FC Schalke has been eliminated from the cup. Schalke “lacked a lot” of what it had shown recently. Now the team is looking ahead, with KSC already waiting on Saturday.

After such a strong run in the 2. Bundesliga, FC Schalke suffered a bitter setback in the DFB Cup. On Wednesday, the Royal Blues were routed 0–4 by SV Darmstadt—marking their elimination in the second round.

S04 coach Miron Muslic was frustrated after the game by the loss, which bore little resemblance to the 1-0 win over Darmstadt just a few days ago in the league. “Congratulations to Darmstadt, who played very well. We lacked a lot of what we’ve been bringing week after week lately. If you don’t give 100 percent on the field, it’s not enough in the Cup or in the league—you’ll get run over. But I know the strong character of these guys, and we’ll fight back.”

SVD coach Florian Kohfeldt was more satisfied, seeing the right response from his team following the league defeat: “We played a very good game. After Friday’s match, we wanted to play with more courage, so we changed our system a bit. The guys played determined, fast-paced soccer. We deserved to advance to the next round.”

Schalke’s next match is already this Saturday, when Muslic’s team faces another tough challenge. They’ll take on Karlsruher SC at 1 p.m., a team that has won four of its five home games.

Muslic looks ahead: “We’re focusing on what’s ahead again. The guys have been putting in a lot of effort for months and performing strongly; they’ve earned a lot of points in the league—that wasn’t a coincidence, but the result of hard work—and we’ll return to exactly that mindset on Saturday.”

Schalke player Janik Bachmann also doesn’t want to make too much of the team’s elimination from the cup; he called it a “slip-up, but one we need to analyze thoroughly. We were lacking in many areas—including intensity, compactness, aggressive defensive pressure, and closing down the ball—a little something was missing everywhere. Now we have to prepare as best we can for Karlsruhe.”