Schalke defeated 3-0 in Mainz

Nübel returns to the starting XI

Head coach Domenico Tedesco made four changes to the side that faced Manchester City on Wednesday. Alexander Nübel replaced Ralf Fährmann in goal, while Omar Mascarell, Sebastian Rudy and Steven Skrzybski came in for Weston McKennie, Suat Serdar and Hamza Mendyl.

Onisiwo opens the scoring for Mainz

After a balanced opening to the game, it was the home side that had the first big chance. A free-kick from the left was challenged by both sides and the ball fell to Stefan Bell, whose shot on the turn went narrowly wide of the post. The Royal Blues responded with two chances of their own, with Skrzybski unable to capitalise on a ball from Mark Uth (8’) and Nabil Bentaleb firing wide from 18 metres (12’).

Six minutes later, the ball was in the back of the Schalke net. Danny Latza won the ball on the left wing and played Karim Onisiwo through on goal, who beat Alexander Nübel with a placed shot into the right-hand corner (18’).

Mainz make more of the game

The momentum swung in Mainz’ favour after the opening goal. Anthony Ujah was denied by Nübel in the 25th minute, before Boetius saw an effort go wide of the far post.

After half an hour of play, an equaliser began to look more likely. Firstly, Steven Skrzybski found Mark Uth who couldn’t take full advantage, before Skrzybski himself failed to find the target from a low Daniel Caligiuri cross (31’). However, the hosts were still dangerous. In the 39th minute, Anthony Ujah would have found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, were it not for a great tackle by Daniel Caligiuri.

As the first half came to a close, the Royal Blues were still fighting for an equaliser and their best chance of the match came in the 43rd minute. Nabil Bentaleb’s free kick was flicked on towards the back post by Bastian Oczipka and met by Matija Nastasic, whose header from four metres out was saved by Florian Müller. The score remained unchanged as both sides went into the changing rooms at half-time.

Mateta scores, Onisiwo bags a brace

The second half began cautiously, with Schalke looking for gaps in the Mainz defence, but very rarely finding any. In the 54th minute, Sebastian Rudy played a low ball in the penalty box to Mark Uth, which was pulled back to Omar Mascarell on the edge of the area. The Spaniard controlled it and struck, but his effort went past the right-hand post. Skrzybski didn’t have much more luck when he also had a go from the edge of the box. Six minutes later, Bastian Oczipka played a ball from a free-kick into the area, but Salif Sané’s header was too high and the ball went over the bar. This was Schalke’s last real chance of the match.

The hosts went on to put the game to bed with two more goals. Jean-Philippe Mateta found himself unmarked in the penalty area to head home from six yards (73′), while eleven minutes later Karim Onisiwo spun on the edge of the area and planted the ball past Alexander Nübel into the right-hand corner of the net. In between these goals, Schalke appealed for a penalty, when Boetius tangled with Daniel Caligiuri in the area, but video assistant Benjamin Brand waved on play. All in all, the 05ers had the clearer chances, and celebrated a 3-0 win at the full-time whistle.

Another meeting with Düsseldorf on Saturday

This Saturday (KO: 15:30 CET), the Royal Blues welcome Fortuna Düsseldorf to the VELTINS-Arena. Schalke beat Fortuna 4-1 two-and-a-half weeks ago in the DFB-Pokal round of 16, as well as beating them 2-0 in the first half of the season.