It has somehow become fashionable to celebrate spectacular goal prevention actions in one's own penalty area almost as much as one's own goals. The appreciation of such rescue deeds is often taken as a strong indication of the good character of a team in which everyone works for each other - especially at a club like FC Schalke 04 with its buddy and malocher tradition. And so Dominick Drexler was frenetically celebrated on Saturday evening when he resolutely blocked a shot from Marvin Ducksch in the first minute of injury time, preventing Werder Bremen from making it 2-1 and laying the foundation for an incredible punch line in the relegation battle.
Less than two minutes later, Drexler scored the winning goal for Schalke and sent the stadium into a thunderous ecstasy of happiness. Without these two actions, the club would only have a mathematical chance of remaining in the Bundesliga against the background of the difficult remaining program, now everything is still possible.
Drexler had only come into the game in the 75th minute, now he was the protagonist of two scenes that could change Schalke's club history. "The team never gives up, can never be killed," he said very matter-of-factly afterwards. The work is not yet finished, probably the Schalke, who were by far bottom of the table after the first half of the season, still need two wins to stay in the league.
If that succeeds, however, this incredible injury time with the two Drexler moments will finally get a place of honor in the royal blue memories. "We don't fall over, even if it doesn't look good," the attacker said after sharing interesting backstories of his exploits.
Intuition, experience and memories
The 32-year-old Rhinelander once played together with Marvin Ducksch at Holstein Kiel, the two know and like each other, so he knew that Bremen's goalscorer "wanted to go into the corner," Drexler reported. So he had blocked the way and was shot. And his winning goal, which Rodrigo Zalazar had set up with a chip ball from half-field into the penalty area, was a duplicate of a second-division goal from last season. "That's why I knew how Rodri was going to play the ball," Drexler said. So Schalke celebrated a victory that somehow originated in Drexler's head, composed of intuition, experience and memories of a professional who arrived late in the Bundesliga.
He was born and socialised as a footballer in Bonn before playing for Bayer Leverkusen's U19s and played in the second and third divisions with Greuther Fürth, Rot-Weiß Erfurt, VfR Aalen and Holstein Kiel. It was not until the age of 29 that he played his first Bundesliga game at 1. FC Köln, to whose promotion he had contributed nine goals and 18 assists the year before. But he is now experiencing the highlight of his career, in the adventure club FC Schalke 04. Last year's promotion was already a series of different extreme experiences, with Drexler in a leading role.
The force of extreme emotions
On matchday 25, the club sacked coach Dimitrios Grammozis, the return to the Bundesliga was almost lost, before the team under Mike Büskens won seven of the following eight games. Drexler contributed five scoring points to the success in this phase. Now Schalke are in the process of once again freeing themselves from an almost hopeless situation, and again Drexler appears in particularly important moments, even if he is often only needed as a substitute. However, he is one of the defining figures of this team in the dressing room.
"We have a very, very good core of older players who speak up at the right time," Drexler once said, referring to himself, among other things. That's why the TV reporters had to wait a long time for the day's hero after the final whistle and the of celebrations in front of the Nordkurve, he wanted to be with his team and recite the energy of the group. "These are the kind of moments you have to experience in the dressing room," said the man whose maturity makes him such an important factor.
It is not the pure footballing quality with which Schalke 04 wins games this spring, Schalke feeds on the force of extreme emotions, and Dominick Drexler plays with them as artfully as with the ball.