Gelsenkirchen (Germany), May 8: Schalke clinched promotion back to the Bundesliga after coming from two goals down to beat St. Pauli 3-2.
Rodrigo Zalazar grabbed the winner in the 78th minute shortly after Simon Terodde equalized for Schalke on Saturday. Terodde started the comeback with a penalty in the 47th after Igor Matanovic scored twice in the first half for the visitors.
Schalke, which was relegated from Germany’s top division last season, is guaranteed to finish among the top two in the second division irrespective of results in the final round next weekend.
Hamburger SV, Darmstadt and Werder Bremen were all five points behind, while St. Pauli has only a mathematical chance of promotion a further three points back. Bremen visits Erzgebirge Aue on Sunday and then there’s one final round the following Sunday.
St. Pauli finished the game in Gelsenkirchen with nine players as the 19-year-old Marcel Beifus was shown a straight red card for a bad foul on Florian Flick, and goal-scorer Matanovic was sent off late with two yellow cards.
Schalke fans stormed the field and players broke down in tears as other supporters set off pyrotechnics to celebrate the team’s return to the Bundesliga. (AP)
