week 5 - match report
Schalke draw a blank against ten-men Hertha
Schalke: Rost - Rafinha, Bordon, Krstajic, Kobiashvili - Poulsen, Altintop, Ernst (Varela 69') - Lincoln - Sand, Kuranyi (Larsen 62')
Berlin: Fiedler - Friedrich, van Burik, Simunic, Fathi - Neuendorf (Madlung 85'), Kovac, Bastürk (Dardai 53'), Gilberto - Marcelinho (Samba 89') – Pantelic
Goals: -
Attendance: 60,740
Referee: Brych (Munich)
Red card: Gilberto for unsportsmanlike behaviour (25')
Yellow cards: Poulsen (2), Altintop (2), Rafinha, Lincoln, Larsen - Simunic (3), Fathi
FC Schalke 04 (0) 0 - 0 (0) Hertha BSC Berlin
Schalke had to settle for a scoreless home draw with Hertha BSC Berlin on Sunday evening. Though the Royal Blues enjoyed a man advantage for more than an hour after Gilberto was sent off for a second bookable offence, they were unable to convert their chances into a goal.
The fist goalscoring opportunity fell to the visitors, who in the opening stages showed more determination going forward. With ten minutes gone Marcelinho whipped in a free-kick from the right flank that Frank Rost allowed to slip through his legs, but the Schalke keeper recovered quickly to gather the ball in front of the line as Marko Pantelic ran in. Five minutes later Hertha went even closer after being allowed to string four or five passes together on the edge of the Schalke box. The last of them found the unmarked Pantelic, whose shot from twelve metres beat Rost but flew just over the crossbar. The Schalke keeper then did well to defuse Marcelinho's drive from just outside the area.
But gradually the balance of play shifted in Schalke's favour, and they had the visitors to thank for that. When Gilberto was shown the yellow card for a clumsy foul on Lincoln, he responded to by clapping and was promptly sent off. The Royal Blues now took charge of the game but were unable to fashion any significant chances before the interval.
It was a different story after the break as the Royal Blues stepped up the pressure straight from the start. And it was Lincoln who led the charge on 47, forcing his way into the Hertha box only to see his cross turned away for a corner. Sixty seconds later Hamit Altintop's drive flew just past the wrong side of the left-hand upright. Then it was Fabian Ernst's turn to test Christian Fiedler, but the Hertha keeper was just as alert to the danger as he was six minutes later from Kevin Kuranyi's close-range header.
While it seemed only a matter of time until Schalke took the lead, Hertha remained a threat on the break, as in the 56th minute when Pantelic was put clean through, only to screw his lob over the advancing Rost wide of the goal. The Serb then finished a courageous run by letting fly from outside the box, but his shot went just wide of the left-hand post. And when Schalke's offside trap failed to work, Rafinha held his own against two Hertha strikers.
Schalke boss Ralf Rangnick had already reacted by this stage, introducing supersub Sören Larsen, this time for Kuranyi, and then Gustavo Varela for Ernst in a bid to turn one point into three. On 76 Mladen Krstajic headed an Altintop cross narrowly wide, though Larsen's volley from twelve metres two minutes later missed the target by a good deal more. The biggest chance fell to Varela, who struck Larsen's headed flick-on first time, only to see Fiedler pull off a brilliant reflex save.
