Schalke lost to Real Madrid in final pre-season test
| Christof Koepsel/Getty Images |
Schalke played host to European giants Real Madrid on the occasion of Veltins-Arena’s 25th anniversary. Despite the 3-0 defeat to Jose Mourinho’s star-studded side, the hosts performed admirably with no summer signing in their starting lineup.
On his first game back from finishing top-scorer at the World Cup, Kylian Mbappé opened the scoring in the sixth minute after he intercepted Ron Schallenberg’s poor backpass for Loris Karius. Dean Huijsen doubled Real Madrid’s advantage with a powerful header from Arda Güler’s corner-kick.
Former RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande made his debut for his new club minutes after fellow new signing Carlos Espi netted the third for Los Blancos. Edin Džeko, who was looking forward to playing against his former coach, entered as a substitute ten minutes from time as he played his first game since re-joining Schalke.
Huub Stevens, Clemens Toennies and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar were among several former Schalke figures present for the special day at Veltins-Arena.
