4-3 comeback win at home against Magdeburg

First start for Murkin

Thomas Reis made two changes to his team: Sebastian Polter replaced Simon Terodde, who had only been able to train individually this week and therefore wasn’t part of the squad. Derry John Murkin was handed his first start for the club, coming into the side for Soichiro Kozuki. The Japanese winger dropped to the bench.

Polter pulls one back after Gnaka brace

The visiting side had the first chance in front of a lively crowd at the VELTINS-Arena. Former S04 man Jason Ceka hit the side-netting from a tight angle with 10 minutes played.

Seven minutes later, his teammate Silas Gnaka went one better and put FCM ahead. The Ivorian picked up possession after a Schalke error on the edge of the box and placed it past Marius Müller into the bottom corner (17’). Magdeburg continued to attack after taking the lead and quickly doubled their advantage. Initially, Luca Schuler had his shot saved by Müller, but FCM kept the ball alive and Ceka fed Gnaka, who again drove it past Müller for his second of the night (27’).

Things could have become even worse in the 33rd minute, but Schalke had their goalkeeper Müller to thank. He tipped Daniel Heber’s left-footed shot past the post. FCM’s next chance came less than a minute later – Baris Atik fired wide on this occasion. The Royal Blues managed to finally test out Dominik Reimann at the other end shortly afterwards. The Magdeburg keeper firstly parried Kaminski’s header and then beat away Paul Seguin’s follow-up effort (36’).

S04 continued to push forward and came close to finding the back of the net. Assan Ouédraogo did well to drive past a defender and then fire a low ball across the six-yard box, which Sebastian Polter was just inches away from connecting with at the far post (37’). A minute later though, the home team did beat Reimann for the first time. Paul Seguin put pressure on a quickly taken short goal kick and won the ball back. He then gave it to Polter on the edge and he took it first time on his left, slotting it past Reimann. Unfortunately for Schalke, Marius Müller was forced off due to an injury after getting his foot stuck in the grass after kicking the ball (44’). The final decent attack of the first half saw Lino Tempelmann’s piledriver from distance diverted wide by the FCM goalkeeper (45+1’).

Four goals in a crazy second half

Schalke continued to attack the away side at the start of the second half, though they had to wait a while for a sniff of goal. In the 58th minute, substitute Yusuf Kabadayi’s low cross picked out Polter in the middle, but he couldn’t get enough on his shot to trouble Reimann.

The Knappen soon found their equaliser, however. Lino Tempelmann won the ball back in midfield, travelled forward with it and then teed up Derry John Murkin to his left. He lashed it home on his left foot to level the sides at 2-2 (62’). Despite doing all this hard work to restore parity, Schalke went behind again five minutes later. Ceka found substitute Connor Krempicki, a Schalke academy product, in space in the box and he converted his shot via the help of the post (67’).

The drama didn’t stop there though. Two minutes after Magdeburg’s third goal, Thomas Ouwejan found the back of the net with a fantastic free-kick from 20 yards out. Reimann got a hand to the Dutchman’s strike, but couldn’t keep it out, unlike a few minutes later, when he pushed a powerful drive from Ouédraogo over his crossbar (72’).

Sebastian Polter was bundled over by defender Daniel Heber in the box in the 77th minute, which Michael Bacher immediately deemed as a foul. He awarded S04 a penalty and issued the FCM man with a red card. Polter stepped up himself and sent Reimann the wrong way to give Schalke the lead for the first time (79’). As the Royal Blues looked to have closed the game out, substitute goalkeeper Michael Langer was called upon in the seventh minute of injury time. He made a fantastic save from a Castaignos header to ensure all three points stayed in Gelsenkirchen!

Back-to-back away games

S04’s next two games are both away from home. First up is a trip to Hamburg to play FC St. Pauli on Saturday (23/9) at 20:30 CEST. A week later, the Royal Blues are away at SC Paderborn 07 on Friday (29/9) at 18:30 CEST.