Dhe best comes to those who can wait. Also in football. Marius Bülter set a very special record on Friday evening in Mainz. He scored the latest goal in Bundesliga history with a penalty kick after 101 minutes and 13 seconds in a crazy game that FC Schalke 04 finally won 3-2 after 103 minutes against 1. FSV Mainz 05.
Deserved by the way the game went, the Royal Blues were the slightly better team in this back-and-forth duel, also because they wanted more and were determined to do anything. Like the Mainz side, who showed too many weaknesses in this Friday evening thriller and ultimately caught up twice from behind after Bülter’s goal to make it 1-0 (26th) through Barreiro’s equalization after Aarón’s corner kick and after Krauß’ finely played goal to Schalke 2 :1 (60th) through Aaron’s sensitive free kick over all Schalke players.
After the 2: 3 by Bülter’s final point, the Rheinhessen did not get back on their feet a third time. The annoyance about the next defeat after the 0:3 in Wolfsburg and about a penalty, which almost everyone in Mainz felt was unfair, was too deep.
Schalke and, what was more important, referee Dr. Not Martin Jöllenbeck. Video referee Günter Perl asked him to come to the review area to watch the scene that triggered the penalty kick. The Freiburg referee didn’t have the snapshot in mind because in the 103rd minute his eyes were on Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner, who had intercepted a high Schalke cross.
“It was a long hold”
But before that happened what Jöllenbeck only noticed now, standing in front of the screen for such occasions. First a short pull by Schalke’s Bülter on his Mainz opponent Anthony Caci and then a longer pull by Caci on Bülter’s jersey. Only then did Zentner catch the ball. “It was a long stop, for which there was a penalty,” Jöllenbeck explained his decision, “at Bülter it was a short stop – and there was the question of whether it was a foul at all.”
Mainz coach Bo Svensson was so upset about this assessment of the decisive scene shortly before the end of the goal that he stormed out of the coaching room into the mixed zone and shouted out loud to the journalists conducting their interviews there: “That’s a scandal, that’s not a penalty. Svensson, a very emotional trainer, who has often gone too far verbally, later took back the word “scandal” in the press conference, but insisted on his point of view that the Mainz team had been wronged in this scene. This was not easy to contradict, since Jöllenbeck’s thesis that whoever pulls longer and harder is right in the end because the opponent pulls earlier, but softer and shorter, does not seem too valid either.
The most experienced Mainz professional, central defender Stefan Bell, put the excitement about the scene of the game into perspective. “We have to get away from the penalty a bit,” said the fair sportsman, “the defeat was deserved because Schalke were better today.” You can say that. The Westphalians, a celebrated last-minute winner in the 2-1 win at home against Werder Bremen last week and again on Friday, had once again managed to retain their passion and still act cool-headed when the decisive moments came had come.
Again need to talk to the referee. Mainz coach Bo Svensson (l.) said: “It’s a scandal, it’s not a penalty.”
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Image: dpa
They had presented themselves in Mainz together with their almost 6000 enthusiastic companions in the stands as a conspired community that had courageously prevailed against the robust Mainzers. And so the audience was treated to a furious evening of football that left nothing to be desired, at least in terms of dramaturgy. Bülter, who is now Schalke’s top scorer with eleven goals, kept his composure when it mattered, even if he missed a mega opportunity shortly before the final penalty kick. “Every goal,” he said, “gives me self-confidence – and the team’s performance as well.”
“If you score three goals in Mainz,” said football coach Thomas Reis, who works hard at Schalke’s miracle, “you can’t speak of a lucky win.” It was easy for the man to talk on Friday evening. At least overnight, all Schalke players were able to savor the invigorating feeling of not having to look all the way down when they looked at the table, given that the jump to 14th place might only be short-lived.
Tom Krauss, the German U21 international on loan from RB Lepzig, described his high spirits like this: “When I go to bed today, I think to myself, awesome, I play for this club. I like to take those moments with me.” You can build on them if the upcoming opponents allow it.
Next up for Schalke is FC Bayern Munich, before the home game against Eintracht Frankfurt and then the trip to RB Leipzig on Matchday 34. Faced with these renowned adversaries, one can get dizzy. However, Schalke is currently not afraid of heights or depths. With hot hearts and clear heads, they seem to be prepared for the last mountain stages to the dream goal of staying in the class.
