FC Schalke 04 achieved a real coup in the relegation battle of the 2nd Bundesliga: The Royal Blues defeated the surprisingly harmless league leaders. The match winner was Yusuf Kabadayi, who scored two goals.
Before the game, Schalke’s coach Karel Geraets surprised with an unusual line-up: the Belgian made a total of five changes compared to the desolate 3-0 defeat against Magdeburg the previous week – including winter signing Brandon Soppy starting for the Royal Blues and midfielder Ron for the first time Schallenberg started in central defense. St. Pauli started with the same team that had won spectacularly against Kiel on the previous match day.
St. Pauli with pressure and Bad luck with injuries
Hamburg also put the first exclamation mark of the game on Schalke: Afolayan moved from the left to the middle along the Schalke 16 line in the 10th minute and could not be stopped by three Schalke players. At the right moment he passed it to Metcalf, whose shot Schalke’s goalkeeper Müller was only able to parry with difficulty.
However, FC St. Pauli suffered a bitter setback immediately after this scene. Defense chief Eric Smith had to leave the field injured and was replaced by Dzwigala (12th minute).
Schalke’s courage is rewarded
This change also helped Schalke to work their way into the game better. A shot from Ouwejan was decisively blocked by Saliakas for a corner and therefore did not pose a real threat to Hamburg’s goal (27th minute). Schalke pressed, defended courageously and riskily and repeatedly came up with good approaches for attacking actions. St. Pauli had more and more problems creating their usual combination game and hardly had any chances to score.
Schalke were completely different: a high lateral shift to Ouwejan put the St.Pauli defense on the left side in trouble. The Dutchman played the ball sharply into the middle from the baseline – Terodde let it run through his legs and Kabadayi pushed the ball over the line from close range. Schalke led 1-0 after 44 minutes.
Schalke toxic, St. Pauli harmless
St. Pauli also had difficulties with Schalke’s man-to-man defense in the second half. The team from the Ruhr area continued to dominate the action with their unusual pressing approach. But chances to score were scarce on both sides.
It took until the 73rd minute for Schalke to get dangerously close to Hamburg’s goal again – and once again the focus was on goalscorer Kabadayi: Substitute Keke Topp extended a long ball from the Schalke backline into the path of Simon Terodde on the halfway line. The striker was initially denied by St. Pauli’s goalkeeper Vasilj, but Kabadayi was exactly right on the half-right and used the rebound – two to nil for Schalke, a brace for the youngster.
Saad brings St. Pauli back into the game
FC St. Pauli tried to develop more danger in the final phase. But Schalke defended courageously, cheered on by around 62,000 fans in the sold-out arena in Gelsenkirchen.
And then St. Pauli did score: in the 89th minute, substitute Elias Saad shot freely from the left half of Schalke’s penalty area. Schalke’s goalkeeper Müller couldn’t stop the deflected ball. St. Pauli was back in the game and a shaky game was looming for the seven minutes of stoppage time. But Schalke responded promptly.
Schalke’s redemption through Karaman
Another long ball from Schalke’s danger zone was extended this time by Terodde to Topp. In the penalty area, Topp deliberately played to Kenan Karaman, who was running with him, and he shot the ball coldly into the far corner (90th minute). Schalke led again with a two-goal lead and never gave up the game.
FC St. Pauli suffered its second defeat of the season and lost its lead over second-placed Kiel. Schalke collects big points in the relegation battle and temporarily increases their lead over the relegation place to seven points.