Schalke denied by Appiah

Fenerbahce and Schalke played out an extraordinary 3-3 draw, that saw three goals in seven second half minutes and the late dismissal of the Turks' Alex.

Fabio Luciano headed the Turks into a first half lead but it was the remarkable second half that will live long in the memory.

Lincoln's sublime brace at the start of the second half turned the match on its head, only for Marcio Nobre to draw the home side level.

The hapless Volkan Demirel then contrived to hand Schalke the lead once more when he fluffed a clearance to leave Kevin Kuranyi with a simple tap-in.

Fenerbahce responded immediately, however, and Stephen Appiah restored parity with a superb 20-yard volley.

Despite the second half flurry it was a relatively subdued opening with the home side, in particular, happy to adopt a patient approach but on 10 minutes the game sprang to life. 

A loose clearance from Luciano presented a half chance to Soren Larsen but the habitually free-scoring Dane failed to make any connection with his volley.

The opening goal arrived on 14 minutes and if Luciano's defending at one end was questionable then Schalke's collective organisation at a free kick left a lot to be desired. Alex's delivery was met by the unmarked Luciano who planted his header past Frank Rost.

Three minutes later and the Turks should have been two goals to the good but Nobre failed to meet Nicolas Anelka's squared ball with the required composure.

Marcio Rafinha then had a penalty appeal turned down after a challenge from Luciano with referee Alain Hamer waving away the appeals. From the resulting corner Levan Kobiashvili swung over a near post corner but Christian Poulsen's header was beaten away by Volkan.

The industrious Rafinha ran through limp Fener resistance but the full back could find only the side netting as Schalke were beginning to take a firm grip of proceedings.

Fener were always dangerous on the break, however, and Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick was almost cursing his own Turk, Hamit Altintop. The midfield man's poor pass on the edge of his own area handed possession to the Brazilian schemer Alex.

Alex found Nobre free 10 yards from goal and onside but he took one touch too many allowing Rost to save at his feet.

Nobre's second glaring miss highlighted Schalke's suspect defending and Marco Aurelio almost made them pay again two minutes into the second half but Rost's fingertips denied the midfielder.

Schalke got the goal their possession deserved in the 59th minute thanks to the tireless work of Kuranyi and the brilliance of Lincoln.

Kuranyi won the ball in midfield and Lincoln beat the challenge of Umit Ozat and Aurelio on the edge of the box and fired expertly inside Volkan's left hand post.

Schalke were running rampant and three minutes later completed a highly impressive turnaround with Lincoln starting and finishing a sumptuous move. Lincoln's superb reverse ball fed Larsen, the Dane returned the ball to Lincoln, who dispatched it low inside the bottom right hand corner.

The home side were stung into action and in the 72nd minute Umit turned inside and forced Rost to save at his near post. From the resulting corner, Nobre looped a header over the leaden-footed Rost.

Five minutes later and Volkan inexplicably missed his kick allowing Kuranyi to roll the ball into an empty net to make the score 3-2.

Remarkably Fener drew level within two minutes. A corner fell to Appiah outside the area and he took a touch before finding the top left hand corner in style.

Kobiashvili brought an unconvincing save from Volkan as the Germans sought an even more dramatic end to the match before Alex was sent off for a second bookable offence after a late tackle on the Georgian.

The Brazilian will now miss the return fixture which, if this is any indication, will not be for the faint-hearted.

Click for Fenerbahce v Schalke player ratings.

Fenerbahce	Team Statistics	FC Schalke 04
3	Goals	3
1	1st Half Goals	0
7	Shots on Target	7
5	Shots off Target	8
1	Blocked Shots	6
3	Corners	11
29	Fouls	11
6	Offsides	5
2	Yellow Cards	3
1	Red Cards	0
68.4	Passing Success	76
21	Tackles	15
81	Tackles Success	73.3
42.2	Possession	57.8
39.9	Territorial Advantage	60.1