week 15 - match report

Kuranyi breaks down Hertha bulwark

On paper the home clash with bottom side Hertha BSC Berlin seemed something of a formality. Felix Magath had warned his side that they would need to be patient, however, and he was proved right as the Royal Blues took almost an hour to breach the Hertha bulwark. But that did not calm any nerves inside the VELTINS Arena.

The Schalke manager made just one change to the side that lost 1-0 in Mönchengladbach last week, selecting Carlos Zambrano to partner Marcelo Bordon in central defence and moving Benedikt Höwedes up into midfield in place of Christoph Moritz, who dropped to the bench.

As was to be expected, the visitors were content to sit in their own half. But rather than allow themselves to be forced back into their own penalty area, they moved towards the half-way line as a compact unit, thus restricting the space available to the Royal Blues. "Hertha did that very well and we couldn't find the means to do something about it ", said Magath, again critical of his team's lack of attacking spark. "At the moment we're unable to implement the things we've been practising in training in this area."

As a consequence, Schalke's efforts resembled those of last week when they failed to wipe out an early deficit. At half-time Magath introduced a third striker in Halil Altintop in a bid to increase the pressure on the Hertha defence. But the all-important goal came from another front man, Kevin Kuranyi nodding the Royal Blues in front on 59. The striker's 100th Bundesliga goal (and 60th for Schalke) elicited two very different responses from the respective coaches despite a detailed analysis of the slow motion replays. "Schalke would never have scored if Kuranyi's clear offside position had been spotted", opined Hertha boss Friedhelm Funkel. "In my view he was level," said Magath, "and after all people say that the attacking player should be given the benefit of the doubt."

The bottom line was that Schalke were a goal to the good, which forced the side from the capital to relax their defensive grip on the proceedings. Despite several chances on the break, however, the Royal Blues were unable to carve out a comforting lead. And so the fans had to wait until stoppage time, when Steve von Bergen brought down substitute Vicente Sanchez in the box and Rafinha converted the spot kick to make it 2-0. Hertha had contested the last six minutes a man down after Christoph Janker had been shown a second yellow card for persistent foul play. Schalke picked up just one caution, but it will have its consequences. Bordon received his fifth yellow card of the campaign and will miss next Saturday's away clash in Bremen.

After the game both coaches praised their teams. Funkel felt his side had been "very disciplined" before adding "the players haven't given up on themselves and are determined to get their points in the league." Magath was delighted with the three points and the way his side have doggedly hung on to third position and thus a place in the leading group: "I'm glad we're so high up in the table two games before the midway point", he said. Even if we're fifth at Christmas, we'll still have had a fantastic first half of the season."

Schalke: Neuer - Höwedes, Zambrano, Bordon, Westermann - Matip (Altintop 46'/ Sanchez 82') - Rafinha, Schmitz - Rakitic - Farfan (Moritz 65'), Kuranyi
Hertha: Drobny - Piszczek, Janker, Von Bergen, Pejcinovic - Ebert, Lustenberger, Nicu (Ramos 68'), Cicero - Raffael - Wichniarek
Goals: 1-0 Kuranyi (59'), 2-0 Rafinha (90'+2/penalty)
Referee: Kircher (Rottenburg)
Attendance: 60,801
Red card (second yellow): Janker (86'/persistent foul play)
Yellow cards: Bordon (5) - Cicero