Sven Huebscher: injured with thrown cigarette lighter

Schalke 04’s assistant coach Sven Huebscher needed stitches after being hit on the head by a lighter thrown from the crowd during Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Cologne.

Robert di Matteo’s assistant was left dazed by the blow at Schalke’s Veltins Arena as he was helped from sidelines before the deep cut was stitched.

“We hope the perpetrator can be identified. That is unacceptable,” said Schalke’s director of sport Horst Heldt.

Having scraped into the Champions League’s last 16 with a 1-0 win at Slovenia’s Maribor on Wednesday, Di Matteo’s Schalke had their three-match winning streak ended by Cologne.

Nigeria striker Anthony Ujah scored his fourth goal in five league games just after the break before midfielder Matthias Lehmann netted a penalty to put the visitors 2-0 up.

Teenage replacement Leroy Sane scored his first goal for Schalke by way of consolation five minutes from time on only the 18-year-old’s fourth league appearance as Schalke dropped to sixth in the German league table.