Goalless draw in Braunschweig to start 2025

Højlund misses out with injury

Head coach Kees van Wonderen made one change to the team from the final league game of 2024, a 4-1 victory at SV Elversberg. Paul Seguin replaced the injured Janik Bachmann in the XI. Striker Emil Højlund was ruled out due to a thigh problem.

Lack of chances in the first half

The Royal Blues were able to record their first shot of the game after less than two minutes: Derry John Murkin’s attempt from the edge of the box went wide of the far post. Schalke attempted a number of counter-attacks early on, however Braunschweig were able to deal with all of them comfortably.

The hosts improved after around 10 minutes and put in several crosses to Levente Szabo. Both his headers were easily dealt with though (10’, 12’). As Schalke looked to play it out from the back, Eintracht pressed the Knappen high up the pitch and were aggressive.

Neither Justin Heekeren or Marko Johansson in the Braunschweig goal were really called into action in the first half, with most of the play coming in the middle of the park. Referee Florian Lechner handed out five yellow cards, booking Schalke’s Derry John Murkin, Marcin Kaminski and Christopher Antwi-Adjei, and Braunschweig’s Sven Köhler and Robert Ivanov.

10-man Braunschweig hold on

There was more action to speak of in the second half. Just five minutes after the break, Moussa Sylla’s shot was deflected by a defender and looped just wide, though he was offside anyway (50’). Schalke won their first corner of the game in the 52nd minute, which ultimately led to nothing. The Knappen had more of the ball and were able to pin Braunschweig more and more in their own half after the interval.

A key moment in the game came in the 67th minute. Substitute Tobias Mohr’s ball in behind the Braunschweig defence found Moussa Sylla. He was then fouled by Jannis Nikolaou on the edge of the box and the Eintracht defender was sent off for a professional foul.

Schalke were able to fully control proceedings with the man advantage. The home team only managed one shot in the second half: Rayan Philippe’s audacious strike from around 50 yards out went over Heekeren’s goal (80’). A number of crosses from the left wing by Derry John Murkin and Tobias Mohr created opportunities, but Moussa Sylla couldn’t direct his headers on target (75’, 85’, 87’).

Kenan Karaman was also out of luck on Saturday afternoon – his shot in the box was blocked for a corner by defender Ermin Bicakcic (79’). Derry John Murkin was forced off injured in the seventh minute of injury time and replaced by Anton Donkor. The final notable moment came via another substitute. Ilyes Hamache‘s curling effort from distance went over the bar (90+7’) and it therefore ended goalless.

Home game against FCN

Up next for the Royal Blues is a home game on Saturday (25/1) at 13:00 CET. The visitors are 1. FC Nürnberg, who won the reverse fixture 3-1 back in August.