Hamburg vs Schalke: prediction, preview, team news and more / 2. Bundesliga 2021-22

Two heavyweights in German football, Hamburg and Schalke, will square off in the opening game of the 2. Bundesliga season on Friday.

Both sides have played some thrilling games in the past, and it is a shame that the upcoming skirmish will take place in the second division.

Hamburg will hope to begin their season on a high at home as a limited number of fans will be allowed into the Volksparkstadion on Friday.

Schalke did well in pre-season and will head into the new campaign unbeaten.

Schalke will be hoping to return to winning ways here after a 1-0 Bundesliga 1 defeat last time out to Cologne.

The squad had to isolate themselves and training was canceled leading up to the opening game, so it remains to be seen how well they will cope in the first game.

Like Schalke, Hamburg had a good pre-season. They won three of their four games, and drew the other.

Hamburg will come into the game after a 4-0 Bundesliga 2 win in the defeat of Eintracht Braunschweig in their last fixture.

The head-to-head record between the two sides is not heavily one-sided as Schalke have won this fixture 42 times, while Hamburg have picked up 39 wins. A total of 24 games have ended in draws.

An examination of their past head to head meetings stretching back to 26/09/2015 shows us that Schalke have won 3 of these games and Hamburg 2, with the tally of drawn matches standing at 1.

A combined sum of 18 goals were produced between them in this period, with 10 of them from Schalke and 8 coming from Hamburg. The average number of goals per game works out to 3.

The most recent meeting between the two teams took place in 2018 when Hamburg emerged 3-2 winners in what was a thrilling contest.

Both teams will target promotion this season and need to get off to a good start to lay down a marker. Hamburg will fancy their chances in front of their home fans.

Schalke will hope to put in a good display despite the COVID-19 scare this past week, and could come away with a draw.

Our prediction: Draw @ 3.67