2024-09-01 14:24:11
2. Bundesliga
Schalke suffers bitter home defeat against Cologne
Updated on 01.09.2024 – 15:43Reading time: 3 min.
In the top duel of the 2. Bundesliga, FC Schalke showed a desolate performance against Cologne. Braunschweig, meanwhile, lost late.
1. FC Cologne dealt FC Schalke 04 a severe setback in the 2nd Bundesliga. In front of their home crowd, the Royal Blues were beaten 1:3 (0:2) by “Effzeh”. Schalke showed a desolate performance, especially defensively, and were repeatedly outplayed by Cologne. Damion Downs put Cologne in the lead in the 25th minute, and Linton Maina added another in the first minute of injury time.
After half-time, it was Tim Lemperle (46th minute) who made everything clear early on. Schalke did come close again with a penalty from Kenan Karaman (66th minute), but it was not enough. Schalke is now in twelfth place in the table with four points after four games. Cologne jumped to sixth place with seven points.
In the parallel games, Karlsruher SC beat Eintracht Braunschweig 2-1 thanks to a late goal. The game between Paderborn and Ulm ended in a goalless draw.
Before the first meeting of the traditional clubs in the lower house after 90 Bundesliga duels, Schalke coach Karel Geraerts had seen FC as “clearly the favorite.” His counterpart Gerhard Struber praised the Royal Blues as a “team with a lot of individual quality.” Geraerts was much better with his assessment, because the Cologne team, who had played well due to their transfer ban, combined much more reliably – even though another regular player, captain Timo Hübers, was out due to illness.
Geraerts, on the other hand, was able to use Ron Schallenberg in central defence again after his suspension had expired, but he did not provide stability to the defence, which was once again Schalke’s weak point.
The two coaches saw a lively start and the first chances by Tobias Mohr for the hosts (3rd) and Downs for Cologne (7th). FC offered the more refined combination football, but Schalke initially played the more determined one. The goalkeepers on both sides were kept busy: Jonas Urbig had to stretch to stop a shot from S04 captain Karaman (17th), and a header from the completely unmarked Eric Martel fell right into Justin Heekeren’s arms (20th).
Seconds after the first drink break, the Schalke goalkeeper was powerless when the ball came back immediately after his inaccurate kick and Downs scored the Cologne lead after a clever pass from Maina. The visitors’ superiority in terms of play became more and more evident: with the 2-0 goal by Maina, who outplayed Heekeren, as well as with the third goal shortly after the restart, when Lemperle slotted in unchallenged from a few meters.
Eintracht Braunschweig has also lost its fourth game of the season. Despite an improvement in performance and an early lead, the final score was 1:2 (1:0) against the still unbeaten Karlsruher SC.
Andrin Hunziker (73′) and, shortly before the end, Budu Zivzivadze (87′) took advantage of two major mistakes in Braunschweig’s defense in the second half and turned the game around. Ermin Bičakčić had put Eintracht in the lead in the 14th minute after courageous preparatory work by Sven Köhler.
Braunschweig coach Daniel Scherning reacted to the miserable start to the season with zero points and 13 goals conceded in two ways: He put the two new signings Paul Jaeckel and Sebastian Polter in the starting lineup and built additional security in midfield.
A week after the 0:5 defeat in Cologne, Eintracht initially played with significantly more energy and passion. After Rayan Philippe missed a second goal (39th minute), however, KSC became increasingly stronger.
Marvin Wanitzek only hit the crossbar in the 51st minute. Braunschweig, on the other hand, had hardly any offensive actions in the second half, apart from a great chance for Levente Szabo (83rd). Karlsruhe’s victory in front of 19,908 spectators was ultimately deserved.
Meanwhile, newly promoted SSV Ulm has earned its first point and prevented SC Paderborn from returning to the top of the table. Coach Thomas Wörle’s team earned a 0:0 draw with the East Westphalians thanks to a good defensive performance. For Paderborn, which had won the first two games, it was the second draw in a row.