Schalke headed into the Christmas break with a surprising loss. Coach Miron Muslic’s team lost their final match 1–2 (0–0) in Braunschweig.

Tired, toothless, lacking in attack: With a performance that did not at all match their strong first half of the season or the euphoric mood at the club, the fall champions FC Schalke 04 headed into the second-division winter break. The Royal Blues suffered a well-deserved 1-2 (0-0) loss at Eintracht Braunschweig in front of 23,080 spectators. Two former Schalke players scored for Eintracht. No team in the league is likely looking forward to the Christmas break as much as the Schalke squad, which is severely weakened by injuries.

For Braunschweig, it was a special game for several reasons. The club celebrated its 130th anniversary, and the fans had prepared a large choreographed display. Some players faced their former club, such as Mehmet Can Aydin, who had come up through the Schalker youth academy. And Eintracht coach Heiner Backhaus faced his favorite club for the first time—a team he has even immortalized with a tattoo on his upper arm. “I’m a Schalke fan because that’s where I’m from,” Backhaus said before the game.

This energy was evident in Eintracht’s play during the first half. They played with more bite, made a better impression, and were more determined in their attacks on the Schalke goal, though they didn’t shine with their passing combinations. Eintracht had the only two chances of the first half. In the eleventh minute, Leon Bell Bell found himself alone at the edge of Schalke’s penalty area but curled the ball just past the left post. Schalke goalkeeper Loris Karius would have had no chance.

Forty minutes had passed when Schalke’s Vitalie Becker managed to clear a Braunschweig cross, but the ball fell right to Braunschweig’s Johan Gomez, who shot over the goal. Otherwise, however, Eintracht failed to capitalize on their decent performance. Their numerous set pieces near the penalty area (six throw-ins, two free kicks, one corner) all came to nothing.

And Schalke? Their performance was in line with the mixed displays of the previous weeks. The six points Schalke earned in Düsseldorf (2–0) and Nuremberg (1–0) somewhat masked the team’s fatigue and tendency to make mistakes. The defense made many avoidable mistakes in their build-up play. Two examples: Hasan Kurucay (14th minute) and Vitalie Becker (20th minute) gave the ball away through simple blunders in their first touch.

Schalke often played the ball forward along the touchline. Braunschweig always cleared it. The offense was nowhere to be seen. Only a header by Christian Gomis, which flew into the arms of goalkeeper Thorben Hoffmann (7th minute), created any danger. Gomis and Finn Porath had come into the lineup for Christopher Antwi-Adjei (Achilles tendon pain) and Mika Wallentowitz (bench). But they were unable to capitalize on their opportunity. At halftime, the score was 0-0 in a game lacking in major highlights.

Coach Miron Muslic had a quarter of an hour to get his team in the right mindset for the final 45 minutes of the year and to rouse them once more. But he didn’t succeed. Eintracht remained the dominant team and played with even more intensity. In the 58th minute, Bell Bell ran alone toward the goal but was denied by goalkeeper Karius, who for a long time seemed to be the only one standing in the way of an impending defeat.

A minute later, Mehmet Can Aydin fired a free kick from the edge of the penalty area over the crossbar. In the 60th minute, Aydin did better. From 18 meters out, he took a shot; deflected by Schalke’s defensive leader Nikola Katic, the ball flew into the net. Aydin refrained from celebrating the goal, but the enthusiastic Eintracht fans did not. Just three minutes later, Christian Conteh nearly sealed the victory. He, too, ran alone toward Karius but was denied by Schalke’s goalkeeper.