week 19 - match report
Ernst scores derby winner as Schalke go third
Fabian Ernst notched his first Bundesliga goal for the Royal Blues to settle the 131st competitive game between Borussia Dortmund and FC Schalke 04. The 28-year-old midfielder struck in the 82nd minute to seal a 3-2 victory in front of 80,708 spectators. Schalke had twice taken the lead through Gerald Asamoah (19') and a Martin Amedick own goal (31'), only for the home side to restore parity each time through Giovanni Federico (21') and Mladen Petric (50'). The win sees Mirko Slomka's men climb to third place in the Bundesliga table.
"Today we saw a great game with lots of passion and exciting duels", said a delighted Slomka after the final whistle. "It had five good goals, though all of them the result of mistakes. The key to victory was the success of our tactics. We set out to close them down early and force them into giving the ball away."
Slomka made just one change to the team that beat Stuttgart 4-1 last Sunday, Halil Altintop partnering Asamoah in attack in place of the suspended Kevin Kuranyi. Tactically, however, there was no change. The Royal Blues adopted a 4-4-2 formation with two holding players (Jermaine Jones and Fabian Ernst) plus Ivan Rakitic (on the right) and Levan Kobiashvili (left) in midfield.
This system had the home side under pressure from the outset. Dortmund had little time to draw breath and their build-up play was marked by several misplaced passes that Schalke exploited to launch a series of dangerous counterthrusts in the first period. Slomka said: "Dortmund are dangerous going forward so we didn't want to give them a chance to get going. They were forced to play long balls forward which often saw them lose possession."
One such situation saw Schalke take the lead. Asamoah (5'), Altintop (15') and Heiko Westermann (15') had already gone close when Altintop charged down a clearance by Martin Amedick. The ball fell to Asamoah, who found the net from the edge of the area. But 120 seconds later Dortmund grabbed a surprise equaliser when Federico rifled home from 16 metres. Schalke refused to let it knock them out of their stride, however, and continued to put the home side under constant pressure. Westermann's header struck the side-netting on 24 before Dortmund keeper Marc Ziegler was beaten for the second time seven minutes later when Amedick bundled a Rakitic free-kick into his own goal.
The second half began with a shock for the Royal Blues when Mladen Petric headed home to make it 2-2 on 50 minutes. Schalke needed around ten minutes and a fine save by Neuer (53') to recover from the setback. And they received some involuntary assistance from the home side on 76 when Dede was shown the red card for a bad foul on Rakitic.
The Royal Blues made the extra man count eight minutes from time. Asamoah created space for himself down the right before cutting the ball back to Ernst. And the Schalke midfielder scored his first goal for the club from 14 metres. "A great goal", said an ecstatic Slomka afterwards. "The way Asa made it was outstanding."
The only black spot was the booking for Jermaine Jones in the 47th minute, his fifth of the season. He is therefore suspended for Friday's visit of Wolfsburg.
Dortmund: Ziegler (Bade 46') - Rukavina, Amedick, Kovac, Dede - Kehl - Kringe (Buckley 71'), Tinga - Federico, Petric - Klimowicz (Frei 17')
Schalke: Neuer - Rafinha, Bordon, Krstajic, Westermann - Ernst, Jones, Kobiashvili - Rakitic (Streit 77') - Asamoah (Larsen 85'), Altintop (Sanchez 69')
Referee: Gagelmann (Bremen)
Goals: 0-1 Asamoah (19'), 1-1 Federico (21'), 1-2 Amedick (o.g. 31'), 2-2 Petric (50'), 2-3 Ernst (82')
Attendance: 80,708 (sold out)
Red cards: Dede (76'/serious foul play)
Yellow cards: Kehl, Frei - Bordon, Jones, Schober
