S04 lose 1-0 at home to Arminia Bielefeld

Stevens makes two changes

Huub Stevens, who took over as interim coach only on Friday (18/12), made two changes for the final league game of 2020. Hamza Mendyl and Alessandro Schöpf replaced Rabbi Matondo and Amine Harit in the starting XI.

Klos’ flick on, Schöpf’s volley

The visitors could have taken the lead early on in what was a scrappy game in Gelsenkirchen. Fabian Klos flicked on a corner towards the far post, only for Schöpf to clear the ball from danger. Arminia enjoyed more of the ball in the first half and Schalke failed to create anything of note.

The closest the Royal Blues came to troubling the Bielefeld goalkeeper was in the 18th minute, when Schöpf’s powerful volley flew over the bar after Amos Pieper cleared an Oczipka corner towards him. At the other end, Arminia had another chance. Sergio Cordova gave it to Ritsu Doan, whose header found Christian Gebauer. His shot went over the bar under pressure from Malick Thiaw, who had come on for the injured Omar Mascarell (19’).

Cordova with the best chance of the first half

Schalke regularly failed to find the right pass in the final third, although Suat Serdar did get a shot away after 23 minutes, curling it over the bar. A few minutes, later Salif Sané was in the right place to block a goalbound header by Cedric Brunner (24’).

As the first half petered out, the guests very nearly took the lead. A long ball over the top found Cordova and the striker outmuscled Ozan Kabak to burst into the box. His shot clipped the inside of the post and came back out, meaning the teams went in level.

Ortega Moreno denies Boujellab – Klos makes it 1-0

Nassim Boujellab nearly caught out goalkeeper Stefan Ortega Moreno at the start of the second half with a powerful long shot. The DSC shotstopper punched it away, however his defender Brunner headed it back to him, albeit with too much pace and Ortega was forced into another important save to keep it out (46’).

Instead of a Schalke goal, the visitors took the lead themselves. Nathan de Medina’s cross was met by Fabian Klos in the six-yard box and his header beat Fährmann in the Schalke goal (53’).

Pieper blocks Kutucu’s shot

Schalke pushed right until the death, but Stevens’ side still couldn’t carve out any clear-cut chances. Sané’s header went over (56’) and Kabak’s shot from range went into row Z (76’), while Cordova missed a decent opportunity for Bielefeld (71’).

Ahmed Kutucu had the Royal Blues’ best chance to equalise after 83 minutes. Amine Harit and Suat Serdar combined well, however Kutucu’s low left-footed drive was blocked by Amos Pieper. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough and Arminia took all three points back to Bielefeld with them.

Final game of the year against SSV Ulm

FC Schalke 04’s concluding match of 2020 is against SSV Ulm on Tuesday (22/12, 18:30 CET) in the second round of the DFB-Pokal. Both teams agreed to switch the tie to the VELTINS-Arena.