The defeat against Schalke 04 today has slipped Fortuna Dusseldorf to the relegation zone in the league. In the first half, both teams showed little offensive power. After the break Schalke shocked Fortuna with two quick goals.
Even in the 20th attempt it did not work. Friedhelm Funkel could not force FC Schalke 04 as a coach again to his knees. Fortuna Dusseldorf lost in the sold-out home game in front of 52,000 spectators against the German runner with 0:2. It is the third defeat in the Bundesliga in a row, which means that Fortuna is on a relegation place for the first time this season after the 7th match day.
As Funkel the last time was allowed to celebrate a victory against Schalke, Germany had to wait another five years for the introduction of the euro. It was in August 1997. Funkel still trained the MSV Duisburg and was allowed to celebrate a winning goal by Horst Steffen, which meant a 1-0 win against Schalke 04. In the squad of Duisburg were still Michael Zeyer and Bachirou Salou, the Schalke jersey wore Jens Lehmann, Mike Büskens and Olaf Thon, oldies will know their time in Gelsenkirchen.
Since then Funkel tried now in his 19th duels, until then as coach of Duisburg, Hansa Rostock, the FC Cologne, Eintracht Frankfurt, Hertha BSC and now with Fortuna, to defeat Schalke again. It did not succeed even after more than 21 years.
Saturday was already starting to get worse: Dodi Lukebakio missed the start of the morning team session before the match. Friedhelm Funkel was forced to remove the talented Belgian from the squad for the match. On top of that. After four minutes, Funkel had to deal with anger again to the head. Benito Raman, who was second behind Rouwen Hennings in a 5-3-2 system, appeared free in front of Ralf Fährmann. The Belgian had almost circled the Schalke goalkeeper and managed to pass the ball past the empty goal. Forty-five minutes later, Fortuna was lucky that Guido Burgstaller did not take advantage of Marcin Kaminski's mistake to score.
But Schalke did not make much more than that chance in the first 45 minutes. It was a frighteningly lifeless performance by the Royal Blues, where coach Domenico Tedesco initially renounced the services of Mark Uth, Yevhen Konoplyanka, Sebastian Rudy or Breel Embolo. Fortuna had to be accused again - despite the outsider role - the weakness phase of the opponent not to have exploited. More than a dangerous cross from Rouwen Hennings after a nice free-kick variant and a shot from Jean Zimmer in the 32th minute, which Fährmann loosely parried, did not jump out for the home side.
After the break, Schalke came then with changed body tension on the square. Fortuna seemed surprised and let the guest grant. With bad consequences: After eight minutes, the game was decided. First, the defense slept on a cross by Franco Di Santo. Suat Serdar headed the ball home from the back to the six-yard box, where Weston McKennie reacted the fastest and hit the ball over the line, in the 48thh minute. As in the 1:2 against Leverkusen, Fortuna fell into shock. Adam Bodzek defended the next flank ball too short and in the middle. Nabil Bentaleb's shot was deflected, goalkeeper Michael Rensing responded with lightning speed, but was powerless against Burgstaller's margin in the 53 minute.
Fortuna Düsseldorf needed until the 70th minute to recover from it. But even Raman's violence shot, the ferryman again fought safely, was not the hoped-for watchmakers for the final phase. The guests brought home the 3 points, the third victory in a row across all competitions for Schalke and a very good motivation against the upcoming matches against Galatasaray Istanbul in the League of the Champions on 24th October and 6th November.
The most positive moment was provided by the Ultras of Fortuna Düsseldorf, who created a fantastic setting with the biggest choreography ever in the club's history before the match. Under the motto "This city belongs to us!", half of the spectators were included in the planning masterpiece that dipped the stadium in red and white.
