If you’ve got an early chance to nail your colours to the mast and make a good impression with your new fans, you have to take it – and that’s exactly what Nico Schlotterbeck did.
Earlier this week, shortly after making his Bundesliga debut for Borussia Dortmund, the young Germany centre-back was a guest on a chat show on the club’s in-house television channel in front of a live audience.
The Sky presenter Sebastian Hellmann, Schlotterbeck’s fellow panellist, mentioned an upcoming assignment at Schalke’s game with Borussia Mönchengladbach, the Top-Spiel (top game) of the second weekend of the league season, in the prime Saturday early evening, 6.30pm kick-off slot. “They have Top-Spiel in Schalke?” Schlotterbeck wryly chipped in, naturally bringing the house down with a ribbing of BVB’s local rivals.
Schalke have received more than their share of digs in the last few years. It has been a steady slide downhill since Domenico Tedesco was fired after March 2019’s 7-0 Champions League (that’s right) defeat at Manchester City.