The few fans who saw the draw with Union Berlin were keen to remind the players of the upcoming Revierderby’s importance
It briefly felt like a potential turning point, if not quite a vindication. When Gonçalo Paciência’s header, applied to Omar Mascarell’s corner, crept inside Andreas Luthe’s near post, the roar was hearty even from a meagre crowd. At the end of a week in which the 300 available tickets for Sunday’s home game with Union Berlin were distributed to key workers, a welcome splash of feelgood after weeks and months of bad news for Schalke and their fans, it felt good. It felt positive.
A first point won this season was at least some relief, and out of step with what we’ve come to expect from Schalke. When you’ve gone 20 straight Bundesliga games without a win, the host of cameras around the stadium tend to focus in that bit more tightly on dropped heads and anguished faces, ready for the mournful musical montage later.
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Schalke 1-1 Union Berlin, Cologne 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt, Borussia M'gladbach 1-1 Wolfsburg, Arminia Bielefeld 1-4 Bayern Munich, Augsburg 0-2 RB Leipzig, Freiburg 1-1 Werder Bremen, Hertha Berlin 0-2 Stuttgart, Hoffenheim 0-1 Dortmund, Mainz 0-1 Bayer Leverkusen
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