FC Schalke presented themselves desolately in the basement duel of the 2nd Bundesliga and went down 1:4 (0:1) at 1. FC Kaiserslautern.

FC Schalke 04 had dreamt of a comeback during the winter break and had sworn to prepare for a very good second half of the season in the winter training camp. But after only two games, the crisis is back – and even worse: the fear of the third division. The Royal Blues were humiliated by their rivals 1. FC Kaiserslautern, losing 1:4 (0:1).

The approximately 6,000 Schalke fans who traveled with the team had taken on a lot of trouble to cover around 320 kilometers to the Palatinate on a Friday, the day of the train strike. 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 bad performances this season.

Against a Kaiserslautern side in the throes of a major crisis, having lost seven matches in a row and with an out-of-form coach, Dimitrios Grammozis, the Royal Blues didn’t manage a single shot on target and just one cross in the first 44 minutes of the game. The only corner was flicked in by Paul Seguin, into the arms of Kaiserslautern keeper Julian Krahl (31′ ). Nothing came together in offense – Schalke lost almost all duels, frequently slipped and even an otherwise talented player like Kenan Karaman made terrible technical mistakes.

FCK compensated for its technical deficiencies with enthusiasm. In the first 15 minutes, the team earned two corners and three free kicks around the penalty area, getting the 49,327 spectators behind them. And in the 10th minute, the goal was scored to make it 1-0.

Marlon Ritter flicked a free kick flatly towards the goal, S04 goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann parried the ball away, Ragnar Ache scored with a tap-in because only he had speculated on a rebound. The Lauter team didn’t manage any more dangerous situations, but they kept crossing from midfield and shooting at goal every now and then – which is what the fans, who had demanded “Together to avoid relegation – together indestructible” with their banners, wanted to see.

And Schalke? Lino Tempelmann (44) and Paul Seguin (45) shot harmlessly on target before the break, but that couldn’t save the terrible first half any more. Coach Karel Geraerts shook his head more than once – and he reacted at half-time and brought on Darko Churlinov, who had eagerly awaited his Schalke comeback.

And he showed the same level of motivation from the first second as he did during the first three training days after returning from FC Burnley. In the 51st minute, Churlinov stormed alone towards the goal after a lightning-fast through ball from Kenan Karaman, kept his cool and equalized. He quickly ran to the corner and celebrated with the traveling fans, who had suffered for so long. Schalke immediately took control of the game, and this goal gave them a noticeable boost.

But it remained with these decent nine minutes. In the 60th minute, a simple long pass was enough to break through Schalke’s defense . Richmond Tachie crossed from the right side into the middle, where Ache won the duel against Tomas Kalas and headed the 2-1.

Now Schalke completely lost all order, all reason and let themselves be played. Filip Stojilkovic scored with a header in the 67th minute to make it 3:1, and when Aaron Opoku shot harmlessly on goal in the 70th minute, goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann also made a mistake – 4:1. Three goals against within ten minutes on the Betzenberg – embarrassing, even disgraceful. After this goal, the game seemed easy for FCK. Schalke’s fans stopped singing. They still had a long drive back through the night ahead of them.