Nerves are frayed at Schalke! S04 star behaves completely out of line during cup exit
Star striker Hee-chan Hwang shoved his own physiotherapist during Schalke 04’s surprise DFB Cup second-round exit at second-division side Dynamo Dresden.
Towards the end of the first half, Hwang went down after a footrace with Dynamo defender Friedrich Müller. He felt referee Wolfgang Haslberger should have awarded a foul.
Haslberger did not blow his whistle, leaving the Schalke attacker furious. Hwang needed brief treatment off the pitch and wanted to get back on as quickly as possible. Impatient to return, he first pushed the fourth official and then an S04 physio aside. The physio had only been trying to calm the South Korean down.
"I saw what Hwang did, and I didn't like it. We'll discuss it," Schalke coach Miron Muslic said after the match. Muslic also agreed with Hwang's view of the incident: "I think it was a clear foul," he said.
Hee-chan Hwang still struggling to make his mark at Schalke
Schalke signed Hwang shortly before the end of the summer transfer window, taking him on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a year. The 30-year-old has yet to impress at Schalke, registering just one assist in six appearances across all competitions. In Dresden, the South Korea international, who previously played in Germany for Hamburger SV (2018/19) and RB Leipzig (2020/21), started for the second match in a row.
For S04, a 2-0 defeat away to the side sitting 15th in the second division deepened a difficult spell. The newly promoted Bundesliga side have not won since mid-September, and their 3-1 victory at Union Berlin was their only win of the season up to that point. Schalke have now taken two draws and suffered three defeats in their last five matches, leaving them 16th in the league, in the relegation play-off spot.
How will Schalke 04 end their goal drought?
S04 have scored just once in five competitive matches since the 3-1 win at Union. "I have to defend the strikers. We need to create chances better as a team," said Muslic. The team needed to reach a point where the attackers "are missing chances too. Then I'll know for certain that we're in the game," the 44-year-old said.
Saturday brings another chance for Schalke when RB Leipzig visit Gelsenkirchen on the eighth matchday of the Bundesliga season. Eight days later, S04 travel to TSG Hoffenheim before the next international break.
