week 4 - match report

Schalke dominance not enough to overcome Leverkusen

After the 1-1 draw against Bayer Leverkusen head coach Mirko Slomka said: "After going in front we tried to launch a decisive counterattack. But unfortunately we weren't able to."

And when Bernd Schneider stepped up to take an 88th minute free-kick in a promising position, it brought back memories of last February's unlucky 1-0 defeat. The Royal Blues had much the better of the chances and the play on that occasion, too, but the visitors took all three points with a goal out of nowhere. This time the game did end so unjustly. Schneider curled the ball over the bar and it finished 1-1. Nevertheless Slomka felt the result was "disappointing because we put a lot into the game".

The Royal Blues, for whom Heiko Westermann stood in for the injured Marcelo Bordon and Mesut Özil replaced Zlatan Bajramovic in the starting line-up, put the Leverkusen goal under pressure from the outset. "We got off to a great start, but unfortunately we couldn't find an early goal", summarised Slomka. And Schalke's initial momentum was then brought to a halt by an unfortunate incident: Mladen Krstajic, who had had been brilliant until then, sustained an injury attempting to beat Theofanis Gekas to a seemingly unreachable ball on the touchline and had to go off after 21 minutes.

"From that moment on we were forced to operate with a completely new central defensive pairing", said Slomka. Rodriguez and Westermann had only played together in training, after all. "It takes a bit of time to settle down again then." Nevertheless the Royal Blues did take the lead through a Kuranyi header in first-half stoppage time. "We scored from a set piece and that's good. But unfortunately we were unable to take any of the chances we created from open play", added Slomka after the final whistle.

Because after Gekas had taken advantage of a lack of concentration to steal an equaliser Schalke had further chances to claim the points, particularly through the tireless Kuranyi and Jones. "The pressure intensified towards the end and we were really under siege", said Leverkusen coach Michael Skibbe, who looked far happier with the point than Slomka did after the final whistle. Going by their share of the play that was understandable.

Schalke: Neuer - Rafinha, Westermann, Krstajic (Rodriguez 21'), Pander - Ernst - Jones, Özil (Altintop 87') - Rakitic - Asamoah (Lovenkrands 61'), Kuranyi

Leverkusen: Adler - Castro, Friedrich, Haggui, Sarpei (Gresko 24') - Ramelow, Rolfes - Kiessling, Schneider, Barnetta (Freier 81') - Gekas (Callsen-Bracker 90'+1)

Referee:  Stark (Landshut)

Goals: 1-0 Kuranyi (45'+1), 1-1 Gekas (53')

Attendance: 61,482 (sold out)

Yellow cards: - Gresko, Haggui (2), Friedrich (2)