Borussia Dortmund Vs. Schalke 04, 2011 DFL Supercup: Halftime 0-0

It’s halftime at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, and the DFL Supercup is level at 0-0.

The star of the first half has to be Schalke’s new goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann. He was brought back to the club as the replacement for Manuel Neuer and was forced to make three saves (one “easy”, one “good”, one “great”) in the first half. None more important that his stop in the 43rd minute on Dortmund forward Robert Lewandowski. Shinji Kagawa played a brilliant ball through to split the centerbacks, and Lewandoski tried to poke it past an on-coming Fährmann. The goalkeeper was able to drop to his left and get his hand on the ball to just deflect it wide of the goal.

İlkay Gündoğan had a very good first half as the replacement for Nuri Şahin who left the club for Real Madrid this summer. Gündoğan forced a very good save out of Fährmann midway through the first half. His shot from outside of the penalty area weaved it’s way through traffic in the box forcing Fährmann to deflect it instead of catch.

Roman Weidenfeller was never really tested in the goal for Dortmund. The lack of service for Raul and Klaas Jan-Huntelaar has been apparent. Julian Draxler and Lewis Holtby were very energetic in the first half, but they were unable to turn that energy into scoring chances.

The match started brilliantly with Gündoğan’s cross being banged off of the right upright by Sebastian Kehl.

Halftime substitutions: