Wolfsburg's head coach Dieter Hecking wanted his team to show a reaction after not winning six Bundesliga games in a row. But the reigning DFB-Pokal champions failed miserably and collected their 7th loss of the season, after yet another poor performance. FC Schalke 04 had no problem in taming the Wolves and won 3-0 in front of a sold out home crowd at the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen.
As mentioned already, Wolfsburg travelled to Gelsenkirchen without several key men. Therefore Hecking made a few changes in the starting line-up; Robin Knoche played instead of Dante, who has made a lot of individual mistakes lately. Nicklas Bendtner got the nod up front, Daniel Caliguiri replaced the injured Andre Schürrle and Josuha Guilavogui was the only defensive midfielder.
Andre Breitenreiter made no changes and sent the same starting line-up onto the field that beat SV Darmstadt 98 last week. The only noticeable change was that forward Franco di Santo was a part of the squad again, while loan midfielder Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg was left out.
Wolfsburg remain harmless, Schalke stone-cold
The first half was balanced and both teams had chances, but it was the usual problem for the Wolves; even though they created a good chance nine minutes into the game, they failed to convert it. Daniel Caliguiri eventually took a shot on goal, but his curling effort in the 22nd minute hit the crossbar. Just two minutes later it was Julian Draxler who had another opportunity, although Ralf Fährmann saved it.
The goalkeeper's pass led to Schalke's first big chance; he threw it to Junior Caicara, who immediately started a run and passed it to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, whose finish gave Schalke the lead. A bitter blow for the Wolves.
The visitors were obviously shocked and had trouble with their build-up after that. Die Knappen brightened up in return and were able to speed up their own game. Wolfsburg's defence revealed a lot of gaps and and found themselves in a lot of trouble. It was no surprise that free-kick specialist Johannes Geis scored the second from a beautiful free-kick in the 35th minute. Schalke had the chances to go one better but Geis and Leroy Sané both couldn't make the most of their opportunities.
2-0 at half time was a strong score-line and it seemed as if the game has already been decided, as Wolfsburg were way too harmless and over-challenged.
Bruno Henrique and Putaro debut for Wolfsburg
Last season's second-placed side were willing to fight back in the second half but failed to create good chances. Breitenreiter's team was obviously pleased with how the game was going and, as a result, didn't put as much effort into attacking as they had in the first half. Instead, the Blues focused on defending. There was no real opportunity until the 64th minute, where Ricardo Rodriguez's corner kick found Bendtner. But his header was lacking precision and wasn't a real threat at all.
The Dane was subbed off after that and Wolfsburg's newest signing, Bruno Henrique, made his official Bundesliga debut. The Brazilian had a good chance in the 70th minute where his shot went past the post.
19-year-old Leandro Putaro also made his debut for Wolfsburg in the 81th minute. It was obvious that the Wolves wouldn't be able to turn the game around anymore, so the talented centre forward got to play a few minutes.
Schöpf with the ultimate knockout
But it was a Schalke-newbie who ended the game with a personal highlight; Alessandro Schöpf, who completed his move to Gelsenkirchen from 1. FC Nürnberg during the winter transfer window, finished another counter-attack initiated by Caicara. Wolfsburg's goalkeeper Diego Benaglio had no chance. Overall it was a well-deserved 3-0 win for Schalke 04, who remained dominant throughout the whole game while Wolfsburg continue to struggle.
The Wolves dropped down to the eighth place in the table, while Die Knappen climbed up to fourth and are in a good position to qualify for the Champions League again.