First Valencia, Then Inter – The Game Plan Schalke Will Bring That Might Knock Out Man Utd Too

Goal :    With all due respect to Schalke – and very much is indeed due – its journey to the Champions League semi-finals has been an improbable one. For die Konigsblauen to top their group ahead of last year’s semi-finalists Lyon was unexpected, if foreseeable.

It was a reasonable upset for them to earn an aggregate 4-2 victory over Valencia in the round of 16. But their 7-3 two-legged hammering of defending champions Inter? That was the stuff of royal blue dreams.

Though its Champions League results have led to widespread wonderment, it would be a mistake to write Schalke off as a small club. As an institution, die Knappen are huge in Germany; their average attendance this season has been 61,282 (99.4 per cent of capacity), and this includes matches against the Kaiserslauterns and Frankfurts of the Bundesliga. For all their support, however, Schalke have gone 53 years without a domestic title, and their previous best Champions League run ended in the 2007 quarter-finals. They did manage an improbable victory in the 1997 UEFA Cup final, however, and it is the spirit of the ‘Eurofighters’ that could see them past United.

The benefit of being outsiders is that it comes with no expectations. In this sense, Schalke have an advantage over United: as heavy favorites, the English are under pressure to win. The stakes are even higher considering they have lost their last four knock-out ties against German opposition and that this year’s final will be played at Wembley. Schalke, by contrast, have far and away exceeded their goals and therefore have nothing to lose.