[Oliver_Kahn]

Kuranyi thanks Altintop and Reck

Kevin Kuranyi scored the only goal of the game against Nürnberg. But after the final whistle the 25-year-old striker emphasised the contribution of two other members of the Schalke team.

His first thank you went to the player who made the goal, Hamit Altintop. "The huge effort Hamit put in shows he has character. There's absolutely no doubt he'll give his all for Schalke until the end of the season", Kuranyi explained. He also passed on some of the credit for his headed goal to goalkeeper coach Oliver Reck. "He's the reason why my heading has improved even more. We often stay behind after training to practice - and Oliver provides the crosses."

Yet Kuranyi was self-critical enough to admit that the margin of victory should have been higher, saying: "I had other chances as well but maybe I made the wrong decisions in front of goal. Nevertheless I'm obviously delighted with the win."

Asked for his view on the game he said: "There were a lot of one-against-one situations, especially in the first half. But we knew it would be difficult for them to defend like that for 90 minutes. At half-time the boss told us to stay calm and step up the pressure going forward. My goal was nice and obviously very important."

The win moves the Royal Blues one step closer to the league title. "But we have two key games ahead of us. We won't need any extra motivation for the derby in Dortmund, and this time we know a win will keep us on top of the table," Kuranyi added.

And the Germany striker is totally infected with the Schalke virus: "I'm very happy at the moment, it's as simple as that, but I'm also very focused because this season we have the chance to achieve something really big. I'm desperate to win the title."