Schalke lose 1-0 against Holstein Kiel

Unchanged starting line-up – Kabadayi back in the squad

Head coach Karel Geraerts used the same personnel and formation from last weekend’s 1-0 victory over Eintracht Braunschweig. The Belgian only made one change to the squad, with Yusuf Kabadayi replacing Brandon Soppy on the bench. Geraerts explained how S04’s new arrival is still working on his match fitness individually, stating: “He’s getting the time he needs.”

Hosts dominate opening stages

The Royal Blues were almost left reeling straight away. Kiel looked to get forward quickly through Joshua Mees, who whipped a ball towards Shuto Machino in the Schalke box, but the Japanese international’s shot flew over the bar. Shortly afterwards, the hosts had another good chance, but they were once again unable to convert, as Mees fired over from close range (7’).

Kiel slowed things down a bit following the frantic start, but injected a bit of pace and variety into their attacks every now and then. Schalke had their first decent passage of possession after around 15 minutes of play, but couldn’t get out of their own half.

Goalless at the break

The Storks had six further shots on goal before Schalke could carve out their first opportunity of the match, which came in the 24th minute. Kenan Karaman played a lovely ball through to Derry John Murkin, who was denied by a fantastic save from Kiel keeper Timon Weiner. Schalke started to have more of an impact on proceedings following their first shot of the match.

It was more of an even contest for the remainder of the first half. Derry John Murkin picked up his fifth yellow card of the season after a reckless challenge on Porath in the 40th minute and Kiel were awarded a free-kick in a dangerous position. Tom Rothe swung a nice-looking delivery into the Schalke box, but Marius Müller rose highest to neutralise the threat (41’).

The Royal Blues missed the chance to take the lead in the closing stages of the first half. Ron Schallenberg’s volley from distance took a big deflection off Porath and hit the side netting, before Darko Churlinov was unable to capitalise on the chaos created by Blendi Idrizi and Tomas Kalas from the resulting corner (45’). Both sides headed into the dressing rooms at half-time with the score still 0-0.

Skrzybski opens the scoring

The hosts made no changes during the half-time interval, while Tobias Mohr replaced Darko Churlinov for S04. The Royal Blues looked lively at the start of the second 45 and looked to disrupt Kiel’s build-up play as much as they could. However, KSV would once again have the first big chance of the half through Joshua Mees, whose shot was parried away from danger by Müller (54’).
Schalke’s number 32 was powerless to stop Kiel from opening the scoring shortly afterwards, though. Former Royal Blue Steven Skrzybski chanced his arm as he unleashed a powerful volley following a Kiel corner. The ball flew past Müller into the S04 net to give the hosts a deserved lead (55’).

Storks make life difficult for Schalke

The goal clearly threw Schalke’s players off their stride and the Royal Blues struggled to create scoring opportunities for the rest of the game. The hosts looked much more likely to double their lead than Karel Geraerts’ side did to levelling things up again. Tobias Mohr had to make two clearances off the line to stop Porath from doubling the Storks’ advantage and taking the game away from S04 (83’).

Schalke had one last chance to come away with a point in the dying seconds of the match. Substitute Keke Topp met a cross into the box powerfully with his head, but Weiner was in the right place at the right time to tip the young striker’s header over the crossbar. The referee blew his whistle a few moments later to condemn Schalke to defeat in Kiel.

Home clash against Wiesbaden

Schalke will be back at home in six days’ time when they take on SV Wehen Wiesbaden. The match at the VELTINS-Arena will kick off at 13:00 CET on Saturday (17/2).