Terodde at the double in 3-0 win over Gütersloh

The friendly came about through the club’s partnership with the Hagedorn Group, who have been a Schalke sponsor since 2019 and also partner with the hosts from Gütersloh.

Minutes for 18 players

Head coach Frank Kramer gave game time to 18 players during the 90 minutes, with five Knappenschmiede talents getting on the pitch in the second half in the form of Verthomy Boboy, Grace Bokake, Soichiro Kozuki, Daniel Kyerewaa and Sidi Sané. Young blood was also required in the absence of some players with knocks and injuries and the likes of Maya Yoshida, Alex Král, Sepp van den Berg, Tom Krauß, Mehmet Can Aydin and Kerim Calhanoglu all away on international duty.

Latza volleys in from close range

It took just 90 seconds for the Royal Blues to produce the first shot of the game courtesy of Rodrigo Zalazar. His effort from around 20 yards took a slight deflection though and ended up going wide of the target. Schalke were dictating proceedings early on and came mighty close to taking the lead after twelve minutes. Florent Mollet’s shot from inside the box was heading in until a last-ditch goal-line clearance from defender Lars Beuckmann.

Less than a minute later, the ball was almost in the back of the hosts’ net once again. This time, Gütersloh goalkeeper Jarno Peters, a Schalke reserve player during the 2012/13 campaign, made a strong reaction save to deny Jordan Larsson.

S04 finally did get their deserved opener after 25 minutes. Captain Danny Latza wasn’t picked up at the back post and had an easy finish from Henning Matriciani’s deflected cross from the right flank. Mollet thought he had made it 2-0 soon after, but his dipping free-kick in the 32nd minute smacked against the crossbar and bounced away to safety in the final notable action of the half.

Terodde off the bench and onto the scoresheet

Four minutes after the restart, an unchanged Schalke side created the first chance of the second half through Florian Flick. The midfielder’s speculative shot from range wasn’t troubling the goalkeeper, however, and flew over the target. Three minutes later, Schalke’s number 17 tried his luck again. The 22-year-old tried was unable to pick out the bottom corner this time and suffered a painful knock to his foot in the process too.

Around the hour mark, the home side began to open up a little more as they searched for a route to goal, but the Royal Blues were ultimately able to keep them quiet. Down the other end, Flick was once again the centre of the next attack, this time seeing a deflected strike slip just wide of the left stick with the goalkeeper beaten (67’). The resulting corner kick from Thomas Ouwejan was met by the head of Ibrahima Cissé, but his shot bounced into the ground and over the top.

Sebastian Polter also couldn’t convert with a close-range header, as his attempt landed in the arms of substitute goalkeeper Daniel Szczepankiewicz (70’). Shortly after, Mollet was cursing his luck again when the Frenchman curled a shot from the left side of the box inches wide. Simon Terodde was able to find that clinical edge in the 76th minute though. He hadn’t been on the pitch long, but he didn’t need any time to adjust, flicking a cross from Ouwejan past the goalkeeper to make it 2-0.

Sidi Sané had also come off the bench and almost added a third Schalke goal in the 81st minute, only for his chip to land beyond the crossbar. The Royal Blues weren’t made to wait long for number three, however. Again it was Terodde on the scoresheet, chesting down a ball inside the box and burying the finish on the turn (84’). The final opportunity of the match fell to Ouwejan from a free-kick just outside the area, with the Dutchman not quite able to pick out the top corner (86’).

Home match against Augsburg

After the upcoming Bundesliga-free weekend, Schalke 04 will be back hunting for points on Sunday, 2nd October. The Royal Blues will play FC Augsburg off the back of their surprise 1-0 win over record champions Bayern München last Saturday. Kick-off at the VELTINS-Arena is at 17:30 CEST.