Schalke avoid worst-ever record thanks to Hoppe

Schalke 4-0 Hoffenheim, Veltins Arena
(Hoppe 42', 57', 63', Harit 79')

A goalkeeper farmed out on loan, a playmaker suspended by the club and a teenager plucked from the reserves combined to help Schalke avoid an unwanted record and haul them off the bottom of the Bundesliga.

A hat trick from 19-year-old American Matthew Hoppe, all assisted by the irrepressible Amine Harit, put Hoffenheim to the sword after Ralf Fährmann had kept them at bay.

The victory is Schalke's first since January 17, 2020 and means they stop one short of equaling the Bundesliga's longest-ever winless run, Tasmania Berlin's 31.

Hoppe, who didn't make his professional debut until November last year, became the first American to score a Bundesliga treble with a trio of confident finishes including a chip, a rounding of the keeper and a first-time dink with the outside of the boot. After the game, the teenager told Sky he had "no words for this day."

Harit and Hoppe form deadly duo

Such composure has been in short supply for the Royal Blues this term as promising starts quickly turned to drab defeats. This threatened to be another such occasion after the visitors created a number of first-half chances following a bright start from Christian Gross's men. But Fährmann, who has been at the club for a decade but was loaned out twice last year, was determined his side would not make history for the wrong reasons.

At the other end, Harit was a live wire from the opening minutes, finding space at will, jinking past defenders and alive to the movement of his teammates. Each of Hoppe's goals involved the Moroccan slipping in his teammate with perfect timing and weight of pass. A low finish late on capped a sensational performance from a player suspended by the club at the tail end of 2020.

Schalke will, like plenty of others, want to put that year behind them as quickly as possible. But without the turmoil that has seen four coaches take charge, backroom chaos and financial struggle, it's very unlikely Hoppe would have found himself in the first team.

The striker had been set to go to San Diego State University before Schalke offered him a deal in 2019. With seasoned Bundesliga veterans Vedad Ibisevic and Mark Uth ahead of him, Hoppe seemed some way from a starting spot at the beginning of the season.

Unlikely lads

But with Ibisevic released and Uth struggling so badly he admitted he "could just go in the dressing room and cry" after a recent defeat, Hoppe was given his chance. In previous matches, he's been on the fringes and when he passed up an early opportunity in favor of an ill-judged cutback, there seemed a sense of inevitability. 

But he kept making smart runs, knowing Harit was capable of rewarding them. Suddenly, the dam was broken and the goals flowed. An attacking partnership started to emerge and Schalke were no longer last in the table. The relegation playoff spot is only a win away, and that win actually now seems possible. 

Though this was Hoppe, Harit, Fährmann and Schalke's day, at last, the words of Tasmania Berlin's captain Hans-Gunter "Atze" Becke, who spoke to DW earlier this week, ring truest.

"I advise Schalke to bring their own intensity to the game, try to give the fans something and never give up, because it has often been proven in sports, especially soccer, that nothing is impossible," Becker said.