Schalke 04 2 - 2 Sparta Praha: Substitute Leroy Sane salvages draw for Schalke with late equaliser

Posted Friday, October 23, 2015 by PA

Teenager Leroy Sane came off the bench to salvage a 2-2 Europa League draw for Schalke which prevented Sparta Prague from leapfrogging them into first place in Group K.

The Royal Blues had gone ahead through ex-Blackburn and Wigan striker Franco Di Santo's fourth goal of the competition, only for Sparta to turn it around in 13 second half minutes.

Kehinde Fatai levelled and David Lafata put the visitors ahead with his first touch before 19-year-old Sane made it 2-2 with 17 minutes to go.

Schalke had scored seven goals and had not conceded in opening up with two victories and they took the lead through summer signing Di Santo in just the sixth minute.

Di Santo, scorer of a hat-trick against Asteras Tripoli earlier this month, positioned himself ahead of marker Jakub Brabec to flick Kaan Ayhan's free-kick beyond David Bicik, who had elected to stay on his line.

The Czech side had offered little going forward in the first period, with Borek Dockal's stabbed shot straight at Ralf Fahrmann their only real attempt of note, but they took advantage of some poor Schalke defending to turn the game on its head.

First, home captain Benedikt Howedes' attempted clearance hit Tiemoko Konate after the winger had rushed inside from the right flank, allowing the ball to fall kindly for Fatai to slot in off the post.

And Sparta found themselves ahead just after the hour when 34-year-old Lafata was allowed to swivel and fire beyond Fahrmann after the Schalke goalkeeper's defence had failed to deal with an outswinging corner.

Sane had been introduced at the same time as Lafata and he too would make an impact, scoring for the third time as a substitute this term.

The German arched his run to stay onside and met Di Santo's pass, knocking it beyond the onrushing Bicik and finishing from a tight angle to keep Schalke top of the table.