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Bundesliga is back: Borussia Dortmund v Schalke - the Revierderby in Opta data

Daniel Caligiuri (L) and Raphael Guerreiro (R) vie for the ball

The Bundesliga is coming back with a bang on Saturday, with Borussia Dortmund and arch-rivals Schalke meeting in the 180th Revierderby.

As the first major European league to resume amid the coronavirus pandemic, the clash at Signal Iduna Park provides a tantalising treat for sport-starved fans – even though the game will be played behind closed doors.

Dortmund will be unable to rely on the famous 'Yellow Wall' when they attempt to avenge a 4-2 home loss to Schalke in April 2018, which put a huge dent in their title ambitions.

It remains BVB's only home Bundesliga defeat under Lucien Favre and they will fancy their chances of avoiding a repeat when they face a team that are winless in their past seven Bundesliga games – the worst record in the division.

Minimal goalscoring experience

Daniel Caligiuri struck twice for Schalke in that game to take his Revierderby goal tally to four in six matches; he has only scored 16 in total for the Royal Blues.

No player in either team has scored as many as Caligiuri in this fixture, with Mario Gotze (two) the only player to have found the net more than once.

Lothar Emmerich's record of 10 goals in this rivalry does not consequently look like being surpassed any time soon.

Caligiuri's six appearances in the derby is the most in David Wagner's ranks, while Dortmund boast plenty of experience in Mats Hummels (16), Marcel Schmelzer (14) and Lukasz Piszczek (13).

The overall appearance record is held by Klaus Fichtel and Roman Weidenfeller of Schalke and Dortmund respectively. They both featured 24 times in this game.

Midfield concerns

Dortmund will be without Axel Witsel, Emre Can and Marco Reus.

With Witsel on the pitch, Dortmund have won 67 per cent of their Bundesliga games. In four matches without him, they have been victorious only once.

After losing his first game as a starter, Can racked up four straight wins at the heart of Dortmund's midfield.

The duo will be sorely missed, but if Favre's men can keep Amine Harit quiet they stand a good chance of taking maximum points.

Harit has been involved in more Bundesliga goals than any of his team-mates (six scored, four assisted) but has not done so in his past nine outings.

Schalke have not won any of those games, while the seven matches in which he has been involved in a goal have all ended in victory.

Fire it up

Jadon Sancho has had a hand in more Bundesliga goals (14 scored, 15 assisted) than any other player this season and will be hoping to improve his record in the Revierderby.

The England international has scored one and set up another in four games against Schalke, though his solitary strike was the winner in a 2-1 victory in December 2018 - Dortmund's only success in the past eight meetings of these teams.

BVB's January signing of Erling Haaland has made them more dangerous in attack, too.

Haaland's nine Bundesliga goals are over twice the amount Schalke have managed since the mid-season break (four). Furthermore, Wagner's team have found the net just once in their past 387 minutes of Bundesliga action, with Dortmund getting 10 in the same time frame.

One for Schalke on Saturday would see them reach 2,500 Bundesliga goals, while failure to do so will mean they have gone five straight games without scoring for the first time since 1998.

A new target

Sancho and Haaland will be hoping to get the better of potential Revierderby debutant Markus Schubert in the Schalke goal.

In Schubert's six Bundesliga matches he has produced a save percentage of 76.

That is a better rate than Alexander Nubel (71 per cent), who has been marginalised since agreeing to join Bayern Munich at the end of the season.

Schubert, 21, will be hoping to continue impressing and deny Dortmund what would be their 800th Bundesliga win when football finally returns.

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