The Schalkers want to stand firm after the setback in Freiburg. However, there is more hope from the stands than from the pitch. And the remaining program in the relegation battle has it all.

A look at the remaining schedule is not very encouraging for FC Schalke 04. After Werder Bremen next Saturday, the Königsblauen still have to face Mainz 05, Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt in the final spurt of the Bundesliga season. All teams that still have big goals.

Be it the championship, the Champions League or, in general, participation in a European competition. But above all, the Schalkers have to play three of their remaining five games away from home. And that could be their undoing in the fight against relegation.

Captain Danny Latza did not want to rate the 0:4 (0:2) defeat at SC Freiburg on Sunday as a “knockout blow”. Only a “light hit” had been conceded, said the midfielder. So far, the second half of the season has been “quite good,” he emphasized, referring to the 15 points that the Schalke team has picked up from the past twelve games.

However, their extreme weakness away from home threatens to ultimately destroy what the Gelsenkircheners painstakingly built up at the beginning of the year. It felt like the Revierclub had already been relegated by the winter break. With a series of eight unbeaten games, they have been fighting their way back since January. In Freiburg, they could have climbed out of the relegation zone and into 15th place for the first time in more than half a year – and instead went down completely.

Schalke have won only one of their past 42 Bundesliga games away from home – a devastating record. It was all the more remarkable, therefore, how the fans who had travelled with them gave the players a round of applause after the game in Freiburg. “The support has been insane throughout the season,” veteran Latza said of the support. The thrashing on the pitch was followed by encouragement from the stands. The Königsblauen want to remain steadfast in the nerve- and energy-sapping fight to stay in the league. Five matchdays before the end, they are still second to last in the table, but the supporters a glimmer of hope. “I don’t know where we would be without the fans behind us,” said Latza.

At home against Werder, he wants to deliver with his team next Saturday again “such a game as against Hertha.” And not one like in Freiburg. “Wipe your mouth” was also the instruction given by Schalke coach Thomas Reis to his players after the pack at the Champions League contender in Breisgau. In the furious 5:2 win over Hertha BSC a week earlier, the Gelsenkircheners had, in his opinion, won battles that were now lost in Freiburg. In the final spurt, the team needs more determination. And more goals. And the support of the fans. The fact that they won’t let themselves be divided is probably Schalke’s greatest trump card in the fight against relegation.