In his first match as coach of Bayer 04, Xabi Alonso made one change to the starting line-up compared with the 2-0 defeat at Porto in the Champions League group match: Mitchel Bakker started in place of Adam Hlozek, who dropped down to the bench.
The Werkself, fully focused in terms of tactics, found the back of the Schalke net after ten minutes for the first time with an impressive finish by Charles Aránguiz. However, referee Tobias Stieler spotted a foul in the build-up and the goal by the Alonso team was chalked off. Bayer 04 continued to control the ball and the game and mostly attacked down the right flank with the lively Jeremie Frimpong and Moussa Diaby. And on 25 minutes there was another goalscoring opportunity with a deflected shot by Patrik Schick.
The Werkself took a long time to find their way through the solid Schalke 04 defence until the 38th minute: Diaby tried his luck from 20 yards out from a central position and his strong left foot fired the ball into the top right corner – the deserved lead for the Black and Reds (38'). Less than three minutes later, Frimpong was rewarded for his impressive performance up to that point: The right wing-back hit a shot from a tight angle into the far corner to double the lead at 2-0 (41'). The Alonso team took that lead into half-time.
Less than ten minutes were played in the second half when the Werkself netted the third goal: Having won the ball in their own penalty area there was a fast counter-attack that ended with Diaby setting up Frimpong in the opposition box – and he coolly slotted the ball into the bottom right corner to make it 3-0 (53'). The Werkself kept it tight at the back and constantly tested the opposition. Substitute Paulinho rounded off the scoring to make it 4-0 (90').
There's hardly any time to rest for the Black and Reds: Porto visit the BayArena on Wednesday 12 October (kick-off: 21.00 CEST) on matchday four in UEFA Champions League Group B. Three days later the Alonso team are away to Eintracht Frankfurt. That match kicks off at 15.30 CEST on Saturday 15 October.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Hradecky – Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie (Kossounou 88') - Frimpong, Aránguiz (Demirbay 64'), Andrich, Bakker - Diaby (Adli 64'), Schick (Hlozek 72'), Hudson-Odoi (Paulinho 88')
Schalke 04: Schwolow – Brunner, Greiml, Yoshida (Latza 79'), Mohr (Ouwejan 46') - Drexler (Mollet 64'), Krauß, Flick (Kral 64'), Bülter - Polter (Aydin 46'), Terodde
Goals: 1-0 Diaby (38’), 2-0 Frimpong (41’), 3-0 Frimpong (53’), 4-0 Paulinho (90’)
Booked: Hincapie - Yoshida
Referee: Tobias Stieler (Obertshausen)
Attendance: 30,210 (sell out) at the BayArena
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month.
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