Amine Harit and Nassim Boujellab got on the scoresheet as Schalke 04 put three goals without reply past Vfl Bochum in a friendly match on Saturday.
It was the fifth friendly the Royal Blues were playing during the pre-season. The very first was a 5-1 win over VfL Osnabruck, but the next ended in defeat to SC Verl 5-4. Following that was another defeat this time 3-1 by Uerdingen. Schalke finally rebounded in their next tie to Greek side Aris winning 1-0.
David Wagner’s side got into serious business on Saturday with all the goals coming in the first half. Morocco Under-23 midfielder Boujellab got things off in the 25th minute with German forward Mark Uth grabbing the second in the 33rd minute. Harit then wrapped it up six minutes to the half-time break.
Harit had a hand in 10 Bundesliga goals (six goals, four assists) for Schalke last season. His biggest impact was in a 5-1 win away at relegated Paderborn, scoring a brace. His season was cut short because of ligament injury which saw him miss virtually all the games at the restart of the Bundesliga. He was only able to play the first game which ended in a 4-0 battering by Borussia Dortmund.
Harit also had a hand in four goals (one three assists) in the German Cup as Schalke reached the quarter-finals, losing 1-0 to eventual champions Bayern Munich. The 23-year-old Moroccan has played 88 times for the Gelsenkirchen outfit, scoring 11 goals and providing 17 assists.
Harit has been capped 10 times for the Morocco national team, providing three assists and featuring at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Boujellab on his part, played 11 times in the Bundesliga last term and twice in the German Cup, including 64 minutes of the quarter-final defeat by Bayern. The 21-year-old made his Schalke debut in March 2019 and has played a total of 21 competitive games with one assist to his name.
Boujellab was born in the German city of Hohenlimburg but has pledged allegiance to Morocco and has played for the Under-17, Under-20 and Under-23s of the North African country, but yet to do so for the senior team.
