week 28 - match report

Royal Blues make it three wins in a row after 4-0 trouncing of Cottbus

Schalke extended their impressive home record against Energie Cottbus at the VELTINS Arena with a comfortable 4-0 win on Friday evening. Six wins out of six and a goal difference of 19 for and none against tell a clear story, and the defeated visitors could only admit that the Royal Blues fully deserved to take all three points.

"It's simply unbelievable how things go for us at the Schalke arena", said a disappointed Cottbus coach, Bojan Prasnikar. His weakened side found themselves up against a Schalke team who were desperate to win the game. Featuring just one change, Rafinha returning from suspension to replace Danny Latza, they tore the visitors apart several times in the opening exchanges and promptly went ahead through Christian Pander after four minutes. "That was a big blow for us", explained Prasnikar, angry not only at having to abandon his defensive strategy early on but also with his side's fragile resistance.

Such was Schalke's domination that Cottbus rarely found themselves within shooting distance. The second goal, scored by Halil Altintop in the 23rd minute after a powerful run into the penalty area from attacking midfield, was not only an expression of this superiority, it was also great to watch. "We already knew the lads were good footballers. And today they went out and enjoyed themselves", said a delighted Mike Büskens.

The Royal Blues continued to knock the ball around with assurance in the second half, but were quick to switch to attack whenever the opportunity presented itself. And so it was on the hour when Jermaine Jones made it 3-0 to put an early seal on a third win in succession. Kevin Kuranyi added a fourth two minutes from time to continue his run of scoring, and for Büskens it was no more than he deserved: "Kevin played very well as a withdrawn striker. He spread the ball about well and got his reward in the end." The Schalke boss's praise was directed at the whole team, however: "You could tell from the outset that we were determined not to let Cottbus take anything away with them. We played some very attractive football at times and deserved to win the game."

Schalke: Neuer - Rafinha, Westermann, Krstajic (Höwedes 78'), Pander (Engelaar 71') - Jones, Kobiashvili - Altintop - Farfan (Asamoah 81'), Kuranyi, Sanchez
Cottbus: Tremmel - Radeljic, Cagdas, Cvitanovic, Ziebig (Pavicevic 41') - Kukielka (Rajnoch 76'), Vasiljevic - Skela, Iliev - Jula (Jelic 84'), Rangelov
Goals: 1-0 Pander (4'), 2-0 Altintop (23'), 3-0 Jones (60'), 4-0 Kuranyi (88')
Referee: Weiner (Giesen)
Yellow card: Vasiljevic (3)
Attendance: 60,315