Another defeat will send Schalke sliding further into the basement. Hertha manages to take a step forward, while Osnabrück and Rostock are standing still.
FC Schalke 04 is slipping further and further into the relegation vortex in the 2nd Bundesliga. After the 1-0 win against Braunschweig last week, the Royal Blues in Kiel failed to take another step out of the bottom of the table and this time had to admit defeat 0-1.
Of all people, former Schalke player Steven Skrzybski scored the golden goal for Kiel, who now jump to second place in the table with 39 points. Schalke remains in 14th place with 23 points and is now just two points clear of the relegation zone.
Lucky for Schalke: In the parallel game, two other basement children, Osnabrück and Rostock, played out a 0-0 draw and took points away from each other. Hertha BSC beat Greuther Fürth 2-1. Both games were once again marked by long interruptions due to fan protests against DFL investor involvement.
Holstein Kiel – FC Schalke 04 1-0
In front of 15,000 spectators in the sold-out Holstein Stadium, Shuto Machino (2nd) and Joshua Mees (7th) could have given Kiel the lead in the opening minutes. The promotion candidate dominated the first division relegated team even without six injured, suspended or sick regular players.
The disappointing Schalke were only threatened once by Englishman Derry Murkin in the 24th minute. Kiel, on the other hand, missed further good opportunities through Mees (54th/83rd), Machino (58th) and Skrzybski (76th). The 31-year-old Skrzybski did not celebrate his important winning goal because he has been a Schalke fan since he was a child and also played for the “Royal Blues” from 2018 to 2021.
VfL Osnabrück – Hansa Rostock 0-0
Meanwhile, VfL Osnabrück and Hansa Rostock are not making any progress in the relegation battle. The 0-0 result in the direct meeting doesn’t really help either of the two neighbors in the table. While the penultimate team from Rostock missed the jump to 15th place, the newcomer from Lower Saxony remains at the bottom with twelve points from 21 games.
In front of 15,741 fans at the Bremer Bridge, the two worst offensives in the league were hapless. VfL coach Uwe Koschinat, in office since the end of November, is still waiting for his first three-pointer – Osnabrück’s only win of the season so far came at the end of September against Hamburger SV (2-1).
After an entertaining opening fifteen minutes, referee Robert Hartmann interrupted the game for the first time, and the referee had to stop the game again and again as the first half progressed. In protest against the planned investor deal by the German Football League (DFL), tennis balls and objects flew onto the lawn from both fan camps.
As a result, the encounter petered out. Osnabrück was more active, but not compelling enough. Even after the break, the hosts remained in control of the game, but were thwarted several times by Hansa keeper Markus Kolke, who was in a good mood.
Greuther Fürth – Hertha BSC 1:2
SpVgg Greuther Fürth’s promotion dreams suffered the next setback against Hertha BSC. A week after the 2:3 in the top game against leaders FC St. Pauli, the Franconians, who were surprised twice at a standard, lost 1:2 (0:1) to the capital club on Sunday.
Berlin’s Marc-Oliver Kempf (34th minute, 63rd) demonstrated his header strength twice, but then had to be substituted injured. Fürth’s captain Branimir Hrgota (56th) equalized with a wonderful shot in front of 13,459 spectators. In a game that ended up being nervous, Florian Niederlechner (90+10) was sent off with a yellow-red card. The Fürth team remains fourth in the table, Hertha climbed to eighth position.
The people of Fürth had a lot of trouble against the poisonous and effective Berliners. The guests’ supposed opening goal by Niederlechner (22nd) was disallowed by the video referee because of a foul on Hrgota. After a first short interruption due to fan protests when tennis balls flew onto the pitch, the Fürth team were initially too passive at a corner. Kempf took advantage of this with his head.