After a recent weak performance, Schalke had to fear a significant defeat against league leaders St. Pauli. But things turned out differently. Kiel, second in the table, also stumbled.
The struggling FC Schalke 04 pulled off a big surprise in the 2nd Bundesliga and celebrated a 3-1 (1-0) home win against league leaders FC St. Pauli. The Royal Blues showed a strong performance over the entire game and hardly gave the anemic leaders a chance. The man of the evening for Schalke was Yusuf Kabadayi, who put the home team on the road to victory with two goals (44th, 73rd). Elias Saad scored the late goal for Hamburg in the 89th minute, before Kenan Karaman made everything clear again in the second minute of added time.
With the win, Schalke jumps to 13th place with 29 points and is able to break free from the relegation battle. The other teams can still follow suit over the course of the weekend. For St. Pauli, only the second defeat of the season is a setback in the race for promotion, but second-placed Kiel, who only managed to equalize 2-2 very late in the parallel game at Hertha BSC, also dropped points.
FC Schalke 04 – FC St. Pauli 3:1
Schalke coach Karel Geraerts, who had come under massive criticism after three away defeats in a row for his unacceptable performances, turned his team around after the 3-0 debacle in Magdeburg. Five players were dropped from the starting eleven, and the Belgian also returned to the back four and converted the six-man Ron Schallenberg into a central defender. The starting line-up included strikers Simon Terodde, Bryan Lasme and Kabadayi.
St. Pauli’s successful coach Fabian Hürzeler, however, did not change anything about his starting eleven. The well-rehearsed Hamburg team initially dominated the game and had their first chance to score: Connor Metcalfe was denied by Schalke keeper Marius Müller (10th). The Royal Blues fought their way into the game, won five corners before the break – and took the lead: Terodde let a cross from Thomas Ouwejan through, Kabadayi pushed the ball over the line.
After the break, Schalke defended much more disciplined than before. St. Pauli only had their second chance through Metcalfe (58th) after just under an hour. On the other side, Kabadayi scored again: after a shot from Terodde, the Bayern loanee scored. Saad brought Hamburg close again with a deflected shot. Karaman secured Schalke’s victory after a counterattack.
Hertha BSC – Holstein Kiel 2:2
With a lot of luck, Holstein Kiel has averted another major setback in the promotion race. The North Germans came to a late 2:2 (0:2) at Hertha BSC. The Berliners already looked like the winners after a brace of goals from Haris Tabakovic (17th/45th). But first Finn Porath shortened the score (80′), and then the video referee intervened in stoppage time. Referee Bastian Dankert decided on a foul, and Timo Becker (90th + 8) scored from the penalty spot.
While Hertha hardly has any remaining chance of returning to the Bundesliga despite now four games without defeat, the Kiel team were at least able to move one point closer to leaders FC St. Pauli. However, Hamburger SV can push their rivals out of direct promotion with a win on Sunday against VfL Osnabrück.
Tabakovic (17th minute) caught a failed back pass from Kiel captain Philipp Sander and scored to give the hosts the lead in front of 46,835 spectators in the Olympic Stadium. Shortly before the break, Tabakovic added his 13th goal of the season.
Kiel tried to break the Berlin barrier with persistence and order in the game. A week after the defeat in the wild top game against St. Pauli (3:4), the guests did not pose any major goal threat for a long time.
The Berliners were closer to the third goal, although ex-Kiel player Fabian Reese was able to set fewer accents than usual this time. Jonjoe Kenny (59th) hit the crossbar with a free kick. When Porath scored from a distance, things got exciting again in the final phase. And then there was a foul by Linus Gechter in the penalty area and the late equalizer by Becker.