Schalke coach Mirko Slomka had just eleven members of the senior squad at his disposal for Tuesday's morning training session. He therefore decided to boost the numbers by calling in amateur players such as Jakob Dallevedove and Durmus Bayram.
Whereas Kevin Kuranyi, Hamit Altintop, Dario Rodriguez, Mladen Krstajic and Levan Kobiashvili are all away on international duty, Halil Altintop has been forced to pull out of the Turkey squad with groin trouble. The Schalke striker trained at the medicos rehab centre along with Zlatan Bajramovic and Fabian Ernst, who are carrying slight knocks. Christian Pander, who played the full 90 minutes against Stuttgart in what was his first match back from injury, did some stamina work on an ergometer exercise bike.
Despite the small number of players involved there was evidence of significant progress on the injury front. Both Gustavo Varela and Peter Lovenkrands were able to complete the entire 90-minute session and used the subsequent practice match as an opportunity to ease their way back to full fitness.
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