Miron Muslic: Schalke produced best half of football, despite defeat to Hoffenheim

Hoffenheim established a commanding advantage before the interval, with Fisnik Asllani breaking the deadlock in the 10th minute before Tim Lemperle doubled the hosts' lead 16 minutes later.

Schalke also suffered a setback shortly after the restart when starting goalkeeper Loris Karius was forced to leave the field in the 51st minute, making way for Kevin Müller.

However, the visitors mounted a late challenge, with substitute Junior Adamu reducing the deficit in the 81st minute to set up a tense closing period.

Despite Schalke's sustained attempts to find an equaliser, Hoffenheim managed to preserve their advantage. Vladimir Coufal and Mats Rots played important roles in a resolute defensive display, with the hosts recording 50 clearances.

"We started brightly and the first ten minutes saw us winning possession just as we wanted to after making the change to a back-four, which allows us to have an additional player in attack," Muslic said.

"We had two or three big chances where we should have opened the scoring. An error then led to us conceding. The second goal we let in was even more unnecessary, as we had several opportunities to put in a tackle. We didn't manage to do that and TSG then punished us with their individual quality.

"Despite the shock we suffered early in the second half through the injuries to Robin Gosens and Loris Karius, we managed to play our best half of football in the Bundesliga so far.

"We worked incredibly hard and created a lot of shots. We were able to cut the deficit and wanted to complete a comeback. Collectively, we did everything we could and would have deserved a point.

"We've been confronted with some tough setbacks lately, but that's just what things are like at Schalke. We will grow and learn from them." 

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