FC Schalke 04: Die Königsblauen

2014-01-28 11:49#157173 razwy_20 : What role does Huntelaar have?

He plays at CAM in a shaow striker role.

After a fantastic last couple of months, Schalke suffered some very important defeats this month, seeing them exit from the Champions League, as well as losing first place in the Bundesliga with two to play.

Still an awesome month, and apart from Frankfurt, you're losses were expected really

2014-01-28 15:45#157204 Tyler69 : Still an awesome month, and apart from Frankfurt, you're losses were expected really

Cheers mate, I was disappointed because we could have easily won them all if we took our chances properly

Schalke were very unfortunate to go into their final game of the season knowing that the Bundesliga title had been lost to Borussia Dortmund, but they can take great knowledge and experience from this exciting season.

Congrats mate! It was a very good season for you!

Wow! Bayern under-performed! Congrats on finishing 2nd. That's a very solid achievement

AAN: I know, thanks mate. Very pleased but I just think it could have been a bit better, with missed chances in big games etc

P-KIDDY: Cheers mate, it was a good season.

Awesome first season, but now, anything below 1st is dissapointing

2014-01-28 16:30#157228 Tyler69 : Awesome first season, but now, anything below 1st is dissapointing

Haha looking to do the treble next season

Great season mate but hopefully next year you can win the title

Really good season mate!

Pompey: Cheers, I think I might be able to.

jontearonsson: Cheers mate

In a hard fought final between FC Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen, it took extra-time and then penalties to separate the two Bundesliga sides. It would be the first time Schalke had won the DFB-Pokal since 2012, whereas 9 time winners Werder Bremen were looking to win another trophy.

The match started rather uneventfully, but in the 7th minute, when Kevin Volland was played through on goal by Leon Goretzka, he could not get his shot on target and sent it high and wide. After 18 minutes, Japanese wing-back Atsuto Uchida tried a powerful shot from a tight angle, and sent it narrowly past the side-netting.

After half an hour, the ball dropped kindly to Roman Neudstädter who unleashed a vicious dipping strike. But his shot unluckily flew onto the top of the bar and bounced away safely. After 70 minutes, after some good defensive work from Draxler, Volland again shot over the bar. On 78 minutes, Werder Bremen had their first chance, when, after brilliant buildup play, Eljero Elia went on a winding run down the left flank, before firing just wide of Lars Unnerstall’s post. The game fizzled out slightly, and would now head for extra-time.



The game didn’t take long to get going though after 90 minutes, and less than a minute into extra-time, Leon Goretzka played a defence-splitting pass through the middle to Ghanian midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng, who smashed the ball low and hard past keeper Mielitz. On 103 minutes, Julian Draxler was played around the back, but could not get a clean shot away.

With the game reaching its dying moments, Werde Bremen finally broke the Schalke defensive resistance, with Clemens Fritz scoring in the 119th minute. The match would head to penalties.



With Werder Bremen taking first, Schalke keeper Lars Unnerstall would be the hero, first saving Gebre Selassie’s penalty low to his right, before making a stunning stop from Santiago Garcia in his top left corner to send the Schalke players and fans into raptures at the Olympiastadion.

It was a fantastic season for Gelsenkirchen club FC Schalke 04, with the team over performing in all of their competitions. As well as this, player performances were at a very high standard, with players such as Julian Draxler, Leon Goretzka and Kevin-Prince Boateng having excellent seasons.


Although Schalke only finished one place above their predicted finish, they managed to penetrate and split the growing power that is Bayern Munich and Dortmund, with Bayern falling short of the Revier teams. Schalke finished with a 10 point gap over Bayern, while they unluckily threw away the league to lose to Dortmund by four points. The League was thrown away in a hectic April, where Schalke found themselves playing 3 competitions and 8 matches during the month.


Schalke got through their Champions League qualifier with ease at the start of the season, and were drawn in a ‘group of death’, along with eventual winners Arsenal, Turkish side Galatasaray and Real Sociedad. After 2 losses in the first three matches, Schalke turned it around to finish the group in top spot, joint on points with Arsenal.

In the Last 16, Schalke faced Ajax in Amsterdam, where they had 29% possession in the first leg. But the rearguard action led to 3 away goals in a 3-1 win, and firmly set the Gelsenkirchen club up for the second leg. The second leg finished 4-1, with a comfortable and flattering 7-2 aggregate scoreline. Then Schalke faced Real Madrid, an they picked up a fantastic 3-2 win in an exhilarating second half at the VELTINS Arena. In the second leg, despite Huntelaar’s late penalty, Schalke went out on away goals after a 4-4 aggregate scoreline.


Schalke had an excellent campaign in the DFB-Pokal, winning the trophy on penalties against Werder Bremen. It was a great way to end a campaign which had not quite given as much success trophy-wise as originally possible.