Sports Second League
Schalke crashes on the Betzenberg
As of 9:53 p.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
Regardless of the unrest in the club’s environment, 1. FC Kaiserslautern celebrated an important victory. The Palatinate team outclassed Schalke 04. The Gelsenkirchen team is still in the relegation battle. Hannover 96, on the other hand, is on the rise.
In the duel between the traditional clubs, 1. FC Kaiserslautern has ended its crisis and dealt FC Schalke 04 another serious setback. On the 19th matchday of the 2nd Bundesliga, coach Dimitrios Grammozis’ team clearly defeated the guests from Gelsenkirchen 4-1 (1-0) and thus mastered the dress rehearsal for the cup quarter-finals next Wednesday at Hertha BSC. Around 10,000 Lautern fans are expected in Berlin.
The unrest surrounding the traditional Palatinate club, which had previously lost seven league games in a row, is likely to have ended with the clear victory. In the week before the game against Schalke, false news about the team and coach was spread on social media, which the club and coach Grammozis publicly rejected. Schalke, on the other hand, made a false start to 2024 and scored zero points in the first two games of the year.
The liberation: Kaiserslautern’s coach Dimitrios Grammozis had a difficult week
Source: dpa/Uwe Anspach
Marlon Ritter, who was captain of Lauter this time, said: “That was definitely something special for me. I played for Schalke for seven years, that’s the club I love. It’s a really big day for me. It’s all the better that we won today too.”
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In the Fritz Walter Stadium, which was sold out with 49,327 spectators, Kaiserslautern was the more active team at the beginning. Double goalscorer Ragnar Ache (10th minute/59th) paved the way for the Palatinate team to win. Filip Stojilkovic (67th) and Aaron Opoku (70th) then increased within a few minutes.
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“We were good in the first half, we hardly allowed anything to happen and when we did, we helped out diligently. In the second half after the 1-1 draw, we said we had to keep going. I think we are the deserved winners overall today,” added Zimmer. With a view to the duel with second division team Hertha, he added boldly: “We are going there to get ahead. I don’t want to offend any team, but there are already big names out there, it has rarely been so easy to get to the final.”
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The interim equalizer by Schalke’s new signing Darko Churlinov (51st) became a minor matter. The 23-year-old offensive player is initially on loan from English first division club FC Burnley until the end of the season, as Schalke announced this week.
Hanover’s fans cause disruption
A completely disappointing 1. FC Nürnberg was overtaken by Hannover 96 in the table. Six days after the confident 3-0 win against FC Hansa Rostock, the Franconians suffered a painful 0:3 (0:2) defeat at Lower Saxony. The former Fürth Havard Nielsen (6th minute/38th) made everything clear in the first half with his double pack in front of 25,100 spectators against Nuremberg’s repeated mistakes. Coach Cristian Fiel’s team could have been further behind.
Shortly before the final whistle, former “Club” striker Cedric Teuchert (90.+2) increased the score after a corner. After the home win, Hannover is now one point ahead of Nuremberg in the table with 28 points.
Many visiting fans decided not to visit the stadium because, according to the club, they had been banned at short notice from performing a choreo that had been registered on time. Hanover fans, on the other hand, caused the game to be interrupted. The supporters threw tennis balls onto the grass several times in protest against the DFL’s planned investor involvement.
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But Hannover was the focus not only off the pitch, but above all on the pitch: coach Stefan Leitl’s team pushed the guests deep into their own half with beautiful combinations. The Nuremberg team were often far too passive in the duels, 96 were clearly superior.
Fall responded and brought four new players on at halftime. Now the people of Nuremberg became more active. Storm jewel Can Uzun (61′), however, failed to hit the post. On the other side, Sebastian Ernst (75th) and Derrick Köhn (78th) missed chances to make it 3-0. Teuchert then made up for it.
