FC Schalke 04 are still looking for their form in preparation for the new season: The team of coach David Wagner lost 2:3 (1:2) to the Italian first division team FC Bologna in Kitzbühel and thus remained without victory in the fourth test match in a row. But not the defeat, but the rough pace caused Wagner’s coach to need to speak after the game.
“The whole story was too hard for me today,” Wagner Bologna commented on Bologna’s gait and yet drew a lot of positive from the competitive scenes: “How the boys fought back is very big and important. Because in such games you can really do teambuilding, in a very simple but extremely important way. And the way they stood together made me and every other Schalker proud.”
The negative highlight of the match for the royal blues was not the exit game, but a rough foul by Bologna’s Musa Juwara against left-back Jonas Carls, which ended in a pack formation.
Only the coaches were able to separate the two teams, while the 22-year-old had to be replaced. According to the miners, Carls suffered a ligament injury.
The test game for the Schalkers had actually started made-to-measure: Fabian Reese (9th), who returned after a loan from Greuther Fürth, shot the squires into the lead early, Andrea Poli (37th) and Nicola Sansone (45th) turned the game around before the break in favour of the tenth of the last Serie A season. Rodrigo Palacio (59th) increased after the change, Nassim Boujellab only managed the following goal (88th).
Until now, Königsblau had only been successful in the preparation against the regional league team Rot-Weiß Oberhausen and a city selection from Bottrop, most recently there were four unsuccessful test matches in a row.
Schalke is still in training camp in Mittersill, Austria, until Saturday, and on Friday there will be a double test against Alanyaspor and FC Villarreal. For the premiere of the compulsory game, the squires will have to play for the regional league team SV Drochtersen/Assel in the first round of the DFB Cup on 10 August.
