FC Schalke 04 has been eliminated in the 2nd round of the DFB Cup. League rivals FC St. Pauli beat S04 2:1 after extra time.

In the first round of the DFB Cup, FC Schalke 04 had narrowly prevailed against league rivals Eintracht Braunschweig – currently bottom of the Bundesliga 2.

In the second round, they were unable to progress against the leaders of the German lower division. S04 lost 2:1 to FC St. Pauli at Hamburg’s Millerntor after extra time. Schalke played a good first half in which Karel Geraerts’ team took the lead. But then there was little to see from the Royal Blues.

“We got off to a good start and took the lead. We stuck well to the plan we had in mind. But in the end we didn’t do it well and that’s how the game ended. But we had our situations at one stage that we had to finish more purposefully and efficiently. Then we could have scored more,” Andre Hechelmann summed up on Sky.

The team led by goalscorer Marcin Kaminski was cheered on by the fans from Gelsenkirchen after the game. This was also noted by the sporting director, who highly appreciated the fans’ gesture

Hechelmann: “That was a great sign from the fans. The team gave their all, as they did at the weekend. We have to go this way together. Then the results will come. I am convinced of that.”

Schalke have now been eliminated from the cup and can concentrate fully on the league. At the moment, the Gelsenkirchen club’s aim is to prevent the super disaster of relegation to the 3rd division and gradually work its way up the table.

Until the winter break, they still have games at 1. FC Nürnberg, against SV Elversberg, at Fortuna Düsseldorf, against VfL Osnabrück, at Hansa Rostock and in the Veltins-Arena against Spielvereinigung Greuther Fürth. Schalke need a lot of points here so that they can be applauded by the fans as they head into the Christmas vacations and the new year