Late Lasme goal seals all three points at home to Paderborn

Vitalie Becker and Antwi-Adjei replace Porath and Gantenbein

Head coach Miron Muslic made two changes to his starting XI for the meeting with the league leaders. Vitalie Becker returned from suspension and came in on the left for Finn Porath, who began on the bench. Christopher Antwi-Adjei also started in place of Adrian Gantenbein. The Swiss wing-back is sidelined for the time being with a calf injury. Meanwhile, Bryan Lasme was named in the squad for the first time since 5th October.

VAR overturns Schalke penalty

The first attacking moments belonged to the Royal Blues. After a smart pass from Soufiane El-Faouzi, Christopher Antwi-Adjei lost out in the sprint against Calvin Brackelmann – otherwise the Schalke winger would have been clean through with a clear sight of goal (3’). Two minutes later, Nikola Katic, who had stayed up following a corner, headed a long ball from Loris Karius back into the middle, where Ron Schallenberg sent his header wide under pressure.

Shortly afterwards, the hosts threatened for the first time. Filip Bilbija cut inside in the box and struck from around eight yards out on the left, but Mertcan Ayhan blocked for a corner (7’). At the other end, referee Tobias Reichel pointed to the spot after Moussa Sylla was brought down by Calvin Brackelmann (8’). However, VAR official Dr. Robert Kampka intervened from Cologne, and after a review the referee ruled that the foul had occurred just outside the area. Kenan Karaman’s resulting free-kick posed no danger to Paderborn goalkeeper Dennis Seimen (14’).

Karaman hits back after Curda opener

Neither side created anything clear-cut for a while, though Nikola Katic did give his own goalkeeper a scare. The centre-back hesitated too long on the ball, came under pressure and then played a loose back-pass towards Loris Karius, who stuck out a boot to prevent an own goal and keep it at 0-0 (36’).

Two minutes later, however, Schalke did fall behind. Raphael Obermair was allowed too much space and whipped the ball into the box from around 25 yards out. Laurin Curda had been left unmarked and beat Karius with a header. The Royal Blues found the perfect response before the break: after a counter started by Christopher Antwi-Adjei, Kenan Karaman and Moussa Sylla, Sylla slipped the ball to Karaman, who drove into the box and fired a powerful shot into the left corner from 10 yards out (45+3’) to ensure the teams went into the break with the scores level.

Sylla’s strike ruled out

The visitors had a golden chance to retake the lead shortly after the restart, but Calvin Brackelmann headed over the bar from two yards following a corner (47’). Schalke then began to carve out the better openings. Hasan Kuruçay released Christopher Antwi-Adjei cleverly down the left with a back-heel, but Moussa Sylla couldn’t direct the resulting low cut-back on target (54’). A minute later, Dennis Seimen got down well to keep out Antwi-Adjei’s left-footed effort.

Schalke kept up the pressure and missed on a second goal by inches. Soufiane El-Faouzi threaded a low pass into the path of Sylla and the striker beat Seimen with a tidy finish. After a VAR check, however, the goal was chalked off for offside (63’).

The Royal Blues pushed hard for a second goal, and substitute Bryan Lasme came close as well – but he would have to wait a bit longer to celebrate. After another pass from El-Faouzi, he broke through down the right and shot from a tight angle, only for Seimen to save with his foot (70’).

Lasme dinks it over Seimen to win it

Schalke continued to keep Paderborn away from their own box and struck the decisive blow in the 86th minute. Kenan Karaman poked the ball into the path of Bryan Lasme, who remained cool in front of Seimen and lifted his finish over the Paderborn goalkeeper from 12 yards to make it 2-1.

In seven minutes of added time, the visitors twice threatened an equaliser: Stefano Marino pulled the trigger inside the area, but his left-footed strike curled just wide of the right post (90’+6). In the final seconds of the match, Nikola Katic threw himself into a last-ditch header to deny Fabian Götze (90+9), before the final whistle sparked huge celebrations among the more than 60,000 fans inside the VELTINS-Arena.

Away in Düsseldorf

Matchday 15 sees S04 play on a Friday night once again (5/12). Their opponents on are Fortuna Düsseldorf, with the away game kicking off at 18:30 CET.