2. Bundesliga: Nürnberg dominant as Schalke suffer title hangover

2. Bundesliga: Nürnberg dominant as Schalke suffer title hangover

In the final Topspiel of the campaign, Miroslav Klose’s side were comfortably the better team throughout as goals from Mohamed Ali Zoma and Henri Koudossou, alongside a Ron Schallenberg own goal, sealed an impressive win against the table toppers.

After a fairly even opening spell, Nürnberg broke the deadlock in somewhat fortunate fashion after 19 minutes. Schalke only partially cleared a free-kick into the path of Rafael Lubach, whose effort was blocked by Schallenberg before looping beyond the helpless Kevin Müller and into the net.

The hosts continued to dominate proceedings and came close to extending their lead on several occasions. Zoma thought he had doubled Nürnberg’s advantage twice before the break, only for both efforts to be ruled out for offside, much to the frustration of the home crowd. Despite the disallowed goals, Der Club looked dangerous every time they pushed forward and were unfortunate not to hold a more commanding lead at half time.

Nürnberg eventually found their deserved second in first-half stoppage time through Koudossou. Fabio Gruber’s perfectly weighted chipped pass released the full-back in behind the Schalke defence, and he calmly slotted past Müller at the near post to make it 2-0 heading into the interval.

The home side nearly struck again moments after the restart when Lubach squandered a golden opportunity, before Schalke finally threatened at the other end. Soufian El-Faouzi saw his effort brilliantly cleared off the line by Luka Lochoshvili, while Kenan Karaman somehow blazed the rebound over from close range with the goal at his mercy.