Schalke beaten 5-0 at Wolfsburg

Harit returns after muscular problems

Dimitrios Grammozis made two changes to the side that drew 0-0 to 1. FSV Mainz 05 last matchday. Amine Harit, who dropped to the bench just before kick-off that night due to muscular problems, replaced Can Bozdogan. The other alteration saw Alessandro Schöpf take Matthew Hoppe’s place in the team.

Midfielders Mikail Maden (U23s) and Mehmet Can Aydin (U19s) made a first-team squad for the first time. The former came on in the closing stages to make his Bundesliga debut. Omar Mascarell, along with 10 other injured players, was unavailable after he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season last time out.

Mustafi scores an unlucky own goal

Schalke enjoyed a positive start to the game in Wolfsburg, with Grammozis’ side pressing the Wolves high up the pitch early on and keeping the hosts at bay. After 10 minutes, though, the home side came into the game more and took control somewhat. Schalke were nonetheless able to stay tight at the back and didn’t let Wolfsburg create any good chances in the first 45 minutes.

That being said, the Wolves had the ball in the back of the net after a quarter of an hour. From a corner, Josuha Guilavogui headed it towards goal and it touched Admir Mehmedi’s foot on the way in, who was in an offside position on the line. Referee Sören Storks recognised this immediately and chalked the goal off, with VAR also confirming his decision was correct.

Frederik Rönnow was beaten again in the 31st minute and this time it counted. However, it wasn’t a VfL player that put the ball past him. Malick Thiaw got a foot in to stop a Wolfsburg pass and his clearance came to Shkodran Mustafi. The defender looked to head it back to his keeper, but he had already gone in the other direction and couldn’t get across to keep it out.

Wolfsburg quickly kill the game off

The second half began with another goal ruled out, this time Wout Weghorst was clearly offside as he headed in an Arnold free-kick. Less than 60 seconds later, the Dutch striker was celebrating again and the goal stood on this occasion. Ridle Baku played him in and he extended the Wolves’ lead with a powerful left-footed strike (51’).

Shortly after, the assist provider became the goalscorer. After a Schalke mistake in the penalty area, the ball finally fell to Ridle Baku via Admir Mehmedi and Wout Weghorst, who made no mistake from close range (59’). Five minutes later, Wolfsburg were celebrating again, this time through Josip Brekalo who finished low into the right-hand corner after receiving a ball from Weghorst.

At the other end of the pitch, Schalke had no luck picking holes in the Wolfsburg defence, and it was the home side who ended up scoring again. Two substitutes combined as Jerome Roussillon found Maximilian Philipp, who only had to finish from a few yards out – Frederik Rönnow was able to get to the ball but could not prevent it from crossing the line. The Danish goalkeeper had to be alert several times for the Royal Blues and produced a number of saves to ensure the scores weren’t any higher.

Home game against Gladbach

Schalke’s next match is at home against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday (20/3, 18:30 CET) at the VELTINS-Arena. This will be the final game before the upcoming international break.