Schalke broke a streak of 30 games on Saturday without knowing the victory – the last was on January 17, 2020 – by beating Hoffenheim 4-0, which also allows them to stop being bottom of the Bundesliga. The victory allowed the Gelsenkirchen team not to match the worst winless streak in German football's top flight, held by Tasmania Berlin (31 games without a win in 1965-66, their only season in it.
The new bottom is Mainz, who lost at home 0-2 to Eintracht Frankfurt, who won thanks to two penalty goals from Portuguese André Silva.
The victory gives Schalke hope of starting a comeback that will give them permanence and also spared them the embarrassment of matching Tasmania Berlin's negative record. The main protagonist of Schalke's triumph was Mathew Hoppe, a 19-year-old American from the second team, who scored three of the four goals. The other protagonist was Amin Harit, who made all three passes for Hoppe's goals and scored the fourth.
The win, if you take into account what was seen on the field, was somewhat exaggerated. In the first half, Hoffenheim had several chances to get ahead.
Hoppe's first goal, in the 41st minute on a counterattack, seemed to be liberating for Schalke, who can now start to look at the third-to-last place, which Arminia Bielefeld occupies with three more points, and that would save them from direct relegation.
Bielefeld have one game less than Schalke, but Cologne, who have four more points, have the same games and have been thrashed by Freiburg 5-0.
Bayer Leverkusen, meanwhile, did not go from a draw to a goal against Werder Bremen and completed three games without knowing the victory Union Berlin drew 2-2 with Wolfsburg and is still in the fight for the European squares, which no one would have expected the start of the season
Wolfsburg began winning with a goal from Renano Steffen in the 10th minute. Earlier, in minute 2, the Union had had a great chance on empty goal at the feet of Sheraldo Becker.
Becker himself made up for his mistake and scored the tying goal in the 29th minute. In the second half, the Union took the lead with a free-kick from Robert Andrich in the 52nd minute and from then on was outnumbered by the expulsion of Maximilian Arnols.
However, Wolfsburg found the tie, with a penalty goal from Wout Weghorst, and, like the Union, they are still in the fight for the Champions League places.