FC Schalke 04 has taken a step out of the crisis with morale and spectacle. The Bundesliga relegated team defeated 1. FC Magdeburg, who had started strongly, 4:3 (1:2) on matchday 6 of the 2nd Bundesliga and ended their series of three games without a win.
For coach Thomas Reis, working should now become a little more pleasant again after the false start.
Sebastian Polter (40th, 79th/foul penalty), Derry John Murkin (62nd) and Thomas Ouwejan (69th) scored for the Royal Blues in a wild game in front of 61,755 spectators.
The FCM was on course for victory for a long time thanks to goals from Silas Gnaka (16th, 27th) and Connor Krempicki (67th) and thus sniffed out the lead in the table. A sticking point was the sending off of Magdeburg’s Daniel Heber because of an emergency stop (77′).
“Today we gave out presents,” said FCM coach Christian Titz on “Sky”: “With the 2-1 we brought Schalke back in, then they came with their force. Then we make it 3-2 again – and then we have to the game should actually be over.”
The duel between the Royal Blues, who were regulars in the Champions League just a few years ago, and the only European Cup winner from the former GDR, was brimming with tradition.
However, the signs were different than was generally expected before the season: promotion hopefuls Schalke only won one of their first five games, FCM traveled to Gelsenkirchen undefeated after a difficult preseason.
FC Schalke 04 shows incredible morale
The mood at Schalke was tense, and this was also transferred to the team. Tobias Mohr made a bad pass into the feet of Gnaka, the Ivorian didn’t hesitate for long and put the guests in the lead. Before the 0-2 also by Gnaka, the entire Schalke defensive group acted sleepily.
However, the FCM invited S04 to score with a careless setup error. The next setback for Schalke followed: goalkeeper Marius Müller was injured when taking a shot and was unable to continue, substitute Michael Langer played his first competitive game since August 2021.
But Schalke initially kept the balls well away from the Austrian’s box, and Murkin scored the celebrated equalizer with a bang. In the midst of the euphoria, Magdeburg struck again.
The wild exchange reached its climax with Ouwejan’s direct free kick and Polter’s penalty.