S04 lose 2-1 in Düsseldorf

Bülter starts on the right

Marius Bülter replaced Andreas Vindheim in the starting line-up, the Norwegian was ruled out after suffering a calf injury last weekend. Bülter, who normally plays up front, began on the right flank. Dimitrios Grammozis made one further change to the side that beat SSV Jahn Regensburg 2-1, with Malick Thiaw coming in for Salif Sané.

Idrizi’s first goal of the season puts Schalke ahead at the break

Both teams were cautious early on, before Fortuna took charge and had the first good chance of the game after nine minutes. Daniel Ginczek hit the post with a header from close range. The rebound then fell to Jordy de Wijs, who fired it towards goal, only to hit a teammate.

Shortly after that scare, the Knappen had their first dangerous moments. Simon Terodde headed wide (12’), before Thomas Ouwejan’s cross-cum-shot couldn’t find a teammate in the box (13’).

The first half featured few great chances for either side. Matthias Zimmermann blazed over from the edge of the box in the first notable effort for a while (33’). Four minutes later, Khaled Narey miscued a shot at the back post on his left from an Appelkamp delivery.

Just as the first half looked to be ending goalless, the Royal Blues were clinical to take the lead. Malick Thiaw played the ball down the right to Marvin Pieringer and he then gave it to Rodrigo Zalazar. The Uruguayan drove down the wing and put a ball into the six-yard box. Simon Terodde couldn’t get a foot on it, but Blendi Idrizi did and the Kosovan found the net to score his first goal of the season (43’).

Fortuna come from behind to win

The second half began really badly from a Schalke perspective. Khaled Narey tied things up less than two minutes after the restart after getting the better of Marcin Kaminski from a Daniel Ginczek through ball. The hosts then almost took the lead. Gavory’s cross was headed past the post by Rouwen Hennings (50’).

The striker then had another chance to score, this time benefiting from a sloppy Ko Itakura touch. Ginczek pounced and passed to Hennings, but his shot was straight at Fraisl (52’).

Hennings would finally get his goal and Düsseldorf’s second though. Narey cut the ball back across the box to find his teammate and Hennings struck it past Fraisl to make it 2-1 (56’). The Fortuna striker had yet another chance less than two minutes later, missing the target on this occasion. Ginczek, a winter signing from VfL Wolfsburg, then didn’t connect properly with a looping ball at the back post from a deflected Narey shot (68’).

At the other end, Thomas Ouwejan came close to finding the back of the net. After substitute Darko Churlinov had his shot saved by Florian Kastenmeier, the Dutch wing-back’s strike was deflected narrowly past the post (69’). It took S04 a while to register another shot, in fact until the 80th minute. Simon Terodde couldn’t trouble Kastenmeier with a central header. Following that, another substitute, Salif Sané fired a volley over the bar. The final opportunity came for Terodde, though S04’s top goalscorer couldn’t get his effort on target after a nice first touch on his chest (94’).

Schalke to kick off matchday 23

FC Schalke 04’s next game is another one against a side from North-Rhine Westphalia. SC Paderborn 07 will visit the VELTINS-Arena on Friday (18/2) at 18:30 CET.