2nd league
Gelsenkirchen (dpa) – exuberant euphoria among the fans, more passion among the professionals and deep connection with the coach – at FC Schalke the belief in a return to the football upper house is back.
With the hard-fought 3-0 (1-0) win over 1. FC Heidenheim, the Revierclub stormed to the top of the table in the 2nd Bundesliga and for the first time this season is in a direct promotion spot. Even after the final whistle, the Veltins Arena, which was almost sold out with 57,126 spectators, was like a madhouse: “Singing and celebrating together with the fans was outstanding. I still have goosebumps,” enthused attacker Marius Bülter hours later.
Exhilarating atmosphere at Schalke
The intoxicating atmosphere in the stadium after headers from Dominick Drexler (35 minutes) and Simon Terodde (90 + 5) and the magic goal from Ko Itakura (52 minutes) also put soccer teacher Mike Büskens in an emotional state of emergency: “I know Schalke for 30 years. Those emotions make the club, that positive energy, that last bit of support you need.”
The growing distance between the team and the grandstand, which cost a lot of energy in the relegation season, has turned into affection again. “The fans feel that we have a squad on the field that tears itself up for the club. We have to play with this passion in the five remaining games,” commented Büskens.
The decision of the top management to use the 54-year-old former Schalke pro for the third time as interim coach proved to be a smart move. A Royal Blue-blooded insider, the Grammozis successor brought amazing stability to the previously faltering side. After four wins in four games under his direction, she is going into the final sprint with a lot of tailwind. The defeated and struggling Table-8. from the 16th matchday at the beginning of December with nine points behind the leaders has turned into a self-confident aspirant for promotion.
Heavy remaining program
That could help to master what is probably the most difficult remaining program of all top teams with games against Darmstadt (A), Bremen (H), Sandhausen (A), St. Pauli (H) and 1. FC Nuremberg (A). In view of this tricky task with four games against teams from the top 5 alone, goalscorer Dominick Draxler warned against falling back into the old routine: “The table looks good, the win gives us a good feeling – but we haven’t won anything yet.”
When jumping to first place, FC Schalke benefited from the 1-1 (1-0) in the top game between FC St. Pauli and Werder Bremen and the 1-3 (0-1) of the previous runners-up from Darmstadt at 1. FC Nürnberg . In front of 29,546 fans in Hamburg’s Millerntor Stadium, Daniel-Kofi Kyereh (43rd minute) put the Kiezkicker in the lead, which Niclas Füllkrug (58th) equalized after the break. “In the end we were closer to the lucky punch than St. Pauli,” said the Bremen goalscorer, Füllkrug, whose team is tied with Schalke (53) in second place. The team from St. Pauli, one point worse, follows in third place.
HSV bankruptcy against Kiel
In contrast to the two relegated Schalke and Bremen, who could make a quick return to the Bundesliga, Hamburger SV will have to wait for a comeback in the top flight. With the 0:1 (0:1) in the north derby at Holstein Kiel, the gap to relegation place 3 grew to seven points. The fact that the game had to be interrupted for ten minutes due to pyrotechnics burning in the HSV block caused additional annoyance for the guests. “If you leave so many points, you no longer need to worry about promotion,” attacker Robert Glatzel complained to Sky.