Ritter: "There is definitely more to come"
Relief on the Betzenberg: 1. FC Kaiserslautern has picked up its first points of the season after the defeat in Hanover - even if the 1-0 win against Schalke was a real feat.
Celebrated match winner: Marlon Ritter scored the 1-0 goal against Schalke. IMAGO/Jan Huebner
The relief was palpable, and while no weight was lifted from the heart, several FCK players did collapse to the ground in exhaustion. After 90 grueling minutes and an extra 12 minutes of injury time, 1. FC Kaiserslautern was able to celebrate its first victory.
Initially, only Julian Krahl took off, celebrating the first win of the season and the first game without conceding a goal since the beginning of March (3-0 against Regensburg) with a jubilant jump with the fans in the sold-out Fritz-Walter-Stadion.
The scoreboard showed a 1-0 lead for the Red Devils, which was a fair result given the run of play – especially given their clear improvement in the second half. "Last week, we showed far too little offensively, we've talked about that enough. Today, it was better at times, but there's definitely room for improvement," said Marlon Ritter after the performance.
The captain himself secured the final score with a casual shot from the penalty spot. "We didn't have a huge number of chances, but overall we had more opportunities than our opponents," emphasized the 30-year-old, who noticed more attacking drive and more momentum from his team. The simple but apt conclusion: "We scored a goal and, in my opinion, deserved to win."
Lieberknecht's praise: "Defended everything away"Torsten Lieberknecht agreed. The FCK coach, however, particularly emphasized the defensive performance. His team "defends everything away," even when Schalke posed problems with set pieces. "Today we were willing to go all out, to cope with the pressure. Overall, we were rock-solid in defense," the Palatinate native praised his team.
FCK's next match is the mandatory cup match against Eintracht Stahnsdorf (Sunday, 3:30 p.m., LIVE! on kicker). "We have to survive the first round, approach the game seriously, and show from the start that we absolutely want to win," Ritter demanded. After that, the unpleasant away game awaits in Elversberg, where FCK has lost both of its competitive matches so far.
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