Huub Stevens says goodbye to FC Schalke 04 when he moves into the third round of the DFB Cup, but the 3-1 (1-0) victory over outsiders SSV Ulm was nothing more than a small consolation at Christmas. At the end of a completely messed up year, Suat Serdar (27th) and two Benito Raman (51st / 63rd) made it only their fourth competitive win in 2020 on Tuesday. Game intermezzo at least with a sense of achievement. The goal conceded by Johannes Reichert (82nd) was to be overcome in the round of 16.
Stevens’ successor faces a difficult task. For 45 minutes there was no three-class difference to be seen against Ulm. The sixth of the Regionalliga Südwest attacked the Schalke team early, so that the action in the first half took place much more in the half of the Bundesliga side. Nicolas Jann tried it from the left from an acute angle, but couldn’t surprise Christian Fährmann in the Schalke goal (13th). The Ulm team were equal in the duels and courageous in the game, but did not achieve anything really dangerous in the end until the break.
The hosts, who had exchanged home rights with Ulm, were different: In one of the very few determined attacks, left-back Bastian Oczipka matched Serdar, who hit from around 22 meters with a shot that was still slightly deflected. It was the 23-year-old’s first goal since January 17, when he also scored in the 2-0 win against Borussia Mönchengladbach – the only Schalke Bundesliga victory this year. Since then, there have been 29 league games in a row without success.
However, the lead, which was rather unexpected after the course of the game, gave no security, especially since Stevens changed the team to five positions after the bitter 0: 1 against Bielefeld. For example, captain Omar Mascarell and Nassim Boujellab were injured.
Ulm, who surprised the then cup winners Eintracht Frankfurt in their own stadium in 2018, continued to try to reach the third cup round for the first time in 20 years. Robin Heusser tested Fährmann from a distance (47th), before Schalke also appeared dangerously in front of the Ulm goal in return – for the first time since the 1-0.
When Ulm goalkeeper Maximilian Reule let a hard long-range shot from Amine Harit ricochet off, Raman took off for the second goal. The central attacker then finished 3-0 after winning the ball from Steven Skrzybski. With that, the decision was made, and Schalke now also showed playful approaches, freed from pressure. Ferryman even held Reichert’s penalty kick, but the margin was on.
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