Schalke lose 6-1 at home to Union

Drexler returns to the starting XI after suspension

Head coach Frank Kramer made one change following last week’s goalless draw in Wolfsburg. Dominick Drexler, who had been suspended due to a red card, was once again eligible, and replaced Danny Latza among the starters.

Four goals before the break

The game didn’t take too long to get going. After three minutes, Schalke had the first change of the game through Simon Terodde. The striker managed to get his head on the ball after a cross from Thomas Ouwejan, but he wasn’t able to get a clean contact, his shot going wide of the post. Barely two minutes later, Union had their first opportunity. Theoson-Jordan Siebatcheu put his strike partner Sheraldo Becker through, and his strike managed to test Alexander Schwolow.

The visitors from Berlin were able to beat the Schalke goalkeeper next time, however. After a quick corner, Niko Gießelmann played the ball towards the far post, finding Danilho Doekhi, who headed it back to Morten Thorsby – managing to head the ball over the line in a scramble, giving Union a 1-0 lead (6’).

Simon Terodde almost made it 1-1 right after the restart. Marius Bütler played him in, and through against Frederik Rönnow was denied by the man who has two appearances for Schalke, tipping the ball over the ball. He then stopped Malick Thiaw from bringing the hosts level, as his headed shot from a corner was straight at the visiting keeper.

After an eventful opening to the game, the middle of the half didn’t produce as many chances. The game remained finely poised, and the Royal Blues worked on carving out opportunities to score, mainly down the flanks. In the 25th minute, controversy arose. After an Ouwejan corner, Maya Yoshida headed the ball onto Union defender Robin Knoche’s arm. However, VAR did not look at the incident. Four minutes later, however, there was no question – when Robin Knoche clearly raised his arm, and a cross from the right struck his wrist. The referee pointed to the spot, and Bülter duly converted, firing into the bottom left and sending Rönnow the wrong way.

It did not remain 1-1 for long. Union retook the lead after 36 minutes. Sheraldo Becker took a shot on the edge of the penalty area, but it took an unfortunate deflection off Malick Thiaw, leaving Alexander Schwolow wrong-footed and thus helpless. Janik Haberer made it 3-1 to Union in stoppage time of the first period, rewarded for going for goal from 25 yards.

One-sided second half

The second half was less than 20 seconds old when Union got their fourth. Sheraldo Becker managed to get on the end of Maya Yoshida’s clearance, in front of Theoson-Jordan Siebatcheu, in his own area, and finished from the edge of the box, making it 4-1 to the Berliners. Rodrigo Zalazar got unlucky with his 52nd minute effort, firing his effort just wide of the left post.

After that, however, Union did not allow Schalke to create chances. The Royal Blues sought chances, but were unable to find a gap in their compact defence. The visitors didn’t have many opportunities of their own in that time, until

At the other end, Schalke came close a couple of times. In the 81st minute, Diego Leite almost deflected Ouwejan’s cross into his own net, but at clipped the post, before a shot from Mollet not long afterwards found the side netting.

Sven Michel, who was subbed on late for the visitors, got on the scoresheet, firstly making it 5-1 after drilling low into the bottom corner in the 87th minute, before he doubled his tally in stoppage time – Rönnow’s drop kick was headed on by Kevin Behrens, falling to Michel on the half-volley who struck cleanly across Schwolow’s goal to score the last goal of the game.

Stuttgart and Bochum up next

A visit to Stuttgart is next for the Royal Blues, taking place next Saturday afternoon at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. One week later, the action returns to the VELTINS Arena, where Frank Kramer’s side will welcome neighbours Bochum in the evening fixture.