Altintop hits four in 7-0 win in Remscheid
23.07.2009
The Royal Blues beat FC Remscheid 7-0 at the Röntgen Stadium on Wednesday evening. Felix Magath's men put on an impressive display of effective attacking football, especially in the first half, when they scored five times.
From the outset Schalke showed they were determined to act upon Magath's instructions to hone their attacking game. Much of their play was channelled down the left, where Jan Moravek, Levan Kenia, Lewis Holtby and Halil Altintop posed a threat with some high-tempo raids. The first opening resulted from a set piece, though, when Altintop, on the edge of the goal area, came within a whisker of getting a touch on Holtby's left-sided free-kick in the fifth minute.
The Royal Blues created their first opportunity from open play on 17 and immediately took it. After winning possession in midfield Holtby slipped the ball through to Altintop, who jinked left past Björn Kreil and flashed a low shot past the Remscheid goalkeeper. And Schalke continued to play tempo football. Holtby sent Moravek clear down the left and the Czech midfielder crossed the ball into the middle, where Altintop again narrowly failed to get his head on the ball.
Schalke's next attack was finished off by Kenia with a solo effort. The Georgian bore down on the Remscheid goal, sidestepped a defender and dispatched a low shot into the net to make it 2-0 after 21 minutes. Just sixty seconds later the Royal Blues were on target again. A fine series of first-time passes involving Kobiashvili, Kenia and Altintop culminated in a clinical finish by the Turkey striker. At the other end Heiko Westermann was called upon to head clear from Stefan Bach on 29, but the Royal Blues were soon back on the offensive.
And with 33 minutes gone Holtby played Altintop in with a clever pass and the Schalke striker added his name to the scoresheet again. The home side refused to lie down and had another chance on 39 through Serkan Hacisalihoglu, but Manuel Neuer was able to gather his close-range shot. Schalke continued to press, however, and were rewarded with another goal on the stroke of half-time. Albert Streit broke down the right and whipped in a cross to Altintop, who volleyed home to complete a flawless hat-trick.
In the second half both coaches replaced the majority of their starting eleven. And the Royal Blues immediately carried on where they had left off, Predrag Stevanovic converting a through pass from Jefferson Farfan to make it 6-0 after 48 minutes. Schalke kept up their attacking efforts as the game wore on, through they were unable to find the target as easily now. On 51 Stevanovic headed on a cross from the right-hand side to Kevin Kuranyi, but his shot was gathered by Remscheid keeper Nenad Radanovic. A number of other chances, including one for Rafinha on 61, also went begging.
Marc Bach came closest to scoring for the home side in the 70th minute with a free-kick that dipped dangerously. But Mathias Schober was alert and tipped the ball over the crossbar. There was a shock for the Royal Blues in the 77th minute when Stevanovic stayed down after a free-kick and eventually had to go off with a knee injury, reducing them to ten men for the rest of the game.
The home side made use of the space resulting from their numerical advantage, but Schober was a safe pair of hands, pulling off saves on 80 and 88. And it was Schalke who had the final say when Marvin Pachan strolled down to the left almost as far as the byline before cutting the ball back to Kenia, who wasted no time in sliding the ball into the net to make it 7-0.
After the game Magath expressed his satisfaction with his side's performance, especially in the first half, saying: "I was very happy with the first half because there was structure to our game. We wanted to improve our attacking play against not so strong opposition and it worked well." The Schalke manager also had special words of praise for four-goal Halil Altintop: "On the back of a strong performance against Bayern in the T-Home-Cup he showed he's on form today."
Remscheid: Kreil (Radanovic 46') – Hrnjic (Rahmann 46'), Plate (Senoglu 63'), Reckert, Grolewski (Hosnjak 46') – Oezkan (Günther 46'), Dittrich (Hastenrath 59'), M. Bach (Th. Kurmali 76'), Tu. Kurmali (Grund 63') – Hacisalihoglu (D'Aquino 46'), S. Bach (Vetter 59')
Schalke: Neuer (Schober 46') – Latza, Zambrano, Westermann (Bordon 46'), Moravek (Pachan 46') – Streit (Farfan 46'), Holtby (Stevanovic 46'), Pliatsikas (Rafinha 46'), Kobiashvili (Sanchez 46') – Kenia, Altintop (Kenia 46')
Goals: 0-1 Altintop (18'), 0-2 Kenia (21'), 0-3 Altintop (22'), 0-4 Altintop (33'), 0-5 Altintop (45'), 0-6 Stevanovic (48'), 0-7 Kenia (90')
