Sylla brace helps S04 to 4-2 friendly win at Erzgebirge Aue

Debut for the new home shirt

The game in Aue was Schalke’s second outing of pre-season. In front of 15,000 spectators at the eins-Erzgebirgsstadion, head coach Miron Muslic made three changes to the starting line-up from the opening friendly against FC Gütersloh. Timo Becker, Soufiane El-Faouzi and Adil Aouchiche came into the side in place of Adrian Gantenbein, Max Grüger and Luca Vozar. Muslic changed his entire XI at half time, with all 24 players used on the day featuring in the new S04 home shirt.

Early control and Sylla double

The Royal Blues started brightly and took control of possession straight away. After just three minutes, Ron Schallenberg threaded a clever ball through to Moussa Sylla, who raced in on goal before Bastian Strietzel denied him with a last-ditch sliding tackle. Soon afterwards, Adil Aouchiche drove down the left, with the Aue defence clearing his cross behind for a corner. Aouchiche took the resulting set-piece himself and picked out Hasan Kuruçay at the back post, but his effort found only the side-netting (5’).

The hosts soon showed that they carried a threat of their own. Relegated from the 3. Liga last season, Aue begin their fourth-tier campaign next weekend and had won all seven of their previous pre-season friendlies, scoring 45 goals and conceding just two. They looked to hit Schalke on the break, with Linus Queißer leading one such counter after ten minutes before Kuruçay halted his run just outside the box. A few minutes later, Maxim Burghardt whipped a dangerous cross into the Schalke area, but Schallenberg was on hand to clear (13’).

Both sides continued to commit bodies forward, although clear openings were harder to come by for the next few minutes. The next one brought the opening goal. Vitalie Becker played the ball forward to Aouchiche, whose delicate cross from the left was met by Sylla, who got there ahead of goalkeeper Max Uhlig at the near post to head Schalke in front (27’). The goal sparked a strong spell from S04. Aouchiche saw a shot blocked inside the box (34’), Aue defender Burghardt cleared a dangerous Junior Adamu cross (36’) and Kenan Karaman sent a header narrowly wide of the far post (37’).

The Royal Blues continued to dictate proceedings as the half drew to a close. Following a corner, Mertcan Ayhan headed a clearance back into the hosts’ penalty area, where Sylla tried an ambitious overhead kick that flew wide (43’). The next set-piece did lead to a second goal, however. Ayhan headed the ball back towards the Aue goal from a corner and Sylla reacted quickest to turn it home from point-blank range in first-half stoppage time (45’+1).

Gomis and Lasme extend the lead

Schalke made eleven changes at the break, while Aue made three, and substitute striker Christian Gomis was at the heart of the action in the opening minutes of the second half. He first found himself one-on-one with Uhlig, but the goalkeeper stretched out a right hand to keep out his shot across goal (48’). A minute later, Gomis was brought down inside the box by Strietzel and referee Jens Klemm pointed to the spot. Uhlig saved Bryan Lasme’s penalty, however (50’). The keeper was helpless on Schalke’s next attack, as Gomis finished calmly to make it 3-0 (51’). Just three minutes later, Lasme made amends, holding off a challenge on the edge of the box before picking out the far corner for S04’s fourth (54’).

Schalke looked sharp and purposeful after the restart, and it took the hosts a while to threaten at the other end. Marcel Bär broke through on the counter, but substitute goalkeeper Kevin Müller stood his ground and made the save (60’). The Aue striker came out on top two minutes later, however, heading home Nils Lihsek’s cross from the left to pull one back (62’).

Aue grew in confidence after the goal, while Schalke’s attacks increasingly broke down around the edge of the hosts’ penalty area. Bär got in behind again down the left, but Müller narrowed the angle well and turned his effort behind for a corner (70’). Aue struck again shortly afterwards. Willi Kamm was denied from close range following a driven cross, but Chadi Ramadan reacted quickest to tuck away the rebound and reduce the deficit to 4-2 (72’).

The game then settled down again, with much of the play taking place in midfield. Aue made another five changes over the course of the half, while Muslic also introduced fresh legs late on, sending on Finn Porath and Zaid Tchibara for Max Grüger and Bryan Lasme (81’). New signing Satoshi Tanaka came agonisingly close to adding a fifth for Schalke, reading a pass out from goalkeeper Uhlig, winning possession and curling the ball beyond him, only to see his effort come back off the far post (87’).

Two friendlies in Austria

At the final whistle, the Schalke travelling party set off for their training camp in the Stubai Valley. The newly promoted Bundesliga side will take on FC Kharkiv on Wednesday (22/7) and Fagiano Okayama on Saturday (25/7) during their stay.