Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored twice as Schalke 04 came from behind to salvage a 3-3 draw against visiting Hamburg SV in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
The Dutch striker opened the scoring within two minutes when Julian Draxler sent a perfect pass for him to surprise Rena Adler with a long-range shot.
The visitors were given some help in the 12th minute when Joel Matip was adjudged to have handled the ball from Marcell Jansen’s cross and Rafael van der Vaart duly converted from the penalty spot.
Photo: AFP
Draxler had to go off in the 23rd minute with what appeared to be an injury to his left foot, allowing the highly rated Leon Goretzka to come on for his Bundesliga debut.
It got worse for Schalke a minute later when Maximilian Beister crashed his header off the crossbar. The rebound bounced in front of the line, against unfortunate goalkeeper Timo Hildebrandt and into the net.
Huntelaar equalized just before the break, though, meeting Christian Fuchs’ cross to head unopposed past Adler.
Photo: AFP
Beister should have scored his second only to be denied by Hildebrandt, but Lasse Sobiech put Hamburg 3-2 up with a header from a poorly defended corner in the 49th minute.
“We start by conceding three goals at home. That’s way too many. We weren’t in the game at all in the first half, but we did a lot right in the second half,” Schalke coach Jens Keller said.
Adler denied substitute Adam Szalai from close range in the 69th minute, but the Hungary international striker pounced to score in the 72nd minute when the goalkeeper failed to hold on to Christian Clemens’ long-range shot.
“We fell asleep for two of the goals. It shouldn’t happen, but it did, unfortunately,” Van der Vaart said. “Otherwise we played very well.”
Huntelaar became a father to a baby girl on Tuesday, but was left dissatisfied, despite his two goals.
“Normally we have to win at home. We’re not happy about that,” Huntelaar said.
Earlier, Japan striker Shinji Okazaki scored on his Bundesliga debut for FSV Mainz 05 in a 3-2 win over his former side VfB Stuttgart.
“Shinji was very unlucky with us last year,” Stuttgart coach Bruno Labbadia said. “The goal that he now scores against us was offside. The referee gave an unfortunate performance. I told him this quite factually.”
Nicolai Mueller scored twice for the home side, opening his account in the 14th minute when he dispossessed Gotoku Sakai, skipped past Benedikt Roecker and shot inside the right post.
Vedad Ibisevic equalized two minutes later with one touch from Ibrahima Traore’s cross.
Okazaki put Stuttgart back in front in the 65th minute, latching on to Zdenek Pospech’s cross, turning inside a defender and sending the ball inside the post. TV replays showed the forward was marginally offside when he received the ball.
Mueller grabbed his second in the 78th minute, four minutes before Martin Harnik scored what proved to be a consolation.
“We deserved the three points, but it was a thick plank to drill through,” Mainz coach Thomas Tuchel said. “I think it’s noteworthy that Stuttgart are no longer automatically the favorites when they come to us.”
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