Early Sylla goal secures S04 all three points against Darmstadt

Bachmann replaces Antwi-Adjei – Wallentowitz in the squad for the first time

Head coach Miron Muslic made one change to his team, bringing in Janik Bachmann for Christopher Antwi-Adjei, who missed out with a calf injury. U19 attacker Mika Wallentowitz was named on the bench, marking his first involvement with the first team.

Sylla converts fine pass to give Schalke the lead

Schalke took control of the game right from the start, pressing Darmstadt high up the pitch and forcing mistakes. Their first effort came after just six minutes when Adrian Gantenbein crossed from the right, but Moussa Sylla’s header under pressure went wide of the left post. Just three minutes later, the number 9 made no mistake. As he did in Hannover, Sylla once again fired Schalke in front early on. After winning the ball in midfield, Soufiane El-Faouzi played a perfectly weighted through pass into the striker’s path, and Sylla kept his composure to slot past Marcel Schuhen from 11 yards out metres to make it 1-0 to the Royal Blues.

After falling behind, Darmstadt began to settle and saw more of the ball, but Schalke’s back line stayed compact and prevented any real danger. At the other end, Sylla came close to doubling his tally when El-Faouzi chased down a seemingly lost ball before cutting it back for the forward, whose low shot was denied by Schuhen (28’).

S04 solid at the back

Darmstadt posed a threat only from set pieces in the first half, with Loris Karius rarely called into action. Schalke, meanwhile, carved out two more good chances before the break: Janik Bachmann headed narrowly over from a Vitalie Becker cross from the left corner of the box (41’), before Sylla cut the ball back from the byline for Kenan Karaman, who fired over under pressure from Killian Corredor (44’). The hosts went into the break with a deserved 1-0 lead.

Becker’s cross just evades Bachmann in the middle

Both sides resumed without any changes, and Schalke immediately pushed forward again. Kenan Karaman’s cross from the left was headed behind for a corner by Darmstadt defender Matej Maglica (56’). Moments later, Vitalie Becker weaved his way past several opponents down the left flank, but Janik Bachmann couldn’t quite connect with the midfielder’s driven cross into the centre (57’).

With 15 minutes remaining, Darmstadt carved out their first chance of the second half. Fraser Hornby nodded the ball down for Killian Corredor, who fired over from 20 metres (76’). Just a minute later, the ball was in the net, but Corredor’s effort was ruled out for offside.

Wallentowitz makes debut – Schalke hold firm to seal the win

In the 85th minute, 17-year-old Mika Wallentowitz came on for his competitive debut, replacing the injured Christian Gomis. The closing stages were increasingly stop-start, and referee Michael Bacher played a total of 12 minutes of stoppage time.

Darmstadt sent their tall centre-back forward in search of an equaliser, and after a long ball from the right, Maglica struck towards the near post – but Loris Karius was equal to it (90’+6). With tensions rising and even goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen joining the attack for the final set pieces, Schalke stood firm and, backed by their home fans, held on to claim all three points.

Another meeting with Darmstadt

The two teams will do battle again in just a few days in the second round of the DFB-Pokal. Kick off in Darmstadt is on Wednesday (29/10) at 20:45 CET.