A UEFA Champions League quarter-finals is at stake between the Galacticos and the Royal Blues. In order to win, Schalke would need to do something historic to overturn the 2-0 deficit from the first leg at the VELTINS-Arena, but a draw or even a win, which still may not be enough to go through for the Germans.
In recent years, the two have clashed three times. Los Blancos have won all three clashes by an aggregate of 11-2.
A win for Schalke seemingly impossible as Real Madrid have won nineteen of their last twenty-one Champions League games, their only defeat coming against Schalke’s rivals Borussia Dortmund.
To pile on the misery for Di Matteo’s side, theres another hindering stat. Die Knappen are winless in their last four Champions League away games against Spanish opposition. Their last victory coming nearly fourteen years ago against Mallorca when they beat them 4-0 in October 2001.
Team News:
Real Madrid:
Colombian James Rodriguez is set to be sidelined with a metatarsal injury and will be out of Carlo Ancelotti’s matchday squad.
Sergio Ramos is edging closer to a return to fitness, while manager Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that Luka Modric will start on the bench on Tuesday night.
There are no other injury doubts for Real Madrid, Carlo Ancelotti may be tempted to field the same line up that lost to Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.
Schalke:
Roberto di Matteo will be without a number of key players through injury when he takes his side to Madrid on Tuesday night. Those big names including Julian Draxler, Ralf Fahrmann, Jefferson Farfan and Chinedu Obasi are all sidelined. Joel Matip, Sead Kolasinac, Leon Goretzka, Fabian Giefer and Jan Kirchhoff are all doubtful ahead of Tuesday’s game.
Kevin-Prince Boateng, meanwhile, is suspended.
However back in Gelsenkirchen, there’s a boost. Julian Draxler has his boots back on and is back on the training pitch he has missed over five months since undergoing thigh surgery.
Head to Head:
Real Madrid Won: 3
Draw: 0
Schalke Win: 0
18/02/15- Schalke 0-2 Real Madrid
18/03/15- Real Madrid 3-1 Schalke
26/02/15- Schalke 1-6 Real Madrid
Recent Form:
Real Madrid Current Form (last six games): L, W, W, D, L.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side handed over Liga BBVA top spot this weekend following their 1-0 away defeat to Athletic Bilbao. Real Madrid have come underfire recently after falling to a 1-1 home defeat to Villarreal after leading at the Bernabeu then losing this past weekend to a side who previously Ancelotti’s side had beaten, quite comfortably.
Schalke’s Current Form (last six games): W, L, L, D, L, W.
Schalke got back to winning ways at the weekend with their first three points in a month against TSG Hoffenheim, thanks to a brilliant Max Meyer performance. Di Matteo’s side previous win before that was against Borussia Mönchengladbach at the VELTINS-Arena, which finished 1-0. Following that Schalke went winless in four games, losing to Eintracht Frankfurt then Real Madrid and then succumbing to a late Werder Bremen goal at in front of their home fans before losing emphatically to fierce rivals Borussia Dortmund at the end of February.
Referee Damir Skomina:
Damir Skomina, aged 38 from Koper, Slovenia.
This season, Skomina has officiated twenty-seven Champions League games cautioning on fourteen occasions but has yet to brandish a red card or award a penalty, this season. Real Madrid will be familiar with this referee as he officiated their 5-1 opening Champions League Group Stage against Basel.
He last officiated a Schalke match in 2011, he managed Schalke’s 2-1 win over Inter Milan at the VELTINS-Arena in the Champions League quarter-finals. Is this a sign for Schalke?
Pre-Match Comments:
Carlos Ancelotti (Real Madrid head coach.): "Benzema, Bale and Cristiano will remain in the starting line-up and in the same positions. I trust them. They have scored less in recent games because the team is not helping the forwards. Modric will start the match on the bench and I will give him 30 minutes in the second half,"
“We hope to have a quick reaction in the next games to arrive at Camp Nou with the best confidence."
Roberto Di Matteo (Schalke Head Coach,): " We will try to send the strongest team in the field, and will try our best,”
"Real Madrid are uniquely strong. We need good organization to keep up, it makes no sense to play one - one against them”
Horst Heldt (Schalke Managing Director,): "We're going to Madrid 0: 2 behind, we need to catch up,"
"In football, you never know what might happen. The script has not been written yet."
Max Meyer (Schalke young Attacking Midfielder),: "It will be very difficult. We wasted the chance to put ourselves into a good position in the home leg, but we still want to give a good account of ourselves. If they slaughter us, then we obviously lose more than just the game. But that's not what we're all about. We're going there to make a good impression on Tuesday."
