Highlights from the first half:
2nd minute: This isn’t going to be an easy game. The visitors already make headway towards the Werder goal. The ball comes into the centre of the box from the right and runs across to Bülter who is waiting anxiously. He fires towards the top corner but Pavlenka is there to make the save.
8th minute: Florent Mollet drives from midfield for about 20 meters before releasing Bülter. Fortunately his shot goes wide of the left post.
13th minute: Now it’s Werder’s time to get on the front foot, however their just missing that final bit of accuracy in the final third. Marco Friedl tries to find Niclas Füllkrug with a lob, but it just isn’t accurate enough. The visitors have their eye on Werder’s number 11 at all times, so he is well covered.
16th minute: That shocked everyone. Schalke bring the pressure and force the first goal. A deflected ball from Alex Král goes over the line, however, there is a clear offside in the build up. VAR rules out the goal.
23rd minute: The Royal Blues are really giving everything they’ve got here. A mistake in their build up play however gifts the ball to the Green-Whites. Füllkrug shoots from just outside the right hand side of the box, but Yoshida is there to make a good block and force a corner.
30th minute: GOOOOAL for Werder! What a fantastic bit of build up play! The visitors had been the better side up until this point, but the Green-Whites make the most of their opportunity in front of goal. Weiser does brilliantly down the right hand side; he gets to the by-line before back heeling it into the path of Niclas Füllkrug, who smashes the ball into the back of the net to make it 1-0!
32nd minute: Mitchell Weiser continues to play just as well as before. He dribbles past three Schalke defenders and pulls the ball back yet again into a dangerous position. This time it’s Amos Pieper waiting to pull the trigger, but he fires over the crossbar.
38th minute: The Royal Blues haven’t let the opening goal dampen their spirits. Again they come forward, and this time Terodde connects with a cross and manages to hit the post.
42nd minute: Füllkrug brings the ball forward out of midfield before connecting with Marco Friedl down the left flank. Friedl floats the ball into the path of Marvin Ducksch who tries to knock it back down into Füllkrug’s final path. This time Yoshida is alert to the danger and clears.
45th minute: Shortly before the half time whistle blows, the home side try their luck again – Füllkrug dribbles down the right and crosses into Ducksch who is lurking around the penalty spot. Ducksch runs and tries to flick the ball across the face of goal but sends it agonizingly wide.
