After losing the championship in the Revierderby in 2006/2007, FC Schalke 04 faced Borussia Dortmund again. The S04 took its chance and defeated BVB 4:1. Still thinking about the title?

The 2006/2007 season could have ended with FC Schalke 04 winning the German championship. However, their rival Borussia Dortmund put an end to the royal blue dreams by beating Gelsenkirchen 2-0, ensuring that the dream did not become reality.

This event occurred just four months earlier on August 18, 2007. The day on which the Ruhr Valley clubs next met in the 2007/2008 season was match day 2. The chance for the blue and whites to get revenge in the home Veltins Arena.

Schalke also had the better starting position. While the Royal Blues were able to keep up with the reigning champions, VfB Stuttgart, with a 2-2 draw on the first matchday, BVB had to accept a 3-1 defeat against MSV Duisburg.

The Schalke squad for the derby included a number of players who would go on to have great careers. Manuel Neuer and Mesut Özil had already emerged from the Schalke youth department as home-grown players in the 2006/2007 season and continued to get a taste of the professional air that season.

Another notable player who would one day have a market value of €70 million was the 19-year-old Ivan Rakitic, who came from Basel for five million euros. Mirko Slomka was Schalke’s coach at the time.

Among others, the line-up for Dortmund included the later world champion Roman Weidenfeller in goal, Dédé as left-back and right winger Jakub Blaszczykowski, with Thomas Doll on the sidelines.

Early lead for S04 in the Revierderby

The S04 did well from the start, was alert and had more possession. The Brazilian Marcelo Bordon gave the visitors the lead in the 11th minute, before the home side extended their lead in the 31st minute through a direct free-kick from Christian Pander.

With the clear two-goal deficit, Borussia went into the locker room. But even after the break, the game continued to go well for Schalke. In the 59th minute, fan favorite Gerald Asamoah increased the lead to 3-0.

The visitors scored a goal through Nelson Valdez to make it 1:3 during a passive phase by the hosts. But Schalke did not let this phase affect them and increased their lead again to make the final score 4:1. A successful revenge for the runners-up.

Schalke also won the second leg at Signal Iduna Park, this time 3-2. FC Schalke finished the 2007/2008 season in third place behind FC Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen. Dortmund only managed 13th place.

Rakitic moved from Spain to Saudi Arabia

And what happened next for the 19-year-old Croatian at Schalke? Rakitic left the Bundesliga for Spain in 2011, joining Sevilla. From there, he was drawn to Barcelona, where he had a market value of 70 million euros at the time. In 2020, the Croatian returned to Sevilla. Since 2024, he has been playing for the Saudi Arabian club Al-Shabab.