2. Bundesliga: Schalke remain top despite draw in Darmstadt

Darmstadt’s in-form goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen was the first to be called upon when he denied Schalke’s skipper Kenan Karaman. Dejan Ljubicic also had a great opportunity to put the visitors ahead before Darmstadt’s first clear-cut chance.

Fabian Nürnberger’s persistence eventually led to a bizarre own-goal by Anderlecht loanee Moussa Ndiaye, but the goal was chalked off for a foul after a VAR check. Minutes later, there was another concern for Florian Khofeldt as Luca Marseiler was stretched off the pitch after picking up a knee injury without any contact.

Schalke continued to dominate the game with Nikola Katic and Adil Aouchiche knocking on the door before their deserved lead through set-piece play. Moussa Sylla was at the exit door in the January transfer window, but he scored once again in this fixture after replacing the suspended Edin Džeko in the lineup.

However, Sylla’s goal wasn’t the solitary strike on this one. 2. Bundesliga’s talisman Isac Lidberg leveled the score before the half-time break by showing his goalscoring instinct for his 14th of the league season.

The hosts came out as a much better side after the restart with the Swede striker’s sixth goal in three games against Schalke seeming to change the momentum. Both goalkeepers made decent saves inside the first twenty minutes as the clash to go top before the international break intensified.

Fraser Hornby had a solid second-half on his return to the side after three matches, but the hosts lacked the cutting edge in front of goal. On the other side, Christian Gomis squandered a perfect opportunity to capitalize on a rare defensive mistake by Darmstadt. Timo Becker also had two decent chances to score his first goal for Schalke.

Darmstadt are still unbeaten in front of their fans this season, although their seven-game winning streak finally came to an end. Schalke will remain in top spot as fifth-placed Hannover are only three points behind them with seven rounds to go.