Schalke’s tearful farewell from the Bundesliga, Bochum is the big winner
As of 6:37 p.m
After just one year in the Bundesliga, Schalke 04 have to make the bitter transition back to second division. The Revierklub does not manage the turning point in Leipzig. Bochum celebrates the acclaimed rescue. Stuttgart must tremble in the relegation.
Ahen the final whistle sounded at 5:22 p.m., the players fell to the ground with tears in their eyes. The sadness at FC Schalke 04 was great. Whether on the lawn of the Leipzig stadium or with the almost 10,000 supporters who traveled with them in the stands. After just one season in the Bundesliga, the Gelsenkirchen team, who lost 2:4 (1:2) at RB Leipzig, have to go back to the second division. It is the fifth relegation after 1981, 1983, 1988 and 2021.
While Schalke was relegated directly, VfB Stuttgart, who drew 1-1 (0-0) at home against 1899 Hoffenheim, are allowed to go into relegation. On June 1st and 5th, the Swabians will play against the third-placed team from the second division. FC Augsburg (15th place, 0-2 in Mönchengladbach) and VfL Bochum (14th place, 3-0 against Bayer Leverkusen) are saved.
They were all in good spirits before kick-off, whether at Schalke, Bochum, Stuttgart or Augsburg – knowing full well that 90 minutes were due on May 27th, which would decide whether there was joy or sorrow. Schalke had the worst starting position of all. They were as table-17. dependent on the help of the competition, regardless of the fact that you have to do your duty first. And that was difficult enough, because opponents Leipzig let it be known early on that they did not want to rest themselves for the DFB Cup final on Saturday against Eintracht Frankfurt. In the 10th minute, RB took the lead through Konrad Laimer before Christopher Nkunku increased the lead to 2-0 (19th) and reduced Schalke’s hopes to a minimum.
Especially since VfL Bochum then increased the pressure on the relegation competition. In the majority – Leverkusen’s Amine Adli saw the red card after an assault (6th) – he took a 1-0 lead through Philipp Förster in the 19th minute and thus pushed past Stuttgart and Augsburg in 14th place.
Schalke didn’t give up
But Schalke, VfL’s neighbours, didn’t give up yet: Marcin Kaminski made it 1:2 with a header (28th). In Bochum, however, VfL set everything up for victory before the break – and advanced to the big winner in the overall relegation final. Takuma Asano scored in the 34th minute with a right-footed shot to make it 2-0, while shortly afterwards Augsburg conceded the 0-2 in Gladbach through Jonas Hofmann (40th).
After the break, it was Schalke of all people who picked up speed again – and made it 2-2 through a slapstick goal. Dominick Drexler intercepted a catastrophic pass from RB keeper Örjan Nyland and passed it to Marius Bülter. Willi Orban wanted to parry his shot into the goal, but instead he steered the ball into his own net to make it 2-2 (49′).
Now Schalke pushed for the next goal, fought – and increased the pressure when the news came from Stuttgart fifteen minutes before the end. Since 1899 Hoffenheim had taken a 1-0 lead. This meant that Schalke, who were tied on points, needed a goal to win to displace VfB from relegation rank 16. But the hope lasted only five minutes, because on the one hand Tiago Tomas made sure VfB equalized (80′), on the other hand Yussuf Poulsen (82′) and Nkunku (90′ + 4) scored for RB against Schalke.
And in Bochum? There Kevin Stöger put the lid on for VfL, who had been in 16th place before the game, and scored to make it 3-0 (86th).
