A tale of two halves

Düsseldorf went into Friday night's Bundesliga contest as the only top-flight team in Europe that had yet to concede a goal in league play. Despite the fact that they had been struggling to put the ball in the net at the other end, with just four goals to their account, the newly promoted side started the game in a very respectable fifth place in the table.

When the evening was over, Düsseldorf remained in fifth place, but their record of clean sheets has finally come to an end.

Perhaps surprisingly, it was the newcomers who produced the first legitimate scoring opportunity of the game, but Dani Schahin missed a golden chance to put Düsseldorf up in the fourth minute, putting his diving header well wide of Lars Unnerstall's goal.

Schalke broke Düsseldorf's long-standing defensive goose egg in the 13th minute of the match, with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar taking the ball from a throw in, scooting past a couple of defenders at the top of the box and hammering the ball half-high, beating keeper Fabian Giefer to the short side.

Schalke in complete control

The visitors really began to seize control of the match six minutes later, when Joel Matip got on the end of a Christian Fuchs free kick with a solid header, forcing Giefer to pick the ball out of his net for a second time.

After those three good chances within the first 20 minutes, the first half degenerated into a rather dull affair, with nothing in the way of penalty-area incidents to report.

Düsseldorf, though, came out of the dressing room determined to get back into the contest and did so very quickly indeed, with Schahin making up for his missed chance early in the first half, scoring with a cheeky flick – almost an air-born back-heel – off a corner, beating Unnerstall. That made the score 2-1 in the 48th minute.

That goal seemed to bring the two sides back to life and just before the hour mark, Giefer was forced to be sharp as Huntelaar threatened to again extend Schalke's lead to two goals.

Schahin does it again

Instead though, it would be Düsseldorf who would strike next, evening the score. Schahin completed his brace with a goal that looked like a carbon copy of the one that wasn't in the fourth minute - except this time Schahin was able to direct his header off Tobias Levels' cross into the back of the net. That made it 2-2 in the 77th minute.

A few minutes later, Schahin, whose second goal of the match was his fourth of the season, was subbed off to a rousing ovation from the more than 54,000 spectators in Düsseldorf's home ground.

As referee Peter Gagelmann blew his final whistle after adding just a shade over a minute of injury time, the always animated Düsseldorf coach Norbert Meier embraced one of his assistants, satisfied with the single point his side had earned after looking completely out of it at the half.

Schalke Coach Huub Stevens will be left to wonder why his team let slip away what, after 45 minutes, looked like a certain three points on the road. In so doing, Schalke squandered its chance to move into second in the table behind Bayern Munich. Newly promoted Düsseldorf can take satisfaction in remaining undefeated in their first six games back in the top flight.