week 17 - match report
Schalke cap successful first half of season with 1-0 defeat of Mainz
A thick flurry of snow covered the VELTINS Arena on Friday evening as the Royal Blues put the final touches on their winter fairytale with a 1-0 win over Mainz that saw them climb to the Bundesliga summit for 24 hours at least. But Felix Magath's team will have to work hard in the second half of the season for there to be a happy end.
"We deserved the win today", said Magath after the final whistle. His players had treated the home support to another exciting 90 minutes, though the Schalke manager was unhappy with their failure to calm the fans' nerves and put the game to bed early.
Marcelo Bordon returned from a one-match suspension to partner Heiko Westermann in central defence, with Carlos Zambrano deputising for Rafinha, who has flu, at right-back. In the opening half an hour the turf in Schalke's half of the pitch remained largely untouched as the Royal Blues pinned Mainz back on the edge of their area and carved out some early chances. And they were rewarded for their efforts in the 12th minute when Jefferson Farfan latched on to Lewis Holtby's slide-rule pass to give them a deserved lead.
Schalke continued to create some good chances, but lacked the killer touch, allowing the visitors to relieve the pressure and impose themselves more on the game. The half-time whistle, when it came, provided welcome pause for thought, and the Royal Blues started the second period much sharper, unleashing a wave of counterattacks on the Mainz goal without, however, securing the cushion of a second goal. "We made life difficult for ourselves and should have taken one of our chances", criticised Magath. "We weren't clinical enough at times, though Mainz also had a good goalkeeper who made a number of good saves", he added before turning to the positives. "We put in one of our better performances at the VELTINS Arena and deserved to win. Congratulations to the players and have a nice holiday!"
The elated fans saw the players off into the winter break not only with chants of "top of the league", but also with a banner bearing the evocative message "A first half full of effort and passion – keep it up!" Words of encouragement that captain Heiko Westermann was happy to respond to by microphone, saying: "We want to say thank you for an awesome first half of the season and all your support. We hope things will carry on like this in the second half. Thank you from all the players!"
Their time apart won't last long, however. After a brief holiday the players return to action at an indoor tournament in Oldenburg on 30 December before resuming their Bundesliga campaign with the visit of FC Nürnberg on 17 January.
Schalke: Neuer - Zambrano, Westermann, Bordon, Schmitz - Höwedes, Matip - Rakitic (Sanchez 75') - Farfan (Moravek 83'), Holtby (Moritz 54') - Kuranyi
Mainz: Müller - Heller, Bungert, Noveski, Löw - Karhan, Pekovic (Baljak 46') - Hoogland, Soto (Polanski 75'), Amri (Schürrle 62') - Bance
Goal: 1-0 Farfan (12')
Referee: Aytekin (Oberasbach)
Attendance: 60,852
Yellow cards: Polanski
