Played at the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen on Saturday, where Schalke 04 hosted longtime rivals Borussia Dortmund, the 100th Bundesliga match of the Revirderby was a truly spectacular football match as Dai Knappen, once again involved in the relegation battle, equalized twice to get a well-deserved score.
It was a beautiful shot from centre-back Niko Schlotterbeck who broke the deadlock in the 38th minute, with Marius Bulter equalizing in the 50th. Dortmund’s lead was restored by Rafael Guerreiro in ’60 and thrown back by Kenan Karaman in ’79.
A game
Looking at the game’s basic stats, the reader will be able to tell that it was Dortmund who dominated the game and, having led twice, will consider himself unfortunate that he didn’t come home with the entire prize. The guests had 66% possession, landing a total of 20 shots, double that of Schalke.
It took 24 minutes for Die Knappen to show the first signs of Alex Meyer’s goal intentions as Rodrigo Zalazar failed to take advantage of Dortmund’s two centre-backs creating a mess between them while Dortmund had already lost a number at the other end. opportunities through Guerreiro and Sebastian Haller by then. A few minutes later, Edin Terzic’s men developed a great team move, which resulted in Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann depriving Donyell Malen of an excellent position. Malen later gave Marius Wolff a chance, but Fahrmann was on the alert again. Schalke hit back quickly after that when Balter broke a left and made a low cross towards Michael Frey in the box, but Frey and Zalazar were able to strike between them and the danger was eventually eliminated by Mats Hummels decisively.
And as Dortmund took the lead again and started circling around the penalty area, Schlotterbeck joined the attacking ranks and took advantage of Maya Yoshida not activating decisively enough to close him down with an accurate shot from outside the penalty area that bounced off the ground and won. Farmann; 0-1.
The Schalke goalkeeper managed to deflect a low left from Jude Bellingham in the 41st minute after the England international turned and looked away from Cedric Brunner. Two minutes later, Malen had a great moment, but, having nicely aligned with Wolf on the right flank, he could not get into the net from close range.
Schalke reacted well after the break and their efforts were rewarded in less than five minutes. Bellingham was forcefully deflected by Alex Kral in midfield and a Tom Krauss shot helped the ball to be picked up by Zalazar. Frey went far to the right and Zalazar found him, and Frey’s low ball into the far post found its mark in Balter’s face, unmarked a yard from the net; 1-1.
Interestingly, in this game, Guerreiro was positioned on the right flank of the midfield three, which was an unusual position for him, but in the 60th minute he ran down his favorite flank, where Emre Can knocked him out with a good pass, and his powerful shot from about 15 yards hit the net with some force; 1-2.
Dortmund had a great chance to kill the opposition after only four minutes, but Jamie Byno-Gittens, having received another excellent job from Wolf, failed to hit the target when he really should have scored. Nevertheless, the task facing Schalke at that time seemed huge, but they did not give up and gradually pushed the guests aside over time. They had several not very dangerous shots, they hit, they win corners.
They were rewarded once again in the 79th minute and Kral again played a big part in winning the ball, this time clearing it off Haller for Karaman to pick it up and take it on the right flank. His low cross was half deflected by Wolf, but Balter picked it up from the left and hit back, aiming for Karaman at the far post. Karaman got ahead of Julian Ryerson and landed a hard header into the far corner, leaving Meyer powerless to stop him; 2-2.
Between that last goal of the game and the final whistle, Dortmund’s attempts to find a third were very weak, unable to disturb Schalke’s determined defense.
Bellingham Quality
This game was by no means the best we’ve seen from Bellingham. There were players on both sides who could be said to have played better than the 19-year-old midfielder, and yet he managed to show why the best clubs in Europe dream of signing him this summer.
Bellingham received a WhoScored.com rating of 7.0, behind six of his teammates from the starting line-up and one player from Schalke (Balter). But compared to Tom Krauss, the Schalke player with a role closest to that of Bellingham for Dortmund, a target for Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid, had more shots (2-0), more possession (7 .8%-1.6%), better transmission accuracy. (57%-84%), completed more dribbles (4-1) and more tackles (2-1). He also lost possession more often (2-0) and won fewer air duels (0-2). However, it must be said that Krauss stayed closer to the defensively oriented Kral in Schalke’s tight 4-2-3-1 formation, while Bellingham clearly enjoyed more freedom in Dortmund’s very flexible 4-3-3 formation.
Bellingham is a player who takes his defensive responsibilities seriously, yet is always looking to attack, showing great skill, vision, passing range and perseverance – he’s close to the perfect number eight in a 4-3- formation. 3, a system used by all three of his most determined suitors.
With Liverpool gearing up for a midfield overhaul this summer, Bernardo Silva may be leaving City and Kevin De Bruyne is clearly over the hill, as are Real Madrid’s Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, for each of these clubs it makes sense to have Bellingham. tops their wish list at the moment.
The only question is, will either of them pay Dortmund’s reported price of 150 million euros for his services? Let’s wait and see.
Ranking table
For a team competing for a title in any league, it’s always bad luck if they can’t win a game, regardless of their opponents. The two points Dortmund conceded in this match created a gap between them and Bayern Munich at the top of the table, the perpetual Bundesliga champions who beat Augsburg 5-3 at the Allianz Arena on the same day.
In addition, RB Leipzig thrashed Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-0 at the Red Bull Arena, closing the gap on Dortmund to five points and moving from fourth to third, while Union Berlin , now in fourth place, and Freiburg, who finished fifth, will play their matches on Sunday against Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim, respectively.
Meanwhile, the point they took in this competition means that Schalke have come unstuck from the bottom, moving up a point above Hoffenheim, and while Borussia are hoping that Die Kraichgauer can get something from his trip to Freiburg, Schalke will hope otherwise. The relegation battle is likely to be just as exciting as the title fight at the other end.