Great disappointment in the Arena: Schalke 04 lost their second division home match against village club SV Elversberg 2:1 (1:2).

Almost exactly one year ago, FC Bayern was a guest in the Arena, with Bundesliga points at stake – but now FC Schalke 04 has reached a new low.

The Royal Blues lost their home match against the village club SV Elversberg 1:2 (1:2) in the 2nd Bundesliga. The mini-winning streak has come to an abrupt halt and the club is looking down again.

Schalke coach Karel Geraerts had opted for the “never change a winning team” strategy – the same team that had won 2:1 in Nuremberg a week ago was also supposed to defeat Elversberg.

However, goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann was injured during the warm-up – again. Justin Heekeren made his second appearance of the season at short notice.

Schalke keeper Fährmann has to miss out at short notice

Was it Fährmann’s injury that meant Schalke’s players only had to crawl across the pitch with half their strength in the first half hour in front of 61,110 spectators? Or was it the feeling that they could easily shoot the small village club out of the arena? Nobody could really explain what the Schalke team, who had fought so bravely in the last few games, were up to.

The visitors, who played against VfB Stuttgart’s U23s in the Regionalliga in front of 185 spectators almost exactly two years ago, combined without resistance through the Schalke defense. Paul Stock (7′) and Jannik Rochelt (21′) scored two goals to take a deserved 2:0 lead. And the visitors were closer to the third goal than Schalke were to the first.

It wasn’t until the 29th minute when central defender Derry John Murkin stormed from the back to the front with the ball at his feet and won a corner that everyone woke up: his teammates, the fans and the bench. After that, Schalke showed how they should have played from the start: Courageous, determined, strong finishing.

The lively Kenan Karaman reduced the deficit to 1:2 after a corner from Thomas Ouwejan (35′) and had two further chances (38’/40′). Henning Matriciani (30) and Bryan Lasme (41) could also have scored. When referee Martin Petersen whistled for the break, the fans did not know whether to whistle or clap after a first half that was split in two

Lasme and Karaman miss chances

After the changeover, Schalke remained the dominant team – and they had very good chances to equalize: Lasme shot the ball against the crossbar (58′), Karaman failed to score with a header against goalkeeper Nicolas Kristof, who reacted magnificently (60′). Every corner, every cross from Ouwejan was dangerous.

But the closer the end of the game approached, the more difficult it became for Schalke to catch up – and the counter-attacking gaps for the visitors grew larger. Even eight minutes of stoppage time did not help Schalke, and the evening that began so euphorically ended in huge disappointment