It is difficult to be not only a god, but also a leader. The situation in the championships of Spain and Germany, once again emphasizes that the first place must be won not only by the game, but also by the head: to believe in the possibility of its conquest.
In the interval between the circles, Schalke was going to fight fiercely with Werder Bremen and Bavaria, but the rivals, once bored and at once suddenly gave the Gelsenkirchens themselves a lead on a silver platter with a Gazprom border. Up to this point, Schalke players played as played. But as soon as they only thought about the inevitability of victory, everything instantly disappeared - a game, confidence, points. The match against Stuttgart, which found itself in a similar situation, was supposed to clarify the picture: either the Schalke crisis continues and deepens, or it is time to stop the disgrace.
The participants of the nail match of the tour did not harness for a long time. Despite the fact that a lot was decided in the game, pedantry and insinuatingness were already forgotten in the first seconds. However, nowadays these characteristics have no relation to Stuttgart. A courageous young team with an open visor rushed to the gate of Neuer. What audacity! Away, and even the leader - defiant behavior.
Schalke was perhaps taken aback by such a start. However, there was nowhere to go. The Gelsenkirchen club met the tour as a leader, which means that the impudent enemy needed to be shortened. Moreover, the Stuttgart was harassing not only actively, but also menacingly. From this grew an overwhelmingly wild debut. Having rushed “by five thousand, as by five hundred”, the rivals, of course, slowed down in the middle.
The time of Stuttgart emotions has passed. I would like to say that the time has come for Gelsenkirchen solidity, but such words would be inaccurate. In recent matches, both Stuttgart and Schalke lost points. By the way, the Saturday game just raised the question of the strength of Schalke and how much the team is ready to fight at the finish of the championship for the title. And will we even have to make judgments about the championship from Schalke at the end of the season, or will we have to rely on Werder Bremen and Bayern, and the Gelsenkirchens will have a shadow role. In this match, the leadership of Schalke was tested for stability.
And that was a test only for Schalke. “Stuttgart”, also located in the group of leaders, is hardly capable of fighting for the championship. There is nothing to check here. Strictly speaking, getting into the prizes is the limit for him. And here, the injury of the best striker Mario Gomez severely hit the team. And he dropped out, it seems, for a long time - at least six weeks. And the trainer Armin Fe, of course, did not find an adequate replacement.
This is the case when a quick goal was not to close the game ahead of time, but, on the contrary, entail more and more gaming achievements. However, the goal did not happen, and gradually the teams began to think about security. In the end, no one wanted to lose.
On the other hand, Schalke, as in the air, needed a victory and had to go to it, in spite of problems with the game and roster. Mirko Slomka is still forced to do without injured Levenkrandts and Varela, as well as without the disqualified Lincoln. One joy - the main left back Pander returned to duty and immediately got a place at the base. Nevertheless, Schalke’s manpower is richer than that of Stuttgart, and there is no player in Gelsenkirchen on whom the team depended as much as Stuttgart on Gomez. Without the best scorer, it is impossible to score with the Fe team, although moments arise.
In this game, the “standard” became decisive, as often happens in matches of equal rivals. Already at the end of the match, Schalke gave a corner, the goalkeeper of Stuttgart Hildebrand unsuccessfully played at the exit, and defender Krstaich pushed the ball into the goal.
1-0 - Schalke’s long-awaited victory, all the more valuable because Bayern, scaring everyone in Germany with an unexpected renaissance, stumbled in a match against an outsider Eintracht. Now, Schalke again has nine points ahead of Munich, and the Bremen Werder Bremen remains the main rival of the Slomka team. However, the tests for Schalke are yet to come. This year he is playing very confidently with his rivals in champion wrestling - which is worth only two victories over Werder Bremen. However, the championship is not obtained in such games, the key to it is matches against the middle peasants and outsiders. And Schalke will never learn to beat them regularly. So, the club from Gelsenkirchen has not yet passed the strength test.
Kirill DEMENTYEV
Schalke 04 - STUTTGART - 1: 0 (0: 0)
Goal: 1: 0 - Krstaich (76).
SHALKE-04: Neuer, Rafinha, Bordon, Krstaich, Pander, Kobiashvili (Larsen, 71), Ernst, Bayramovich, Ozil, Halil Altıntop (Asamoa, 76), Kuranyi (Rodriguez, 90).
STUTTGART: Hildebrand, Delper, Meira, Osorio (Laut, 81), Magnin, Hilbert, Farnerud (Da Silva, 68), Hitzlsperger (Khedira, 83), Pardo, Streller, Cacau.
Warnings: Hitzlsperger (23), Kobiashvili (54), Pardo (55).
March 17. The Feltins Arena 17.30.
Judge: Helmut Fleischer (Sigmertshausen).