Wagner makes Schalke believe again after springing a surprise at Leipzig | Andy Brassell

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The former Huddersfield manager has lifted his side into the top four with the help of a Welshman and a few tactical tweaks

“Der FC Schalke wird Deutscher Meister,” came the chant from the away section at Red Bull Arena – Schalke are going to be champions of Germany – a refrain that one can only imagined would have been delivered with ladles of sarcasm at the back end of a thrashing through most of last season. The mood of fatalism, lingering from the last campaign, was still detectable in the first few weeks of this new one, with memories fresh and the football not yet inspiring under the new stewardship of a familiar face, David Wagner.

So, even if the faithful are not entirely serious, the delirium of Saturday afternoon in Leipzig was perfectly understandable as a dynamic away team led by a renewed Amine Harit – a player who is their new start in microcosm – cut through one of the early title favourites. When Harit strode clear and played in the Welsh teenager Rabbi Matondo to apply an emphatic finish on his first Bundesliga start of the season, signing and sealing the game at 3-0, it was difficult to fully absorb.

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from Football | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/sep/30/wagner-schalke-surprise-leipzig-rabbi-matondo

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