Schalke vs. Dortmund: The Revierderby in troubled times

Both Revierderby rivals find themselves in tough times ahead of their Matchday 22 clash. Dortmund dropped first out of the title race, and now the top four, with their hopes of Champions League qualification hanging by a thread. BVB need to bounce back fast if they're to not only finish high in the table, but also avoid losing some of their top stars.

Schalke are faring much, much worse. They have only won once this season and are rooted to the bottom of the table with just nine points. Time is running out for the flailing club to turn their season around as they lie nine points from safety. Their fourth coach of the season, Christian Gross, has been tasked with righting the sinking ship, but he's lost five of his eight matches.

The last meeting in the Revierderby ended in a dominant 3-0 win to Dortmund in October last year. It was the last Bundesliga game in which fans were allowed inside Dortmund's stadium, with about 300 attending. Manuel Akanji, Erling Haaland, and Mats Hummels grabbed the goals in a relatively straightforward victory.

In April 2018, Schalke scored their first derby win since 2014. Naldo proved the hero once more, scoring an incredible free kick to end the contest and write his name into the Royal Blues' history book. In doing so, the 35-year-old Brazilian went one better than his late, great equalizer that marked an incredible comeback from a four-goal deficit in the first derby of the 2017-18 season.

The first Revierderby of 2017-18 was without a doubt one of the most exciting. Dortmund dominated from the kickoff, going up by four goals in the first half hour. Schalke staged a comeback in the second half. Central defender Naldo (bottom left) scored with a header four minutes into time added on to give Schalke a 4-4 draw in Dortmund.

The fog was so thick in Dortmund in November 1966, that some referees might have declined to go ahead with the match. Not Gerd Henning: "Every time somebody kicked the ball into the fog, I chased after it," he said afterwards. "It was strenuous, but it was okay. BVB dealt better with the conditions, winning 6-2. Lothar Emmerich's hat trick is the only one ever scored in a Ruhr derby.

One of the strangest things to happen during a Revierderby came in Dortmund in September 1969. After a Schalke goal, some of the spectators invaded the pitch, so the stewards used dogs to drive them back. One of the dogs bit Schalke defender Friedel Rausch in the backside. Despite his pain, Rausch was able to play on.

In December 1997, Schalke goalkeeper Jens Lehmann (fourth from left) scored a last-minute goal to earn team a 2-2 draw in Dortmund. Among the players who have been on both sides of the Ruhr derby, Lehmann is the record holder, having made 11 appearances for for Schalke and nine for Dortmund.

Frank Rost was the man of the match in Dortmund in January 2004. The Schalke goalkeeper saved two penalties, first from Jan Koller, then from Torsten Frings. Rost would go on to keep a clean sheet and Ebbe Sand's goal shortly before the final whistle gave Schalke a 1-0 win.

The derby in Dortmund was also decided by a single Schalke goal. This time it was the Brazilian Ailton (right) who got the winner. This extended Schalke's undefeated streak in the derby to 12 matches — the longest in the long history of encounters between Schalke and BVB.

One of the most bitter derby encounters for Schalke. In Dortmund in May of 2007, Schalke's hopes of winning the Bundesliga title ebbed away. In the penultimate match of the season Alexander Frei and Ebi Smolarek (second from right) both scored in a Dortmund win. Schalke players Christian Pander (left) and Fabian Ernst are not impressed.

After an hour of play in Dortmund in September 2008, Schalke were up 3-0 and looked to have all but won the match. After BVB pulled one back, though, Schalke had two players sent off in the space of five minutes. Dortmund got two more to earn a 3-3 draw. The last one was this Alexander Frei penalty in the 89th minute.

So intense is the rivalry that there can be trouble between groups of supporters. Brawls broke out in October 2012 in Dortmund, as well as a year later in Gelsenkirchen. Both clubs went as far as to threaten to play future derbies behind closed doors — but clearly it never came to that — at least not for that reason. Most games this season have been played behind closed doors due to COVID-19.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (left) scored the goal that put Dortmund up 1-0 at the Signal Iduna Park in February of 2015. He and teammate Marco Reus celebrated by donning previously hidden Batman and Robin masks. "We like to have a bit of fun," Reus explained afterwards. Dortmund went on to win 3-0.

In the derby in Gelsenkirchen in April 2017, Schalke's mascot, Erwin, showed referee Felix Zwayer the red card. Zwayer had denied the Royal Blues a penalty in time-added-on. Schalke's coach, Markus Weinzierl (third from right) protested a little too vigorously and was sent to the stands. The match ended 1-1 and the DFB responded by issuing a formal warning to Erwin.