The final whistle in the Veltins Arena and nobody really knew what to make of the 2-2 draw between Schalke 04 and Eintracht Frankfurt. The players of both camps don’t, neither do the home crowd. One point is not enough for one or the other for the very different goals, staying in the class here, European Cup there, everyone involved agreed on that. But this turbulent, hectic, wild game had found a wise end in a draw, which also corresponded to the back and forth in sporting terms – a little happy for Schalke, who later made the tie, and not necessarily unhappy for Frankfurt, who needed outside help , to get into the game at all after the early 0:1.
Eintracht coach Oliver Glasner later enthused that his team had achieved “an amazing energy performance” to compensate for this setback. However, Frankfurt owed their first goal first and foremost to the weakness of Schalke goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow, who fell in slow motion while the ball came to his goal in real time. Daichi Kamada’s 1-1 (21st minute) fundamentally changed what had previously been determined by Simon Teroddes 1-0. Barely 60 seconds had passed when he headed his fifth goal of the season, the place shook and the visitors, all dressed in blue and white, couldn’t believe their luck.
In the end, the disillusionment prevailed. The late equalization of VfL Bochum in Berlin devalued the point win down. He was “a bit disappointed,” said Thomas Reis, Schalke’s coach, “we all hoped for and planned for more.” His comment was less about the table image that could be interpreted than about the appearance of his team. Well started, yes, “then it was a bit very hectic on our part”.
Schalke lacks the courage to give the Frankfurters, who are by no means stable, the second blow
The early lead had confronted Schalke with a psychological situation that was not easy to overcome. Build up pressure, target the second goal with power? Or control your temper and strategically slow down the game? Ultimately, the courage was lacking to resolutely give the Frankfurters, who were not at all stable, a second blow. Defensively, there was cover against a Frankfurt offensive, in which Kolo Muani seemed to lose interest with increasing irritation. But not all Schalke players were as determined as midfielder Alex Král, striker Terodde and left winger Kenan Karaman, who has surprisingly developed into a strong figure in the team. This is how the history of the 1:1, the key moment of the day, came about.
The scene that might decide the fate of the season had two chapters. Part one happened near the baseline in the Frankfurt half, when Frankfurt’s Christopher Lenz borrowed from the current Ice Hockey World Championship and sent Cedric Brunner into the gang with a body check. At least that’s how the victim saw it and apparently also the video judge in the Cologne basement. But he only got in touch later, initially Eintracht went on the attack. They made rather leisurely progress, and the shot that Kamada fired from 18 meters was no cannon fire either. Neither placed nor kicked sharply. He ended up in goal anyway.
Schalke discussed goalkeeper Schwolow’s qualities long enough for Ralf Fährmann to return to his old post at the beginning of the second half of the season. Fährmann’s comeback turned into a personal triumph until he was injured and Schwolow returned.
Schalke’s coach Reis criticized the behavior of referee Schlager
Football is a team sport, but sometimes a very lonely affair for the goalkeeper. At that moment he was alone among more than 60,000 spectators. Woken up at best by the angry speech by teammate Rodrigo Salazar. What coach Reis didn’t like: “If Rodri says something to Schwoli – I think it’s good if you first assess your own performance.”
The coach referred to “a chain of errors” in which referee Daniel Schlager also played a role. Reis said he not only “desired a different decision”, he also expected it: after all, the Cologne cellar asked Schlager to appear on the screen. But Schlager, who had big problems dealing with the nervous events confidently, didn’t want to recognize a foul.
In the second half, Frankfurt developed more momentum and showed more interest in scoring their own goal. That happened fairly promptly after Mario Götze had found Kolo Muani, who had been criminally left alone. Querpass, Tor Tuta (59th), the fever thermometer in Gelsenkirchen showed a high level of fear.
But Schalke caught up and pushed for the equalizer. Suddenly more was achieved in the backlog than during the lead. Season discovery Henning Matricciani, also in folk hero condition on Saturday, initiated the equalizer. Substitutes Tobias Mohr and Sebastian Polter completed (85th).
As expected, the decision about to be or not to be has been postponed to the last day of the game. Schalke has to compete at RB Leipzig. “It will definitely be difficult, nobody trusts us,” said Reis. But he didn’t sound scared. The drama continues. Ultimately, that’s more than the world had given Schalke credit for at the beginning of the second half of the season.