Karaman, Seguin lead Schalke to important win over Nürnberg

Kabadayi replaces Ouédraogo in the starting XI

Head coach Karel Geraerts was forced into making one personnel change to the team that started in the draw against Hannover 96. Assan Ouédraogo was not named in the squad due to muscle pain, so Yusuf Kabadayi came into the side in place of the 17-year-old. Ron Schallenberg was named on the bench by Geraerts after missing S04’s last two 2. Bundesliga matches with a muscle strain.

Early chances for S04

It took less than a minute for Schalke to have their first shot on target, as Yusuf Kabadayi latched onto a loose ball on the edge of the box and let fly. Nürnberg keeper Carl Klaus was quick to react, however, and parried Kabadayi’s shot away from danger. Keke Topp hared after the rebound and put a cross in towards Terodde, but S04’s captain could not quite get his head to the ball. The Royal Blues started well and had another chance to take the lead in the sixth minute, but Carl Klaus was once again equal to a venomous strike from Kabadayi. Derry John Murkin slipped up and ceded possession to former Royal Blue Benjamin Goller, but the Englishman made up for his mistake and stopped Goller in his tracks before he could get a shot off. FCN started to grow into the game and test Schalke’s defence – Sebastian Andersson’s effort deflected out of play and Lukas Schleimer headed just over the bar from the resulting corner.

Schalke continued to have the better of their opponents as far as scoring opportunities were concerned, though. Simon Terodde won the ball back and played a ball through to Thomas Ouwejan, whose effort was palmed away for a corner by Klaus (16’). The visitors’ keeper had a busy night and was called into action once again to prevent Kenan Karaman from giving Schalke the lead (22’).

Karaman opens the scoring with great finish

Nürnberg’s passing game started to improve, but the away side struggled to pose any serious threat to Marius Müller’s goal. In the 34th minute, Benjamin Goller played a nice-looking ball into the box, but Tomas Kalas was able to neutralise the danger.

The Royal Blues got a well-deserved goal eight minutes later. After Marcin Kaminski won possession back in the middle of the park, Schalke got the ball up the pitch quickly. Keke Topp cut the ball back to Kenan Karaman in the box. With his back to goal, Karaman turned on a sixpence and produced a lovely finish to make it 1-0 to the home side. The scoreline remained the same up until the half-time whistle.

Karaman misses from the spot

FCN had the first chance of the second half, as Sebastian Andersson used his body to bring the ball down in the Schalke penalty area, where he played it to Lukas Schleimer. The midfielder’s powerful effort didn’t have enough placement, however, and Marius Müller gathered it without any problems (48’). Schalke reacted well to Nürnberg’s bright start and carved out a massive opportunity to double their advantage. Yusuf Kabadayi was brought down in the box by Jannes Horn and the referee pointed to the spot. Karaman stepped up, but misjudged the power of his penalty, which skimmed the crossbar (56’).

Seguin wraps things up

Nürnberg almost hit the Royal Blues with a sucker punch directly after the penalty miss. Can Uzun lined up a shot from outside the box which looked to be heading towards the bottom-right corner, but Marius Müller got his fingertips to the ball, diverting it behind for a corner (58’).

It was a back-and-forth affair up until the closing stages of the game. Schalke threw everything they had at the visitors – a strategy that would eventually pay off for the Knappen. A spectacular free-kick from Jannes Horn rattled the crossbar in the 84th minute, but Paul Seguin sealed the deal for the home side two minutes afterwards. Carl Klaus did just enough to keep out Yusuf Kabadayi’s shot, but S04’s number 7 controlled the rebound and smashed the ball into the back of the net to give the Royal Blues a two-goal cushion. Marius Müller kept his clean sheet intact in injury time, as he denied Jens Castrop (90+2’). Felix Lohkemper looked set to score a consolation goal for FCN two minutes later, but a superb reflex save from S04’s keeper meant that the game would end in a 2-0 victory for the home side.

A trip to Elversberg on Friday

The Royal Blues will be in action next Friday (19/4), as they travel to the URSAPHARM-Arena an der Kaiserlinde to take on SV Elversberg (18:30 CEST).