Week 25 - Match report
Biggest win of season no cause to get carried away
For 45 minutes it looked as though Schalke were in for a stroll in the park. But they had only themselves to blame for almost throwing away victory at Eintracht Frankfurt despite taking a two-goal lead.
Eight days after the derby win over Dortmund Felix Magath was forced to rotate. With Marcelo Bordon and Jefferson Farfan sidelined the Schalke boss was pleased to welcome two players back to the fold. Captain Heiko Westermann returned from a knee injury to partner Benedikt Höwedes in central defence. Magath also caused a surprise in handing Carlos Zambrano his first start since the winter break at right-back and switching Rafinha to the left of defence as a result. "I put him there because Patrick Ochs is always a threat down that side," he explained.
A cautious opening phase with no chances for either team lasted exactly twelve minutes, when a resurgent Eintracht side were given a taste of how efficiently the Royal Blues operate this season. The first goalmouth action of the game saw Joel Matip head the opener after Rafinha had sneaked over to his usual flank to cross the ball from a short Rakitic corner. And just three minutes later Lukas Schmitz and Benedikt Höwedes crafted a carbon copy of the equaliser against Dortmund. Two chances, two goals, and the home side were left reeling. Eintracht did eventually fashion some initial chances of their own, but the Royal Blues comfortably protected their lead until half-time. "What annoyed me was the fact that we never managed to put Schalke under pressure in the first half," said Frankfurt boss Michael Skibbe.
Yet just seven minutes after the restart Alexander Meier pulled one back after penetrating the best defence in the league, who were then given ample opportunity to underline why this is the case. Buoyed by the goal Eintracht mounted some dangerous raids on Manuel Neuer's goal, but under the watchful eyes of Germany coach Joachim Löw the Schalke keeper proved a reliable custodian. The period of pressure lasted around ten minutes before the Royal Blues issued a reminder of their attacking qualities through shots by Rakitic and Kuranyi on 64 and 71 respectively.
The same two players were key architects of the nerve-settling third goal. After a lovely pass by Edu the Croatia international got on the end of Kuranyi's cross to put the game virtually out of reach with ten minutes left. Kuranyi then completed the scoring himself, taking the ball round Frankfurt keeper Oka Nikolov to make it 4-1 from a narrow angle and move level with Leverkusen's Stefan Kiessling at the top of the Bundesliga scoring charts on 13 goals.
"I'm glad we won," said Felix Magath after his side's first away win since the mid-season break, "because overall it wasn't as clear-cut as the result suggests." The Schalke boss criticised his players for losing control of the proceedings at the beginning of the second half. "But then we settled the game with a great counterattack to make it 3-1," he added. Michael Skibbe had hoped, not unreasonably, that his team might get an equaliser between the 55th and 70th minutes, "but in the end Schalke deserved to win."
The 4-1 win sees the Royal Blues consolidate their position in the leading group, which was of crucial importance in view of the fixture schedule in the next few weeks, as Magath made clear. "It was anything but a commanding performance. We'll have to extend ourselves a little further when we're up against better opposition." Namely: Stuttgart, Hamburg, Leverkusen and Bayern Munich (twice).
Frankfurt: Nikolov - Jung, Chris, Russ, Spycher (Fenin 82') - Schwegler - Ochs, Teber (Korkmaz 75'), Meier, Köhler (Caio 46') - Altintop
Schalke: Neuer - Höwedes, Zambrano (Baumjohann 66'), Westermann, Schmitz - Rafinha, Matip, Kluge (Moritz 83') - Rakitic - Edu, Kuranyi (Hao 90'+1)
Referee: Winkmann (Kerken)
Goals: 0-1 Matip (11'), 0-2 Höwedes (15'), 1-2 Meier (52'), 1-3 Rakitic (80'), 1-4 Kuranyi (89')
Attendance: 51,500 (sold out)
Yellow cards: Schwegler (4) - Rafinha (5/1), Zambrano (5/1)
