Schalke: Benito Raman and 5 players to watch in the Revierderby

FC Schalke 04 will travel to the Signal Iduna Park on Saturday afternoon for the season’s second Revierderby. Here are five players to watch on the Royal Blues.

For now, the Bundesliga season is not suspended and will be played behind closed doors, barring any changes. On Saturday, FC Schalke 04 will face bitter rivals Borussia Dortmund in the second Revierderby of the season, as both teams drew 0-0 at the Veltins Arena last October.

Schalke will be the underdogs against Dortmund, who are in third place and are still alive in the title race despite not being at the level of Bayern Munich or RB Leipzig. The winter signings of Erling Haaland and Emre Can have breathed new life into Dortmund, but it’s highly unlikely they’ll beat Schalke 5-0 like counterparts Bayern and Leipzig.

Here are five players on the Royal Blues to watch this Saturday, as the visitors have a real shot at upsetting BVB in their own stadium without the fans cheering them on.

FW Benito Raman

Guido Burgstaller will likely start up top in the new 5-4-1 system utilized by manager David Wagner following the injuries to star midfielders Suat Serdar and Omar Mascarell. However, the real danger man to Dortmund’s porous defense will be Benito Raman, as he has the pace to get in behind and do some real damage.

Raman hasn’t scored in the Bundesliga since Dec. 15 against Eintracht Frankfurt, as his downturn in form has been an important part of Schalke’s struggles in the Rückrunde. But the work rate is still there. All it takes is one slip from Dortmund’s notoriously inconsistent defense, and Raman could have the winner for the Royal Blues on Saturday.