After their league win against Darmstadt, FC Schalke came away empty-handed in the DFB Cup against the “Lilien.”

Just five days after their 1-0 victory in the 2. Bundesliga, FC Schalke faced Darmstadt 98 again in the DFB Cup. However, S04 had to play the “Lilien” in the second round.

And this time, the Royal Blues came up short. After 90 minutes, the score was 0–4 (0–2) from Schalke’s perspective, meaning they’ll have to write off the 847,544 euro bonus they would have received for advancing.

While Darmstadt made four changes to its starting lineup—including the return of star striker Isac Lidberg—S04 coach Miron Muslic made only one change. Finn Porath replaced Vitalie Becker in the starting lineup.

From the start, the battles for the ball were intense. Darmstadt had over 60 percent possession in the opening minutes and created the first good chance. But S04 goalkeeper Loris Karius came out on top in the duel with Fraser Hornby.

The SVD then took the lead on their second chance. Following a Schalke corner, Darmstadt launched a quick counterattack, and at the end of it, Hiroki Akiyama finished on his second attempt to make it 1–0.

Earlier, Kenan Karaman had squandered a great opportunity to put Schalke ahead. He was denied by SVD goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen. And things got even worse for Schalke.

The hosts capitalized on the momentum from their lead to add to their tally just five minutes later. Following a corner, it was Matej Maglica who scored for Darmstadt to make it 2–0. The score remained that way until halftime, giving Schalke time to regroup.

After the break, however, things got off to a bad start again for the Gelsenkirchen team. Just three minutes after the restart, the game was effectively over. Once again, it was Hornby who kept his cool in front of Karius and scored the 3-0 goal.

Schalke tried to find their way back into the game and even had a chance to make it 1-3 through Moussa Sylla, but he missed the target. Two minutes later, Schalke’s fate was finally sealed. Bartosz Bialek, who had come on as a substitute just moments earlier, scored the 4-0.

And Muslic also made it clear with his subsequent substitutions that he had written off the match. Nevertheless, Janik Bachmann should have scored a consolation goal, but he missed miserably from 15 meters out. So the score remained 4–0 for Darmstadt.

Darmstadt’s next match in the 2. Bundesliga is on Saturday (November 1, 8:30 p.m.) against Arminia Bielefeld. Schalke plays on Saturday (November 1, 1 p.m.) at Karlsruher SC.