The good news for Schalke 04's defenders as they prepare to face Chelsea in their opening Champions League Group G match on Wednesday is that striker Diego Costa is nursing a slight hamstring injury.
Champions League competitors Schalke 04 have signed AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng on a four-year deal after the Ghana international passed his medical at the German club on Friday.
Schalke 04 carried some of their Champions League momentum into the Bundesliga on Sunday, beating Freiburg 2-0 to bounce back after a string of erratic results.
Indian-origin German football Bundesliga coach Robin Dutt has been sacked by his club SV Werder Bremen owing to the team's poor start in the new national championship season.
Schalke 04 are hoping their freshly-found discipline under new coach Roberto Di Matteo, coupled with his Champions League pedigree will help them beat Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday for their first win in the competition this season.
Depleted Borussia Dortmund shrugged off the absence of more than half a dozen starting players to ease into the German Cup quarter-finals with a comfortable 2-0 win at third-tier Saarbruecken on Tuesday.
Holders Bayern Munich crushed Hanover 96 4-1 with two goals from Thomas Mueller to reach the German Cup round of 16 On Wednesday.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who said he made "11 mistakes" in his team selection after Chelsea lost to Newcastle United on Saturday, will not want to get it wrong again when Schalke 04 visit StamfordBridge in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Schalke 04 beat rivals Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the Bundesliga Ruhr valley derby on Saturday to confirm their improving form after a bad start to the season.
Last season's Bundesliga top scorer Robert Lewandowski scored his first competitive goal for new club Bayern Munich but the champions had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Schalke 04 on Saturday.
Bayern Munich humiliated former Bundesliga powerhouses Werder Bremen 7-0 on Saturday with Franck Ribery scoring twice and setting up another two as the champions kept up their seemingly unstoppable march towards another title.
Schalke 04 halted the Chelsea juggernaut when they drew 1-1 in their Champions League Group G opener at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, handing a wake-up call to the London club who had won their first four games of the season.
Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky continued to swipe past the seeds at the Wuhan Open on Wednesday by dumping World No 4 Maria Sharapova from the hard court tournament with a 7-6(3), 7-5 victory.