S04 lose 3-0 away to Hertha BSC

Uth makes his comeback – Kolasinac not yet available

Mark Uth returned to the starting line-up after his head injury against Augsburg, replacing Benito Raman, who was out with an ankle problem. New head coach Christian Groß was also without Goncalo Paciencia (knee), Salif Sané (knee), Rabbi Matondo (stomach), Nassim Boujellab (jaw) and Kilian Ludewig (metatarsal fracture). Ralf Fährmann was in goal, with Frederik Rönnow returning from injury to take his place on the bench.

Sead Kolasinac, who has recently returned to the club, wasn’t involved in the capital. The Bosnian international’s contract only begins on Monday, 4th January and winter signings are only allowed to feature from matchday 15 onwards according to the DFL’s rules.

Guendouzi scores a curler

Both teams got stuck in right away and this led to Hertha’s first shot after just two minutes. Marvin Plattenhardt tested out Ralf Fährmann with a long-range free kick. Mark Uth then had Schalke’s first chance, failing to beat Alexander Schwolow with a low shot from the edge of the box (11’).

Ten minutes later, Matthew Hoppe had an acrobatic shot saved after a Oczipka delivery. Hertha then broke from the resulting corner through Matheus Cunha. He slipped Dodi Lukebakio in behind, however Ralf Fährmann was on hand to save the day from close range.

At the other end, Schwolow made a fine save to keep the scores level from a Mark Uth shot after a fine ball through from Amine Harit. Marvin Plattenhardt narrowly missed the target from range (31’), while S04’s Alessandro Schöpf could only hit the side-netting himself (35’).

The opening goal finally came after 36 minutes for the hosts. After Matija Nastasic blocked a shot from Cunha, the ball fell to Matteo Guendouzi. He curled the ball into the far corner past Fährmann to break the deadlock. The Frenchman tried a repeat just before the break, but this time his shot was too close to ‘Ralle’.

Cordoba makes it 2-0, Piatek seals the win

Hertha came out of the blocks as the stronger team and took one of their chances early in the second half to double their lead. Matheus Cunha burst forward at pace and fed it out wide to Vladimir Darida. His cut-back found Jhon Cordoba and the striker converted from close range (52’).

The side from the capital continued to control proceedings and carved out further opportunities. Darida set up Alderete in the 69th minute, however Schalke’s number 1 kept him at bay. Fährmann was beaten again though immediately after this chance. Darida played a clever through ball to Piatek, and the substitute slotted it home to make it 3-0.

Schalke struggled to cause Hertha any real problems after the break, only having one moment of note through Mark Uth with six minutes to go, although he missed the target.

Hoffenheim at home

The Royal Blues’ first home game of 2021 is against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (Saturday, 9/1, 15:30 CET).