Robin Gosens apologised for the goal he scored, and Schalke won in the Bundesliga for the first time since they went down
A 3-1 win at the Alte Försterei was Schalke’s first in the top flight since their relegation in 2022-23. Gosens, who played 39 competitive games for Union Berlin, opened the scoring and refused to celebrate it.
Sep 12, 2026
Robin Gosens scored in the 25th minute at the Alte Försterei on Friday night, and instead of celebrating he put both hands up to apologise to the home crowd he used to play in front of. Schalke won 3-1. It was their first Bundesliga victory since the season they were relegated.
The last one came in the season they went down
Schalke went down in 2022-23 and then did not go straight back up. They finished 10th and 14th in the second division in the two seasons that followed, which for a club of that size is closer to a crisis than a setback. Miron Muslić took over and the squad was rebuilt last summer. In May they beat Fortuna Düsseldorf 1-0 to seal promotion, then won the 2. Bundesliga title the following day when results elsewhere went their way.
The return to the top flight started badly, with a 3-0 defeat at Augsburg. Then came a goalless draw at home to Bayern Munich in which Loris Karius kept Harry Kane out and collected public praise from Manuel Neuer. One point from two matches, same as Union Berlin, who had drawn 3-3 with Eintracht Frankfurt and then lost 4-0 at Leverkusen.
Gosens, and a cross that only half cleared
Gosens played 39 competitive matches for Union before joining Fiorentina in the summer of 2024. He is back in Germany on loan from the Italian club, with an option for Schalke to make it permanent, and he grew up supporting them. When a cross was half cleared to the far post, he read where it would drop and volleyed it in off the upright.
“On the other hand, it was my first Bundesliga goal for Schalke. As a Schalke fan,” he said afterwards. “In the end, it was a strange feeling, but I’m happy we got the three points.” He also said he had spent the week telling his team-mates what the Alte Försterei does to visiting sides, a stadium Schalke had drawn at on each of their previous three trips.
Adil Aouchiche made it two shortly after the interval, running on to a Junior Adamu pass and finishing from around 12 metres via the crossbar. The flag went up. VAR sent it back the other way and the goal stood.
Union threw everything at it and lost by two
The scoreline is harsher on Union than the match was. They created plenty, and the Bundesliga’s own expected-goals figures put them at 1.53 against Schalke’s 2.25, which is not the gap between a 3-1 and a comfortable afternoon. Karius was voted player of the match with 47 per cent of the vote, which tells you where most of those chances ended up.
Tim Skarke headed one in from a Tom Rothe delivery deep into stoppage time, and briefly Union had a route back. Then Hwang Hee-chan broke away on the counter and set up Maximilian Wöber to settle it before the whistle.
Schalke go seventh, into the top half at the first opportunity. Union have played three and won none under Mauro Lustrinelli, and their next set of fixtures will decide fairly quickly whether the 4-0 at Leverkusen was an accident or a warning.