A moment of shock for Schalke fans: Ilyes Hamache had to be substituted due to injury. Here’s what coach Miron Muslic had to say.

The large entourage of second division club FC Schalke 04 had every reason to be 1904 percent happy on Saturday afternoon. The royal blue A-team also impressed in their second friendly, following a 0-0 draw against Panathinaikos Athens, Schalke’s regulars defeated FC St. Gallen from Switzerland 1-0 (1-0). But was everyone really happy? A scene in the 77th minute caused a stir.

Schalke dribbler Ilyes Hamache, who had some great moves, especially in the first half, was fouled so badly by his opponent Enoch Owusu that Hamache’s shoe flew off. Owusu was shown the yellow card, and Hamache had to be substituted after receiving treatment from team doctor Dr. Patrick Ingelfinger – his ankle was hurting.

All this took place right in front of the main stand, where around 1,000 S04 fans were standing and sitting. They were quiet at first, then angry.

Schalke coach Muslic: “He wanted applause”

However, S04 coach Miron Muslic was able to joke about Hamache’s alleged injury after the game: “That was definitely because Ilyes was very close to the Schalke fans. He just wanted the applause. I’m 100% sure that Ilyes just wanted to give out a few kisses. I think he’ll be jumping around the pitch like a young rabbit again on Sunday,” said Muslic with a smile on his face. Hamache allowed Martin Wasinski to make a brief appearance – the Belgian was the only Schalke player who had not yet been on the pitch.

One player who was missing from the squad was striker Emil Höjlund, who had suffered a head injury in training. Muslic also gave the all-clear for Höjlund: “It’s nothing serious at all with Emil, but unfortunately he wasn’t feeling well today. He was actually scheduled to play the last 30 minutes for Moussa Sylla. So we had to juggle things around a bit.”