Schalke manager, Huub Stevens, has expressed his anger as Royal Blues suffer defeat at the hands of the Eredivisie outfit in the first-leg of the UEFA Europa League.
Schalke lost to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Luuk-de-Jong-c22956 in the second-half. Joel Matip was shown the red card after the interval. Both sides locked
heads on Thursday, March 08, at De Grolsch Veste with the home side emerging as 1-0 winners.
Both sides made a decent start to the game and created equal number of opportunities inside the first 45 minutes. However, no team was able to gain the lead before the break. The Dutch side dominated initial moments of the second-half
and won themselves a penalty when de Jong clearly stumbled over his own feet.
This incident also forced Matip to leave the pitch after referee Craig Thomson made the decision and showed him the red card. De Jong converted the spot kick in the 61st minute to earn his side a 1-0 lead which later
proved to be a winning margin.
Schalke boss, Huub Stevens, expressed his disappointment at the club’s defeat and opined that his side were extremely unlucky to get the decision against them. While talking to reporters after the game, the tactician further added:
"That was just ridiculous. I'm just so angry."
On the other hand, Schalke general manager, Horst Heldt also showed his displeasure at the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Royal-95-c40387 Blues loss. He supported his manager’s comments regarding the incident but was confident of turning things around in the return fixture.
Heldt mentioned that the Veltins-Arena outfit is capable of winning the second-leg and assured that Schalke will definitely be a different side at home when Twente visit them next week.
"Everyone can see that he [De Jong] fell over his own legs. This is a complete disaster. But at least we still have a chance in the second leg," the General Manager concluded.
Schalke currently sit fourth in the Bundesliga with 44 points and will return to league action on Sunday, March 11, against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Hamburger-SV-c39485 at the Veltins-Arena. They will host Twente on Thursday, March 15.
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