Schalke made it four wins from as many games with a 1-0 triumph away to Hamburger SV on Saturday evening
Schalke made it four wins from as many games with a 1-0 triumph away to Hamburger SV on Saturday evening

Schalke's hot streak continues in Hamburg

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Hamburg - FC Schalke 04 continued their recent run of form by recording a fourth successive Bundesliga victory with a 1-0 win away to Hamburger SV on Saturday evening.

HAMBURGER SV 0-1 FC SCHALKE 04

Goals: 0-1 (Sane 60’)

Once the game settled down following a brief period of sparring, Schalke were by far the better side. Leroy Sane’s pace was a constant source of trouble for the home defence, and the youngster had an early chance to break the deadlock when put clean through on goal, only for his touch to let him down. Franco Di Santo had a header tipped on to the bar, and Sane went close again with a long-range effort, but the Royal Blues simply could not find the net in a one-sided first half.

Hamburg were much improved after the break and had a decent opportunity to open the scoring when Lewis Holtby found a promising position on the edge of the box, but he shot over with only the goalkeeper to beat. Sane showed him how it was done on the hour mark, rounding Jaroslav Drobny to slot home after Leon Goretzka’s threaded pass and hand Schalke all three points.

Man of the match

Schalke coach Andre Breitenreiter had wanted to rest Sane for this fixture, leaving him on the bench initially. However, the 19-year-old was introduced after an early injury to Marco Höger and went on to change the game, tormenting the Hamburg defence with his tireless running and scoring the winner with an excellent finish – his third goal in as many games.

Talking point

This was Schalke’s fourth successive league win and fifth of the season overall, leaving them in third place in the standings. Only FC Bayern München and Borussia Dortmund have a better return of points from the most recent five games.

Stats of the match

    Sane now has three goals this season – as many as he scored in the entire 2015/16 campaign.The last time Schalke won four successive Bundesliga games was between Matchdays 18-21 of the 2013/14 season.Only once have Schalke started a Bundesliga season better - that was in 1971/72, when they won six of their first seven assignments.

Line-ups

Hamburg: Drobny – Diekmeier, Djourou, Spahic, Ostrzolek – Ekdal (Schipplock 76’), Diaz – Gregoritsch (Ilicevic 62’), Holtby (Müller 70’), Hunt - Lasogga

Schalke: Fährmann – Caicara, Matip, Neustädter, Aogo – Geis, Höger (Sane 6’, Höwedes 90’) – Goretzka, Meyer (Höjbjerg 73’), Choupo-Moting – Di Santo