Figures & facts: The top facts about the Schalke game

As in the first half of the season, the Lilies are still waiting for the first three points in the second half of the season before the clash with Schalke 04. But back then the streak broke against exactly these Royal Blues. In the first half, the Lilies were trailing 3-0. Then Fraser Hornby scored from the penalty spot and after the break Isac Lidberg scored a flawless hat-trick. In the end it was Sergio Lopez who scored the celebrated 5-3 winning goal in stoppage time. This was the first time the Lilies won a game after a three-goal deficit in the professional sector.

Florian Kohfeldt has not been able to celebrate so many victories as head coach against any other club. In a total of nine competitive games during his time at Werder Bremen and Darmstadt 98, Kohfeldt won seven times against Schalke 04. He also got a draw and only lost once against S04. In the first half of the season, the duel against Schalke was only Kohfeldt’s second game on the Lilien sideline and also his first win as a Darmstadt coach.

Moussa Sylla, who came from Ligue 2 before the start of the season, is currently FC Schalke 04’s top goalscorer. With 13 goals, he leads the internal top scorer list ahead of Kenan Karaman (11). The striker was recently missing from the Royal Blues‘ ranks due to injury. He was replaced by Pape Meissa Ba, who even scored the 2-1 winning goal against Karlsruher SC in the last game. He came from Ligue 2 in the winter. Looking at Darmstadt: The Lilies‘ second best goalscorer is currently Killian Corredor. The offensive player currently has six goals this season. He also came from Ligue 2 last summer.

Schalke had to do without Paul Seguin in the first leg. This meant that FC Schalke 04 was missing an important player in the center. With him in the starting lineup, his team lost just three of 13 games this season. Without the 29-year-old, things look completely different. The team played nine games in which Seguin did not start. They lost six games and only won three. What makes the central midfielder so strong is his calmness when he comes under pressure: Seguin solved 73 percent of the pressure situations, which puts him only behind Hamburger SV’s Jonas Meffert in this statistic. The Magdeburg native also has the best pass rate under pressure in the entire 2nd Bundesliga with over 90 percent.

Isac Lidberg played for the Go Ahead Eagles Deventer in the Netherlands from 2021 to 2023. In his first year there he had no less a coach than Schalke coach Kees van Wonderen. The striker played 36 games and scored six goals under the Dutchman.

Janik Bachmann will return to the Bölle on Sunday. The midfielder played for SV Darmstadt 98’s youth team from 2010 to 2015. The 28-year-old, who was born in Groß-Umstadt, was not used for the 98’s professional team.

Fabian Nürnberger will miss the Lilies against Schalke due to a red card. Jean-Paul Boetius will also miss the game due to a yellow-red card. Aleksandar Vukotic (9), Philipp Förster (4) and Clemens Riedel (4) have previous problems.