Uproar after friendly against Real Madrid: Arda Güler’s “cousins” are said to have threatened a Schalke 04 employee
Despite the 3-0 defeat in the friendly against Real Madrid, the mood at Schalke on Sunday was excellent. The event was overshadowed, however, by an incident after the final whistle.
About 25 minutes after the final whistle, according to Bild and Welt, three men forced their way into the security area in front of the players' changing room wing, where usually only players, coaches, club staff and journalists have access. There, they claimed to be "cousins" of Real star Arda Güler and loudly demanded access to the players.
The incident is said to have lasted around 10 minutes before an employee from FC Schalke 04's media department asked the three troublemakers for accreditation. The situation then allegedly escalated.
According to Bild, the three men then loudly insulted and threatened the S04 employee. "The old woman clearly isn't right in the head, she's got something wrong with her. Get lost! Go away! Don't talk to us! If even one steward touches us, you'll see what happens," they are said to have shouted. There was also said to have been a blow to the arm when the woman tried to photograph the men, possibly to impose a stadium ban in future.
Nearby stewards and those called over are said to have stepped in only hesitantly before helping the woman. The three men then reportedly left the stadium "hurling abuse".
Schalke favourite Timo Becker makes Vinicius Junior suffer
On the pitch, the Royal Blues had little to offer on Sunday in the anniversary match marking the 25th anniversary of the Schalke Arena against Los Blancos and lost 3-0 to a highly focused side packed with stars. Schalke even gave them a helping hand early on: Kylian Mbappe's opener followed a dreadful mistake from Ron Schallenberg (6). Dean Huijsen (20) and Carlos Espi (57) completed the scoring.
One Schalke player still came out of it with plenty of credit: Timo Becker. The 29-year-old full-back came up against superstar Vinicius Junior and clearly got the better of the duel. The royal blue support appreciated that too, celebrating Becker with chants shortly before the end after another strong tackle on the Brazilian.
After the game, coach Miron Muslic said: "This is the highest level in club football. We had to experience that in many situations - but we need that too. We had to have the willingness to really suffer because the individual quality at Real is incredibly high. And it was important that today we also reached our limits and were overwhelmed in different situations. That's part of development and growth."
