Schalke 04 ended their negative run against their favorite opponent Mainz 05: The district club deservedly won after an early goal in a fast game. Eintracht Frankfurt shoots down Hoffenheim and could have won even higher, RB Leipzig fights Freiburg down. Union Berlin fails again.
Thanks to Simon Terodde, Schalke 04 ended their longest series of bankruptcies in the Bundesliga and can once again hope to stay up in the league. With his first goal after 500 minutes of competitive play, the second division record scorer led the bottom of the table to a 1-0 (1-0) win against FSV Mainz 05 – after seven league defeats in a row. The Royal Blues recorded their first three-pointer since September 10, when their new coach Thomas Reis was still coach at opponents VfL Bochum.
Terodde, the undisputed number one in the second division with 172 goals, scored only for the third time this season and for the 13th time in the Bundesliga (10th). The early lead inspired Schalke to their best performance of the season and brought them within two points of the relegation place. Mainz is stuck in the lower middle of the table after the third bankruptcy in a row.
Three and a half years after his resignation as head of sports at Schalke, Christian Heidel returned to the stands in the Veltins Arena. For many fans, the Mainz board of directors at Schalke is the main culprit for the crash of the former Champions League regular: Heidel spent more than 160 million euros on players, not a single one of whom plays for royal blue anymore, but the heavily indebted club is still paying transfer rates .
He saw a Schalke team that attacked early and won the ball in the Mainz half. The fans were already cheering when Florent Mollet curled a free-kick over the wall – but into the side netting (9′). Only a few seconds later, Alex Kral Terodde played, who took the ball with his heel and didn’t give goalkeeper Robin Zentner a chance. It was only the third 1-0 lead for Gelsenkirchen – in their 14th game of the season.
Only four minutes later, Terodde had the opportunity to make it 2-0, but was denied by Zentner after a cross from Tobias Mohr. After that, Mainz intensified their attacking efforts, pushing the hosts into their own half. Schalke kept finding opportunities to counterattack quickly, but lacked precision in the end: The strong Kral put the ball just wide of the goal after a one-two with Marius Bülter (31′). After a cross from Terodde, Kenan Karaman failed at Zentner (55th). Marius Bülter practically had an empty goal in front of him after a counterattack in the 86th minute, but he put the ball on the post.
Pace, tricks, goals: Thanks to an offensive gala performance, Eintracht Frankfurt stays in the fast lane. Coach Oliver Glasner’s team defeated TSG Hoffenheim deservedly 4-2 (3-1) and climbed past Borussia Dortmund to a place in the Champions League. Four days before the prestigious Rhein-Main derby at FSV Mainz 05, the Hessians celebrated magic football at times, but also allowed themselves a few defensive inattentions.
“Only the SBU will be German champion,” chanted the happy supporters again and again – even if defending champion Bayern Munich is still five points ahead at the top of the table. Djibril Sow (6th), Randal Kolo Muani (8th), Dina Junior Ebimbe (29th) and Jesper Lindström (56th) scored for the seventh win in the last eight competitive games. For their part, the guests who made mistakes remained without a win in the fourth game in a row, Christoph Baumgartner (38th) and Ozan Kabak (46th) only did cosmetic results.
Glasner warned his team against negligence given the good run of the past few weeks. “We mustn’t approach the matter half-heartedly. We don’t win a game with butterflies in our stomachs,” emphasized the Austrian. After the moody farewell to long-time defense chief Martin Hinteregger, his team got going like the fire brigade. First Sow asserted himself robustly in the penalty area and executed through the legs of Oliver Baumann. The TSG goalkeeper then smacked forward a long-range shot from Lindström that was actually too central, and Kolo Muani sunk the rebound powerfully. Even after that, Eintracht stayed on the gas pedal without their ailing captain Sebastian Rode.
The Kraichgauer, who were changed to five positions, seemed completely overwhelmed without stabilizer Grischa Prömel (broken ankle) with the variable turbo offensive of the Hessians. Only after a good 20 minutes did Andre Breitenreiter’s team gain some access and increasingly started their own offensive efforts. But there was a lack of pace and creativity in possession of the ball.
Instead, Ebimbe completed a great combination completely free-standing on the other side. Baumgartner’s connection with a head after Kabak’s layoff then came out of nowhere. Breitenreiter reacted to the pomadic appearance of his team at the break with a double change. Kabak created excitement again after a few seconds with a powerful long-range shot. Although the Kraichgauer played better in a row, Eintracht always seemed a bit more mature – and even missed out on more top-class players after Lindström’s goal.
