Huge disappointment in the arena: Schalke 04 lost the second division home game against village club SV Elversberg 1:2 (1:2).
Almost exactly a year ago, FC Bayern was a guest in the arena, competing for Bundesliga points – but now FC Schalke 04 has reached a new low.
The Royal Blues lost their home game in the 2nd Bundesliga against the village club SV Elversberg with 1:2 (1:2). The mini-winning streak has come to an abrupt halt, and the team is looking down again.
Schalke’s coach Karel Geraerts had decided on the strategy “Never change an winning team” – the same eleven that won 2-1 in Nuremberg a week ago should also beat Elversberg.
But during the warm-up, goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann was injured – yet again. Justin Heekeren was called upon at short notice for his second appearance of the season.
Schalke keeper Fährmann has to pull out at short notice
Was it Fährmann’s injury that made Schalke’s players only half-heartedly creep across the pitch in front of 61,110 spectators for the first half hour? 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, which had recently fought so bravely, was doing there.
The guests, who played in front of 185 spectators against the U23 team of VfB Stuttgart in the regional league almost exactly two years ago, combined without resistance from the Schalke defense. Paul Stock (7th minute) and Jannik Rochelt (21st minute) scored two goals to take a well-deserved 2-0 lead. And the guests were closer to scoring a third goal than Schalke were to scoring the first.
It took center back Derry John Murkin storming forward from the back with the ball at his feet to win a corner in the 29th minute to wake everyone up: teammates, fans, bench. After that, Schalke showed how they should have played from the start: courageously, purposefully, with a knack for finishing.
The lively Kenan Karaman cut the deficit to 1:2 (35th minute) after a corner from Thomas Ouwejan and had two more chances (38th/40th). Henning Matriciani (30th) and Bryan Lasme (41st) could have scored as well. When referee Martin Petersen blew the whistle for half-time, the fans didn’t know whether to whistle or clap after a first half divided into two halves.
Lasme and Karaman miss chances
After the break, Schalke remained the dominant team – and had some very good chances to equalize: Lasme shot the ball against the crossbar (58′), Karaman headed the ball against the excellently reacting goalkeeper Nicolas Kristof (60′). Every corner and every cross from Ouwejan was dangerous.
But the closer the end of the game came, the more difficult it was for Schalke to catch up – and the gaps for the guests to counterattack became larger. Even eight minutes of added time did not help Schalke, and the evening, which began so euphorically, ended in huge disappointment.