Schalke fall to late defeat against Rostock

Today’s matchday – the first together with new partner VIVAWEST – was dedicated to peace. The matchworn shirts from today’s game against Hansa Rostock featured the inscription ‘ToGEther for peace,’ and will be auctioned off later, with proceeds going to the club’s foundation, Schalke hilft!. Together with the Vivawest Foundation, the money raised will help support Gelsenkirchen’s Task Force Ukraine.

First starts of the season for Calhanoglu and Matriciani

Head coach Dimitrios Grammozis made three changes to the starting XI following last weekend’s 1-1 draw in Karlsruhe. Kerim Calhanoglu, Henning Matriciani and Rodrigo Zalazar replaced Thomas Ouwejan (muscle issues), Blendi Idrizi and Yaroslav Mikhailov (both on the bench). Both Calhanoglu and Matriciani made their first starts of the season.

Churlinov tries the spectacular

The early opportunities belonged to Schalke and Marius Bülter in particular. As early as the third minute, the attacker got on the end of a ball from Matriciani but was unable to make proper contact. Just a minute later he was played in again, this time by Darko Churlinov, but the end result was the same. The visitors posed a threat early on too, particularly through Ryan Malone’s long throws, and Schalke did well to snuff out the danger.

After a quarter of an hour, Marcin Kaminski sent a high ball into the box for Simon Terodde, who angled a header towards Marius Bülter. Rostock’s Damian Roßbach managed to get in the way and the ball sprang loose for Darko Churlinov. Churlinov tried an acrobatic effort as the ball dropped from the sky but the strike missed the target by a fair margin (16’). At the other end it was Haris Duljevic who had the next attempt on goal (17’) and Pascal Breier fired narrowly wide from the edge of the area not long after (19’).

Terodde levels it twice

Six minutes later it was the side from the north who found themselves in front. A Schalke corner allowed for a counterattack, Pascal Breier laying the ball off to an onrushing Svante Ingelsson. The Swede reached the corner of the six-yard box from where he shot home with a weak effort to give Rostock the lead. Hansa sat deeper with a lead to protect as Schalke looked to answer quickly. Marius Bülter mishit the ball after a delivery from Kerim Calhanoglu (30’) and three minutes later it was Simon Terodde’s turn to have a go. Bülter flicked on Calhanoglu’s cross towards our number nine who made no mistake and headed home the equaliser from close range.

Darko Churlinov tested ‘keeper Markus Kolke a few minutes later but the attacker was flagged offside after being played in by Terodde’s header. Kolke was there to deny Schalke again in the 40th minute as he kept out Kerim Calhanoglu’s effort from the left-hand side. From there Rostock had the chance to get on the front foot, and the away side took full advantage once again. Svante Ingelsson lifted the ball into the path of poacher John Verhoek, who fund himself one-on-one with Martin Fraisl. The striker hit the back of the net to give Jens Härtel’s side a 2-1 lead. The lead barely last three minutes, though, with Schalke hitting straight back. Another cross from Kerim Calhanoglu came in from the left and found Simon Terodde. Terodde headed home his second to equalise again. Salif Sané was then forced from the field with an injury as Malick Thiaw tok his place in defence. The sides headed in for the break level at 2-2.

Wrong place, wrong time for Calhanoglu

The Royal Blues continued to enjoy the lions’ share of possession in the second half. Goalscoring opportunites were tough to come by, however. The ball fell to Darko Churlinov after a foray down the right flank but his effort was blocked (50’). Six minutes later the away team took the lead for the third time. A long throw from Malone was knocked on by Ko Itakura and reached Pascal Breier in the danger area. Breier converted after a wicked deflection off Kerim Calhanoglu left Martin Fraisl helpless.

Schalke struggled to respond to this latest setback and it took until the 68th minute for another chance to present itself. Darko Churlinov drove into the box from the right and let fly with his left foot, but the shot went well wide. Sixty seconds later, Lukas Fröde didn’t put enough on a clearance and allowed Florian Flick to get another effort away, though the effort was off target once again.

Terodde scores again - Hansa win it late

The home side were pressing hard for a third now. A shot from Marvin Pieringer was deflected behind for a corner (70’), Marius Bülter had an effort from distance (72’) and Simon Terodde headed at the goalie from Drexler’s cross (74’) before heading another one wide of the target (75’). Another shot from Calhanoglu missed the target as well (80’). Then came the breakthrough in the 83rd minute. Marcin Kaminski crossed from the left and Simon Terodde rose highest yet again to head the ball just beneath the bar. It should have been enough for at least a point, but it wasn’t to be. As Schalke pressed for the winner, the suckerpunch came at the other end in the 95^th minute. Thomas Meißner crossed from the right and Nils Fröling applied the finishing touch from close range. It was the final kick of the game as the whistle sounded and Hansa ended the match on top.

On the road in Ingolstadt

Schalke travel to face FC Ingolstadt 04 on matchday 26. The game will kick-off at 13:30 CET on Saturday (13/03).