Fast start helps S04 defeat FC Zürich 3-0

Heekeren and Hamache come into the XI

Kees van Wonderen made two changes from the 3-1 win over FC Aarau three days ago. Justin Heekeren returned in goal and Ilyes Hamache replaced Christopher Antwi-Adjei on the right wing.

Two goals in the first 10 minutes

Schalke made a fantastic start to their second game of 2025. After Derry John Murkin crashed a shot off the underside of the crossbar following a pass from Ilyes Hamache (5’), the Royal Blues opened the scoring two minutes later. Mehmet Can Aydin played in Taylan Bulut down the right flank and he cut the ball back to Moussa Sylla in the middle. Goalkeeper Zivko Kostadinovic got a hand on his shot but couldn’t prevent it from ending up in the back of the net. The Knappen doubled their lead three minutes after the opening goal. Paul Seguin took a short corner to Max Grüger on the edge and he found Marcin Kaminski with his cross. The centre-back placed a cushioned header into the bottom corner for 2-0.

It took Zürich 17 minutes to create their first chance of the game: Justin Heekeren was comfortable with Umeh Emmanuel’s effort. The Swiss side grew into the game and put together several promising attacks. Firstly, Juan José Perea headed a corner wide (27’) and then Derry John Murkin cleared Lindrit Kamberi’s header off the line in the 33rd minute.

Schalke’s only other chance in the first half came in the final minute before the break. Taylan Bulut did well out wide to put a cross in, which found Moussa Sylla at the near post. His attempt was well saved by goalkeeper Kostadinovic.

Højlund confident from the spot

Tomas Kalas came on for Max Grüger at half time, meaning that Ron Schallenberg pushed up into defensive midfield. Although Zürich had more of the ball at the start of the second period, they were unable to carve out any clear-cut opportunities, just as Schalke also failed to. Van Wonderen made a further nine changes with just over an hour gone. Anton Donkor, Felipe Sanchez, Tobias Mohr, Martin Wasinski, Peter Remmert, Adrian Gantenbein, Zaid Amoussou-Tchibara, Seok-ju Hong and Emil Højlund were all introduced. Goalkeeper Justin Heekeren was the only player to be on the pitch for the whole 90 minutes.

Schalke were able to gain control of the match again after the substitutions and soon found a third goal. Nemanja Tosic fouled Zaid Amoussou-Tchibara in the box and that allowed Emil Højlund to step up and send the keeper the wrong way from the spot (68’). Following his converted penalty, Tobias Mohr had a free-kick saved by substitute goalkeeper Yevhen Morozov (71’), before Højlund himself couldn’t keep a header down from a Mohr cross six minutes after that. The S04 defence were solid in the closing stages and were able to celebrate a clean sheet on top of the victory.

Second half of the season starts on 18th January

The Royal Blues’ time in Belek has almost come to an end. Kees van Wonderen’s team will train for the final time on Friday morning (10/1) before flying home to Germany. The next match is the first league game of 2025, away to Eintracht Braunschweig on 18th January at 13:00 CET.