The Werkself coach Peter Bosz had to manage without Kerem Demirbay after he tested positive for coronavirus. His place was taken by Florian Wirtz in a three-man midfield. In changes to the side that secured the win at Nice , Leon Bailey played on the right wing in place of Karim Bellarabi and Daley Sinkgraven was preferred to Wendell at left back.
Bayer 04 took immediate control of the game at the Veltins Arena, were dominant and on the front foot with the first chance coming early on. An impressive attack down the left flank ended up with a cross from Moussa Diaby to the far post being volleyed wide by Bailey (5'). Nadiem Amiri had the next chance with his long-range effort deflected past the target (9'). The Werkself earned their reward for the impressive start from the ensuing corner: Bailey’s whipped-in ball was turned into his own net by Schalke's Thiaw under pressure from Aleksandar Dragovic (10’).
The Werkself built on the early lead and the impressive opening stages with two great chances following swiftly: Bailey broke through on goal but the Schalke keeper Michael Langer rushed out to deny him (11'), Patrik Schick hit a Diaby cross wide from close range (14'). There was only one team playing at the Veltins Arena and they were wearing the red away shirts. Again and again the Werkself posed a threat from corners: Amiri tested Langer with a shot at goal (17') and a low drive from Wirtz went just wide (21').
Schalke needed time to recover after the constant pressure from the Werkself and they came back into the game from the middle of the first half. The first real threat from the Royal Blues came from Nassim Boujellab but his strike was ruled out as Mark Uth was in an offside position in the build-up (32').
Bayer 04 were now confronted by a battling opponent and it needed a wonderful one-touch move across the whole pitch to put the more solid hosts under pressure again – Langer kept Bailey out (36’). Before the half-time whistle, Diaby (43') and Schick (44') had further chances. Although Lukas Hradecky was severely tested with a deflected long-range effort from Omar Mascarell (45+ 1'), there was no doubt the Werkself fully deserved to be in the lead at the break
Bayer 04 were on top again straight after the restart and had a good chance early on with Langer pulling off an impressive save to deny Amiri from a free kick (51'). The Schalke shot-stopper then proceeded to save long-range shots from Diaby (58') and Julian Baumgartlinger (66’). Seconds after his hammer blow of a shot, the Austrian in the Werkself midfield was rewarded for another impressive performance: The ensuing corner from Bailey was met at the near post by Baumgartlinger and he turned it into the net at the far post half with his head and half with the shoulder – 2-0 for the Werkself with another corner proving successful (67'). It was Baumgartlinger's third goal of the season.
Schalke refused to give up. With the score at 1-0, Benito Raman had a shot (56') and now the hosts had a great chance to get back in the game: Sinkgraven, who had previously impressively broken up two Schalke counter-attacks, was this time penalised for a foul on Suat Serdar and there was a penalty for Schalke. The Royal Blues' hopes were raised but they still had to beat Hradecky: The Werkself keeper dived the right way for Steven Skrzybski's penalty to make the save and then leapt up to keep out a header on the rebound from Raman (72'). A brilliant intervention by our number one.
Hradecky's penalty save proved to be even more important as it was soon 3-0 rather than 2-1: Amiri exploited space in midfield to produce a perfect through ball to Schick who struck the ball into the back of the net with an unstoppable shot to the right corner – the second Bundesliga goal for the Bayer 04 new signing (78').
The match was done and dusted. Bayer 04 had another good chance through substitute Bellarabi (88') and Uth missed the chance to score a consolation goal for Schalke (90'). The game ended in a 3-0 win with the Werkself remaining unbeaten in the Bundesliga this season and now moving up to second place in the table. A position that Bayer 04 want to retain against Hoffenheim at the BayArena next Sunday (18.00 CET). Before that, there is a final group match in the Europa League when Slavia Prague visit Leverkusen on Thursday (18.55 CET).
Match stats:
FC Schalke 04: Langer - Thiaw, Stambouli, Kabak, Oczipka (Mendyl 83') - Mascarell, Serdar - Skrzybski (Bozdogan 83'), Boujellab (Hoppe 65'), Raman - Uth
Bayer 04: Hradecky – L. Bender (Weiser 83’), Tah, Dragovic, Sinkgraven – Wirtz (Tapsoba 73’), Baumgartlinger, Amiri – Bailey, Schick (Bellarabi 79’), Diaby
Referee: Benjamin Cortus (Röthenbach a.d. Pegnitz)
Goals: 0-1 Thiaw (10’ o.g.), 0-2 Baumgartlinger (67’), 0-3 Schick (78’)
Highlight: Hradecky saves penalty from Skrzybski (72’)
Booked: Uth, Hoppe - Dragovic, Tah, Sinkgraven
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