Late Latza goal secures 2-1 win away in Nürnberg

Tempelmann and Drexler return to the team

Lino Tempelmann was back in the starting XI after serving his suspension in the DFB-Pokal during the week. The 24-year-old took Danny Latza’s place in the side against his former club, with Latza dropping to the bench. Dominick Drexler, who missed the trip to St. Pauli due to a precaution, also started in Nürnberg. He came in for the injured Simon Terodde and that meant Kenan Karaman began up front.

The other two changes saw Tomas Kalas replace Ibrahima Cissé (bench) at centre-back and Thomas Ouwejan deputise for the injured Tobias Mohr at left-back. Assan Ouédraogo still felt a twinge during a fitness test and missed out. The academy product was also absent in the cup game earlier in the week. Further tests will be done once S04 return to Gelsenkirchen. Paul Seguin remained unavailable, even though he has recovered from his stomach bug. The midfielder has not trained enough yet to be considered for selection.

Karaman tees up Drexler

Both teams walked out to a huge tifo at the Max-Morlock-Stadion made by both sets of fans. The banner featured the words “Ein Bündnis für die Ewigkeit!” (A friendship forever!) This friendship was then put aside once the referee’s whistle blew for the first time.

The game didn’t take long to get going as both teams looked to get the ball forward. Schalke had the first opportunity of the afternoon and almost took it too. Ouwejan’s whipped delivery found Lino Tempelmann and he hit the outside of the post. Referee Wolfgang Haslberger believed that goalkeeper Christian Mathenia had got a touch on the shot and therefore awarded a corner. This then led to another scare for the hosts. The corner eventually fell to Henning Matriciani on the edge of the box and he fired towards goal on his left foot. Mathenia did well to tip the strike over the bar (11’).

After this promising start for Schalke, Nürnberg also looked to put together some decent attacks, though they couldn’t manage to test out Ralf Fährmann, clearing the bar on a number of occasions. S04 were compact and well-organised, as well as on top in the first half.

Schalke got their reward for a good first half after 35 minutes. Derry John Murkin’s long ball found Kenan Karaman, and he got the better of Ahmet Gürleyen, before teeing up Dominick Drexler in the box. Schalke’s number 24 stayed calm to slot it home for 1-0. Karaman almost scored himself a minute later too. Lino Tempelmann played it to the Turkish international on his left, however the striker was denied by the same post that had frustrated Tempelmann earlier on in the half.

Latza wins it at the death

Nürnberg came quickly out of the blocks at the start of the second half and found an equaliser almost immediately. Former Schalke midfielder Florian Flick was the man to get it, finding the bottom corner after the ball landed at his feet in the box from a corner (47’). Another ex-Royal Blue, Benjamin Goller, almost gave FCN the lead two minutes later, but Marcin Kaminski atoned for his error in the build-up by clearing the ball off the line as it looked to be trickling home.

The Royal Blues took a while to get going after the break, and failed to create noteworthy chances. The game also suffered due to a number of stoppages and injuries – Kenan Karaman was forced off for S04 and Florian Flick was too for the home team.

Following a scrappy period of play, in which referee Haslberger issued a number of yellow cards, Schalke improved in the closing stages, though FCN also looked to find a winner. Benjamin Goller’s attempt was pushed into the side-netting by Fährmann (84’), then Kanji Okunuki found himself in space at the far post, curling it just over the bar and onto the roof of the net.

Schalke managed to steal all three points with a minute of regulation time left to play with what was their first shot of the second half. Danny Latza rose highest to head in a Thomas Ouwejan free-kick (89’) and S04 held on in the seven minutes of injury time for a big win.

Elversberg at home

Next Friday (10/11) will mark the first ever meeting between FC Schalke 04 and SV Elversberg. The club from the Saarland will visit the VELTINS-Arena for a 18:30 CET kick off.