An own goal from Nicholas Höfler and a penalty from Jefferson Farfán gave Schalke their third consecutive home victory in the Bundesliga over struggling SC Freiburg.
A cagey start to the game by the Royal Blues wasn’t capitalised on by Freiburg as they were unable to create any real openings.
However, Jefferson Farfán’s corner on the stroke of half time was inadvertently turned in by Höfler and gave the Royal Blues something of an undeserved lead going into the break.
Then, teenager Max Meyer’s surging run was brought to an end by Pavel Krmas just inside the area and Farfán stepped up to make it 2-0 to Schalke, sending ‘keeper Oliver Baumann the wrong way.
Meyer could have, in fact, made it 3-0 with a wonderful overhead effort but Oliver Baumann made a fingertip save to deny Schalke’s number 7.
After the second goal, Farfán and Jermaine Jones came into the game a bit more and Freiburg opened up at the back but their crosses were only finding red shirts, leaving Schalke fans wanting a third goal disappointed.
The main positive from this game, however, was the return of Kyriakos Papadopoulos from a very lengthy injury lay-off. The Greek international defender was met with a rapturous reception as he came on for Kevin-Prince Boateng with two minutes to go. Choruses of Papadopoulos’ name rang round the Veltins Arena as the 21 year old came on for his first appearance in over a year.
The win lifted Schalke up to 6th, five points behind Borussia Mönchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League places. Freiburg stayed in the relegation play-off zone but Eintracht Frankfurt’s away win against Bayer Leverkusen later in the day meant that they are now cut adrift in 16th place.
Under The Floodlights 