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2-1 win in Nürnberg seals the title!
FC Schalke 04 have won the 2. Bundesliga! Mike Büskens’ team won 2-1 away to 1. FC Nürnberg on the final day to secure the title. 50,000 fans at a sold-out Max-Morlock-Stadion saw Rodrigo Zalazar score a Goal of the Month contender to give S04 the lead. Simon Terodde’s 30th goal of the season late on then won the game for the Royal Blues!
Four changes
Captain Danny Latza was suspended for the final day after collecting his fifth booking of the season last time out against St. Pauli. Ko Itakura, who played at centre-half last week, took his place in central midfield alongside Florian Flick. Malick Thiaw started in the heart of defence next to Marcin Kaminski. Mehmet Can Aydin replaced Andreas Vindheim at right-back, whilst Rodrigo Zalazar, the scorer of the winning goal against Pauli, was rewarded with a place in the starting XI. He played instead of Dominick Drexler, who missed out entirely with a knock. The final change was in goal: Ralf Fährmann was preferred to Martin Fraisl by head coach Mike Büskens.
Zalazar scores from his own half
The first chance of the afternoon was for the hosts. Lukas Schleimer was played in behind by Enrico Valentini, but his shot trickled inches past the far post (3’). Simon Terodde had S04’s first opportunity, turning a defender and taking a shot, though that was straight at Carl Klaus in the Nürnberg goal (9’).
Ralf Fährmann was called into action shortly afterwards. His former teammate at Schalke, Johannes Geis, forced him into a good save from a free-kick (14’). A minute later, Rodrigo Zalazar then produced something truly incredible. Around 60 yards out, he spotted Klaus well off his line and simply pulled the trigger from inside his own half. His effort flew over the goalkeeper and hit the back of net to make it 1-0 to Schalke!
Nürnberg looked to find a response to Zalazar’s ludicrous goal, however Schalke were strong at the back and remained compact, whilst they also had the edge in the air. A lot of the game was played in the middle of the park after S04’s goal, with both teams failing to carve out any clear-cut chances in the first period.
There were two moments of note for the Knappen at the end of the first half. Florian Flick’s drive from the edge of the box went just wide (42’), then Klaus tipped over Darko Churlinov’s shot (44’).
Terodde gets his 30th of the season
The second half began without any real notable moments. There was only really one dangerous moment for either side, Tom Krauß testing out Ralf Fährmann in the 53rd minute. At the other end, Rodrigo Zalazar couldn’t connect properly and the ball rolled wide (57’).
The woodwork was on hand to keep out Nürnberg in the 64th minute. Enrico Valentini’s shot was deflected onto the bar by Thomas Ouwejan, though Ralf Fährmann looked to have it covered anyway. S04’s goalkeeper had to be on his toes shortly afterwards, saving headers from Nikola Dovedan and Florian Hübner at his near post in the space of a couple of minutes.
It took until the 82nd minute for Schalke to have a really good chance after the break. Darko Churlinov was kept out from close range by Carl Klaus after some lovely build-up play.
Nürnberg found an equaliser with four minutes to play, Lukas Schleimer beating Fährmann with a low drive from outside the box (86’). S04 found the perfect response straight away, however. They went up the other end and Simon Terodde found the net for the 30th time in the league this season to seal the win and the title!
New Bundesliga season starts on 5th August
The 2021/22 season is history now and it will go down as a successful one for FC Schalke 04. One year after the bitter relegation from the Bundesliga, the club have returned to the top flight at the first attempt. The first game of the new Bundesliga season will take place on 5th August, with the DFB-Pokal starting a week before. Details on pre-season and all other important dates will be announced on schalke04.de in the coming days and weeks.
