FC Schalke 04 has been eliminated in the second round of the DFB Cup. League rivals FC St. Pauli beat S04 2-1 after extra time.

In the first round of the DFB Cup, FC Schalke 04 had just managed to beat league rivals Eintracht Braunschweig, who are currently bottom of the second Bundesliga.

In the second round, however, they were unable to advance against the league leaders of the German second division. At the Millerntor in Hamburg, S04 lost 1-2 to FC St. Pauli after extra time. Schalke played well in the first half, during which Karel Geraerts’ team also took the lead. But then the Royal Blues didn’t show much.

“We got off to a good start and took the lead. We stuck well to the plan we had in mind. In the end, though, we didn’t do well and that’s how the game ended. But we had our situations in one phase that we had to finish in a more targeted and efficient way. Then more would have been possible,” summed up Andre Hechelmann on Sky.

The team around scorer Marcin Kaminski was cheered up after the game by the fans who had traveled from Gelsenkirchen. The sports director also noticed this and highly values the gesture of the fans.
“That was a great sign from the fans. The team gave everything, just like at the weekend. We have to continue on this path together. Then the results will come too. I am convinced of that.”

Schalke is now out of the cup and can concentrate fully on the league. Currently, the Gelsenkirchen-based team’s goal is to avoid relegation to the 3rd division and to gradually work their way up the table.

The remaining fixtures before the winter break are away to 1. FC Nürnberg, at home to SV Elversberg, away to Fortuna Düsseldorf, at home to VfL Osnabrück, away to Hansa Rostock and at home in the Veltins-Arena to Spielvereinigung Greuther Fürth. Schalke need to get a lot of points here to ensure they go into the Christmas break and turn of the year with a round of applause from their fans.