Dynamo Dresden beat Schalke 04 2-0 in the DFB-Pokal, and it felt familiar

Schalke 04 came to the Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion as the division above, and left with nothing to show for it. Dynamo Dresden, playing in Germany's second tier, beat them 2-0 in the DFB-Pokal second round on Wednesday night, a goal in each half enough to send the hosts through to the round of 16.

It took until the second half for the game to break open. Patrice Covic put Dresden ahead in the 53rd minute, and Christoph Daferner, on from the bench, headed in a second in the 88th after Schalke goalkeeper Loris Karius misjudged a corner kick. By then Schalke had nothing left to find an equaliser with.

A scoreline Schalke has seen before

For Schalke, there was a grim familiarity to the whole night. Dynamo Dresden beat them by the exact same score, 2-0, in the DFB-Pokal twelve years earlier — also with Dresden the lower-division side and Schalke the Bundesliga name expected to go through. Wednesday's result was also Schalke's sixth straight second-round exit from the competition, a run that has turned the early rounds of the cup into one of the club's most reliable sources of embarrassment.

Match facts

• 53' — Patrice Covic (Dynamo Dresden)
• 88' — Christoph Daferner (Dynamo Dresden), heading in after Karius misjudged a corner

Edin Dzeko couldn't find a way through

Schalke actually had the better of the underlying numbers — more shots on target, more corners, more of the ball in the closing stages as they chased the game — but could not turn any of it into a goal. Edin Dzeko and Hwang Hee-Chan were both booked in the first half as the frustration built, and five yellow cards for the visitors by full time told its own story of a night that got away from them.

A tough month got tougher

The cup exit arrived in the middle of a shapeless run of league form. Schalke had drawn with Bayern Munich and beaten Union Berlin at the start of September, but the weeks since have produced little: a loss away at Freiburg, a home defeat to Mainz, and a goalless draw at Cologne in their last league outing before this tie. One win, two draws and two defeats in their last five games, with four scored and four conceded, is not form that survives a trip to a cup tie many assumed would be routine.

What's next

Dynamo Dresden move into the DFB-Pokal round of 16, scheduled for 1-2 December 2026. The draw for that round has not yet been made, so Dresden's next opponent is still unknown — for now, the second-tier side can simply enjoy having gone further than the Bundesliga club they were drawn against, for the second time in the competition's history.