Union Berlin suffered the next setback just three days after the severe slap at Bayer Leverkusen. Despite taking the lead twice in an intense game against FC Augsburg, the team coached by Urs Fischer did not get more than 2-2 (2-2), but with 27 points they are still in the Champions League ranks.
Sheraldo Becker (7th) and Kevin Behrens (22nd) scored in the An der Alten Försterei stadium for the Köpenickers, who lost their league lead to record champions Bayern Munich after almost two months on Sunday due to the 5-0 defeat in Leverkusen. Florian Niederlechner equalized twice in his 100th Bundesliga game in an FCA shirt with a brace (9′, 39′). The Augsburgers have been waiting for a win for seven competitive games. Coach Enrico Maassen’s team is still stuck in the bottom half of the table with 15 points.
“Something went wrong at Union” in Leverkusen, Fischer said critically. The team is still ready “to move to the limit”, such “defeats are part of it and we can learn from it.” Overall, the Union coach made four changes to the starting lineup. Among other things, Paul Seguin was on the pitch for the first time in a Bundesliga game for Union.
Both teams started the game at high speed and Becker immediately took his chance. The striker swept past FCA keeper Rafal Gikiewicz, who had rushed wide, to put Union ahead from a tight angle in the last home game of the year. However, the answer came immediately. After an Augsburg throw-in, the Köpenicker didn’t get the ball cleared properly, which landed in Niederlechner’s penalty area. The striker equalized from close range. At first it remained an open exchange of blows. Behrens followed suit a short time later.
The Europa League participants from Berlin then determined the game. Maassen made two changes before the break. Fredrik Jensen came on for the ailing Mergim Berisha, who had previously been treated on the pitch, and Felix Uduokhai (32′) came on for Maximilian Bauer. And the guests did not let up. Ermedin Demirovic tried it from a distance, the ball bounced off the crossbar to Niederlechner, who artistically equalized again. After the break, Niko Gießelmann, among others, missed the chance to take the lead again, his free kick landed on the crossbar (48′), and Behrens also hit the woodwork in the final stages (68′). Both teams gave nothing away, it went back and forth happily over long stretches.
Bundesliga surprise team SC Freiburg has lost ground in the hunt for leaders Bayern Munich. In this year’s DFB Cup final, coach Christian Streich’s team lost 3-1 (0-0) to in-form cup champions RB Leipzig. As a result, the Breisgauer, who had recently won three times in a row, are four points behind the record champions.
RB defender Mohamed Simakan (54th), star striker Christopher Nkunku (56th) with his twelfth goal of the season and Emil Forsberg with a penalty kick (78th) brought the Freiburg team their third defeat of the season, Lukas Kübler (66th) scored for the guests . Previously, the string team had only lost to Bayern (0:5) and Borussia Dortmund (1:3).
The Leipzig team, who started so weakly and have not been defeated for twelve competitive games, are now very close to the Champions League ranks. Coach Marco Rose’s team even overtook BVB with 25 points and is now within striking distance of SC (27).
“It’s a big task ahead of us. We need a great day and maybe a bit of luck,” Streich warned before the game. And the people of Freiburg took advantage of that early on. If the Leipzig team had lost their teeth despite their superiority in possession in the five-man chain, the SC had the second-best defense in the league to date, things suddenly happened very quickly.
After a quick free kick by Dominik Szoboszlai, Christopher Nkunku (16′) was free and lobbed the ball against the outside of the post. Bitter for RB: Shortly thereafter, defender Josko Gvardiol (23rd) had to go out with a nosebleed after colliding with captain Willi Orban. The Croatian, who was taken to hospital, was only in the starting XI shortly before kick-off because Abdou Diallo had complained of knee pain during the warm-up.
The hosts hardly seemed shocked. RB occupied the SC, who rarely ventured forward, and started creating chances. Both Andre Silva (24th) and Benjamin Henrichs (28th), who came on for Gvardiol, were sent down brilliantly, but both aimed wide of the goal from the inside right. SC goalkeeper Mark Flekken (38th) was just able to scrape an Orban header deflected off the line by Freiburg’s Philipp Lienhart.
After the break, RB ran like unleashed. Flekken initially saved in dire need against Nkunku (52′) and Szoboszlai (54′), but then the Leipzig double strike followed. Simakan smashed a crossbar rebound after another Nkunku attempt over the line before Nkunku was sent steeply and Flekken died in a one-on-one. Just two minutes later, the Dutch keeper made another save against Silva. But Kübler brought Freiburg back into play with a great shot from the edge of the penalty area. Forsberg made it clear after a foul on Nkunku from the penalty spot.
