Timo Hildebrand and Rene Adler hardly covered themselves in glory on Sunday, allowing three goals apiece in a 3-3 draw between Schalke and Hamburg. While the goals weren’t all down to goalkeeping errors, the poor play of both keepers was a bigger story than any brilliant attacking by either team.
Schalke vs. Hamburg: Final score 3-3, who needs goalkeeping?
Defending and goalkeeping were lacking in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday, but at least Schalke and Hamburg put on a show.
Schalke got on the board just two minutes into the match, with Julian Draxler finding Klaas-Jan Huntelaar on the counter. Hamburg's defense got caught out, but instead of taking on Adler, Huntelaar surprisingly took an uncontested shot from 25 yards out and beat the Hamburg keeper.
Joel Matip committed a bit of an unlucky handball in the 12th minute, gifting Rafael van der Vaart the equalizing goal from the penalty spot. Hamburg took the lead 11 minutes later through Maximillian Biester, who hit the crossbar with his header, but was fortunate to see the ball bounce off Hildebrand and into the back of the net.
Just before the halftime break, Huntelaar completed an impressive play for his own equalizer. He got on the end of a cross that came during a well-worked short corner and hit a header past Adler from 15 yards out.
It took just four minutes of play in the second half for Hamburg to reclaim their lead, capitalizing on some poor set piece marking and substandard goalkeeping just like Schalke did right before the break. Lasse Sobiech scored with a decent header, though it wasn’t too far away from Hildebrand, who should have made a stop.
Schalke made a desperate attacking move in the 58th minute, bringing on new signing Adam Szalai to play up top, replacing central midfielder Roman Neustädter. That move paid off when he equalized in the 72nd minute, finishing from close range after Adler failed to handle a shot by Christian Clemens.
Schalke: Hildebrand, Fuchs, Höwedes, Matip, Uchida, Neustädter (Szalai 58’), Jones, Clemens, Draxler (Goretzka 23’), Farfan, Huntelaar
Goals: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (2’, 45’), Adam Szalai (72’)
Hamburg: Adler, Jansen, Sobeich, Westermann, Diekmeier, Badelj (Rincon 64’), Arslan, Beister (Rudnevs 83’), Zoua, van der Vaart, Calhanoglu (Aogo 74’)
Goals: van der Vaart (penalty 12’), Beister (23’), Sobeich (49’)
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