Tail light Schalke 04 continues to stagger unchecked towards direct relegation in the new year. Coach Thomas Reis’ team lost 3-0 (0-1) to the Champions League round of 16 and new Bayern hunter Eintracht Frankfurt and set an inglorious negative Bundesliga record for the 36th game in a row without an away win.
Jesper Lindström (22nd) with a goal after a remarkable solo run, Rafael Borre (84th) and Aurelio Buta (90th + 1) shot the long lackluster Frankfurters behind Bayern Munich in second place – and the miners deeper into the crisis. Schalke, who were unable to compensate for the lack of quality in the first game after the World Cup break, need a perfect second half of the season to stay up in the league.
Many injuries, painful departures and disappointing friendlies – even before the game little had spoken for Schalke. Nevertheless, Reis confidently announced that the royal blue would “go into the league euphorically. We have nothing to lose”.
At first, however, the events developed as many Royal Blues should have known from the previous year. The miners struggled, but the class was lacking in many areas. Schalke combined forward a few times from a compact defense, but there were no real chances to score.
On the other hand, the Frankfurters, who needed some warm-up time, struck ice cold. After Lindström’s great solo, coach Oliver Glasner’s team seemed liberated, but overall they didn’t build on the strong performances of the previous year. However, the focus was always on the French World Cup finalist Randal Kolo Muani.
Schalke 04 missed good chances
The deficit was followed by a good reaction from Schalke, who started with defensive newcomer Jere Uronen and loaned out attacker Michael Frey on Friday. With Simon Terodde (28th) and Soichiro Kozuki (32nd) hitting the post, the guests reported back, but eased off again by the break.
The SBU didn’t shine either, but the quality of the turbo offensive around the somewhat more inconspicuous Mario Götze flashed up occasionally – a clearer lead didn’t jump out at first. When the Frankfurt fans were already singing about the championship, junior Dina Ebimbe (51st) missed the best chance after the break.
And so Schalke stayed in the game for a long time and defended themselves against the impending defeat with their limited options. With the exception of Terodde’s header (54th), the bottom of the table hardly managed to score any serious goals in the second round.
Eintracht Frankfurt – Schalke 04: The statistics of the game
