Schalke win, Berlin held in German Bundesliga

BERLIN - Schalke overcame newly promoted Stuttgart 3-1 while Berlin were held to a 1-1 draw by Bremen at the closer of the 3rd round in Bundesliga on Sunday.

The "Royal Blues" provided two quick second-half goals and edged resilient Stuttgart 3-1 to reap the second win of the season while Stuttgart suffered their second loss.

Domenico Tedesco's men caught a bright start into the match as Orel Mangala felled Amine Harit inside the box allowing Nabil Bentaleb to convert a foul-play penalty for the opener in the 4th minute.

Despite the setback newly promoted Stuttgart turned up as Schalke retracted with the narrow lead. As a consequence, the visitors punished Schalke with the equalizer in the 40th minute when Chadrac Akolo volleyed home Josip Brekalo's cross to the near post.

After the restart, Schalke piled on the pressure and grabbed the 2-1 lead early on as Naldo headed home a free-kick cross into the box from Bastian Oczipka with 42 minutes played.

The hosts gained momentum and sealed the deal two minutes later after substitute Guido Burgstaller lobbed the ball over onrushing goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler to make it 3-1 on the scoreboards.

As the match progressed both sides remained offensively minded but yet they lacked in accuracy to score more goals in the closing period.

With the result, Schalke climbed on the 5th place meanwhile Stuttgart slipped to the 14th place of the Bundesliga standings.

"We have lost which annoys me of course. After the break we suffered two goals, which killed the game for us. We staged a good performance but made too many mistakes," Stuttgart's coach Hannes Wolf said.

"We started well into both halves with early goals. We were nonetheless too passive after we scored," Schalke's coach Domenico Tedesco said.

Elsewhere, Werder Bremen craved out a 1-1 draw at Hertha Berlin as Thomas Delaney cancelled out Mathew Lecki's first-half opener in the 59th minute to snatch one point on the road.