Week 26 - Match report

Schalke edge Stuttgart nail-biter

Schalke home matches are not to be recommended for those of a weak disposition at the moment. Ten furious minutes at the beginning of the second half took the fans through a rollercoaster of emotions, leaving them biting their nails for another half an hour until the final whistle finally blew.

Felix Magath was able to recall Jefferson Farfan and Marcelo Bordon for the clash with a Stuttgart side who came into the game second in the current form table. The Peruvian partnered Kevin Kuranyi in attack, while captain Heiko Westermann made way for Bordon, switching from central defence to left-back. The opening two chances of the game fell to Schalke's leading scorer. Kuranyi was unable to capitalise, however, but neither could the visitors, even though their opportunities were far better. "We have Manuel Neuer to thank for keeping the score at 0-0," said head coach Felix Magath. "That was the best thing about the first half.

"We started the second half determined to do better," explained Magath, who proved spot on with his substitutions, introducing Alexander Baumjohann and Edu into the game. And the Brazilian had barely taken a few steps when he pounced on a botched clearance by Serdar Tasci to fire his team into a 46th minute lead. The fans launched straight into a chant of "Schalke, Schalke, top of the league", which was soon to backfire. No sooner had the Royal Blues gone in front than a familiar problem raised its head again. "Instead of getting about our opponents and pushing for a second goal, we dropped back," fumed Magath. "We just lacked that killer instinct. And then we conceded right away."

Tasci atoned for his mistake that led to Schalke's opener, heading the equaliser from close range from a Kuzmanovic free-kick on 50 minutes. Despite the setback, however, the Royal Blues refused to lie down and hit back almost immediately. When the Stuttgart offside trap failed to spring, Westermann burst into the box and delivered a pinpoint pass to Kuranyi, who bagged his 14th goal of the season from close range to restore the advantage. In a situation that ultimately proved decisive the visitors had pushed their luck, and Schalke made effective use of the opportunity. "We took too much of a risk. The position of the free-kick was too central for us to be playing offside, but unfortunately we still did it," criticised Stuttgart boss Christian Gross.

Felix Magath's men cranked up the pace but their attacking efforts lacked a cutting edge. This allowed the visitors to push for a second equaliser, which remained in the air until well into stoppage time. "We defended with all hands to the pumps and the backing of the fans," said Magath. And after the supporters had given vent to their relief with a deafening roar of celebration on the final whistle, the Schalke boss put things into perspective, saying: "It was another dramatic home game with another fortunate ending for Schalke, as Stuttgart were superb."

For the visitors it was only their second defeat since Christian Gross took over from Markus Babbel in December 2009. The 2-1 victory, Schalke's eighth successive home win, saw the Royal Blues go top of the table, at least overnight, but that is of no interest to Felix Magath. "It doesn't matter whether we're first, second or third. The points are important because we now have two tough away games in Hamburg and Leverkusen and then Bayern Munich come to us."

Schalke: Neuer - Rafinha, Höwedes, Bordon, Westermann - Matip (Baumjohann 46') - Kluge (Moritz 85'), Rakitic, Schmitz - Farfan (Edu 46'), Kuranyi
Stuttgart: Lehmann - Träsch, Niedermeier, Tasci, Molinaro - Kuzmanovic, Khedira - Gebhart (Rudy 73'), Hleb (Marica 81') - Cacau, Pogrebnjak
Referee: Wagner (Hofheim)
Goals: 1-0 Edu (46'), 1-1 Tasci (50'), 2-1 Kuranyi (55')
Attendance: 61,673 (sold out)
Yellow cards: Höwedes (2), Rafinha (5/2) - Niedermeier, Tasci