FC Schalke 04 took a hard-fought point home from their arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund in the 171st Ruhr Derby on matchday 9. Following a run of three consecutive BVB now find themselves eight points off the top of the table in fifth place, while the Royal Blues are twelfth with eight points.
Schalke were the more assertive side in the first half of the eventful 0-0, but it wasn’t enough to end their rivals’ impressive home run of 26 league games without defeat.
High commitment, low quality
Both sides played with high intensity and passion, but the quality in front of goal was lacking for large spells of the match. For all the hard running, there were few chances at either end. Franco Di Santo, who replaced the injured Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in the starting XI, saw his effort blocked at the last moment by BVB keeper Roman Bürki.
Things were much better in the opening moments of the second half. BVB felt they should have had a penalty after a supposed handball from Benedikt Höwedes, Sead Kolasinac then had the best chance of the game, but was unable to beat Bürki, before Ousmane Dembélé hit the crossbar.
Götze denied by Bürki
As the game edged closer to its end, BVB invested more and more going forward, as Mario Götze came close following a fine one-two with Dembélé. Shortly afterwards, Kolasinac pulled off a heroic last-ditch block to prevent Christian Pulisic from grabbing the winner.
FC Schalke 04 took a hard-fought point home from their arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund in the 171st Ruhr Derby on matchday 9. Following a run of three consecutive BVB now find themselves eight points off the top of the table in fifth place, while the Royal Blues are twelfth with eight points.
Schalke were the more assertive side in the first half of the eventful 0-0, but it wasn’t enough to end their rivals’ impressive home run of 26 league games without defeat.
High commitment, low quality
Both sides played with high intensity and passion, but the quality in front of goal was lacking for large spells of the match. For all the hard running, there were few chances at either end. Franco Di Santo, who replaced the injured Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in the starting XI, saw his effort blocked at the last moment by BVB keeper Roman Bürki.
Things were much better in the opening moments of the second half. BVB felt they should have had a penalty after a supposed handball from Benedikt Höwedes, Sead Kolasinac then had the best chance of the game, but was unable to beat Bürki, before Ousmane Dembélé hit the crossbar.
Götze denied by Bürki
As the game edged closer to its end, BVB invested more and more going forward, as Mario Götze came close following a fine one-two with Dembélé. Shortly afterwards, Kolasinac pulled off a heroic last-ditch block to prevent Christian Pulisic from grabbing the winner.
