The Schalke fan power in the Sinsheimer Stadion demanded a lot of respect even from the opposing supporters – and a remarkable irony. “Away win! Away win!” chanted the home crowd after the 2-0 (1-0) success of their TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on their own pitch. An estimated 15,000 loud Royal Blues were also unable to roar FC Schalke 04 to victory on Saturday evening. The Gelsenkircheners slipped back to the bottom of the table in the Bundesliga.
“We just couldn’t do it. It hurts. We knew the importance of the game, what an opportunity we had to climb the table,” said striker Marius Bülter in a DAZN interview after the next setback in the relegation battle against a direct competitor of all things. Goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann was also self-critical of his team: “All in all, it wasn’t a good game from us.”
Before the next important challenge on Friday against Hertha, who are also at risk, Schalke, who are now five points behind the first non-relegation zone, are one point behind the Berliners. Coach Thomas Reis also said in the press conference, not without irony: “We don’t need to look back, there’s no team.”
Nevertheless, after the final whistle, the visiting fans waved their flags undeterred as the players trotted into their corner with their heads bowed and thanked them for their support. Schalke scored two goals from aluminum, but only scored once in their own goal – by Alexander Kral (22nd minute) – and had to accept a penalty goal from Ihlas Bebou (70th) in front of a total of 30,150 spectators in the sold-out arena.
“When you talk about the relegation battle, I only saw one team that invested in it, and that was Hoffenheim. That was absolutely not enough. The first half wasn’t worthy of the relegation battle,” criticized Reis.
With their third win in a row, Hoffenheim distanced Schalke to seven points and continued to gain some breathing room in the fight to stay in the league – even if the supporters of Gelsenkirchen waved their blue and white flags in half the stadium. TSG coach Pellegrino Matarazzo registered “an amazing number of flags” from the opponent, but said, as before the game: “It will always be our stadium.” His defender Kevin Vogt had to laugh at the “away win” shouts from the TSG fans. “I thought that was crazy,” he later explained.
