Schalke routed second-division side Duisburg 5-0 in
the German Cup final on Saturday to claim the trophy for the fifth
time and qualify for the Europa League.
Julian Draxler scored a spectacular opener in the 18th minute,
before goals in each half from Dutch striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar,
and one each from Benedikt Hoewedes and Jose Manuel Jurado consigned
Duisburg to its fourth cup final loss.
Schalke - which finished 14th in the league and made it to the
semifinals of the Champions League - last won the cup in 2002.
It was most likely Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer's last game
for Schalke before an expected move to Bayern Munich.
Spanish striker Raul Gonzalez - who had never won the Spanish Cup
in 16 seasons at Real Madrid - led the celebrations.
In front of 75,708 fans in Berlin's sold-out Olympic Stadium,
Neuer was called into action in the 11th, when he reacted smartly to
cut off Olcay Sahan's ball forward for Manuel Schaeffler.
The first real chance fell to Schalke, however, when United
States goalkeeper David Yelldell denied Kyriakos Papadopoulos'
powerful header in the 15th.
Draxler - already the competition's youngest ever scorer - made
his mark three minutes later. Jefferson Farfan played the ball
forward and the 17-year-old Draxler took one touch with his left
foot before unleashing a perfect volley from 16 meters (yards) with
his right.
Huntelaar beat the offside trap to score in the 22nd, sweeping
the ball past the helpless Yelldell after another through ball from
Farfan.
Schalke should have made it 3-0 just 10 minutes later when Farfan
opted to shoot from a narrow angle with Huntelaar in a better
position.
Sahan then shot over, and Schaeffler twice fired straight at
Neuer as Duisburg tried to get back in the game.
Hoewedes - a defender - effectively killed the game before the
interval when he got ahead of Yelldell to head in Farfan's corner in
the 42nd.
Yelldell - who made his debut for the U.S. against Paraguay in
March - prevented Jurado from scoring after the restart, but was
powerless to stop the Spaniard calmly slotting past him in the 55th.
Huntelaar scored his second after a defensive mix-up in the 70th,
prompting an exodus of dejected Duisburg fans from the stadium.
"The team has achieved so much this season. It just didn't work
out today," Duisburg coach Mila Sasic said.
Schalke equaled the biggest ever cup final win - another 5-0 rout
by Schalke in 1972 over Kaiserslautern.
