The http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Raul-c30652 scored his 400th professional career goal.
Schalke brushed aside Wolfsburg by a comprehensive 4-0 margin to close the gap on the top three. Both sides locked heads on Sunday, February 19, at the Veltins-Arena with Raul Gonzalez, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Klaas-Jan-Huntelaar-c21175 and Joel Matip scoring
goals for the home side.
The Royal Blues went in with a 4-5-1 formation with Huntelaar playing as a lone striker. Wolfsburg, on the other hand, fielded a 4-3-3 formation. Mario Mandzukic, Yohandry Orozco and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Marcel-c23507 Schafer formed a partnership upfront.
It was Felix Magath’s first visit to the Veltins-Arena after being sacked by Schalke last year.
Schalke made a promising start to the game and dominated proceedings from the first minute. The hosts never allowed Die Wolfe to settle down in the opening few minutes and earned themselves an early lead through Raul Gonzalez’s
10th minute goal. It was also the Spaniard’s 400th professional goal of his career and his 11th of the ongoing season.
Wolfsburg soon found themselves 2-0 down after Huntelaar stroked a calm finish past http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Diego-Benaglio-c11085 on the 15th minute mark. The striker took his season’s tally to 17 with Schalke’s second goal of the evening.
Wolfsburg tried their level best to reduce the deficit but seemed helpless in front of a resilient Schalke defence. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Christian-Fuchs-c9078 combined extremely well to deny the visitors any opening as both teams
went into the dugout with the Royal Blues leading by a comfortable 2-0 margin at the interval.
Die Wolfe came out with positive intent in the second-half and created an early chance which was saved efficiently by Timo Hilderbrand. Matip managed to hit the visitors on the counter and scored his team’s third goal of the evening
in the 49th minute to assure Schalke of all the three points.
Wolfsburg seemed clueless after going 3-0 down and decided to sit back and defend for the remaining game.
However, the home side kept creating chances and Huntelaar scored his 18th goal of the season and the team’s fourth of the evening, 18 minutes from time. The score-line stayed the same as clinical Schalke overcame Wolfsburg
and claimed all three points.
It was Schalke’s 14th win of the season to go along with their six losses. Huub Stevens’ side moved just a point from Bayern Munich, who sit in third place. On the other hand, Wolfsburg suffered their 11th
defeat of the campaign and are eighth on the league standings with 27 points.
Schalke will next be in action against Bayern Munich on Sunday, February 26, while Wolfsburg will take on Hoffenheim on Saturday, February 25.
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