Bayern Munich were the opponent for Schalke's long-awaited return of the Bundesliga to the Veltins Arena, and die Königsblau, despite the challenge, were looking to put up a better performance compared to last weekend's 3-0 loss to Augsburg . While Vincent Kompany's side were coming off a midweek 4-1 win against Osnabrück in the DFB Pokal .
Despite Bayern's record against newly promoted sides usually being that they thrash them in the first meeting, Schalke produced a strong defensive display in the first half, limiting the Bundesliga champions to only one meaningful chance, which Nathanial Brown forced a good save from Loris Karius .
For Schalke, their best chance of the first 45 minutes came from a free-kick, which Manuel Neuer comfortably dealt with. Due to the nature of the game, Miron Muslic's side were limited to chances on the counter, and Moussa Sylla seemingly struggled against Dayot Upamecano when in one-on-one situations. However, Schalke's defence was one of the key reasons why they were promoted to the Bundesliga last season. Head coach Muslic has a history in these types of games, as he led his former club Plymouth to a FA Cup third-round win over Liverpool two seasons ago.
In the second half, Bayern had the luxury of subbing on the trio of Harry Kane , Michael Olise and a returning Jamal Musiala , and they immediately were more effective for the Rekordmeister's attack than Brown, Ismael Saibari and Lennart Karl . But they still struggled to break down Schalke.
The hosts had better chances compared to the first half as space began to open up, but they were still lacking the clinical edge and bodies in the box to convert them. While at the back, they continued to be defensively sound, and Bayern could simply not find a way around the Schalke backline.
The chances that Bayern did have at goal were then dealt with by Loris Karius, who made several key saves throughout the game.
Unlike the usual trend of these games, Schalke were able to hold on and secure their first point of the Bundesliga season, after a resolute defensive performance. If you want to know how one-sided this game was, Miron Muslic's side had 17% possession, compared to Bayern's 83%, and 4 shots to the visitors' 15.
Loris Karius (7), Timo Becker (6), Nikola Katic (6), Hasan Kurucay (6), Junior Dina Ebimbe (6), Soufian El-Faouzi (6), Satoshi Tanaka (6), Robin Gosens (5), Dejan Ljubicic (5), Adil Aouchiche (5), Moussa Sylla (5)
Others: Vitale Becker (6), Mertcan Ayhan (5), Luca Vozar (5), Maximilian Wöber (5), Kenan Karaman (-)
Manuel Neuer (5), Konrad Laimer (6), Jonathan Tah (6), Dayot Upamecano (6), Alphonso Davies (7), Joshua Kimmich (6), Aleksander Pavlovic (6), Lennart Karl (5), Nathanial Brown (5), Luis Diaz (6), Ismael Saibari (6)
Others: Harry Kane (5), Jamal Musiala (5), Michael Olise (5), Tom Bischof (5)
The Loris Karius redemption arc has been an underrated story. Following his failure in the 2018 Champions League final and the odyssey around football, he has finally found his home at the Veltins Arena. Originally not seen as the number one, Karius came in and played a key role in keeping the team up, and now he has become their number one and a mainstay of Miron Muslic's backline.
The five saves he made today (via FotMob ) and how important he was to this draw, is the next chapter in his redemption story.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
