Important away win rounds off a perfect week for Malick Thiaw

The German youngster made his U21s debut in the 6-0 win in San Marino a week ago, scoring his first goal in the 3-1 victory in Latvia five days later. “It was a really great feeling,” said Thiaw, who also assisted a further goal in the game in Riga.

After those two internationals, Thiaw returned to training even more motivated ahead of the trip to Paderborn, desperate to record back-to-back wins after beating Düsseldorf before the international break. The 20-year-old felt that the recipe for success was the team spirit. “It was 100% spot on in Paderborn,” he added.

Schalke got stuck in

Thiaw explained: “We got stuck in and didn’t shy away from any tackles. We were also the better side from a footballing perspective, so we deserved to win the game.” Another important factor, according to Thiaw, was that the side continued to look to attack until the final whistle despite leading. “We’ve sat back a bit too much in recent games, but that wasn’t the case this time,” commented the defender.

On the back of two consecutive wins, the Royal Blues are now up to seventh in the table – level on points with Dynamo Dresden in fourth. Thiaw is hungry for more ahead of S04’s next game at home to Karlsruher SC on Friday (17/9) at 18:30 CEST.