Schalke coach Karel Geraerts praised the character of his team after the 2-0 win over 1. FC Nürnberg at the end of a restless week. “My team showed a lot of mental strength,” said Geraerts. “Especially after last week, the pressure was very high. My team fought like warriors today.”
In addition to the tense sporting situation, the transfer of midfielder Dominick Drexler to the U23 team had caused unrest in the past few days. The success against Nuremberg gave Schalke a little breathing room in the relegation battle on Saturday evening. The lead over the relegation place is five points before Sunday’s games.
A direct relegation zone will also be six points away after the last games of matchday 29. Geraerts did not want to give a concrete forecast as to how many points the Gelsenkirchen team still needed to save them. “I’m not making any predictions, but we still need a few more points,” he said.
Meet Karaman and Seguin
In front of 62,278 spectators in the sold-out Schalke football arena, Kenan Karaman (42nd minute) and Paul Seguin (86th) scored the goals for the Revierklub, which climbed to twelfth place in the table.
Schalke played energetically forward from the start. Yusuf Kabadayi had the first big chance to score for the hosts in the first minute. Thomas Ouwejan (16th) and Karaman (22nd) had further good opportunities, but were denied by the strong Nuremberg goalkeeper Carl Klaus. Shortly before the break, the 30-year-old was powerless. Karaman shot well into the left corner.
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After the break, the goalscorer missed a great opportunity to extend the lead with a penalty kick (56′). Karaman only hit the crossbar. On the other side, S04 keeper Marius Müller deflected a shot from Can Uzun just wide of the goal (58′), a free kick from Nuremberg’s Jannes Horn hit the crossbar (84′). However, Schalke remained the better team overall and secured the decision through Seguin shortly before the end.
