Schalke lose 3-0 at home to Gladbach

Mascarell and Hoppe start – Huntelaar back in the squad

Dimitrios Grammozis made two changes to the side that lost in Wolfsburg last weekend. Omar Mascarell, who missed that game after accumulating five yellow cards, replaced Amine Harit, while Matthew Hoppe came into the starting XI for Alessandro Schöpf. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar made the bench after his recent injury troubles.

Stindl puts Gladbach ahead

The visitors enjoyed the majority of possession in the opening stages at the VELTINS-Arena, which meant Schalke looked to create chances from quick counter attacks. Despite several promising openings, the final pass was often lacking for the Royal Blues.

Gladbach took the lead after a quarter of an hour. Marcus Thuram burst down the left-hand side and his cross was parried by Frederik Rönnow. William’s clearance didn’t have enough on it and it fell to Florian Neuhaus. His shot was blocked, but Lars Stindl hammered the rebound into the roof of the net (15’). Referee Tobias Stieler allowed the goal to stand after discussions with VAR in Cologne as there were claims that the ball went out before Thuram’s cross.

Calhanoglu with Schalke’s best chance of the first half

Benito Raman’s shot from range flew over the Gladbach goal with 27 minutes played. Nonetheless, the away side continued to have the best opportunities after going ahead. Alassane Pléa couldn’t get on the end of Stefan Lainer’s inviting cross across the box (32’). Two minutes later, Pléa played it through to Thuram, who saw his shot just go wide into the side-netting. Florian Neuhaus then found space in the box with some nice skill, however his strike ended up in the same place as Thuram’s.

Schalke’s best moment of the first half came five minutes before the end. Sead Kolasinac dribbled through the middle until the edge of the box and played it to Kerim Calhanoglu on the left. The full-back’s powerful shot was punched away by Yann Sommer.

Lainer heads home, unlucky Rönnow own goal

Borussia continued to carve out more chances in the second half and Schalke’s efforts going forward never came to fruition. Instead, Rönnow was in action frequently. The Dane tipped over an attempt from Pléa to keep the score at 1-0 (57‘). Six minutes later, however, he was beaten for a second time – Stefan Lainer was left unmarked from a corner and he headed home at the front post (63’).

Twenty minutes before full time, Rönnow parried a Neuhaus shot from distance (71’), but moments later he was picking the ball out of the net following an unfortunate own goal. Nico Elvedi headed on goal from a Pléa cross and the ball slipped away from the goalkeeper on landing and carried just over the goal line for a third Gladbach goal (73’).

Comfortably in the lead, the visitors controlled the final 15 minutes of the affair, but other than a Thuram effort saved by Rönnow (76’), there were no more notable chances.

Leverkusen next after the international break

S04’s next match is away to Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Saturday, 3rd April (15:30 CEST). Prior to that clash, though, several Royal Blues will be away on international duty with their nations. One of those players is Malick Thiaw, who has been named in Germany’s U21s squad for the group stages of the U21 Euros, which will take place between 24th and 31st March. The other nominated players will be in action in World Cup qualifiers.