Karlsruhe defeats Leverkusen 1-0

Fighting relegation down to the last second Karlsruhe pulled off a stunning upset as they defeated Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1-0 in Düsseldorf. The result pulls KSC within only a few points of safety while continuing Werkself's complete collapse since the start of the Rückrunde which as has them only win once.

Clearly fatigued from the mid-week extra-time DFB Pokal win, Bayer 04 controlled the run of play but were unable to paint the final stroke. With only Michal Kadlec out of the lineup it was simply the indefensible spirit that shone through in Düsseldorf as Edmund Becker fought for a full ninety-minutes. While facing relegation KSC wouldn't play "safe" and proceeded to play highly attacking football from the start. After early opportunities from Joshua Kennedy came up empty-handed it was Leverkusen who had the majority of chances. Searching for solutions Bruno Labbadia substituted Gonzalo Castro and Angelos Charisteas for Arturo Vidal and Patrick Helmes but that failed to do the trick and with eighteen minutes left, the walls caved in as René Adler allowed Sebastian Langkamp's sliding clearance from 40 metres to get behind him and into the net. Following the shock goal Bayer 04 came close for the leveler but it couldn't be found and they lost 1-0.

Jürgen Klopp on Karlsruhe match

Speaking of tomorrows match against Karlsruhe Jürgen Klopp said:

"Everything points to this match being a real battle. Karlsruhe wants to dramatically better their situation in this match. Their team had quality and will be spurred on by their fans. Our task is to make things unpleasant for our opponents."

Hinting at uber-secretive scouting he added:

"I am from the area and I´ll have a few people at KSC´s training session."

Sounds interesting but there really is nothing secretive about Karlsruhe as excluding a poor two match run where they were blown out by Schalke 04 and TSG Hoffenheim, they are competitive in every match and finding a way to wind up on the wrong end of the score. They are a completely different squad when playing at home in the cozy Wildparkstadion as Bayer Leverkusen found out recently in their 3-3 draw as they fought back with three unanswered goals to earn a point. Aussie Joshua Kennedy and Georgian international Alexander Iashvili are significant problem although both might be impacted with short lay-off in the international break.

Preview and injury report to follow.

if only it was snowing in Karlsruhe

Half a days drive south from Gelsenkirchen is one of French Alps best resorts, Courchevel and with die Königsblauen traveling to Karlsruher to face KSC, the match would have been a perfect stop in a road-trip. However it's not snowing so it looks like my quaint segue will go nowhere and I'll have to use it another time.

After a disheartening draw last weekend against Arminia Bielefeld manager Fred Rutten and is demanding results against Karlsruher SC today and Energie Cottbus this Saturday. KSC is in the midst of a three-match losing streak that started with a well-played loss to Bayern at the Wildparkstadion and followed up with away losses to Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Mönchengladbach who thankfully returned to the Bundesliga this year.

Over the last twelve years trips to Karlsruher, Schalke has been unable to produce a victory. While upset with the outcome of the last match, Fred Ruten is optimistic:

"The players are in excellent mental and physical shape. We're top fit. Though we were held to a 0-0 draw by Bielefeld around 44 hours after the final whistle of our UEFA Cup tie against PSG, that had nothing to do with our fitness. We just lacked a bit of luck."

Heiko Westermann will return for die Königsblauen but with the exception of Christian Pander and of-course Gustavo Varela and Carlos Grossmüller relegated to the reserves the full squad is available. The only deletion of KSC's lineup is Michael Mutzel.