Status: 07.05.2022 11:09 p.m
FC Schalke 04 managed to get promoted directly back to the Bundesliga. The Knappen were clearly behind in the Saturday evening game of matchday 33 (07.05.22) against FC St. Pauli, but fought back into the game and turned the game around.
Igor Mantanovic shocked the hosts with an early double strike (9th, 17th), Schalke were 2-0 down at the break: The “Kiezkicker”, weakened by various corona cases, kept a cool head in the heated stadium atmosphere and used the first one straight away Chance. Jackson Irvine heeled a pass from Leart Paqarada to Matanovic, who put the ball ahead with a shot from the turn.
When the only 19-year-old attacker scored again just eight minutes later after another pass from Irvine and a subsequent solo, Schalke was sobered. “Königsblau” missed numerous goal chances. The luck of the game clearly seemed to be on the side of the guests from Hamburg, the fourth promotion to the Bundesliga after 1982, 1984 and 1991 seemed to have been postponed to at least the 34th and final day of the game.
Terodde’s brace brings Schalke back into the game
But after the break, St. Pauli experienced the famous cold shower: Jakov Medić put Schalke’s goalscorer Simon Terodde in the penalty area, the fouled player converted the penalty and scored the goal (47′). St. Pauli then defended itself against the Schalke attacks, but then had to accept the equalizer in the 71st minute: Terodde was successful again.
With the frenetic fans behind them, the team of Schalke legend Mike Büskens pushed for the third goal. At first, Martin Fraisl was able to parry a violent volleyball shot by Marcel Beifus with a lightning reflex, but then the FC St. Pauli keeper was powerless: Rodrigo Zalazar, a former player for the guests from the Hanseatic city, converted an untenable assist from Marius Bülter to 3:2. As a result, Beifus was sent off with a straight red, and team-mate and double goalscorer Mantanovic was also sent off for two yellow cards within just under two minutes.
Mike Büskens: “Incredible, unbelievable!”
“It was our dream. You have to fight for dreams, you don’t get them for free. Huge respect for this squad, what they did. Unbelievable, unbelievable,” said an overjoyed Schalke coach Mike Büskens. And sports director Rouven Schröder in the T-shirt with the inscription “Glück Auf Steiger” said: “It had to be exactly the way it came today, for the soul of Schalke. That’s a feeling – unbelievable what happened here on the field . Galactic, it’s just such a beautiful thing for us. It’s moving because we’ve put so much work into it.”
The promotion ambitions of FC St. Pauli suffered a severe setback, the promotion chances are only theoretical. With a three point gap to the second HSV and the third Darmstadt and the significantly worse goal difference, there are only theoretical chances. Werder Bremen can also advance to second place with a win on Sunday in Aue.
Schalke on the last matchday in Nuremberg
Schalke had a nice promotion celebration on the last day of the game at friendly 1. FC Nürnberg (15.05.22, 3.30 p.m.), FC St. Pauli hosted Fortuna Düsseldorf at the same time.
Source: sportschau.de