week 4 - match report
Penalties, sendings-off: plenty to talk about after 3-3 derby draw
The Ruhr derby was a highly entertaining affair. But after the final whistle that was little consolation for the Royal Blues, who were forced to settle for a 3-3 draw at Borussia Dortmund despite taking a 3-0 lead. "I'm not so happy", said coach Fred Rutten after the final whistle.
His reaction would have been different had the game ended after 66 minutes. "Up until then we had the game under control and were clearly the better team", said Rutten, expressing Schalke's view of things. A composed performance in which Schalke made almost perfect use of their chances saw them take a convincing 3-0 lead in front of 80,000 spectators.
After 19 minutes Jefferson Farfan, making his first Bundesliga appearance, coolly converted a penalty that had been awarded for handball. Rafinha then fired a low shot into the far corner after a rapid counterthrust on 39 before Heiko Westermann increased the advantage with a close range header just after the break. Added to this, Ralf Fährmann, also on his Bundesliga debut, had been impeccable in goal, defusing a golden opportunity for Zidan. And Kevin Kuranyi really should have made it four with another headed opportunity on 63.
"It would take up too much time to talk about our mistakes. We lost our way after we went behind and Schalke were able to do as they pleased in part", was Borussia boss Jürgen Klopp's forthright view of his team's showing in the first hour, even though he felt the penalty decision against his team was harsh and thought Rafinha could have been sent off after an altercation with Nelson Valdez.
The game seemed over, and yet somehow Schalke allowed it to slip from their grasp. "There were 30 minutes left and we should have played the game out", said Rutten. "But then we start making mistakes and have one or two of our lads trying to nutmeg players, for example." Suddenly it was all happening. Neven Subotic found the net with a header on 67, a goal that could be described as a "normal" one to concede, but when Alexander Frei pulled back another one to make it 3-2 with a superb shot on 71, the home side were really buzzing. The Swiss international had come from an offside position, however.
Schalke's comfortable lead had melted away – and within the space of five minutes they were down to nine men when Christian Pander was shown a second yellow and Fabian Ernst a straight red. The Royal Blues were left with a quarter of an hour to defend what had looked like certain victory. Dortmund, on the other hand, now sensed their chance to ward off the defeat. "We only had ourselves to blame for the first hour, but after that my players responded like professionals", said Klopp.
Nevertheless, it looked as if a battling Schalke would hold on to the win, until, that is, referee Lutz Wagner awarded a penalty for handball in the 88th minute, even though Krstajic had been struck from extremely close range and his arm had not moved in the slightest. "There were some situations you could talk about, but we're all human. And humans make mistakes", noted Rutten. Frei levelled the scores – and shortly afterwards Wagner brought the proceedings to a close without adding any stoppage time…
"In terms of quality, we weren't at our limit, but in terms of character and morale, we were", said Klopp. "The fans have seen a proper derby, but I'm not so happy because we've given away two points", concluded Rutten.
