10-man Schalke beaten at 1860 in the DFB-Pokal

First start for Pieringer

Head coach Dimitrios Grammozis made three changes to the team that beat Dynamo Dresden 3-0 on Saturday night. Simon Terodde was given a rest, and his place up front was taken by Marvin Pieringer for the 22-year-old’s first competitive start for Schalke. Ralf Fährmann replaced Martin Fraisl in goal and the other alteration saw Darko Churlinov come in for Thomas Ouwejan.

Early goal for 1860

It didn’t take long for the action to get going in Munich. The hosts looked to get forward quickly and scored the opening goal extremely early on. Sascha Mölders dispossessed Darko Churlinov out wide and fed Stefan Lex. His shot went through Ralf Fährmann’s legs and nestled in the back of the net (5’). Less than a minute later, Fährmann was in the right place to keep out 1860’s next chance. Merveille Biankadi was through one-on-one, but couldn’t get a real connection on his finish and Fährmann was able to block it for a corner. The goalscorer Lex then had another effort, albeit with not enough power to trouble Fährmann (9’).

Schalke’s first chance came for Marius Bülter. He beat Niklas Lang in the box and then pulled the trigger, however his shot was straight at 1860 goalkeeper Marco Hiller (12’). Bülter was again the man in focus six minutes later. Rodrigo Zalazar did really well to drive down the right-hand side, and he picked out Bülter at the near post. His strike was kept out by Hiller’s feet. As Schalke grew into the game, they came close to going 2-0 down. Yannick Deichmann nodded it down to Lex in the box and he smashed a shot off the woodwork (22’).

S04’s next bright moment again involved Zalazar down the right. This time, his dangerous ball into the six-yard box found Yaroslav Mikhailov, but the Russian couldn’t connect properly to find the back of the net (24’). Thomas Ouwejan, who came on for Darko Churlinov after just 22 minutes, then fired over from range (30’).

The Dutch wing-back played a big part in S04’s next chance, whipping in a trademark free-kick. This was headed towards goal by Marcin Kaminski, however Marco Hiller brilliantly tipped it onto the bar and over (31’).

Thiaw sent off

The second half began terribly from a Schalke perspective. Stefan Lex was racing through on goal and Malick Thiaw brought him down as the last man, for which referee Dr. Robert Kampka showed him a red card (48’). The resulting free-kick taken by Daniel Wein was heading for the top corner, but Ralf Fährmann produced a great saved to tip it wide. At the other end, Marvin Pieringer chested a ball down to Yaroslav Mikhailov and he fired it on goal, albeit straight down Hiller’s throat (54’).

Despite having just ten men, Schalke pushed forward in search of an equaliser, though they weren’t effective enough in the final third. Stefan Lex very nearly grabbed his second of the night in the 69th minute, rounding Fährmann but only finding the side-netting from a tight angle. Marco Hiller then had to be on his toes as Marius Bülter blocked a Niklas Lang clearance close to goal, similar to Thomas Ouwejan’s goal at the weekend against Dresden (71’). 1860’s shot-stopper continued to thwart the Royal Blues. His next save saw him tip a Bülter strike over the bar after substitute Blendi Idrizi won back possession (79’).

As time ran out, it was the hosts who came closer to scoring in the dying stages. Tim Linsbichler headed over from a corner with what was his first touch from off the bench (82’), and then Sascha Mölders hit a powerful half-volley towards goal, which Fährmann had to beat away (84’). S04 threw everything at the third-division side, including even sending Fährmann up for set pieces. Ultimately though, 1860 held on to reach the next round of the cup.

Busy week ends at Heidenheim

Schalke are back in action again on Friday (29/10) at 1. FC Heidenheim (18:30 CEST) in the 2. Bundesliga.