Nobody stayed seated, nobody stood still. After the happy ending in the promotion thriller, the FC Schalke 04 arena turned into a madhouse. Ecstatic fans and proud professionals celebrated the traditional club’s return to the top flight.
The 3:2 (0:2) in the top game over FC St. Pauli relieved everyone involved from the great pressure of the past few weeks and was the starting signal for a long night of partying in Gelsenkirchen.
To the chagrin of the security forces, hundreds of fans stormed the pitch to celebrate with their heroes.
Goalscorer Simon Terrodde collapsed on the pitch and cried tears of joy and relief. With his two goals (47th / foul penalty / 71st), the striker initiated the turning point in the football thriller, which Rodrigo Zalazar (78th) completed with the winning goal. In front of 61,271 spectators in the sold-out Veltins Arena, Igor Matanivic (9th/17th) gave Hamburg the lead with a brace. In the 81st minute, St. Paulis saw Marcel Beifus red after a rude foul, while Matanovic received a yellow card in injury time.
Coach and sports director overjoyed
“It was our dream. You have to fight for dreams, you don’t get them for free. Huge respect for this squad, what they did. Unbelievable, unbelievable,” said an overjoyed Schalke coach Maik Büskens.
And sports director Rouven Schröder in the T-shirt with the inscription “Glück Auf Steiger” said: “It had to be exactly the way it came today, for the soul of Schalke. That’s a feeling – unbelievable what happened here on the field . Galactic, it’s just such a beautiful thing for us. It’s moving because we’ve put so much work into it.”
Table leaders Schalke defied the 0-2 deficit at the break and paved the way for their fourth promotion to the Bundesliga with a brilliant final sprint. Second division autumn champions St. Pauli have said goodbye to the promotion race after the sixth game in a row without a win. With a three point gap to the second HSV and the third Darmstadt and the significantly worse goal difference, there are only theoretical chances. Werder Bremen can also advance to second place with a win on Sunday in Aue.
As in the 1: 4 two weeks ago at the same place against Bremen, the great expectations made things difficult for Schalke. In the presence of the Revierclub legends “Eurofighter”, who celebrated their 25th anniversary this weekend after the UEFA Cup triumph in 1997, they were close to a dream start. Already in the 1st minute, goalscorer Terodde appeared alone in front of the opposing goal after a mistake by defender Beifus, but was denied by guest keeper Dennis Smarsch.
But the “Kiezkicker”, weakened by various corona cases, kept a cool head in the heated stadium atmosphere and immediately took the first chance. Jackson Irvine heeled a pass from Leart Paqarada to Matanovic, who put the ball ahead with a shot from the turn. When the only 19-year-old attacker scored again just eight minutes later after another pass from Irvine and a subsequent solo, Schalke was sobered.
Nevertheless, the league leaders showed a positive reaction and – driven by their fans – pressed the Hamburg goal. Despite all his zeal, he was careless with his opportunities. Dominick Drexler and Terodde (33rd) missed the possible goal in a questionable manner after a cross from Marius Bülter.
Penalty after the break initiated the turnaround
A penalty whistle from referee Marco Fritz shortly after the restart revived Schalke. This time Terodde did not miss this chance to score and converted safely.
That was the beginning of another phase of pressure for the hosts. The guest coverage did not withstand the growing pressure for long. Terodde was there again and turned the home arena into a madhouse.
However, Zalazar, who had just come on as a substitute, provided the highlight and final point. After a pass from Bülter, the joker plucked up courage and perfected Schalke’s luck with a powerful shot under the bar.