4/2/2006
hsv.de

HSV beat Schalke 2-0 in the sold out Veltins Arena on Sunday evening (2.4.06). The game was goalless after a fiercely fought and sometimes bruising first half. On 57 minutes, Mladen Krstajic got the slightest of touches to a Rafael van der Vaart free kick to give the visitors the lead. Then on 80 minutes, second half substitute Ailton sent the 7,000 travelling HSV fans into raptures of joy by scoring a goal against his former club.

Chopping and changing
The Schalke coach Mirko Slomka made two changes to his side which beat Levski Sofia 3-1 in the UEFA Cup on Thursday: Rafinha got the nod over Hamit Altintop and up front, the Danish striker Larsen made way for the attacking midfielder Varela, who recently extended his contract at Schalke by a further two years.

Missing giants
HSV coach Thomas Doll was forced to make changes to the team which lost 2-4 at home to Borussia Dortmund in round 27. The suspended Khalid Boulahrouz and the injured HSV skipper Daniel van Buyten (ankle ligament injury) were replaced by Bastian Reinhardt and Guy Demel. Czech midfielder David Jarolim once against replaced Raphael Wicky in Doll’s starting line-up.

Benny Lauth fires warning shot
The top game featuring the second placed visitors against the fourth placed home side began just as the huge capacity crowd had hoped it would do, with both sides playing attractive attacking football. The HSV striker Benny Lauth almost stunned the Schalke fans into silence on three minutes, as he latched onto a wonderful through ball from Barbarez. Schalke’s keeper Frank Rost came out and under pressure from Bordon, Lauth watched on in horror as his shot bounced on top of the crossbar and behind for a goal kick.

Schalke chances
Second later, Schalke went looking for an opening goal, as Bordon tested the HSV keeper Sascha Kirschstein with a fiercely struck free kick from 28 metres out which the keeper did well to deal with. Schalke began to get on top and their Brazilian playmaker Lincoln had two chances to give his side the lead. On 21 minutes, he fired in a volley which was well saved by Kirschstein and five minutes later, a lapse in concentration by Atouba allowed Lincoln to blast the ball onto the underside of the HSV crossbar and back into open play. Bordon lost possession 60 seconds later and Jarolim played the ball through to Barbarez, who was denied by good goalkeeping by Rost.

Shame as gamesmanship rears its ugly head
What was an entertaining game was to dramatically change on 28 minutes, as football and decency went out of the window. A foul by Barbarez started things off. Rafinha ran towards the referee waving an imaginary yellow card demanding that Barbarez be booked. Halfway to the ref he was met by van der Vaart who appeared to have something against the way the Brazilan was acting. Rafinha lightly slapped the Dutchman’s face and van der Vaart went down as if he had bee his by a sniper sat on the stadium roof. After consulting his assistants, the referee showed Barbarez a yellow card and sent Rafinha off with a straight red card.

Fouls and diving take centre stage
There was so much bad blood between the two sides, that everyone held their breath as the wild tackles flew in with no prisoners being taken by either side. Both sides were committing fouls and diving like it was going out of fashion. Not exactly role model stuff for the younger spectators in the stadium. On 38 minutes, Atouba clashed with Ernst which resulted in a yellow card for both players. It was a small miracle that no-one had been seriously hurt as the ref blew time on a goalless first half.

Patience is a virtue…
Doll brought on Klingbeil and Ailton on for de Jong (in danger of being sent off) and Trochowski (quiet first half). Thankfully, things got back to something like football again after the break and Kuranyi headed wide as it looked easier to score on 48 minutes, Ailton also went close with a diagonal shot from nine metres out on 50 minutes. HSV played a patient game despite having a man advantage over the home side, and their patience was to be rewarded on 57 minutes, as van der Vaart floated in a hopeful free kick into the Schalke area. Most people in the Veltins Arena thought that the Dutchman had scored from some 36 metres out, but TV footage revealed that Krstajic had slightly altered the route of the ball and past his own keeper. 1-0 to HSV!

Ailton oh oh!
Schalke tried to get corners and free kicks (especially the latter), in a desperate search of an equaliser. HSV though, had other ideas and it took until the 77th minute for the home side to threaten again, as Larsen headed wide from a promising position. Three minutes later, HSV produced a copybook counter attack to put the game beyond Schalke, as Lauth played a one-two with Ailton. Lauth pushed the ball past a Schalke defender and tried to beat him for speed. Ailton though, turned on the turbo and raced onto the ball and into the left hand side of the Schalke area, from where he stroked the ball past his former Werder and Schalke team mate Rost with the outside of his left boot to score the sweetest of goals. It was his second goal for HSV, after scoring against Dortmund last time out.

The referee blew for time and the HSV squad and coaches raced over to celebrate their deserved victory in the race for second place in the table behind Bayern. The Hamburg side put three points between themselves and Werder Bremen and now face Borussia Mönchengladbach at home in round 29 next weekend.

Match details:

HSV: Kirschstein – Mahdavikia (71. Laas), Reinhardt, Demel, Atouba – de Jong (46. Klingbeil) – Trochowski (46. Ailton), Jarolim van der Vaart, Barbarez – Lauth

Schalke: Rost – Rafinha, Bordon, Krstajic, Kobiashvili – Poulsen (69. Altintop), Ernst – Asamoah (80. Sand), Varela, Lincoln – Kuranyi (65. Larsen)

Goals: 1-0 Krstajic (57./o.g), 2-0 Ailton (80.)

Attendance: 61,524 (sold out)

Referee: Dr. Helmut Fleischer (Sigmertshausen)

Yellow cards: de Jong, Barbarez, Abouba, Jarolim / Ernst, Poulsen, Kobiashvili

Red card: -/ Rafinha (28.)