5-0 win over Gornik Zabrze in Mittersill

Cissé starts, Tempelmann not yet involved

Ibrahima Cissé, who played for Mali in the U23 Africa Cup of Nations last week, started at centre-back after training twice since his arrival in Mittersill. Lino Tempelmann, who joined the club yesterday from SC Freiburg, wasn’t in the squad to face the team that came sixth in the Ekstraklasa last season.

A goal and an assist for Karaman

Schalke took control of the game early on in the blazing Austrian sun. Thomas Reis’ side started brightly and could have gone ahead after just five minutes. Cedric Brunner’s cross found Simon Terodde and he teed it up for Blendi Idrizi, whose shot was blocked accidentally by his own teammate Danny Latza. Kenan Karaman then headed a Thomas Ouwejan delivery wide three minutes later (8’).

Karaman had another chance in the 14th minute and made no mistake this time. He was clean through after Tobias Mohr’s pass and slotted it past the goalkeeper Daniel Bielica for 1-0.

Schalke continued to put the pressure on after taking the lead, though it took until the 32nd minute for the next real chance. Danny Latza drove into the box, gave it to Kenan Karaman and he then crossed to the far post for Blendi Idrizi. The Kosovan midfielder volleyed home to double S04’s advantage.

Gornik looked to attack the Schalke goal towards the end of the first half, but couldn’t threaten Marius Müller in between the sticks.

Kozuki involved in every goal after the break

Thomas Reis made seven changes for the second half, only keeping Marcin Kaminski, Ron Schallenberg, Danny Latza and Tobias Mohr on the pitch. Those four then came off after around an hour so that 22 players featured for S04 in total.

Sebastian Polter, one of the substitutes, almost made an immediate impact after coming on. His shot from close range was blocked on the line. Henning Matriciani, pushed up from centre-back, let rip from outside the area, but Daniel Bielica was equal to his effort (51’).

It took a while for Schalke’s next dangerous attack, which came in the 67th minute. Bryan Lasme powerfully headed a Soichiro Kozuki free-kick into the far corner of the goal.

Kozuki’s dead balls were constantly threatening the Gornik goal, with his free-kick aimed for the near post saved by their goalkeeper 10 minutes after Lasme’s goal. Shortly later though, Assan Ouédraogo nodded in from a Kozuki corner for 4-0 (79’).

The closest the Polish side came to scoring was in the 83rd minute, but Robert Dadok could only volley over from a decent position. After two assists for his teammates, Kozuki got himself on the scoresheet with a minute left to play, striking a free-kick over the wall and into the back of the net.

Final friendly against FC Twente

The Royal Blues will head back to Gelsenkirchen on Sunday (16/7). Thomas Reis’ side will continue preparations for the start of the new season in two weeks. The final friendly before the opening 2. Bundesliga game in Hamburg is on Saturday (22/7) at the VELTINS-Arena. FC Twente from the Netherlands are in town for a 13:30 CEST kick off.