Newly promoted Schalke get their first Bundesliga win, beating Union Berlin 3-1 with two goals in stoppage time

It took three matchdays, but Schalke 04 have their first Bundesliga win back in the top flight. The newly promoted side beat 1. FC Union Berlin 3-1 at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei on Friday night, a result built in the first half and confirmed, dramatically, deep into stoppage time.

Robin Gosens gave Schalke the lead in the 25th minute with a volley that came back off the post and in, meeting a cross from the right. Three minutes into the second half Adil Aouchiche doubled the advantage, his effort going in off the crossbar after Junior Adamu had teed him up, and for long stretches after that it looked like a comfortable night for the visitors — right up until Union found a way back in.

A grandstand finish

Tim Skarke headed Union back into the game in the sixth minute of stoppage time, converting a Tom Rothe cross to make it 2-1 and set up a nervy finish for a Schalke side that had led by two goals for the best part of an hour. It did not last. Seven minutes later, in the 13th minute of stoppage time, Maximilian Wöber finished off a counterattack — set up by Hee-Chan Hwang — to restore the two-goal cushion and put the result beyond doubt.

Match facts

• 25' — Robin Gosens (Schalke 04)
• 48' — Adil Aouchiche (Schalke 04), assisted by Junior Adamu
• 90+6' — Tim Skarke (1. FC Union Berlin), assisted by Tom Rothe
• 90+13' — Maximilian Wöber (Schalke 04), assisted by Hee-Chan Hwang

Loris Karius, the Schalke goalkeeper making his return to regular Bundesliga football after years away from the German top flight, was named Player of the Match for saves that denied Kevin Schäfer, Rothe and Skarke at various points — the difference between a nervy finish and a genuinely lost lead.

Two sides that badly needed a result

Both clubs arrived at this game without a win. Union had drawn 3-3 with Eintracht Frankfurt on the opening weekend before losing 4-0 to Bayer Leverkusen, leaving them without a victory and with the division's joint-worst goal difference heading into matchday 3. Schalke's own start had been rockier still: a 3-0 defeat to Augsburg followed by a battling 0-0 draw away to Bayern Munich, a result that hinted at defensive resilience without pointing to where the goals would come from. Friday night answered that question — three goals from three different players, two of them arriving when the game looked to be sliding away from them.

The result flips the early relegation picture for both sides. Union had gone into the weekend 15th with a single point from two games; Schalke had sat 14th on the same tally. Schalke's win is their first at this level since returning to the Bundesliga, and gives newly promoted supporters something they did not have after the first two matchdays — daylight between themselves and the bottom of the table.