Marcin Kaminski: On the right path, but not there yet

“It was a crazy game right from the start,” Kaminski said about the 5-2 win against Darmstadt, adding that Schalke struggled early on against their opponents. “We didn’t have a foot in the game and barely any possession at the start,” the centre-back said.

Full confidence in Terodde and Bülter

Head coach Torsten Lieberknecht’s side opened the scoring in the 11th minute through Phillip Tietz. Schalke didn’t need long to respond, with Simon Terodde netting the equaliser just 180 seconds later. Fifteen minutes later, Terodde notched his 24th goal of the season, and his tenth headed goal in 2021/22. After Darmstadt managed to level the score at 2-2, it was Marius Bülter who would go on to score a hat-trick to secure an important win for the Royal Blues. “When you have Simon and Marius in attack, then you know that they will always be able to help you out,” Kaminski said about the duo, who have combined to score a league high 34 goals.

The win against another fellow promotion rival was an important step in the right direction, said Kaminski, adding that it was ‘great’ to be able to celebrate with the fans. However, the team should not get too over confident yet, warned the 30-year-old. “We are on the right path, but haven’t achieved anything yet,” said Kaminski, who has already shifted his focus to the next game against Werder Bremen on Saturday (23/4, 13:30 CEST). “We will get back to work now and focus on the match against Bremen,” he said. “We still have four games left in which we need to prove that we want to be promoted – which we will.”