Curious! Referee has to leave the pitch early during FC Schalke 04's win | Goal.com

Veröffentlicht am 11 Sep 2026 | Lesezeit: 2 Minuten

The defender rescued his beloved club in a 3-1 (1-0) win against his former side Union Berlin, scoring the Royal Blues' first goal in the top flight for 1,203 days. Just under a week after the 0-0 against Bayern Munich, the Gelsenkirchen side followed it up with another eye-catching result.

After two matches without a Schalke goal at the start of the season, Gosens sent the travelling fans into ecstasy in the 25th minute. The 24-cap international refrained from celebrating in front of Union's Waldseite. Adil Aouchiche (46, after a video review) and Maximilian Wöber (90+13) also scored. Tim Skarke (90+6) got the interim 2-1.

Schalke's previous Bundesliga goal had come in a 4-2 defeat at RB Leipzig on 27 May 2023 through Marcin Kaminski and Willi Orban with an own goal. Their previous win in the top flight had dated back to 5 May of the same year, when Schalke won 3-2 at FSV Mainz 05 in their relegation season.

For Union, patience is still required under coach Mauro Lustrinelli, and a second defeat in their third league match was badly timed too: next week, the Iron Ones visit Bayern Munich on Friday (8.30pm).

Schalke drew confidence from the draw against the record champions the previous week. "Very few people in football Germany expected the point against Bayern," coach Miron Muslic had said. The game in Berlin, however, would be "much more vertical, much more direct, much more physical".

Muslic brought captain Kenan Karaman back into the starting line-up after a hip injury. Robin Gosens, who had made his Bundesliga debut in a Berlin shirt in 2023, also returned to the starting XI.

Union controlled the opening minutes, but the visitors gradually played their way into the game. Karaman had Schalke's first good chance when the 32-year-old let fly from just in front of the edge of the area, only to send his shot narrowly over the bar (10). Shortly afterwards, Union goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow denied Aouchiche (20). Gosens did better a little later and almost apologetically raised his arms.

Then Aouchiche missed a huge chance to make it 2-0. The attacking player raced through one-on-one against Rönnow, who got a touch on the ball, and Tom Rothe cleared just in front of the line (34). After the break, Aouchiche took his chance. The match remained hard-fought at first, with Rönnow and his opposite number Loris Karius called into action more often now.

Referee Timo Gerach gave both sides a breather when he needed treatment for an injury (60). After an interruption of just under nine minutes, fourth official Jarno Wienefeld took over and unexpectedly made his Bundesliga debut. In the closing stages, Union piled on the pressure relentlessly, and in the 12 minutes of added time Skarke gave them hope once more.

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