1. FC Magdeburg faces Nürnberg on Sunday. For Coach Petrik Sander's team, it's about crucial points in the relegation battle.

Who replaces Mateusz Zukowski?

Personnel-wise, the coach can almost fully utilize his squad, except for a few exceptions. Goalkeeper Noah Krut is still not training, defender Samuel Loric is doing running exercises, and the rest are working with the ball. However, the yellow card suspension of top scorer Mateusz Zukowski weighs heavily.

Game philosophy doesn't depend on one person

Despite the prominent absence, the team's approach should remain unchanged. "We want to see that we can bring ourselves into good positions with our combination football," Sander emphasized. A change of course is not an option: "We won't suddenly play long and high."

Nürnberg wants to break the 40-point mark

In Nürnberg, there's currently a rather comedic atmosphere. In the last three games, the team failed to break the 40-point mark. | Date | League | Position | Points | | 27.06.2026 | 2. Bundesliga | 14th | 39 | | 17.05.2026 | 2. Bundesliga | | 0:1 against 1. FC Kaiserslautern |

Coach Petrik Sander expects the club to take a more offensive approach than recently – especially since the recent results against the "teams at the bottom" were no longer okay.

Current situation

1. FC Magdeburg has scored 52 goals and conceded 58 in the current season. The team is 31 points behind leaders FC Schalke 04. The last five games ended with three wins and two losses. The team lost the last two games.