2-2 after leading 2-0: Schalke 04 squandered a lead against Dresden. There was criticism of two substitutions made by coach Miron Muslic.
Had the score remained 2-0, Saturday afternoon would have provided plenty of great stories for FC Schalke 04: for example, Edin Dzeko’s two goals (52’, 70’) and strong debuts by Moussa Ndiaye and Adil Aouchiche. But after what felt like an eternity of stoppage time, the match between Schalke and Dynamo Dresden ended 2–2 (0–0), and Schalke’s mini-slump continued. S04 has been waiting for a win for five games.
Before the game slipped out of Schalke’s grasp, coach Miron Muslic made two substitutions. Dzeko, who scored twice, had to come off immediately after his second goal (replaced by Moussa Sylla), and Ndiaye followed in the 76th minute, replaced by Felipe Sanchez. Schalke lost its stability, and Dresden equalized with an own goal by Hasan Kurucay (78th) and a header by Thomas Keller (87th).
These were two substitutions that Schalke fans debated. The coach was criticized in the comments section under the YouTube video of the press conference. Excerpts: “That wasn’t smart coaching,” “Unbelievable how you can mess up coaching like that,” “Those were just terrible substitutions,” “The coach ruined the game,” “I miss the coach’s self-criticism.”
Why did Muslic take him out? Dzeko had looked physically strong. But Muslic said: “Of course, 90 minutes is too much for Edin. It’s been an eternity since he last played the full game. We prepared him carefully, letting him play 25 minutes first, then 45. You can certainly substitute Edin Dzeko when the score is 2–0 with 20 minutes left, if you know for sure: He’s not quite ready yet.” Moussa Sylla had a chance to score the third goal when the score was 2–1, but missed despite being unmarked.
Muslic offered a similar explanation regarding Ndiaye: “Ndiaye has only been with us for two days and has completed two training sessions with us. It’s been an eternity since the young man last played a full match.” But that’s not entirely true. On December 26, 2025—about six weeks ago—Ndiaye played the entire match for RSC Anderlecht against Charleroi (1–2) in the Belgian First Division. He played 84 minutes on January 18, 2026, in the 2–4 loss in Ghent.
But according to Muslic, the decision to substitute Ndiaye wasn’t based solely on physical reasons: “We did with Ndiaye exactly what we’ve often done with Vitalie Becker over the past six or seven months during the final ten to 15 minutes. Dresden brought on some big players.” Ndiaye was replaced by Hasan Kurucay, who is strong in the air, and later Felipe Sanchez (81st minute) came on for Ron Schallenberg. Even with five natural center backs on the field (Kurucay, Sanchez, Mertcan Ayhan, Nikola Katic, Timo Becker), they were unable to prevent the equalizer off a corner kick.
Muslic’s assessment of the game, regardless of the substitutions, was mixed: “Two weeks ago, after the late goals that made it 2–2 against Kaiserslautern, it felt like a win; today, it’s the opposite. The first half was tough; the second half was great. We executed exactly what we set out to do: high intensity, lots of ball recoveries, and very dangerous on the counterattack. We rewarded ourselves with two beautiful goals. Normally, that should be enough.” He said the goal that narrowed the deficit came “out of nowhere.”