S04 defeat Bielefeld 3-2 in crazy Pokal game

Five changes from the derby

Head coach David Wagner made five changes to the side that drew 0-0 in the Revierderby on Saturday (26/10). Ozan Kabak replaced Benjamin Stambouli at centre half as the Frenchman suffered a long-term foot injury against BVB. The other new faces in the side were Weston McKennie, Alessandro Schöpf, Benito Raman and Mark Uth, as Suat Serdar, Daniel Caligiuri, Rabbi Matondo and Guido Burgstaller all made way.

Schöpf scores a long-range stunner

Schalke dominated the game from the off and created several great chances early on. Amine Harit narrowly had his shot deflected wide after just 90 seconds by a Bielefeld defender. The Moroccan then came even closer in the 11th minute, clipping the outside of the post.

The opening goal then came for S04 in the 16th minute. Weston McKennie played the ball to Alessandro Schöpf, who hammered the ball home from well outside the box.

Raman scores a brace

Schalke weren’t satisfied with just the one goal and immediately sought more. Bielefeld keeper Stefan Ortega initially denied Mark Uth with his feet (19’), but after a long ball into Uth, his pass found Raman and the Belgian knocked the ball past Ortega to make it 2-0 (25’).

Six minutes later, the Belgian completed his brace with a goal from a swift Schalke counter-attack. Schalke regained possession in midfield, Harit pushed the ball forward, along with Raman on the right and Uth on the left. Harit passed to Uth, who found Raman with his own pass, and the Belgian slid in to convert his second goal and give Schalke a 3-0 lead.

Raman had two more chances in the first half (40’, 42’) but was unable to complete his hat-trick, despite the team denying the hosts any chances in the first 45 minutes.

Klos and Soukou bring Bielefeld back into the game

S04 failed to continue playing with the same intensity in the second half, although they still managed to carve out the best opportunity at the beginning of the second period through Benito Raman (54’). Salif Sané then blocked a shot by Andreas Voglsammer on the line as Nübel was beaten to keep Bielefeld at bay.

The hosts continued to improve and after Uth and Raman both failed to add a fourth (68’), Fabian Klos pulled one back for Armina from a Jonathan Clauss cross (72’). The SchücoArena was rocking five mintues later when Cebio Soukou’s shot was unluckily deflected home by Sané (77’).

Kenny and the post save Schalke

The hosts pressed with everything they had to find an equaliser – and they almost did. Marcel Hartel took a free-kick from 17 yards which went over the goal (83’) and Voglsammer shot from 20 yards and struck the post (90’).

In the fourth minute of added time, Nübel couldn’t hold on to a loose ball, and Anderson Lucoqui shot from inside the box at the Schalke net – but Jonjoe Kenny was luckily on hand to divert the shot away from the goal on the goal-line. A late header from Voglsammer from five yards out went wide, and Schalke were able to hold on to see out a win that put them through to the last 16 of the DFB-Pokal.

Last 16 draw during S04’s game at Augsburg

Schalke’s next test comes on Sunday away at FC Augsburg in the Bundesliga (3/11, 18:00 CET). The draw for the last 16 of the DFB-Pokal will take place in Dortmund during S04’s match in Augsburg.