FC Schalke were emasculated by Bayern Munich in horrific fashion. Here are the player ratings from a truly awful match.
FC Schalke came into this match with eyes on putting a huge stamp on their title bid. They needed three points to stay snug with the rest of the Champions League spots, and that meant putting down the German giants at their home. Never an easy task.
It was a task made more difficult by Benito Raman coming down with the flu and thus being ruled out of the match. Raman has been arguably our most consistent attacker this year and his absence was not going to be an easy one to replace. David Wagner’s answer was Rabbi Matondo.
It didn’t begin well, with Markus Schubert flubbing his lines to give Robert Lewandowski an open goal. Schalke nearly clawed right back with Matondo on a tremendous run, but he was unlucky to hit the crossbar.
Schalke dodged anther bullet when Thomas Muller was ruled offside on what would have been a second goal, and it was clear the visitors were on the ropes. They were going to have to live on the counterattack with very little possession and a whole lot of pressure. That pressure proved damn near unbreakable, as the visitors couldn’t find a moment of peace on the ball. And without Raman, we couldn’t come close to matching that pressing, especially up front. Because Michael Gregoritsch does not press.
It took VAR to rule out yet another goal, but again, the Royal Blues were getting spanked up and down the pitch and the scoreline didn’t take long to reflect that. It was 3-0 by the 50th minute. It didn’t get any better from there. This was an emasculating performance, the kind that makes you question everything. So let’s just get through these player ratings and try to forget that it ever happened.