Julian Draxler earned Schalke 04 a point as SV Darmstadt 98 continued their fine start to the Bundesliga season with a 1-1 draw at the Veltins Arena this afternoon.
It was a bright start from Darmstadt, who earned a 2-2 draw against Hannover on their Bundesliga return last week, and they were rewarded with a ninth-minute goal when a long ball forward was flicked to Konstantin Rausch, who kept his composure to curl home.
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Schalke were almost level just a minute later, but Draxler was left disappointed when his long-range strike drifted just a few inches wide of the post.
Draxler, who looks set to stay in Gelsenkirchen after Juventus ended their interest in him, continued to look threatening for most of the first half and he forced Christian Mathenia into his first save of the afternoon with a powerful strike.
However, the visitors still looked capable of creating opportunities at the other end, where Ralf Fahrmann made impressive stops to deny Mario Vrancic and Dominik Stroh-Engel before the break.
Schalke were back on level terms two minutes after the interval and it was no surprise to see Draxler find the equaliser with a calm finish from Franco Di Santo's inviting cross.
Andre Breitenreiter's side took control of the game in the second half, but they were left frustrated when Johannes Geis struck the crossbar with a free kick before Klaas-Jan Huntelaar fired the rebound over.
The hosts came agonisingly close to finding a late winner when Roman Neustadter climbed highest to head at Mathenia, who almost spilled the ball into his own net before pushing it to safety.
Callum Mulvihill
