Bülter and Hanraths secure 2-0 Schalke win in Lübeck

19-man squad with five academy players

Schalke took a squad of 19 players to Lübeck. In addition to the injured players, S04 were also without Ko Itakura, Darko Churlinov, Victor Pálsson, Yaroslav Mikhailov and Malick Thiaw, who were away on international duty. Mehmet Can Aydin, who did not travel to join up with Germany U20, and Mark Rzatkowski were not used as a precautionary measure, with the pair carry minor knocks. Academy players Rufat Dadashov, Jimmy Kaparos, Mika Hanraths, Stanislav Fehler and Joey Müller made up the numbers.

The home side started the game better, with former Schalke youth player Mirko Boland playing through Cemal Sezer. Ralf Fährmann was quick off his line to deal with the danger, but the Lübeck attacker was offside anyway. In the eleventh minute, Morten Rüdiger found Samuel Abifade on the right, whose cross was headed away by Timo Becker.

Pieringer with two good chances

S04 did not connect enough in the final third in the opening phase of the game, but the Royal Blues’ first real chance of the game came after a quarter of an hour. Reinhold Ranftl blocked a pass in the opponent’s half and Marvin Pieringer picked up possession before striking towards the far corner, but VfB keeper Julius Schmid dived to save.

Afterwards, S04 began to control the game and soon came the next chance. Marcin Kaminski’s ball into the area was played onto Pieringer by Dominick Drexler, but the forward saw his effort go just wide of the left-hand post. 04 minutes later, Rodrigo Zalazar’s effort missed to the right.

Bülter opens the scoring

In the 33rd minute, Kerim Calhanoglu’s deflected shot hit the side netting from around twelve metres, but four minutes later, the ball was in the net. Rodrigo Zalazar picked up the ball in midfield and found Marius Bülter on the left. The forward producesd a few stopovers before cutting onto his right and finishing past Julius Schmid off the underside of the crossbar. Soon after, referee Eike-Robert Kawen brought the half to an end with S04 one goal to the good.

Four changes for the second half

Grammozis made four substitutions at the break, with Jimmy Kaparos, Mika Hanraths, Stanislav Fehler and Rufat Dadashov replacing Marius Bülter, Florian Flick, Dominick Drexler and Marcin Kaminski.

Schalke had a big chance to double their lead just 90 seconds into the half. Rodrigo Zalazar played a one-two with Rufat Dadsahov cut back to Stanislav Fehler on the penalty spot, whose shot was deflected just over the bar. Timo Becker then headed just wide from the resulting corner kick (48’). Three minutes later, Marvin Pieringer found Rufat Dadashov in the area, but his low shot was saved by Julius Schmid.

The home side were limited to few chances during the second half, with S04 in control of proceedings. Despite this the next real chance only came in the 72nd minute, when Kerim Calhanoglu tried his luck from 22 metres. Julius Schmid was on hand once again.

Hanraths scores the second with his knee

Five minutes later, Lübeck had a big chance to equalise. Mika Tom Urbanski crossed from the left and Ben Bäßler found himself in space just eight metres out, but put his effort narrowly wide to the right.

The Royal Blues then finished the game more strongly. Marvin Pieringer rose highest and beat Julius Schmid to Kerim Calhanoglu’s corner, and Mika Hanraths got his knee to the goalbound ball to see it over the line (85’) to double the lead. The last attempt of the game fell to VfB striker Malek Fakhro, whose log shot missed to the left (87’) to see Schalke run out 2-0 winners.

Friday evening in Hannover

League action returns for Schalke in eight days, with Grammozis’ side travelling to take on Hannover on Matchday 10 on Friday evening (15/10) at 18:30 CEST.