Bundesliga: Schalke back in business: “Longed for it”

The man who brought Schalke back to life was tired and listless. Thomas Reis was not yet ready to think about the coming derby weeks, which should finally bring FC Schalke 04 back into the fight against relegation from the Bundesliga.

“Today it’s difficult for me to talk about the next game because today’s game cost me a lot of energy,” said the Schalke coach and former coach of the next opponent, VfL Bochum. The all-important 2-1 (2-0) against VfB Stuttgart after four previous goalless draws was a huge relief, said Reis: “Schalke were longing for that.”

As exhausted as the 49-year-old may have been after the first win after three and a half months for the bottom of the table – the success against the direct competitor was definitely good as an energy boost for the entire club. At the end of the game, the majority of the 62,271 spectators in the sold-out arena unleashed a force that hardly any other stadium in Germany can unleash. Even from the wildly jumping rice, it had burst out in deafening jubilation, and the fans, together with the players, sang about the “Myth of the Schalke Market” a little later in record-breaking decibel levels.

Lots of emotions

Even seasoned men like goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann (34), who had made the game unnecessarily exciting against a long time emotionless Swabians with a blunder at Borna Sosa’s connection goal (63rd), began to sob. “I also had extreme goosebumps and I saw it with Ralle too – there were a tear or two,” said the moved midfielder Tom Krauss. Fährmann said: “This is Schalke, it gets under your skin and gives you the strength to survive depths.”

It was clear to everyone by now at the latest: This Schalke has nothing to do with the team that surrendered completely helpless and helpless to relegation two years ago during the Corona lockdown without fans behind them. “I think that will give us even more strength now,” said Krauss.

Just a few weeks ago, Schalke seemed dead again. However, Reis, who only took over Schalke at the end of October after a failed misunderstanding with his predecessor Frank Kramer, achieved a remarkable development. Also thanks to six winter additions, he made a defensive bulwark out of the team that lost 6-1 against Leipzig a month ago. The last four 0-0 wins in a row didn’t bring Schalke any decisive progress in the table, but they boosted their self-confidence and made them realize they were competitive again in the Bundesliga.

to recognize development

The development now continued consistently against VfB. Finally, the things that Reis worked on in training also worked in attack. Dominick Drexler (10th) ended a 414-minute goal drought, and Marius Bülter (40th) even scored a magic goal. “It’s particularly great to see that the boys can see that the old man might be right about what he says,” said Reis, whose plan worked out perfectly. With the exception of three points, his team has now moved back up to the non-relegation places.

“We now have the chance to get more points from other teams in the next few games,” said Reis. He doesn’t have to motivate anyone to do it. The names of the arch-rivals, who cause a twinkle in the eyes of every Schalke player, make sure of that: VfL Bochum and Borussia Dortmund. “We’re on the way up. That’s why you can’t go any further,” affirmed Reis, who is expecting a special game at his former club Bochum.

But he really didn’t want to talk about that on this particular evening. “I want to be successful with Schalke 04. The rest is in the past,” said the long-time Bochum resident coolly.