week 18 - match report
Set pieces key to 4-1 win over Stuttgart
With their rivals slipping up elsewhere the Royal Blues cashed in by beating VfB Stuttgart 4-1 at the VELTINS Arena in the first game back since the mid-season break. Afterwards the league table made particularly pleasant reading for Schalke boss Mirko Slomka: "The win takes us to within a point of where we want to be at the end of the season - that feels good."
A perspective the Royal Blues earned with a win that was patently down to one particular quality: "The game was decided by set pieces. And Schalke were clearly the more aggressive of the two sides. You could see they were determined to get the goals", summarised Stuttgart coach Armin Veh. Two free-kicks and a corner by Ivan Rakitic ushered in three of the four Schalke goals, a brace by Kevin Kuranyi and Heiko Westermann's first home Bundesliga strike.
"We were aware that set pieces could give us the edge in such an evenly balanced game. We saw that again today ", said Slomka, delighted with his side's effectiveness. Veh, on the other hand, bemoaned his team's passivity: "Of course the corners and free-kicks were well taken. But we lacked the desire to win the challenges, both in defence and in attack. I'm not happy with that. You have to go to the ball with more passion."
Yet in the opening stages there had been nothing to indicate that the game would end in such a comfortable victory. The Royal Blues had made two changes to the side that faced VfL Wolfsburg in the cup in midweek: Levan Kobiashvili came in for the injured Peter Lovenkrands (groin strain), while Kevin Kuranyi got the nod over Halil Altintop. "We struggled to begin with. This was partly due to the fact that we changed our system to a 4-4-2 and needed a bit of time to get going", explained Slomka.
Two goals from Kevin Kuranyi eventually put the Royal Blues on the road to victory. Elated after scoring the second, the Germany striker took off his shirt in celebration and was cautioned. It was Kuranyi's fifth booking of the season and so he will miss Sunday's derby at Borussia Dortmund. "It's a bit of a shame because it was a stupid yellow card to get, there's no question about that", an aggravated Slomka said.
Once Antonio da Silva had pulled one back for the visitors with a quickly taken free-kick on 61 and Heiko Westermann had restored Schalke's two-goal advantage a quarter of an hour later, it was left to Ze Roberto to round off a successful evening. Just 113 seconds after coming on as a substitute the Brazilian scored his first goal in the Bundesliga. "It's nice to be able to celebrate a Bundesliga debut like that", concluded Slomka.
Schalke: Neuer- Rafinha, Bordon, Krstajic, Westermann - Jones, Ernst, Kobiashvili - Rakitic (Ze Roberto 89') - Asamoah (Sanchez 85'), Kuranyi (Larsen 76')
Stuttgart: Schäfer - Beck, Fernando Meira, Delpierre, Träsch (Magnin 59') - Khedira - Hilbert (Antonio da Silva 46'), Hitzlsperger - Bastürk - Marica, Gomez
Referee: Brych (Munich)
Goals: 1-0 Kuranyi (32'), 2-0 Kuranyi (52'), 2-1 Da Silva (61'), 3-1 Westermann (76'), 4-1 Ze Roberto (90' +1)
Attendance: 61,482 (sold out)
Yellow cards: Kuranyi (5) - Hilbert (4), Beck (2)
