Schalke with three goals, three points, and first Bundesliga win in three years | OneFootball

On a cloudy, seventeen-degree evening in the federal capital, 1. FC Union Berlin (0-1-1, 15th) played host to FC Schalke 04 (0-1-1, 14th) in the third matchweek of their 2026/27 Bundesliga campaigns at Stadion An der Alten Försterei.

Union Berlin, in their eighth Bundesliga season, managed to draw Eintracht Frankfurt 3-3 on the opening matchweek, but failed to land a single shot on target in an 0-4 defeat to Bayer 04 Leverkusen last weekend. As for Schalke, who return to the Bundesliga for the first time since 2022/23, they lost their opener 0-3 to FC Augsburg but managed to follow it with a scoreless draw against the reigning German champions, FC Bayern München.

This is the seventh meeting between the two sides in their histories, with the current head-to-head record an even 1-4-1. Schalke’s lone win came in 2019/20, a 2-1 result at Veltins-Arena - Union’s only victory was a dominant 6-1 result in the 2022/23 season, with that match also having been played in Gelsenkirchen. With the other sixteen teams yet to play their third matches, the winning side from this match would move up to seventh place in the table, and will likely be in the middle of the table by the time that all matches are complete on Sunday.

The hosts, in red, would kick off the match and go left to right in the opening term, with Schalke, in blue, going right to left when on the attack. It would take ten minutes for the visitors to get the first chance, as a through ball from Robin Gosens on the left side of the Union half would reach Kenan Karaman at the edge of the box. The Turkish striker and team captain saw enough space to direct a shot towards the top-left corner, and did not miss by much, as his right-footed attempt went over the hands of a jumping Frederik Rønnow and slightly over the bar.

Schalke would win a corner just five minutes later, whipped in near-post by Adil Aouchiche; the cross would be met by a powerful header from Dejan Ljubičić, but the Austrian attacking midfielder would send the ball well above the top-right corner and out of play. Aouchiche would then get another chance of his own in the nineteenth minute, but his right-footed curler towards the top-left corner was fantastically denied by a leaping Rønnow.

Around that same time, Ljubičić’s leg was caught by the boot of Aljoscha Kemlein in a challenge on the right side of the Union penalty area, and that caused the former to immediately request an early substitution due to injury concerns. Not willing to take any risks to a key player early in the season, Miron Muslić made a substitution, replacing the 28-year-old with 25-year-old France-born Cameroonian winger Junior Dina Ebimbe.

In the twenty-fourth minute, a cross from Soufiane El-Faouzi, from the right side of the Union half, deflected off the head of Leopold Querfeld and headed towards Robin Gosens - who volleyed the ball off the inside of the right post and into the bottom-left corner to give Schalke their first Bundesliga goal since promotion back to the top division. As big as the moment was for Gosens, who grew up a Schalke supporter, his celebrations were quite muted as it came against the club he played 31 matches for between 2023 and 2025 - but nevertheless, the visitors jumped in front on just their second shot on target at the Alte Försterei.

Union Berlin would follow with two chances in the minutes that followed: the first, a rolling shot into the gloves of Loris Karius courtesy Emmanuel Latte Lath, and the second, a cross from Croatian right-back Josip Juranović that was comfortably met by the hands of the 33-year-old German goalkeeper.

Schalke would go the other way, with a slicing through ball from Karaman reaching Aouchiche in a 2v1 opportunity. Aouchiche would send the ball past the left leg of Rønnow and rolling towards the line, but Tom Rothe would run into the open space in the goal area and hoof the ball well away from danger. Schalke would maintain possession in the minute that followed, and would create yet another close chance, as a shot from Junior Adamu on the right side of the box was blocked by the same leg of the 34-year-old Danish goalkeeper.

Four minutes from halftime, Aebischer launched a shot from distance, falling into the hands of Karius at the centre of the goal; this was followed by a similar, although more tame, attempt from El-Faouzi on the other side, one that Rønnow had no problem grabbing onto. Head official Timo Gerach would call both sides to the locker rooms after two minutes of first half stoppage time, with the Nordrhein-Westfalen side ahead by a goal to none.

Die Königsblauen were the better side in the opening term, outshooting Union 12-5 and 5-2 on target. Possession went 66% to Union, who also had a 15% better pass accuracy - 77% on 191 completions to 62% on just 81. The most notable statistic was touches in the opposing penalty area: despite getting the majority of the chances, they finished the opening term with just two more touches, sixteen compared to Union’s fourteen.

