Klaas-Jan Huntelaar now Schalke's oldest goalscorer in the Bundesliga

The previous record was held by former Royal Blue goalkeeper Oliver Reck. The now 56-year-old scored a penalty in a 4-0 win against St. Pauli in February 2002 at the age of 36 years and 347 days. It was Reck’s only top-flight goal in his long and successful career. Huntelaar, meanwhile, has scored 83 Bundesliga goals to date. 

Huntelaar’s last Bundesliga goal for Schalke came in April 2017 against RB Leipzig. A few weeks later, he joined Ajax – the same club from which he returned to the Royal Blues in January 2021. 

The Dutchman made his first start of the season against Leverkusen, after calf issues had limited him to just two short cameos in 2020/21 against Bremen and Mönchengladbach. Huntelaar completed the full 90 minutes in the BayArena and proved that he still has an exceptional nose for goal.

Second goal disallowed

The striker nearly scored a brace as well. However, his equaliser in the 58th minute was then disallowed as Amine Harit was judged to be offside in the build up. “Unfortunately, the goal didn’t count,” said Huntelaar. “That would have made it 1-1.” However, the striker admitted that the referee had made the correct decision. 

Huntelaar was disappointed to have not been able to take at least a point from the game. “We put our opponents under pressure and deserved a point based on the second half. It hurts that we’re going home empty-handed yet again,” he said. The 37-year-old is not letting the difficult situation at the club get to him. “The manner in which you approach every training session and every game is very important. We can improve through that. We will fight in every game,” Huntelaar said. “Giving up is not an option for me.”