1-2 in St. Petersburg – S04 lose friendly against Russian table-toppers

Oczipka makes his comeback

Bastian Oczipka made his first appearance after his injury over six months ago. The left-back, who underwent an operation in the summer, started the game and played 72 minutes. Six other first-teamers started the game alongside Oczipka.

Sören Ahlers, Louis Samson, Sandro Plechaty and Nassim Boujellab from the U23s all started, with Philip Fontein, Jonas Carls, George Timotheou, Berkan Firat und Haji Wright all coming on as subs. Head coach Domenico Tedesco called up the players from the youth academy as eight first-team players are currently away on international duty.

Birthday boy gets the equaliser

In front of 41,214 fans in St. Petersburg, the hosts started the better team and took the lead after just six minutes. Matias Kranevitter took advantage of a Omar Mascarell mistake and hammered home from the edge of the box.

After ten minutes, the game was more even and both teams had more opportunities. Naldo had the first chance for Schalke, with his header narrowly missing after Oczipka’s corner. Steven Skrzybski then had a great chance after half an hour, but again couldn’t take his chance from Franco Di Santo’s pass.

The duo of Di Santo and Skrzybski was more successful minutes later though. Di Santo put in a cross for Skrzybski, who hammered the ball home from close range after 35 minutes. It was the perfect birthday present for the Berlin-born man, who turned 26 today.

Controversial goal for Zenit

Schalke started the second period strongly and had several chances to take the lead early on. Bastian Oczipka saw his shot well saved by home keeper Yuriy Lodyguin and then his cross eventually saw Steven Skrzybski have another good chance, but before he could get his second goal of the day, the referee blew up for a foul.

The Royal Blues carried on pushing for the goal and almost got it in the 77th minute for Haji Wright. The American was played in by Berkan Firat, but couldn’t get the ball over the line. Zenit then struck directly on the counter and won a penalty after a tackle by Abdul-Rahman Baba was adjudged to have been a foul on Sebastian Driussi. He stepped up to take the penalty, but it was saved by Ralf Fährmann. Unfortunately for Schalke though, Magomed Ozdoyev was on hand to head the rebound home. The goal, however, shouldn’t have stood as the goalscorer was already in the penalty box before the penalty was taken. The referee didn’t spot this and the goal still stood.

S04 fought to get back in the game and Haji Wright came close again in the 84th minute. Johannes Geis had a volley which was also denied and the game finished 2-1.