Bundesliga
Matondo: "Schalke can keep this going now"
After scoring his first-ever Bundesliga goal in Schalke's outstanding 3-1 away win at RB Leipzig on Matchday 6, Wales international Rabbi Matondo should fear no one after proving themselves against the best.
It was a flawless performance from start to finish, and front to back from Schalke. As you have to be against the league leaders coming into Matchday 6, the Royal Blues were clinical in scoring from a corner, a penalty and a counter-attack after a mistake from the hosts.
It was a memorable day in more ways than one for Matondo, 18, who scored his first Bundesliga goal on just his eighth appearance in the league for Schalke.
"I have nothing to say other than I'm proud of the team and to get my first goal for Schalke in the Bundesliga," Matondo told bundesliga.com after the game.
His goal, the third in Schalke's win, epitomised why he had been handed his first Bundesliga appearance - let alone start - of the 2019/20 season at the Red Bull Arena.
Winger Matondo was part of a three-man counter-attack led by Amine Harit, which ended with former Manchester City youth player being played in one-on-one with Peter Gulacsi and showing the composure of an out-and-out striker to push the ball into the far bottom corner with the outside of his right foot.
That goal made the score 3-0 in David Wagner's side's favour, a score many will not have predicted, unless you're a Schalke player.
"I don't think anybody expected us to come here and get this result," Matondo said. "But we showed how strong we are this season and how we've been playing recently.
"I feel like we can just keep going now because we've proved that we can do it against a big team in a big stadium."
Since losing 3-0 at home to Bayern Munich on Matchday 2, Schalke have strung together a four-match winning run, scoring 13 goals and conceding just three in the process.
While the victories against Hertha Berlin, Paderborn and Mainz may well have been just as convincing as their victory in Leipzig on Saturday, they will not have sent out as strong a message as Matondo and his teammates did in Saxony.
Ahead of meetings with Cologne (h), Hoffenheim (a) and the first Revierderby of the season against Borussia Dortmund at the Veltins-Arena, Matondo has every right to feel confident the Royal Blues' purple patch can continue.