Wasteful Schalke break unwanted Bundesliga record with winless away run

Schalke remain rooted to the bottom of the Bundesliga table and broke a miserable record with a 36th consecutive away match without victory on Saturday.

The seven-time German champions, who were promoted back to the Bundesliga last season, have not won away from home in the top flight since a 2-1 success at Werder Bremen in November 2019.

A 3-0 reverse at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt extended their wretched barren run to 36 matches, moving clear of Karlsruher’s prior record – a 35-match sequence that ended in 1981.

The Eintracht loss just about summed up Schalke’s season, with the comfortable margin of victory for the home side belying a match in which the visitors enjoyed the better of the chances.

Their 19 attempts – worth a combined 1.9 expected goals (xG) – failed to yield a goal, however, and Eintracht picked their opponents off by scoring with each of their three shots on target, including two in the closing stages.

36 – FC Schalke 04 have now gone 36 consecutive away games without a win in the Bundesliga, a new record for the longest run of away games without a victory in the competition. Drought. #SGES04

— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) January 21, 2023

Schalke have scored only 13 goals this season from shots worth 18.2 xG. Ahead of Saturday’s late match in the Bundesliga, that underperformance of 5.2 xG was comfortably the biggest in the division.

Striker Simon Terodde, who squandered three chances, told Sky Sport: “We had a lot of chances to score before the break but also afterwards.

“Frankfurt were ice cold. Three chances, three shots on goal – they all went in.”

Coach Thomas Reis, whose side are five points adrift of nearest rivals Hertha Berlin at the bottom, added he “enjoyed” Schalke’s performance but acknowledged they were undone by “individual moments”.

“Frankfurt capitalised on their few opportunities,” he said.