round 1 - match report

Hat-trick for Asamoah as Schalke win 9-0 in Trier

There was to be no repeat of the giantkilling sensation of 1997 as Schalke strolled into the second round of the DFB Cup with a comfortable 9-0 win over fourth-tier side Eintracht Trier. Gerald Asamoah (3), Rafinha, Mesut Özil, Kevin Kuranyi, Ivan Rakitic, Christian Pander and Heiko Westermann got the goals in front of 11,000 spectators at the Moselle Stadium.

Head coach Mirko Slomka made three changes to the side that faced Bayern Munich in the League Cup final. Mesut Özil played in place of Ivan Rakitic, while Heiko Westermann and Gerald Asamoah came in for Mladen Krstajic and Peter Lovenkrands, both of whom were carrying knocks that forced to pull out of the final training session on Saturday.

From the outset it was clear the game was going to have only one outcome. The Royal Blues put the home side under constant pressure with a wave of attacks. Trier keeper Ulrich Schneider kept out a header from the extremely lively Heiko Westermann in the second minute, but there was nothing he could six minutes later when Gerald Asamoah struck from the edge of the area.

It was one-way traffic from then on, with Schneider in the thick of the action. Rafinha added a second on 21 from the penalty spot. And the tie was virtually over as a contest when Asamoah made it three on the half-hour to answer the call Slomka had made before the game. The Schalke boss was keen to settle the tie early to avoid giving the underdogs a moral boost and allow him to rest some of his first-team regulars as the temperature climbed above 30 degrees.

Before referee Wolfgang Stark could blow for half-time, however, there was more excitement at both ends. First Schneider was shown the red card after bringing down Kevin Kuranyi in the box - only for substitute keeper Philippe Stelletta to save Halil Altintop's spot-kick. And when Pander tugged on Christian Müller's shirt four minutes later, Stark pointed to the spot a third time. But Manuel Neuer was alert, diving to his left to gather Sebastian Hartung's penalty.

Slomka made three substitutions at half-time but that did nothing to interrupt his team's flow. On the contrary: their superiority increased even further. Asamoah completed a hat-trick on (47) and Mesut Özil, Kevin Kuranyi, Ivan Rakitic (with his first competitive goal in Schalke colours), Christian Pander and Heiko Westermann took the score to 9-0.

All in all it was a very comfortable win for the exceedingly goal-hungry Royal Blues. The pick of what was a very homogeneous team was Asamoah, who was involved in five of the nine goals.

SV Eintracht Trier: Schneider - Kühne (Malchow 54'), Hesslein, Lacroix, Rakic - Schäfer, Hartung, Bradasch - Wittek - Müller, Hentschke (Stelletta 41')

FC Schalke 04: Neuer - Rafinha, Westermann, Bordon, Pander - Ernst (Jones 46'), Kobiashvili (Azaouagh 55') - Özil - Asamoah, Kuranyi, Altintop (Rakitic 46')

Goals: 0-1 Asamoah (8'), 0-2 Rafinha (pen. 21'), 0-3 Asamoah (31'), 0-4 Asamoah (47'), 0-5 Özil (52'), 0-6 Kuranyi (58'), 0-7 Rakitic (69'), 0-8 Pander (87'), 0-9 Westermann (89')

Referee:  Stark

Yellow card: Hesslein

Red card: Schneider