Schalke 04 Win 2011 DFL Supercup On Penalties Over Borussia Dortmund

A penalty is always a tense affair. A penalty shootout in a cup final is ratcheted up about thousand notches. Add on to that fact that it is against your arch-rivals in their stadium. The 2010-2011 German Bundesliga champions probably didn't love their chances going into the penalty shootout.

Schalke 04 would make all four of their penalty attempts, while Borussia Dortmund would see two of their four saved by Ralf Fährmann. Schalke's penalties were converted by Lewis Holtby, Edu, Benedikt Höwedes and José Jurado. Kevin Großkreutz and Ivan Perišić were the two Dortmund shooters to see their penalties saved, while Mats Hummels and Moritz Leitner scored their attempts. 

Fährmann's two penalty saves were reminiscent of his final match with Eintracht Frankfurt last year when he saved two penalties against Dortmund in the season finale. He made several excellent saves throughout the match, specifically the kick save on Robert Lewandowski in the first half. Fährmann's performance will give great hope to Schalke supporters for the upcoming season with the summer transfer of Manuel Neuer.

Dortmund were faced with a problem that they faced a lot of last season. They created a large number of scoring chances but weren't able to put any away. Midfielder Götze, Großkreutz and Kagawa had a rather good game, but the team was unable capitalize on their creativity. Götze in particular had some absolute moments of brilliance but to no avail. 

The biggest negative from Schalke's perspective has to be the performance of Klaas Jan-Huntelaar. He didn't get a lot of service, but he never involved himself with the action. They'll be expecting a better performance from the Dutch forward for the upcoming season.

Schalke's win gives them their second title in two months after winning the DFB Pokal Final in May. The club will be looking to parlay this success into this season's Bundesliga, DFB Pokal, and Europa League campaigns.