Finnish striker Teemu Pukki scored twice on his first start for Schalke in a hard-fought 2-2 draw at Hanover in the Bundesliga Sunday. Pukki, in for the injured Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, finished well for his first Bundesliga goal in the 26th minute and rescued a point for Schalke in the 73rd after Hanover had turned the game round.
Schalke went into the weekend programme second, but now drop to fifth, three points behind leaders Bayern Munich who were playing later. Hanover are sixth, three points adrift of Schalke. Pukki, 21, signed from Helsinki at the end of August, made his mark when he took a pass from Christian Fuchs and with a burst of pace raced clear before slipping past the advancing Ron-Robert Zieler in goal to slide the ball into the net.
Hanover were back on level terms three minutes later when a free-kick by former Schalke player Christian Pander was headed into his own net by Kyriakos Papadopoulos.
The home side went ahead with a 59th-minute header from Mohammed Abdellaoue, a goal superbly created by Jan Schlaudraff who found the Norway striker with a first-time cross hit with the outside of his right foot.
Hanover looked the more likely to add a third but Schalke fought back with Pukki rifling an angled second goal after a probing run from Jefferson Farfan.
'I really wanted to show what I can do and right now I am very happy I managed to score two goals,' Pukki said.