Late penalty secures 1-0 win for Nürnberg in Belek

Uronen and Tauer feature for the first time

Two players appeared for the first time for Schalke in this friendly. Jere Uronen, who signed a few days ago on loan from Brest, began at left-back as the side set up with a 4-2-3-1 formation. Niklas Tauer, the other winter signing, came on during the game at right-back. He had missed the match against FC Zürich after not being fit enough to play.

Good chances for Kozuki and Terodde

Schalke could have taken the lead with less than a minute played in rainy Belek. After winning possession back well in midfield, Dominick Drexler gave it to Tom Krauß. The former Nürnberg man slipped in Soichiro Kozuki. Peter Vindahl Jensen in the FCN goal was on hand to deny the Japanese forward with his feet after just 47 seconds.

The second chance also belonged to S04. Simon Terodde struck a shot over the bar on the turn after being passed the ball by Florent Mollet (10’). Two minutes later, Schalke’s number 9 again got himself into a good position. Jere Uronen’s cross found Terodde, but his first time effort was straight at Vindahl Jensen from a few yards out. In the 17th minute, Mollet curled a free-kick just over the bar from promising position just outside the area.

The second-division side struggled initially to create any chances. Their first opportunity was when Christoph Daferner had a shot blocked (19’). Shortly afterwards though, Ralf Fährmann was called into action. Johannes Geis, a former Schalke man, played Kwadwo Duah in behind and he was clean through one-on-one with Fährmann, who made an excellent save with his legs (22’).  Fährmann pushed a dangerous low shot from Lino Tempelmann safely away from goal five minutes later as Nürnberg grew into the game.

Tom Krauß fired a volley well over the bar in between the two Fährmann saves (25‘), before Terodde’s weak header was easily gathered by the Danish goalkeeper from a Drexler cross (37’). As a result, the two sides went into the break goalless.

Shuranov converts from the spot

Head coach Thomas Reis made eight changes for the second half. The only players to remain on the pitch were Tom Krauß, Marcin Kaminski and Florent Mollet, with the last two going off with just over an hour played. Krauß was the only Schalke player to play the full 90 minutes.

The first shot of the second half went to FCN, whose striker Kwadwo Duah hit a shot wide in the 55th minute from a tight angle on the right side of the box. Alexander Schwolow, who came on at the break, was first required to make a save three minutes later, though Tempelmann’s shot from distance didn’t cause him any issues. The Franconians came close to breaking the deadlock after an hour. Schwolow firstly saved from Mats Möller Daehli, Duah’s rebound was blocked and then Enrico Valentini’s deflected attempt was smartly tipped wide by the Schalke goalkeeper (61’).

The Royal Blues had to wait until the 65th minute for their first shot in the second half. Jordan Larsson, who had only just been introduced to the game, couldn’t beat Vindahl Jensen. Fellow substitute Kenan Karaman had an effort blocked after a pass from Krauß (73’).

The only goal of the afternoon came in the 79th minute. Ibrahima Cissé fouled Jermain Nischalke in the box and Erik Shuranov converted the resulting penalty to earn FCN the win.

Final test at the VELTINS-Arena

FC Schalke 04 will head back to Gelsenkirchen on Wednesday (11/1). The final game before the Bundesliga returns will be on Saturday (14/1) at home to fellow top-flight team SV Werder Bremen. Kick off at the VELTINS-Arena is at 15:30 CET.