Karel Geraerts: We didn’t take our chances to go in front

On the 34th and final matchday of the 2. Bundesliga season, FC Schalke 04 fell to a 2-0 defeat against SpVgg Greuther Fürth on Sunday (19/5). The head coaches of both sides, Karel Geraerts and Alexander Zorniger, spoke about the clash after the final whistle. Taylan Bulut, who made his debut for the Royal Blues’ first team, was also interviewed after the game.

Karel Geraerts:

Congratulations to everyone at Fürth. They’re one of the best football teams in the 2. Liga. It was an open game for the first half an hour or so, with both sides looking to play good football. After that, Fürth improved. We had chances to go in front but, unfortunately, we didn’t take them. Kenan Karaman had the opportunity to level things up again after they went 1-0 up. The game could’ve gone either way if we made it 1-1. They sealed the deal when they went 2-0 up. Some of the players couldn’t play, so I’m proud of the guys who were out there on the pitch and on the bench today. They gave it their all.

Alexander Zorniger:

It was a good way to end the season. We performed how we set out to for the most part once again. We got our reward in the second half. Everyone feels great after a result like that. You feel proud when you consider that there are so many traditional teams in the top half of the table. I’ll be feeling proud for the next four weeks without football, then we’ll get straight back to it.

Taylan Bulut:

I can’t really believe that I’ve made my debut, but it’s a great feeling. On Friday, I got the call that I’d be in the senior squad. Things went from 0 to 100 pretty quickly. The coach told me to play my way and that I shouldn’t be nervous. I called Norbert Elgert directly after that and he said that I should play like I do for the U19s and that this was the moment that we had been building towards. I’ve received a lot of messages, but I’ve not managed to look through them all yet.

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