Second division soccer club FC Schalke 04 holds on to a long-expected victory against Arminia Bielefeld, maintaining its lead in the table.

Completely exhausted, the FC Schalke 04 players could barely run. But they managed to muster their last reserves of strength for a final sprint to the north stand. “Leaders, leaders,” chanted the fans, who had experienced another magical evening this season. It was hard to believe that only one goal was scored in this emotional, intense, offensive back-and-forth against Arminia Bielefeld. Edin Dzeko scored it in the 15th minute for a 1-0 (1-0) victory. Schalke took another step closer to returning to the Bundesliga. Schalke and Bielefeld lead the sprint statistics – and that’s why the game in front of 62,077 spectators was more intense than most this season. Schalke’s defense, which had to do without suspended center back Nikola Katic, struggled to get organized in the first two and a half minutes.
Bielefeld overran Schalke, with Joel Grodowski failing twice to beat Schalke goalkeeper Kevin Müller when clean through (1st/2nd). Grodowski was offside on the first attempt, but not on the second. Müller stood in for Loris Karius, who was out with a back injury, for the third time and had to be very alert in the early stages. Bielefeld made the better impression.
It wasn’t until the 15th minute that Schalke was able to break free for the first time. After a corner from Adil Aouchiche, Katic’s replacement Mertcan Ayhan beat goalkeeper Jonas Kersken and headed the ball onto the crossbar, but striker Edin Dzeko was quickest to react and scored to make it 1-0. It was a goal that had not been coming, but Schalke’s fans went wild.

What followed was a back-and-forth affair with good and bad moments from Schalke’s point of view. For example, a successful tackle by Moussa Ndiaye (21′) and dribbler Aouchiche, who once again drew attention to himself, were met with ovations. In the 41st minute, Aouchiche crossed the ball into the penalty area, but Soufiane El-Faouzi failed to beat goalkeeper Kersken. In stoppage time of the first half, Kenan Karaman failed to convert after a cross from Aouchiche. However, the defensive work was less successful at times. In the 34th minute, Kevin Müller had to intervene again, this time when Jannik Rochelt appeared alone in front of him. Schalke led 1-0 at the break, but the fans in the arena had seen much more boring football before.

In the second half, Schalke played under the floodlights towards the north stand – and this connection has already led to some emotional evenings this season. In contrast to the first half, Schalke played alone in the early stages, but missed several chances to score a second goal.
After a one-two with Dzeko, Karaman was denied by the leg of Bielefeld defender Arne Sicker (53′). Timo Becker’s header was saved by goalkeeper Kersken (61′). In the 68th minute, Kenan Karaman headed the ball against the crossbar.

The second goal just wouldn’t come, and the closer the end of the game drew, the livelier Arminia became, having completely slept through the second half until then. In the 74th minute, they had a first-class chance: Joel Grodowski rounded goalkeeper Müller this time, but his cross bounced across the five-meter area and past everyone. That wasn’t the only lucky moment for the Royal Blues. Seven minutes later, Grodowski scored from close range into the Schalke goal, and the Bielefeld players ran into the visitors’ stand, loudly celebrating the supposed equalizer. But after reviewing the video, referee Tobias Reichel ruled it offside.

Schalke’s victory was looking more and more uncertain with every passing second. But no matter how hard the brave, hard-fighting Bielefeld players tried, no matter how often they got the ball into the Schalke penalty area, they couldn’t score another goal. And the fans chanted “Leaders, leaders.”