Overview
- A heavy collision in the recent Köln match left Soufiane El-Faouzi with a broken nasal bone and cuts, and he has since had hospital checks and surgery.
- DerWesten and Sky report that El-Faouzi and Luca Vozar completed a short training session and that El-Faouzi trained wearing a protective mask as he moves toward a possible return.
- Dejan Ljubicic has already logged minutes in recent games and is again being considered for the starting lineup against Hoffenheim.
- Reports differ on Robin Gosens’s status: BILD published photos of him training with visible scars and suggested he could be available, while Sky and DerWesten say he currently remains unavailable.
- Schalke’s selection is further strained because Max Wöber is expected to be out until the end of the year and Junior Dina Ebimbe left a session with a right-thigh complaint, forcing Muslic to reshuffle and consider squad depth.