S04 draw 0-0 with BVB

Head coach David Wagner made one change to the side that lost 2-0 to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. Suat Serdar replaced Alessandro Schöpf in the starting lineup after missing the game in Sinsheim with a muscle problem. Weston McKennie, however, was still out injured with a similar injury to the one Serdar had.

Sané’s header hits the bar

The visitors tried to put S04 under pressure early on and they had the first notable chance of the game. Jadon Sancho, however, couldn’t beat Alexander Nübel from the edge of the box with his curling effort.

The Royal Blues then began to dominate proceedings, with Matondo (8’) and Mascarell (10’) having half chances in the opening exchanges. The lead nearly came in the 28th minute. Bastian Oczipka’s corner was powerfully headed towards goal by Salif Sané, but it hit the crossbar and bounced away from goal.

Serdar hits the inside of the post, Matondo denied by Hitz

Six minutes later, Schalke were mere inches away from scoring the opener. Amine Harit looked for Serdar with a chipped ball and, with a little help from the Dortmund defence, it found the Germany international, whose shot came back out off the inside of the post.

Spurred on by the always vocal Schalke fans, S04 continued to push for the goal, but they couldn’t find a way past Hitz. Caligiuri put Matondo through one-on-one with the Swiss with a delightful ball, but the keeper came out in top. In the end, the officials ruled it offside, the decision would have been checked by VAR in any case (43’). So the teams went in for the break with the score locked at 0-0.

Guerreiro clears off the line

Schalke took control of the second half too, created good chances. Caligiuri fired over from 16 metres out (46’), then Raphael Guerreiro denied the Royal Blues from opening the scoring. The Portuguese cleared it off the line after Guido Burgstaller got his head on the end of Oczipka’s delivery from the corner. Two minutes late, Matondo again fired it straight at Hitz. The officials again ruled it offside after letting the play run.

Hazard’s arm meets the ball, but no penalty

In the 59th minute, the vast majority of fans in the VELTINS Arena were screaming for a penalty. The ball seemed to strike Thorgan Hazard’s outstretched arm in the box, but referee Felix Brych didn’t take a look at it. S04 put the pressure on afterwards too, Burgstaller’s shot flew over the bar (68’). A second later, Matondo missed an opportunity after Jonjoe Kenny had won the ball back and fed the Welshman with a delightful pass.

BVB wake up in the closing stages

As the game drew to a close, the visitors started to wake up. Sancho tested Nübel out again in the 73rd minute, while Reus couldn’t get his head on a cross in the 77th. Both teams played for the three points towards the end, but neither side could break the deadlock in Gelsenkirchen.

Bielefeld in the DFB-Pokal, then Augsburg in the Bundesliga

S04’s next competitive game comes on Tuesday (29/10) in Bielefeld. The second-round DFB-Pokal tie will kick off at 20:45 CEST. The following Sunday sees Wagner’s side travel to Augsburg for matchday 10 in the Bundesliga (3/11, 18:00 CEST).