Schalke sink Hertha to get off to perfect start in 2. Bundesliga | OneFootball

First half

In an electric Veltins Arena, the Miron Muslic era was underway in Gelsenkirchen as both Schalke and Hertha looked to open their respective campaigns positively.

With this now being the third successive year that both clubs have been in the second tier, a swift exit is craved by supporters, and the hosts could not have gotten off to a better start as they look to make that happen.

After being in charge of proceedings throughout the early stages, Schalke took the lead just after 15 minutes in, after some great determination from Peter Remmert allowed him to slide the ball across to Moussa Sylla, who sent the ball rolling into the bottom left corner of Tjark Ernst's net.

With the Veltins Arena rocking, the second goal would come just seven minutes later, as Nikola Katic met an outswinging corner from Christopher Antwi-Adjej.

Schalke supporters were celebrating every throw-in, every tackle, and the place felt like a cauldron in comparison to last term. It could have been 3-0 close to half time, however, Remmert fired over from 10 yards out following a poor parry from Ernst.

With the hosts in charge, Hertha had a lot to do in the second half after not having much of a say throughout the first half.

Second half

The visitors had much more of the ball than they managed to during the opening half, however, Die Alte Dame struggled to cause a resolute Schalke defence any problems of note during the opening minutes of the second period.

This would only benefit the hosts as they began to claw back their control of the match, and in the 59th minute, they came close to adding a third through Remmert, who nodded the ball a couple of yards wide from inside the box. Moments later, the 20-year-old would be replaced by Max Grüger after a tireless performance.

The visitors threw on Marten Winkler and John Thoresteinsson as they looked to claw themselves back into the encounter; however, with 20 left to play, it was beginning to look as if it was getting away from Hertha, with Schalke still more than comfortable both in and out of possession.

However, in the 89th minute, the visitors were able to drag themselves back into it to kickstart a tension-filled period of added time, as Sebastian Grønning prodded home from inside the box following a low cross.

With five minutes of added time, the hosts were finally under pressure after going the majority of the clash without it.

With Schalke goalkeeper Loris Karius going into the book for taking too long with a goal kick, the hosts simply wanted the whistle to blow after being in the ascendancy for so long.

In the dying seconds of the match, goalscorer Katic was sent off for a mid-air handball, as he batted the ball away following a long Hertha switch.

And with the final kick of the match, Fabian Reese sent the subsequent free kick flying over the bar to see Schalke get the perfect start under Miron Muslic, with three points to open the 2025/26 2. Bundesliga campaign.