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| FC Schalke Tickets. Schalke 04 clinched their first home win in the Bundesliga for four months on Saturday, putting on an impressive display as they beat VfB Stuttgart 2-0. Goals from Emile Mpenza (3) and Tomasz Hajto (45) saw the Royal Blues climb up to fourth place in the table.
Schalke took the lead from the very first attack. Nigerian international Victor Agali showed great vision to cut the ball back from the by-line to strike-partner Mpenza, who knocked it home from six metres to make it 1-0 (3). That was the start of a very attacking performance in the first half. Schalke could have increased their lead in the very next attack, but this time Mpenza was denied from 10 metres by Stuttgart keeper Timo Hildebrand (7). "We began very aggressively and created a lot of pressure. More than anything, we made a lot of good scoring chances for ourselves", said coach Frank Neubarth after the game, praising the way his team started the match, which had laid the foundations for a deserved victory. However, Stuttgart were not playing at all badly at that stage. But the home side was concentrating well at the back, barely giving the visitors a look in. |
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| FC Schalke Tickets. After that, the action was again concentrated in front of the visitors goal. Hildebrand was at full stretch to keep out a 25-metre shot from Hajto (27). Then, from a Bhme corner, Soldo cleared Mpenzas header off the line (35), before Vermant volleyed wide (36). However, as the whistle was about to be blown for half-time, Schalkes players were rewarded for all their attacking play. Hajto made it 2-0, as he thumped a free-kick from 25 metres out into the left-hand corner of the goal.
To the delight of the vocal home support, Schalke added to their good first-half display immediately after the restart. After a shot by Mpenza, Poulsen headed only centimetres wide (52). Again, and again, the impressive Victor Agali was bringing team-mates into play, setting up Vermant (60) and Mpenza (64), only to see both miss the target. "If I had to criticise anything, it would be that we failed to add a third and then a fourth goal. If wed done that, we would have been able to calmly play the game out", said Neubarth after the final whistle. |
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