Fortuna Duesseldorf boosted their hopes of avoiding relegation from the Bundesliga as goals from Rouwen Hennings and Kenan Karaman helped them come from behind to beat Schalke 04 2-1 at home in a scrappy contest on Wednesday.


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The result left Fortuna 16th, the relegation playoff spot, on 27 points from 28 games, one behind Mainz who stayed in the safety zone with a 1-1 draw at Union Berlin. Schalke, who extended their winless league run to 10 matches, stayed ninth on 37 points.


The match was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the first half only produced a long-range effort at either end as both sides applied a cautious approach.


The contest finally sprung to life when Weston McKennie fired Schalke into a 53rd-minute lead with a diving header from a superb Bastian Oczipka cross.


Yet their joy was short-lived as Hennings nodded in a 63rd-minute equaliser, which stood after a quick VAR check, having beaten his markers to the ball after visiting keeper Markus Schubert parried a ferocious Kevin Stoeger free kick.


More sloppy defending allowed the hosts to complete their comeback five minutes later, as Karaman headed the ball in from one metre after Erik Thommy`s cross was nodded into his stride.


Schalke threw men forward in the closing stages but created almost nothing as the home team`s packed defence dealt with their aimless long balls easily, while also looking dangerous on the break.


Fortuna should have netted a third in stoppage time after Schubert was left stranded having misjudged a long clearance, but substitute Steven Skrzybski saw his weak shot cleared off the line.