FC Schalke put in a desolate performance in the basement duel of Bundesliga 2, going down 4-1 (0-1) at 1. FC Kaiserslautern.

FC Schalke 04 had been dreaming of catching up during the winter break and vowed to have a very good second half of the season at the winter training camp. But after just two games, the crisis is back – and worse still: the fear of the third division. The Royal Blues allowed themselves to be outplayed by fellow rivals 1. FC Kaiserslautern and went down disgracefully with 1:4 (0:1).

The approximately 6,000 Schalke fans had gone to great lengths to travel around 320 kilometers to the Palatinate on the day of the rail strike on a Friday. Despite these circumstances, they showed their loyalty to the club with a blue and white choreography. Nevertheless, they witnessed a Schalke performance that proved that there is still room for improvement in the scale of poor performances this season.

Against an FCK team that is in a deep crisis, having lost seven games in a row and whose coach Dimitrios Grammozis was ailing, the Royal Blues did not manage a shot on goal in the first 44 minutes of the game and only managed one cross. Paul Seguin flicked the only corner into the arms of FCK goalkeeper Julian Krahl (31′). Nothing came together in attack – Schalke lost almost all of their duels, often slipped up and even an otherwise talented player like Kenan Karaman made terrible technical mistakes.

FCK made up for their technical deficiencies with their enthusiasm. In the first 15 minutes, the team earned two corners and three free-kicks around the edge of the penalty area, getting the home fans in the 49,327 spectators at the sold-out Betzenberg behind them. And in the 10th minute, the goal was scored to make it 1:0.

Marlon Ritter flicked a free-kick low towards goal, S04 goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann fended the ball away and Ragnar Ache scored from a clearance because he alone had speculated on a rebound. Lauter did not create any further dangerous scenes, but they repeatedly crossed from half-field and occasionally shot at goal – that’s what the fans wanted to see, who had demanded on posters: “Together to stay in the league – together indestructible.”

And the Schalke team? Lino Tempelmann (44′) and Paul Seguin (45′) shot harmlessly at goal before the break, but that couldn’t save the dreadful first half. Coach Karel Geraerts shook his head more than once – and he reacted at the break by bringing on Darko Churlinov, who had been eagerly awaiting his Schalke comeback.

And he was just as highly motivated from the very first second as he had been on the first three days of training after his return from Burnley FC. In the 51st minute, Churlinov stormed towards goal alone after a brilliantly clever through pass from Kenan Karaman, kept his cool and converted to equalize. He quickly ran into the corner and celebrated with the fans, who had suffered for so long. Schalke immediately took control of the game and this goal gave them a noticeable boost

However, these nine minutes were not enough. In the 60th minute, a simple long pass was enough to undermine Schalke’s defense. Richmond Tachie crossed from the right into the middle, where Ache beat Tomas Kalas one-on-one and headed home to make it 2:1.

Schalke now completely lost all order and sense and allowed themselves to be played down. Filip Stojilkovic increased the lead to 3:1 with a header in the 67th minute, and when Aaron Opoku shot harmlessly at goal in the 70th minute, goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann also made a mistake – 4:1. Three goals conceded within ten minutes at the Betzenberg – embarrassing, even disgraceful. After this goal, the game came to a relaxed end for FCK. Schalke’s fans sang nothing more. They still had a long journey back through the night ahead of them