SThey had nothing or almost nothing on hand and didn’t want to declare their basement party an all-or-nothing game. It was only the seventh matchday, before which 1. FSV Mainz 05 was bottom of the table without a point and FC Schalke 04 was only marginally better than bottom of the table with two points. In addition, the Gelsenkirchen team dragged a black series of 22 winless Bundesliga matches with them to Mainz.
Nevertheless, coach Manuel Baum saw a few signs of hope less because of the 4-1 cup success on Tuesday against the fourth division club Schweinfurt 05, which had come about after some hardship. “We have found ways of doing it better,” he said. However, the successor to David Wagner, who was dismissed after the second match day, prevented too high expectations. “This is not a final game,” was his dictum beforehand.
It was similar to that of the Mainz sports director Rouven Schröder, who had pointed out that the lower ground floor duel had no “endgame character”. On Saturday afternoon, however, neither Mainz nor Schalke celebrated their first win of the season. In an exciting and qualitatively appealing duel, the teams parted 2-2 after two Mainz penalty goals by Brosinski (6th minute) and Mateta (45th + 2) and Schalke hits by Uth (36th) and an own goal by Mainz’s St. Juste (82.).
Whenever the Mainz team had a clear shot before the break, they also scored. And when would the opportunity have been better than two penalty kicks face to face with the opposing goalkeeper? Brosinski used his penalty shortly after the start of the game after Nastasics foul on Burkardt; Mateta his big chance just before the break, when Sané had brought Burkardt down. Referee Ittrich’s decisions were also valid in the opinion of the video assistant.
Between the two Mainz goals, however, Schalke were the better team, because the “Royal Blues” had been convincing again for a long time, both combatively and playfully. Uth’s remarkable free kick to 1: 1 rewarded Westphalia. Uth had already before that, cleared by his attacking partner Paciência, the equalizer on the foot, but hit freely in front of the goal over the ball (22nd). On the other hand, Rønnow, who was preferred to Fährmann in goal, saved Schalke from another goal when he kept his nerve against Mateta alone (45th + 5).
The video assistant Tobias Reichel also looked closely after the break when Ittrich needed him. After consulting Reichel, he withdrew the alleged 2-2 equalizer by Kabak, which the Hamburg referee had already awarded the Schalke team, because the Turks returned to the ball after five games, including four for his spitting attack on Augustinsson from Bremen first jumped on the arm (50th), before he pushed the ball over the line.
The Mainz team met the constant Schalke danger with a noticeably greater physical force, which meant that the game played out more than before in the Schalke half. Rønnow prevented in the duel with Burkardt the 2-2 (57th). Now the Rheinhessen defense also seemed more stable than in the first 45 minutes. The fact that Schalke managed to make the deserved 2-2 in the end was also thanks to a Mainz player when central defender St. Juste steered a sharp cross from substitute Skrzybski into the goal with his knee, deflected by goalkeeper Zentner.
Two minutes later, Mainz was lucky because the referee did not consider Niakhaté’s jersey puller against Schalke attacker Paciência as a foul and there was no objection from the video assistant. “I feel badly treated. It will be enough someday, ”said Schalke’s sports director Jochen Schneider, the TV broadcaster Sky, especially with a view to the two penalty decisions against his club. “I don’t know what’s going on in Cologne. That is checked briefly and is a penalty. I expect more attention in Cologne. “Coach Baum saw it similarly:” You are not allowed to give the second penalty. That will not do.”
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