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On Friday evening, one of the Bundesliga matches was played in Germany - the league leader "Schalke" met one of the underdogs, "Bochum," at home and won after a fierce battle.
"Schalke" 2 - 1 "Bochum" 19‘ [1 - 0] Marcio Rafinha 27‘ [2 - 0] Peter Lovenkrands 49‘ [2 - 1] Theofanis Gekas
66‘ Heiko Butscher ("Bochum") was sent off 67‘ Levan Kobiashvili ("Schalke") missed a penalty kick
The first opportunity of the match was created in the 8th minute when "Bochum's" striker Theofanis Gekas broke away from the hosts' defenders and shot towards the goal, but the ball was saved by "Schalke's" goalkeeper Manuel Neuer with his feet. Shortly after, the hosts responded with an attack when a shot from Peter Lovenkrands was saved by "Bochum's" goalkeeper Peter Skovo-Jensen.
However, just a minute later, the visitors had to retrieve the ball from their net when "Schalke's" right-back Marcio Rafinha beat P. Skovo-Jensen from a sharp angle. The "Bochum" players were a bit lost, and in the 27th minute, after a mistake by the visitors' defenders, the ball was passed to P. Lovenkrands, who was left alone against the goalkeeper and sent the ball past him with his left foot.
In the closing minutes of the first half, after a corner kick, "Schalke's" Georgian player Levan Kobiashvili hit the "Bochum" goalkeeper directly. At the end of the first half, the teams went to rest with the scoreboard showing 2-0 in favor of the hosts.
At the beginning of the second half, the aggressive "Bochum" players immediately reached their goal - after a lifted ball from the left side by Philippo Bonig, T. Gekas directed it towards the bottom corner with his head.
In the 66th minute, P. Lovenkrands was illegally stopped in the penalty area by Heiko Butscher, and the referee not only awarded a penalty kick but also sent the defender off the field. L. Kobiashvili took the penalty kick, but the goalkeeper P. Skovo-Jensen guessed the direction of his shot and gave his team hope.
As the match approached its end, T. Gekas' shot flew over the goal, and in the 84th minute, after a corner kick, "Schalke's" goalkeeper M. Neuer once again saved his team by heading away Pavelo Drseko's shot. Despite the visitors' efforts to equalize, "Schalke's" defense worked flawlessly and helped the team secure another victory.
After this win, "Schalke" remains the leaders of the league, while "Bochum" stays in 16th place.
