week 12 - match report

Schalke put four past hapless Mainz

A busy week came to a successful end on Saturday as the Royal Blues claimed a highly deserved 4-0 victory over FSV Mainz 05 to draw level on points with league leaders Werder Bremen. Kevin Kuranyi and Halil Altintop both scored twice. "It couldn't have gone any better for our strikers", said Mirko Slomka.

The Schalke boss made just one change to the side that won 2-0 at Borussia Mönchengladbach on Wednesday, Hamit Altintop coming in for the suspended Zlatan Bajramovic. In this formation the Royal Blues were already well on the road to victory by half-time. "We did a lot of things right today, were strong in the tackle and full of running. And we won a lot of important balls in midfield, which allowed us to launch several very nice counterattacks. We made very intelligent use of the space", analysed Slomka.

Two of these quick counterattacks led to goals for Kuranyi und Halil Altintop, and some neat interplay between the two strikers - and a headed flick-on by Rafinha - produced Schalke's third. But the goalscorers were also given superb service by Rafinha, Gustavo Varela, Peter Lovenkrands, Levan Kobiashvili and Hamit Altintop - much to the chagrin of Mainz coach Jürgen Klopp: "Schalke were well worth the win, although we contributed a lot to our own downfall. The first two goals, which gave the game a brutal turn, were gifts from us. And we all saw what happened after that."

With the score at 3-0 the game was virtually over at half-time. And even an injury to Dario Rodriguez did nothing to knock Schalke out of their stride. Klopp had feared his side might slip to a record defeat and was happy they had managed to keep the score respectable in the second half. Halil Altintop did add a fourth, though. His fantastic chip steered the Royal Blues to their biggest win of the season, much to the delight of the fans, who were already doing the Mexican wave with some 20 minutes left to play.

Schalke 04 (3) 4-0 (0) FSV Mainz 05

Schalke: Neuer - Rafinha, Rodriguez (Hoogland 46'), Krstajic, Pander (Boenisch 68') - Varela, Hamit Altintop (Özil 76'), Kobiashvili - Kuranyi, Lovenkrands

Mainz: Wache - Gunesch, Friedrich, Noveski, Weigelt - Amri (Feulner 68'), Pekovic, Babatz (Azaouagh 46'), Gerber - Szabics, Diakite (Edu 68')

Goals: 1-0 Kuranyi (13'), 2-0 Halil Altintop (22'), 3-0 Kuranyi (32'), 4-0 Halil Altintop (67')

Attendance: 61,162

Referee: Günter Perl (Munich)

Yellow cards: none