Saturday, March 20, 2021 at 8:33 PM• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 20:35

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar made his comeback for Schalke 04 on Saturday evening after almost two months of injuries. The 37-year-old striker was awarded a fifteen-minute raid against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Huntelaar could not play a significant role, because Schalke was already at a 0-3 deficit. That also turned out to be the final result, because of which die Königsblauen stay stiff at the bottom.

Schalke faced a backlog within fifteen minutes. Mönchengladbach fired at the goal several times, while a wall of Schalke defenders tried to thwart a goal against. That succeeded with several blocks, but in the end Lars Stindl finished the ‘pinball machine goal’: 1-0. Complaints from Schalke in the arbitration about the hit were not heard.

The home team was unable to make a fist at all and conceded another goal fifteen minutes after the break, when a corner by Jonas Hofmann was headed in at the front post by Stefan Lainer. Twenty minutes before the end, all of Schalke’s illusions came to an end, when Nico Elvedi nodded in a cross from Alassane Plea: 0-3.

Huntelaar was still in the team at Schalke, but got no chances of an honorary goal. For Gladbach the points were very welcome: the team of coach Marco Rose had not won nine games and can still dream of European football in ninth place. Schalke is twelve points below the relegation line and is heading straight for relegation.