The fans should and will push us on!”