Schalke lose the Revierderby

Special fan initiative for the derby

With no fans allowed in the stadium due to the ongoing pandemic, the Royal Blue fans showed their support for the team with a special initiative. Thousands of white t-shirts were place in the Südkurve to form the S04 logo. The players also wore t-shirts designed for the game in the warm-ups and placed these in front of the Südkurve before kick-off to complete the image. The initiative was organised by fan club Blau Weißes GEsocks – more t-shirts will be added before the end of the season.

Boujellab and Oczipka return to the team

There were two changes from the team that drew 1-1 at Union Berlin: Nassim Boujellab replaced Nabil Bentaleb, while Shkodran Mustafi pulled up with a muscular injury in the warm-up and had to be replaced by Bastian Oczipka.

The Royal Blues started positively, having the first shot after 20 seconds, though the effort from Sead Kolasinac flew well over. Schalke set out to defend tight and compact, which they managed for most of the first half. BVB had their first sniff at goal after seven minutes; Jadon Sancho’s attempt at the post was swept up by a diving Ralf Fährmann, who injured himself in the process.

Fährmann goes off injured - BVB hit twice before the break

Schalke didn’t allow Dortmund a clear-cut chance early on and looked to create moments of danger themselves. In the 20th minute, Suat Serdar played it to William and his cross looked to be landing on the head of Matthew Hoppe, however Emre Can cleared at the last minute.

After just over 30 minutes played, Ralf Fährmann was forced off with an injury to his abdominal muscles. He was replaced by Michael Langer and he was quickly called in to action to deny Mahmoud Dahoud from range (32’). Six minutes later, the Austrian could do nothing to prevent Dortmund taking the lead. Mateu Morey nicked the ball off Benjamin Stambouli 20 yards from the goal, moments later Sancho had slotted the opener into the bottom corner (42′). Things got even worse before the break when Sancho picked out Erling Haaland with a cross to the back post; the Norwegian thumping an acrobatic volley into the bottom corner to give the visitors a two-goal lead at the break.

Schalke with chances but can’t score

Gross made two changes for the second half, with Omar Mascarell and Alessandro Schöpf replacing Nassim Boujellab and William. The Royal Blues got forward more and put pressure on the away side, creating two big chances. Mascarell played a high ball to Becker, which was headed to Serdar by a Dortmund defender. His shot from inside the box was tipped onto the post by Marwin Hitz (50’). Two minutes later, Matthew Hoppe robbed Mats Hummels in the box, however his shot from a narrow angle was tipped wide by Hitz (53’). Shortly afterwards, Becker headed a free-kick from Amine Harit over the bar (55’).

Guerreiro and Haaland seal the win

Instead of a goal to bring Schalke back into the game, the visitors added to their tally. Raphael Guerreiro played a one-two with Marco Reus in the box and slotted home to make it 3-0 (60’). BVB continued to knock it about and found a fourth goal with a little over 10 minutes to play. Jude Bellingham’s low cross across the six-yard area was tapped in by Erling Haaland from close range to end the game (79’).

Away game in Stuttgart

S04’s next Bundesliga game is away to VfB Stuttgart next Saturday (27/2, 15:30 CET).