Karaman would make the opening kick of the second half, playing the ball back to Karius who would punt it long. Within thirty seconds, the ball landed into the right side of the box on a long ball from Ebimbe, landing in front of Adamu - who then set up Aouchiche to his right for a powerful right-footed shot inside the box that went off the bottom of the bar and over the line.

The flag went up for an apparent offside, but the review with video assistants Nicolas Winter and Justus Zorn eventually proved Aouchiche to be slightly onside at the time of the pass. Thus, Gerach’s final decision was that the goal stood; and Schalke were now ahead by two goals to none.

Marin Ljubičić, who entered in one of two changes for Mauro Lustrinelli’s Union to begin the second half, nearly pulled the hosts back within one just four minutes later. His right-footed shot from distance went past a couple of Schalke defenders, but a diving Karius was able to grab on with both hands. The other entrant, András Schäfer, had a chance of his own in the fifty-third minute, but Karius managed to punch it away with both hands.

In the fifty-fifth minute, Rani Khedira would make his way into the right side of the Schalke third before lifting a cross towards the left side of the goal area. Rothe got into the space, leaping above Nikola Katić to meet the ball - but his towering header went off the top of the bar and out for a goal kick. Jeong Woo-yeong hoped to create a similar chance from another left-footed cross a minute and a half later, but Karius read the play well, latching onto the ball with both hands.

For the second time in Union’s three matches, the match had to be halted due to an injury with an official. This time, it was the head referee, Timo Gerach, who appeared to be suffering issues with his right leg; after a seven minute delay, he went into the tunnel to receive assistance. It was ultimately determined in the sixty-seventh minute that 28-year-old fourth official Jarno Wienefeld would take over the main duties, eventually resuming play with a drop ball to the hosts two minutes later; Alexander Sather and Patrick Kessel remained on the sidelines.

Wienefeld’s first task of the day was to hand Marin Ljubičić a yellow card; not for the initial foul, which was a trip of the right leg of Katić, but for the reaction of the Croatian striker after the free kick was awarded. Uduokhai would then take the third yellow card of the evening for the hosts, sending Aouchiche to the ground while the latter shielded the ball from a clean sliding tackle..

In the eighty-second minute, Schalke would have a dangerous opportunity to increase their lead to three. It started with a failed clearance from Uduokhai, bouncing off the back of his head and back into the left side of the box for Aouchiche. From there, Aouchiche flicked a pass with the outside of his right boot to the penalty spot, where Adamu was placed for a one-on-one opportunity; the Austrian right midfielder tried to pick out the bottom-left corner, but Rønnow stretched out the right leg to knock it away.

Union would make them pay in the sixth of twelve additional stoppage time minutes, cutting the deficit in half. Rothe won a headed challenge against Ebimbe, setting up former Schalke attacking midfielder Tim Skarke, who was brought into the match for Latte Lath fifteen minutes earlier. Skarke hit a powerful left-footed volley past a charging Karius, off the inside of the bar, down and over the line.

In the eighth minute, a chance at the centre of the goal area from Rani Khedira was blocked by the leg of a sliding Vitalie Becker. Karius, who dove to the left, could not get up in time to face the rebound attempt from Skarke - but did just enough to prevent the equaliser by punching the ball away with both hands.

Two minutes later, Maximilian Wöber would secure Schalke’s first victory in the Bundesliga since 5. May 2023 (3-2 at 1. FSV Mainz 05), taking a pass from Hwang Hee-chan into the centre of the box from the right side of the Union third before smashing the ball into the bottom-right corner.

That would be the last kick of the match, as Schalke won their first match against Union since 29. November 2019, taking this one by three goals to one and moving up seven places for now, all the way up to seventh in the table. Schalke will look to earn their first winning record in the Bundesliga since 17. January 2020 (9-6-3), as they face another recently-promoted side in SV 07 Elversberg on Sunday, 20. September, with kickoff set for 17.30 (CET).

As for 1. FC Union Berlin, who remain fifteenth in the table, they will play the primetime match next Friday, looking to create a shocking result against FC Bayern München at Allianz Arena; kickoff for that match is set for 20.30 (CET).