FC Schalke 04 earned their second Bundesliga win of the current season. After a passionate performance, S04 won 1-0 against Mainz.
It got loud in the Gelsenkirchen Arena at 10.24pm on Wednesday evening. Eleven FC Schalke 04 players and tens of thousands of spectators had given their all – and then referee Tobias Reichel finally blew the whistle. Schalke defeated Mainz 1:0 (1:0), and the cheers after promotion had been secured were not much louder. Schalke remain last, but the first victory after eight consecutive defeats in must-win matches gives new hope.
For Schalke coach Thomas Reis, it was the first win in the third match. Reis trusted the same starting eleven as in the 1:2 in Bremen – in his opinion, it had earned a second chance after the remarkable performance. And the Königsblauen team presented itself like a changed team compared to the first months of the season. There was no sense of uncertainty in front of 58,256 spectators due to the victories of table neighbours VfL Bochum, VfB Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen. The Schalkers were very ambitious, were rarely late in duels, had excellent positional play and allowed only four corners in the first half, but no goal-scoring chances against harmless Mainz.
In their forward play, the Schalkers showed courage – unlike in many games before, they no longer exclusively looked for the long pass into the opponent’s half. They also managed to create combinations worth seeing. For example in the tenth minute: Alex Kral, Schalke’s best, played the ball into the path of Simon Terodde, the goal scorer’s shot bounced off the inside post into the net for a 1:0 lead. Terodde’s goal celebration included the gesture for video evidence – a smug reference to the fact that three times already this season a lead has been taken back by the video assistant.
In the 32nd minute, the Schalkers could have even gone up to 2:0. After a double pass with Marius Bülter, Kral sprinted alone towards goal, but he missed the ball by centimetres. Florent Mollet (9th) and Tobias Mohr (44th) also had chances to score. After Mollet’s free kick hit the outside of the net, many fans were already cheering. When referee Reichel blew his whistle for the break, the jubilation was already great.
After the change of ends – Dominick Drexler replaced Mollet, who had already been cautioned – Mainz became a little more dangerous. For all the applause for the very good first half: All the Schalke players knew that they had not yet won this game. Mainz became a little more dangerous and had their first chance in the 54th minute through Marcus Ingvartsen. And that was in front of the eyes of Mainz’s sporting director Christian Heidel, who is controversial at Schalke – he was in charge of S04 until February 2019.
The closer the end of the game came, the more duels and many little fouls there were. The level was no longer high, but the game was very exciting. Mainz were now constantly in possession of the ball, exposing their defence more and more every minute. Schalke defended and counterattacked. In the 56th minute, they almost scored the second goal. Dominick Drexler played the ball into the path of Simon Terodde, whose cross was not headed firmly enough by Kenan Karaman. Goalkeeper Robin Zentner blocked the ball.
As the Royal Blues’ strength dwindled, the game developed into a defensive battle. But Mainz could not find a gap in the Schalke defence, the Königsblauen played their counter-attacking opportunities amateurishly – Bülter hit the post (86th). After six minutes of stoppage time, Schalke’s 1:0 victory remained. A success that gives hope.
