Is this the second league? The duel of famous teams offered a great atmosphere! Schalke fans support their players after the debacle, Bremen get closer to promotion

There could be arguments about which second league competition is the best. But no one can dispute that the German one would definitely be at the top. In terms of spectator numbers alone, it is unrivalled. Over 62,000 spectators watched Saturday’s showdown between the two famous teams fighting for promotion.

Well, that was worth it! Schalke welcomed Werder Bremen to their home ground on Saturday afternoon. The game was for first place in the table. Before the game, Gelsenkirchen held a two-point lead. The latter was riding a wave of four wins in a row.

Werder were coming into the match after three draws, which had put Schalke in the lead of the second Bundesliga. However, the match looked different. The atmosphere in the stadium did not deter the Bremen players. The Veltins Arena was sold out, with 62,271 fans attending the second league match.

Even though Schalke supporters outnumbered the Bremen camp, who arrived in impressive numbers, were also heard. Moreover, the visiting supporters were positively motivated by the performance of their favourites, who won the match 4-1.

The first half clearly belonged to Werder, with Ilya Gruev scoring after 9 minutes and Niclas Füllkrug increasing the lead in the 26th minute. Jiří Pavlenka’s teammates also had a great start to the second half, adding more goals in the 51st and 53rd minutes and it was more or less over.

Pavlenka had only two saves in the whole game, but they were very important. Bremen eased up after scoring the fourth goal and allowed Schalke to create the play and take over the game. It was no use, however, as the Hlučín native allowed his opponent to score the only goal of the game in the 88th minute.

Anyone who expected the whistle to blow in the Veltins Arena would have been very wrong. Of course, there were those who left the stadium at 4:0. However, a very large group of supporters stayed in the stadium after the match and expressed their support for the players.

Schalke lost the match, but they did not lose the promotion. There are still three games to play before the end of the competition. Bremen lead the league by a single point, Schalke are three points ahead of third-placed St. Pauli, with St. Pauli now a game in hand.

However, Hamburg, Darmstadt or Nuremberg could still realistically be in the game. The team from Gelsenkirchen definitely still needs the support of their fans to help them return to the German elite.

Source: 2. Bundesliga, Schalke, Werder Bremen