Schalke 04 jubilant after late win at Lok Leipzig

FC Schalke 04 overcame the opening hurdle in the DFB Cup with great difficulty in extra time. The second-division soccer club came to a hard-fought 1:0 (0:0) victory at the North-East regional league champions 1. FC Lok Leipzig. Substitute Bryan Lasme (107th minute) redeemed the Royal Blues with his winning goal in front of 11,900 spectators in the sold-out Bruno Plache Stadium.

Before kick-off, a Leipzig choreography recalled the historic DFB Cup victory in 1937, when Lok's predecessor club VfB beat Schalke 2-1 in the final. The game then got off to a furious start. Lok keeper Andreas Neumann made two saves (8th/9th minute) to prevent Schalke from taking an early lead, as captain Kenan Karaman (meniscus injury) returned to the field for the first time.

Interruption after insult?

After 14 minutes, referee Max Burda interrupted the match due to suspected discriminatory remarks. Schalke's Christopher Antwi-Adjei complained to the linesman during a throw-in due to comments made by Lok supporters. After being told by the stadium announcer that discriminatory shouts should be avoided, the match was resumed after a two-minute interruption. Lok spokesman Carsten Maschulle told the TV channel Sky during the half-time break: "We couldn't verify it in the end either." During the half-time break, the visitors made a post on Platform X with the words: "STEHTAUF gegen Rassismus" (Stand up against racism).

The match increasingly developed into an open exchange of blows, even though the visitors had more of the play. Schalke keeper Justin Heekeren, who was preferred to regular goalkeeper Loris Karius, made several strong saves before the break to prevent the hosts from taking the lead. After the changeover, Lok, whose coach Jochen Seitz (2003/2004) once played for Schalke under coach Jupp Heynckes, continued to hold out.

The Royal Blues became more active after an hour, but lacked creative ideas. In the 82nd minute, Moussa Sylla only hit the crossbar of the Lok goal. The favorites had to go into extra time. Schalke missed further chances to score, such as Sylla (101') from seven meters. Lok keeper Naumann also saved against Bryan Lasme four minutes later. He was then powerless against Lasme's tight shot into the bottom left corner in the 107th minute.