Schalke 04 stunned Borussia Mönchengladbach with a second half comeback to take the all-German UEFA Europa League tie on away goals, albeit with a fair chunk of luck.

The Foals had looked set to book a quarter-final spot after Andreas Christensen and Mahmoud Dahood, with a stunning goal, had put them 2-0 up at half-time.

But Schalke came out fighting in the second half, with Leon Goretzka and a bobbly pitch beating Yann Sommer before Nabil Bentaleb scored what was effectively the winner with a controversially-awarded penalty.

Gladbach with a slight advantage

This was the third time in less than two weeks that the two sides have met. After Gladbach won 4-2 at Borussia-Park in the Bundesliga 12 days earlier, they drew 1-1 at the Veltins-Arena last Thursday, with Dieter Hecking’s side coming into the second leg with the advantage of an away goal.

They would have to do without Lars Stindl though, who failed to recover from a hip problem, but Raffael returned after missing their defeat against Hamburger SV on Sunday. Timothée Kolodziejczak, first leg scorer Jonas Hofmann and Tobias Strobl also dropped out from the first match, with Jannik Vestergaard, Christoph Kramer, Patrick Herrmann and Josip Drmic starting.

Schalke made two changes from the first leg, with Alessandro Schöpf and Benjamin Stambouli dropping to the bench, and Bentaleb and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting coming in. Goretzka also returned having missed the weekend win against FC Augsburg with a thigh injury, whilst Sead Kolasinac had shook off a calf problem.

Dahood stunner puts Gladbach firmly in control

After a cagey start, it was Schalke who made the initial attempts to find the goal they needed. In-form Guido Burgstaller went wide on a couple of occasions whilst Johannes Geis had a shot saved by Yann Sommer.

Before they would take the lead, Gladbach had the best chance to score. Drmic hasn’t scored since playing for Hamburger SV last February, and he couldn’t have asked for a better chance to end that drought, however his unmarked header from Raffael’s cross went wide. Raffael himself then had a decent curling effort go wide.

Drmic would though get an assist when his side did score. He headed a free-kick from Raffael into the path of Christensen, whose shot may have gone wide, but a wicked deflection of Benedikt Höwedes sent it past a caught-out Ralf Fährmann.

Schalke, and particularly Goretzka, had their chances to level the match and the tie. His first shot was well saved by Sommer, before Choupo-Moting put the rebound over. The best was perhaps when a Kolasinac cross was put in his path via Daniel Caligiuri, but his strike lacked direction and went over.

In stoppage time they had a further chance on the break, but Choupo-Moting took too long on the ball and was disposed. Gladbach countered, with Raffael finding Dahood. The young midfielder, from a little way outside the box, struck the ball brilliantly, beating Fährmann into the roof of the net.

Schalke stage dramatic comeback

Schalke, who brought on Max Meyer at the break, started brightly and it came as little surprise when they pulled a goal back, although it was their other young midfielder who got it.

Vestergaard’s clearance of a Burgstaler cross was poor, falling straight to Goretzka. He’s low shot wouldn’t have beaten Sommer though if not for the ball bobbling right in front him, which was enough to take it over the Swiss goalkeeper.

Schalke had their tails up, but the game remained open. There was then a controversial call though from referee Mark Clattenburg – a cross from Choupo-Moting was headed by Strobl onto the arm of Dahood. There was little he could do, but the Englishmen pointed to the spot, and Bentaleb converted from the spot to put Schalke level on the night and ahead on away goals

It remained end-to-end with the hosts now having to score. Dahood had another decent strike go over, with Raffael having a shot blocked by Christensen. Schalke had one great chance but Caligiuri fell victim to a great tackle from Vestergaard.

Gladback piled on the pressure in the closing stages, but it wasn’t to be. Dahood cracked another shot after chesting the ball down, with Raffael getting a touch on the way through to Fährmann, but he was offside in any case. That was as close as they got, and Schalke, having looked out of it at half time, progressed.