Henning Matriciani has made an amazing development as a centre-back in the past two games. A “maturity test” awaits him against Bayern Munich.

FC Schalke 04 will have their work cut out when they face FC Bayern München on Saturday evening (6.30 p.m.). And their defence. In the 1:0 win against Mainz 05 on Wednesday, the defence showed itself to be in good shape for the first time this season. At least as far as the central defence is concerned.

And that was surprising. For there, next to Maya Yoshida, stood Henning Matriciani, more of an emergency stopper. Until recently, Matriciani, who joined the U23s from Lippstadt in 2020, played full-back, mostly on the right side of defence. There he was considered a security risk.

That has changed in the centre. The day before last, in the 1:2 against Werder Bremen, he already showed a good performance here. On Wednesday against Mainz (1:0) he went one better. Afterwards, coach Thomas Reis rightly praised his central defence. “The players are starting to realise that you have to push out early for what you want to implement,” he explained.

Henning is a player who may not have been on the radar at the start and who may also have been viewed critically

Schalke coach Thomas Reis on Henning Matriciani

There was even special praise for Matriciani. “Henning is a player who was perhaps not so on the radar at the beginning and who was also perhaps viewed critically,” Reis said. And then admitted that he made a virtue out of sheer necessity: “I always stick to it, that’s never meant in a negative way: there are no other players at the moment.” Schalke currently have four injured centre-backs in Marcin Kaminski, Leo Greiml, Sepp van der Berg and Ibrahime Cissé.

And so Matriciani, who is already being celebrated by S04 fans as an underdog much like Yves Eigenrauch once was, will get another chance against Bayern. This time against Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Leroy Sané, Jamal Musiala and Serge Gnabry. “He shows that he is developing from game to game. That’s nice for me, of course. And for him as well. And that also gives a team stability,” explained Reis.

Schalke: Regular place for Matriciani?

One catalyst may have been the monster tackle in injury time against Mainz, with which Matriciani probably saved the win. “The run, well that was already very, very good. I hope that just gives him confidence. And then we’ll see, when some come back, if he continues to assert himself then.”

It’s not out of the question, Reis said, and even held out the prospect of a regular spot for his defender: “If he continues like this, then you can see that even from a lower league you sometimes have to be lucky to get more playing time. But he is rewarding himself and showing that he absolutely deserves to play more. “