After missing an early penalty, Klaas Jan Huntelaar scored the match winning goal in the 61st minute as Schalke garnered all three points over Mainz at the Veltins-Arena in front of a full stadium.
Karius heroics keeps Mainz in it early
In just the fourth minute of play, Schalke had an opportunity to take an early 1-0 lead after Daniel Brosinski fouled Dennis Aogo inside the penalty area giving the hosts a chance to score from 12 yards out. Huntelaar stepped up to the spot, struck the ball beautifully and towards the top right hand corner where Loris Karius was there to push the ball away keeping the score level.
Max Meyer, six minutes later, then showed a bit of individual skill working his way into the eighteen yard box, beating Julian Baumgartlinger and firing a shot near-post where Karius made his second save early in the match. A third great chance came for Schalke two minutes after the last as they kept on piling the pressure early this evening. The Argentine, Franco di Santo, then crossed the ball in from the right side towards Huntelaar, his header though was cleared off the line.
Again, the Mainz shot stopper kept his side in the match in the 19th minute after he caught a dangerous that was whipped in by Leon Goretzka. The first half-chance for the visitors came five minutes after when Yunus Malli's chance was cleared away at the last second by Joel Matip. Malli had his second opportunity of the match in the 32nd minute, his shot from 10 yards away though misses the target completely.
It took nearly the entire first half for Schalke to break the deadlock after controlling the majority of possession but they finally did it with eight minutes remaining off of a corner from Johannes Geis whipped it in where the central defender Matip headed the ball home as he lost his defender in the area with a great little run.
That lead would last just five minutes as Mainz would find an equalizer against the run of play. Christian Clemens' initial shot slammed off the post but straight to Malli who was in the right spot at the right time as he put the ball perfectly into the back of the net.
HT: Schalke 04 1-1 Mainz 05
The hosts will have perhaps felt they should have taken their lead into halftime since they moved the ball going forward and took the majority of the good chances. One little defensive miscue though forced them into the interval.
As the second half was unfolding, the play was slow developing. Tackles were coming in hard left and right forcing the referee to blow his whistle and slow the momentum of the play. Clemens had a go from the left side of the area but misses the frame of the goal.
Matip played a long ball over top towards Huntelaar where Stefan Bell mistimed his clearance and the Dutch striker poked the ball in behind Karius for the winning goal.
Schalke will have been pleased with how well they played all evening and to get a goal after giving up an equalizer right before the end of the first half. Now their attention will turn to the Europa League where they will travel to Cyprus to take on APOEL.