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2-0 win in Rostock thanks to goals from Idrizi and Karaman
FC Schalke 04 secured a 2-0 victory away against Hansa Rostock on Saturday (10/12). Blendi Idrizi (72’) and Kenan Karaman (86’) were both on the scoresheet as S04 climbed up to 13th in the table with their second consecutive win.
Idrizi replaces Schallenberg
Karel Geraerts was forced into one change from the 4-0 win over VfL Osnabrück last week. Ron Schallenberg was missing with a knock and was therefore replaced by Blendi Idrizi in central midfield. S04 again went with a 4-4-2 formation, using a diamond in midfield.
Long delay followed by a red card
There was little action to speak of at both ends of the park in the first half at the Ostseestadion. The home team focused on pressing Schalke as quickly as they could and it was an extremely scrappy affair.
The flow of the game was often disrupted as referee Nicolas Winter was forced to blow up for a number of fouls. One such example led to a free-kick for S04 in a promising position after Kenan Karaman was fouled. Paul Seguin could only hit the dead ball into the wall though (21’).
Towards the end of the first half, referee Winter sent the players back down the tunnel due to trouble in the crowd. After an interruption of more than 25 minutes, the teams returned to the pitch. Before the game restarted though, Winter consulted VAR and showed Junior Brumado a red card for his elbow on Blendi Idrizi just before the break. He had initially only received a yellow for the offence.
The best chance of the first half came in the first minute of injury time. In a similar position to Seguin’s free-kick earlier on, Mohr this time hit the bar with his attempt.
Two late goals secure all three points
S04 had the first bright attack of the second half, which saw Tobias Mohr’s effort from a tight angle blocked for a corner (48’). Seven minutes later, Bryan Lasme had the chance to open the scoring, but couldn’t properly connect with Mohr’s cross and his header bounced over the bar.
Schalke’s number 11 was again involved in the 58th minute, and again he headed over the bar, this time from Cedric Brunner’s ball in. His strike partner, Simon Terodde, was the next to miss with his head, with the captain’s effort looping over following Blendi Idrizi’s floated cross (69’).
The visitors finally broke the deadlock with just 18 minutes left to play. Cedric Brunner’s cross from the right flank found Simon Terodde, who played it to Idrizi and his shot trickled in past the Rostock goalkeeper for 1-0 (72’).
Despite being 1-0 down and with only 10 men, Hansa didn’t give up, although they didn’t manage to threaten Ralf Fährmann’s goal. At the other end, a clinical counter-attack from S04 sealed all three points. Sebastian Polter picked out Kenan Karaman and he slotted it past Kolke for Schalke’s second of the afternoon (86’).
Fürth to finish off 2023
Schalke’s final game of the calendar year is against SpVgg Greuther Fürth next Friday (15/12) at the VELTINS-Arena at 18:30 CET.
