Eintracht Frankfurt vs Schalke preview - Schaaf unmoved by personal landmark

Posted Saturday, February 14, 2015 by PA

Eintracht Frankfurt coach Thomas Schaaf reaches a milestone on Saturday when he sits on the bench for a Bundesliga game for the 500th time.

Only four other coaches - Otto Rehhagel, Jupp Heynckes, Erich Ribbeck and the late Udo Lattek - have stood on the touchline more times than the 53-year-old, but the former Werder Bremen coach is not so interested about joining the exclusive 500+ club.

"I personally wouldn't have known that it would be a special game for me had I not heard it from the media," said Schaaf at a press conference.

"What does it mean? It means I've been a coach for nearly 15 seasons and that's a pretty long time.

"It's quite scary really, but it shows that I must have done some good things after all; that I've won more games than I've lost.

"I must have worked well so it's not bad, but three points on Saturday are more important for me than reaching 500 games."

Schaaf's first game as a coach, at Bremen in 1999, was also against Schalke and he says a lot has changed since then.

"I would never have thought then I'd be opening up a laptop to analyse things," he said. "So many things have changed, it's a different generation.

"The important thing is how open you are to all these changes. I can remember when I started, I was not that much older than my eldest players while now, some could be my kids.

"What goes on around the game has certainly changed."

There has been quite a change in Schalke lately too with the Royal Blues unbeaten so far in 2015.

Roberto Di Matteo's men have consequently risen to third ahead of the biggest week of their season, which also sees them face Real Madrid in the Champions League.

"I'm sure the players will be focusing on this important Bundesliga game against Frankfurt," said Schalke's director of sport Horst Heldt on his club's website.

"We've first got to get three important points to keep us in the running for a place in the Champions League next season."