Christoph Metzelder is unlikely to figure for Schalke against Wolfsburg this Sunday after suffering an injury setback on his comeback to action yesterday.

The former Germany international lasted only 45 minutes of a friendly match against Oberhausen and is therefore not likely to be a candidate for coach Ralf Rangnick this weekend.

Metzelder picked up a calf injury during Schalke's UEFA Europa League qualifier against Helsinki in mid-August and the same problem flared up again in yesterday's 5-2 victory.

We had actually intended for him to play a little longer, but his calf was causing him a few problems after 45 minutes.
Ralf Rangnick on Christoph Metzelder

"We had to take Christoph Metzelder off at half-time," reported Rangnick on his club's website. "We had actually intended for him to play a little longer, but his calf was causing him a few problems after 45 minutes so, as a precautionary measure, we decided to rest him in the second half."

Rangnick was therefore unable to gain much of what he was hoping for from the win. "The whole aim of it was to give some of our long-term injury absentees match practice," he said.

Schalke are currently sitting second in the Bundesliga, level on nine points with Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen.