Two debuts, one opinion

Schubert started and played the first 45 minutes in the Lohrheidestadion, making a delayed debut for Schalke after returning later to pre-season due to his involvement with the Germany U21 squad in the U21 European Championship. The 21-year-old made a good start to his Royal Blue career, keeping a clean sheet.

Markus Schubert: I immediately felt comfortable

It had already been decided that the custodian would only play the first half of the friendly: “Markus has only been in training for three days. We thought beforehand about whether he would play,” said coach David Wagner. “He really wanted to play, and he did very well.”

Schubert, who arrived in Gelsenkirchen from Dynamo Dresden this summer, has got fully stuck in over his first few days at the club and even shortened his holiday after talks with Wagner and goalkeeper coach Simon Henzler. “I wanted to get back into training as quickly as possible,” said the keeper. Schubert is excited to play with his new teammates. “The team have welcomed me and made me feel comfortably from the very first second,” said the 21-year-old.

Jonjoe Kenny: Hoping for more gametime

Kenny had similar things to say. “I’ve enjoyed the first few days a lot and am looking forward to now getting to grips with everything,” stated the English defender, who like Schubert also played in the U21 European Championship. In yesterday’s game, the 22-year-old came on for the last quarter of an hour.

“For Jonjoe it was important to wear the shirt and slowly get stuck in,” said Wagner. Kenny, who only came back from holiday two days prior to the game, said: “I’m happy that I got my first 15 minutes of gametime in and hope to get more minutes over the coming weeks and months.”