Gelsenkirchen (Germany), May 8 (AP) Schalke clinched promotion back to the Bundesliga after coming from two goals down to beat St. Pauli 3-2.

Rodrigo Zalazar grabbed the winner in the 78th minute shortly after Simon Terodde equalized for Schalke on Saturday. Terodde started the comeback with a penalty in the 47th after Igor Matanovic scored twice in the first half for the visitors.

Also Read | LSG vs KKR Stat Highlights, IPL 2022: Quinton de Kock Shines As Lucknow Beat Struggling Kolkata.

Schalke, which was relegated from Germany's top division last season, is guaranteed to finish among the top two in the second division irrespective of results in the final round next weekend.

Hamburger SV, Darmstadt and Werder Bremen were all five points behind, while St. Pauli has only a mathematical chance of promotion a further three points back. Bremen visits Erzgebirge Aue on Sunday and then there's one final round the following Sunday.

Also Read | Carlos Alcaraz Beats Novak Djokovic To Book Madrid Open 2022 Final Berth.

St. Pauli finished the game in Gelsenkirchen with nine players as the 19-year-old Marcel Beifus was shown a straight red card for a bad foul on Florian Flick, and goal-scorer Matanovic was sent off late with two yellow cards.

Schalke fans stormed the field and players broke down in tears as other supporters set off pyrotechnics to celebrate the team's return to the Bundesliga. Many supporters tore up pieces of the field to take home as souvenirs. Schalke's next game is away, at Nuremberg.

Schalke interim coach Michael Büskens – already a hero at the club from his playing days – helped turn the team's fortunes after the dismissal of Dimitrios Grammozis in March. Schalke won all but one of Büskens' eight games in charge.

Schalke was also forced to look for a new sponsor after dropping Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom in February in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)