After losing Orlando Engelaar to a straight red-card seven minutes after the break, die Königsblauen scored twice late in the match to defeat Energie Cottbus at the Stadion der Freundschaft.The match was without significant scoring opportunities before the break as the Lausitzer mid-field of Marco Kurth, Ervin Skela, Timo Rost and Stiven Rivić put on a defensive clinic and up to that point were the collective "man-of-the-match". Schalke was noticeably frustrated and the fifty-second minute Orlando Engelaar objected to linesman Norbert Grudzinski call and in a fit of rage he reacted with a hand-gesture that you can guess and was shown a straight red-card and will likely attract further disciplinary action. A few minutes after Fred Rutten brought in Jefferson Farfán for Halil Altıntop in a move that would pay off later. However playing a man down the home side started to push for the winning goal and came close with twenty-two minutes remaining with Emil Jula's effort. Finally with ten minutes remaining die Königsblauen broke through at Farfán's free-kick was flicked-in by Heiko Westermann. With a 1-0 lead, the hosts were looking for a tying goal but were susceptible to the counter and Schalke began to threaten on the counter-attack. As regulation time was winding down Daniel Ziebig was called for bringing down Kevin Kurányi in the area. Jefferson Farfán stepped up to the spot and after Gerhard Tremmel saved his attempt, he jumped on the rebound and drove the ball into the net. Considering die Königsblauen played nearly half of the match handicapped a man-down it was a great performance and something they can build upon.
Schalke begins a wild nine-day stretch now where they meet Racing Santander in the UEFA Cup followed up by Bayern on Sunday and Leverkusen the following week.
