Wolfsburg miss penalty in Schalke stalemate
As the Bundesliga’s basement club, Schalke’s game plan most likely wouldn’t have included giving a penalty away inside 10 minutes.
Alas, when Moritz Jenz charged into the back of Alex Kral inside the penalty area, that’s exactly what happened.
Thankfully for Schalke, Maximilian Arnold, who after a short VAR check stepped up to take the penalty, fired it against the left-hand post, keeping the scoreline level in the process.
The miss offered a reprieve for the home side, whose only major chance of the half was headed wide by Kral.
If Schalke had felt luck was on their side in the first half, the pendulum swung early in the second period, with a marginal offside call going against the side from the Ruhr.
Kral, who had come close in the first 45 minutes, this time was able to find the net with a well-timed swept finish into the bottom left-hand corner.
Minutes after the celebrations had died down, referee Benjamin Brand was forced to rule the goal out, with replays suggesting Kral had strayed ever so slightly offside.
As if one offside goal wasn’t bad enough, how about a second? This time, Michael Frey was the man to rocket home an emphatic net-busting strike, only for the assistant referee’s flag to be raised and cut the party inside the Veltins-Arena short.
The goalless draw - Schalke’s third in a row - is perhaps a cruel reflection of how dominant Wolfsburg were in this contest, with the home side doubling their visitors’ attempts on goal.
Ultimately, while they may have been good money for the victory against Wolfsburg, the side from Gelsenkirchen remains bottom of the Bundesliga table, with a return to 2. Bundesliga looking like a distinct possibility.