Home fans didn’t have to wait long for the first attempt on goal when Josip Juranovic sent a set-piece delivery into the box, where Aljoscha Kemlein’s resulting shot was well blocked.
The first 10 minutes were a stop-start affair in which Union dominated possession, yet Kenan Karaman came a few inches away from giving Schalke the lead with a long-range effort that sailed just over the crossbar.
Schalke started to grow into the game, and Adil Aouchiche’s curling shot forced Frederik Ronnow into a routine first save of the game after 20 minutes.
Just four minutes later, the visitors made the breakthrough as Leopold Querfeld’s poor clearance fell perfectly to Robin Gosens, who lashed his half-volley in off the inside of the post from a tight angle.
Gosens apologetically raised his hands after netting against his former side, but teammate Aouchiche almost had something to celebrate when he came close to doubling Schalke’s lead.
Running through on goal thanks to a lovely through ball from Karaman, he opted to shoot under Rønnow, who got a hand to it, allowing Michel Aebischer to clear.
Union boss Mauro Lustrinelli made two changes at half-time, bringing on Andras Schafer and Marin Ljubicic, but it was Schlake who hit the ground running.
Seconds after the restart, a one-two with Junior Adamu allowed Aouchiche to fire past Ronnow, and although it was initially flagged offside, VAR intervened to award the goal.
An issue with one of the officials’ headsets then caused a lengthy delay just as Union were starting to regain some semblance of control. But with the action back underway, they managed to keep it up, with Tom Rothe’s shot on target forcing a good save from Loris Karius.
As the minutes ticked by, Miron Muslić’s boys were more than happy to let the home side have the ball. Union’s dominance so nearly paid off with a late goal when substitute Marin Ljubicic did brilliantly to shield the ball from Schalke defenders as it dropped to him from a cross, eventually getting a shot away that hit the outside of the right post.
Union pulled a goal back in stoppage time when Tim Skarke scored from close-range, but in the dying moments, an unlikely goalscorer, Maximilian Wöber, put the result beyond any doubt, finishing a fantastic counterattack.
Lustrinelli will undoubtedly be disappointed his side’s dominance didn’t result in a win, but can take heart from their performance after going 2-0 down. As a result, Schalke move up to seventh at this early stage of the campaign, while a first league win remains elusive for Union head coach Lustrinelli.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Timo Becker (Schalke)