Schalke picked up a massive victory and three points in the first Revierderby of the season with a 2-1 victory away to Borussia Dortmund.
Borussia Dortmund vs. Schalke: Final score 1-2, Schalke win first Revierderby in Dortmund
Schalke hold on to beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 for their first victory in the Revierderby in over two seasons.
Ibrahim Afellay put Schalke ahead in the 14th minute with a great goal. A cross from just outside the penalty area was played into Klaas Jan Huntelaar, but Borussia Dortmund's Sven Bender was on hand to head the ball out. Afellay was in the right place at the right time and ripped a low, hard volley past Roman Weidenfeller to shock the crowd at Signal Iduna Park and give Schalke the 1-0 lead.
The rest of the first half would play out with neither side really getting a great scoring opportunity. Schalke looked better throughout the half with crisper passing and a more coherent attack. BVB finally started to find their feet as the half came to a conclusion, but they weren’t able to really test Lars Unnerstall.
Schalke made it 2-0 just after halftime thanks to a quick break starring Marco Höger. Huntelaar brought down a ball at midfield and played it back to Lewis Holtby. The midfielder saw Höger streaking through the BVB backline and played a perfect ball into space behind the defense. With Jefferson Farfan out to his right and only Weidenfeller between himself and the goal, Höger ran right at the goalkeeper. Once Weidenfeller committed, Höger put his shot into the back of the net. It was 2-0 Schalke with just over 40 minutes left.
BVB finally cracked the Schalke defense in the 54th minute. Julian Schieber was fouled, and Marco Reus sent a deep free kick into the penalty area. Robert Lewandowski beat Joel Matip to the ball, and his flick header beat Unnerstall to bring BVB right back into the match. They smelled blood and continued to press forward in attack. Reus came close to equalizing just minutes later, but his final shot was poor.
The visitors “bend but don’t break” defense went into effect the deeper the match went into the second half. Reus terrorized the Schalke backline with his mazy runs with and without the ball, but they always managed to recover in time to nick the ball from him or intercept the pass in to him.
When the referee blew the final whistle, Schalke players and supporters celebrated a huge victory over their rivals for the first time in two seasons. Schalke will travel to London this week for a Champions League match with Arsenal.
The loss leaves BVB with only 12 points after their first 8 matches and sets them far adrift of leaders Bayern Munich. Now, a midweek Champions League match with Real Madrid looms ahead of them.
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