Schalke, as has been the case under Fred Rutten, played very cautious and was in no mood to let the match open up. Werder’s efforts were mostly seeing-eye types, long range speculations with little chance such as Alexandros Tzioli’s shot from outside the box after fifteen minutes or Hugo Almeida’s at thirty minutes and it was very obvious that Schalke was locking down the match as best as it could.
After the break, the home side took a leader early when Benedikt Höwedes headed in a set play and with a 1-0 lead, Schalke tried to tighten up play further. However six minutes before the hour Markus Rosenberg tried his chances for the right side of the box and although his attempt was saved by the Schalke goalkeeper, opportunities were becoming more frequent. Being more aggressive, Werder started to have a number of respectable chances, Torsten Frings cross to Per Mertesacker was headed wide before the hour and Naldo’s free-kick with twenty-one minutes remaining was “close” but close just isn’t good enough. Desperation was a obvious theme amongst Werder as in the final minutes Tim Wiese crashed forward into the Schalke side but they coundn’t break through and come home with their second consecutive defeat.
