FC Schalke 04 moved into fourth in the table after beating Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Matchday 27 opener on Friday. - © © gettyimages / Dean Mouhtaropoulos
FC Schalke 04 moved into fourth in the table after beating Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Matchday 27 opener on Friday. - © © gettyimages / Dean Mouhtaropoulos

Ruthless Schalke punish Gladbach to go fourth

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FC Schalke 04 took a huge step towards a top-four finish with a 2-1 victory at home to European rivals Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday evening.

FC Schalke 04 2-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach

Goals: 1-0 Hinteregger (o.g. 59'), 1-1 Christensen (79'), 2-1 Goretzka (83')

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Gladbach had not won away from home since Matchday 11 prior to this encounter, but they belied that poor form to start impressively. Andre Schubert's men rarely let Schalke settle on the ball and crafted a number of high-quality chances, only to be let down by wayward finishing as an end-to-end first half finished goalless.

The visitors continued to dominate after the break but were made to rue their earlier misses when Schalke attacker Leroy Sane forced Martin Hinteregger into an own goal after a scorching run down the left caused havoc in the Gladbach defence. Undeterred, the guests continued to attack and deservedly equalised through Andreas Christensen. Yet Schalke secured the unlikeliest of victories moments later when Leon Goretzka's deflected strike crept in to take them above their visitors in the table.

Man of the match

Schalke were second best for most of this match and can thank goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann for making several outstanding saves to frustrate Gladbach.

Talking point

Gladbach were scintillating once again, but their poor away form could cost them come the end of the season. The Foals have only won three times on the road all term, drawing two and losing eight.

Match stats

    Hinteregger has only played nine Bundesliga games for Gladbach but has already scored two own goals. Christensen netted his third league goal of the campaign. As a team Schalke covered 121.68 kilometres, while Gladbach ran 117.21 km.

Line-ups

Schalke: Fährmann – Riether, Matip, Neustädter, Kolasinac – Goretzka, Höjbjerg, Meyer (Belhanda 76') – Schöpf (Aogo 61'), Di Santo, Sane (Friedrich 88')

Gladbach: Sommer – Nordtveit, Christensen, Hinteregger – Elvedi, Dahoud (Herrmann 75'), Xhaka, Johnson (Traore 70') – Hazard (Hahn 81'), Stindl, Raffael