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Ron Schallenberg: A magical evening together with the fans
A passionate and determined performance by FC Schalke 04 on Saturday night (19/4) saw them gain a point at the VELTINS-Arena against Hamburger SV, a particularly impressive result given that Kenan Karaman was sent off for a foul on Jonas Meffert in just the third minute of the 2-2 draw.
Despite playing with 10 men and conceding twice just before the break, the Royal Blues never gave up. Driven on by the fantastic support from the home fans, Moussa Sylla headed in the equaliser with nine minutes left to play.
“That was one of the best games I’ve been a part of here,” said Ron Schallenberg after an intense clash with the promotion hopefuls that lasted almost 100 minutes in the end. The connection between the fans and the team was particularly special for him: “We had 60,000 fans together with us on the pitch – we were one were big team.”
I’m just happy that we could get the point for Kenan.
The early red card for S04’s captain was naturally a real blow for the team. “You obviously don’t expect something like that to happen, it takes you aback,” commented Schallenberg. “We knew it was then going to be extremely tough. We had to play 88 minutes with 10 men against HSV, the team with probably the best players in the whole league.” Schalke’s number 6 doesn’t want to blame his captain for his dismissal: “Everybody who knows Kenan knows how much it hurt him. I’m really pleased for him. He’s scored so many goals for us and earned us so many points – he’s a fantastic captain. I’m just happy that we could get the point for him.”
Schallenberg on the scoresheet himself
Schallenberg himself played a big role on Saturday night, opening the scoring after a quarter of an hour. “The goal wasn’t something we’d rehearsed on the training ground. Tobi likes to whip free-kicks like that in towards the near post. They can often go all the way in if nobody gets a touch. I just got myself in the right position and then I didn’t have to do much to divert it in.”
HSV started to really build up some pressure as the first half went on and turned the game around courtesy of two goals from Emir Sahiti right before the break. Schallenberg felt Schalke were unlucky to be behind at that point after they had fought so hard with 10 men, but was then extremely proud of the way they continued to battle after Hamburg’s double strike. “We realised we had nothing to lose and that was the opposite for Hamburg. Together with the fans, it was a magical evening.”
Schallenberg also felt it was important that the players showed a positive reaction after last week’s poor performance in Regensburg. “We obviously had to play a lot better than we did last time out.”
