Off the wire
• Portuguese soccer league result/fixtures  • (Sports Focus) Revenue for Chinese top soccer league reaches $230m  • Samohin of Israel wins men's title at World Junior Figure Skating Championships  • French Ligue 1 result  • Leading goal scorers of French Ligue 1  • French Ligue 1 standings  • Palmeiras demand action against racist fan  • Roundup: Paris attacks suspect arrested in Belgium, France seeking extradition  • New technique developed to look at cells, tissues under the skin  • Roundup: U.S. stocks extend gains on Fed statement  
You are here: 　 Home

Schalke down Monchengladbach 2-1 in German Bundesliga

Xinhua, March 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

Leon Goretzka's late winner moved Schalke 2-1 past Monchengladbach at the opener of the 27th round in the German Bundesliga on Friday.

Schalke benefited on an own goal, and poor chance conversion by Monchengladbach, who lost their fourth place in the standings to the "Royal Blues".

Monchengladbach took the reins from the kick-off while Schalke were unable to gain a foothold into the game. Nevertheless, the visitors failed to turn their dominance into goals as Thorgan Hazard, Raffael and Fabian Johnson wasted promising opportunities.

Schalke's goalkeeper had a lot to do in the first half, including making a crucial save against Monchengladbach's Lars Stindl, who unleashed a shot from close range before the break.

Despite a dominant first-half performance by the visitors, it were hapless Schalke who opened the scoring against the run of the game after Martin Hinteregger deflected Leroy Sane's effort into his own goal with 59 minutes played.

The "Foals" were shocked but responded with the equaliser at the 75th minute as Andreas Christensen completed a combination via Stindl from inside the box. However, just when Monchengladbach was on the verge to turn things around, Schalke flabbergasted the visitors with the 2-1 winner four minutes later, when Goretzka's deflected shot found the back of the net.

With the result, Schalke increase their chances for a UEFA Champions League berth, as the fifth placed "Royal Blues" oust fourth placed Monchengladbach from their position.

"We played a good game, dominated Schalke, but we gave away two cheap goals," Monchengladbach coach Andre Schubert said.

"We are the lucky winners today but our goalkeeper Ralf Faehrmann has large shares on this win as he staged a faultless performance," Schalke coach Andre Breitenreiter said.

The following fixtures are scheduled for Saturday: Wolfsburg host newly promoted Darmstadt, Hamburg see Hoffenheim, Bremen face Mainz, Cologne encounter front-runners Bayern Munich, third-placed Berlin clash with newly promoted Ingolstadt and last placed Hannover meet Frankfurt for the bottom clash. Endit