Royal blue form high
©IMAGO
SV Elversberg had a disappointing evening in the last home game of the year. The Saarland team lost 1:4 (1:1) against FC Schalke 04 at the start of the 17th matchday of the 2nd Bundesliga. This means that they remain at the top of the table for the time being, but will have a hard time maintaining their lead against the competition with the same points, who can improve. The bottom line is that coach Horst Steffen’s surprise team had a successful first season despite their fifth defeat of the season in the second year after promotion. Thanks to their success, the guests from Gelsenkirchen climbed to 12th place in the table.
Kenan Karaman (11th), Moussa Sylla (55th/75th) and Ron Schallenberg (67th) scored Schalke’s goals in front of 9,323 spectators in the Ursapharm Arena at Kaiserlinde. Carlo Sickinger (26th) scored Elversberg’s equalizer.
While Muhammed Damar missed Elversberg’s first good chance, the guests from Gelsenkirchen made the first statement after eleven minutes. With a remarkable solo through the SVE penalty area, top scorer Karaman gave Schalke an early lead with his tenth goal of the season. Schalke’s goalkeeper Justin Heekeren looked quite unhappy during the subsequent Elversberg equalizer when captain Sickinger’s shot slipped through his gloves and into the goal.
However, Schalke were unimpressed by this mishap, as they were still in control after the break and impressively won the game in their favor with three goals within 20 minutes. In particular, Moussa Sylla, who had been largely invisible until then, turned up the heat in the second half and gave Schalke a conciliatory end to the first half of the season with his brace together with Schallenberg.
Silent victory for the FCM in Düsseldorf
Thanks to a quiet success, 1. FC Magdeburg is finally in the promotion race. On Friday evening, coach Christian Titz’s team won 5:2 (1:2) against direct rivals Fortuna Düsseldorf. The victory at the end of the first half of the season was hardly celebrated. Both groups of fans stopped supporting their teams in the second half. During the game, a car drove into a crowd at the Christmas market in Magdeburg.
The guests, who turned the game around in the second half with goals from Baris Atik (67th), Martijn Kaars (70th), Mohammed El Hankouri (87th) and Philipp Hercher (90th + 4), celebrated the last three goals hardly any more. The spectators were informed about the incident in Magdeburg via the scoreboard.
Before the break, Fortuna had temporarily turned the visitors’ lead around with Kaar’s first goal (11th) with goals from Ísak Jóhannesson (15th) and Tim Rossmann (42nd). Rossmann later received a yellow-red card after repeated foul play (67′). At this point the game was no longer taking place under normal conditions. At least for one night, Magdeburg is now third in the table with 28 points. Fortuna only has two points less at the end of the first half, but is in danger of slipping into the middle of the table after their indisputable defensive performance in the second half.