Schalke 04 travelled to Slovenia on matchday six of Champions League, needing a win and the result from the match between Chelsea FC and Sporting Clube de Portugal to go in their favour.
Manager Roberto di Matteo’s former club Chelsea did a favour by beating Sporting 3-1 and it was upto Schalke to garner a positive result and seal their fates.
Riddled with injuries to as many as nine players of the first-team squad, Schalke had to field a much weakened side against the Slovenian champions who were without Derviševič. Both teams started with caution, testing the waters and looking to stamp their imprint over the game.
The first chance of the match fell to Tavares who could not capitalize on it and shot wide. Schalke looked assured at the back with its three centre halves dealing with every thing Maribor threw at them. It was Tavares only, who had the first shot on target for the hosts, albeit from distance and one comfortably saved by Fahrmann.
Maribor, as visiting teams have experienced all season, did not allow Schalke to infiltrate their final third on most occasions in the first half. Di Matteo’s men resorted to shooting from distance but forty five minutes were played without any change in the scoreboard. Just before the halftime whistle, following an excellent counter-attacking move, Schalke had a great chance through Huntelaar who shot over the goal.
Schalke resumed play after halftime just where they left off, threatening Handanovič’s goal. Huntelaar even hit the post after Barnetta’s deflected shot reached him. Max Meyer, the highly rated youngster was brought on by Di Matteo and within minutes, he put Schalke ahead and in course for the Champions League knockouts. Handanovič punched clear a cross from Hoger but it fell to Meyer on the edge of the box, who promptly finished it.
Meyer’s subsitution let the creative juices flow in the German side as they kept attacking Maribor’s goal. Aogo had a great chance to make it 2-0 when he shot from distance, but Handanovič tipped it over to keep Maribor in game. Maribor tried an extremely late surge to retrieve a point, but the Schalke defence held strong, resulting in a final scoreline of 1-0.
The key feature of this Group G game was that Maribor attempted 15 shots while Schalke had 18 shots next to their name, but only got four and five shots on target, respectively.
Schalke’s win led them to eight points and helped them qualify as runners-up behind Chelsea (who are on 14 points). Sporting dropped down to Europa League as they finished third with seven points and Maribor got eliminated from Europe with just five points.