Schalke will be making their first appearance in the quarterfinals of the Champions League and will certainly be an enormous underdog facing Barcelona.
Miro Slomka, the coach of Schalke, has emphasized how much he loves getting matched up with Barcelona. His reason is not that they are a club they should beat or that they match up well with them.
He feels privileged that his club are going to play a club that is highly respected worldwide and are considered one of the premier clubs in the world. With a lineup that includes arguably the best player in the world in Ronaldinho no one can argue that. Not to mention other famous players in Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi.
Slomka is basically saying it's going to be a David versus Goliath battle.
Some may consider Schalke one of the weakest teams left in the competition and I would agree with that as Schalke barely passed through the last round by beating Porto on penalty kicks.
But any team that makes it to the quarterfinals is a pretty good team. Remember that football is a very unpredictable sport at times and even Schalke could beat a team like Barcelona.
Slomka has lately come under heat from the front office by their lack of play in the Bundesliga. By leading his team through to the quarterfinals, that heat has decreased for the time being but may pick up again if they lose in the quarterfinals.
Barcelona have been unpredictable in their domestic league losing 2 of their last 3 games while drawing the other to Almeria.
Schalke on the other hand continue to beat teams at the bottom of the table but cannot quite beat the top teams leaving them 5th in the table currently.
The loss of Lionel Messi for six weeks has been a huge blow to Barcelona who will be without him when they meet up with Schalke.
I think Schalke will put up a fight at home in Gelsenkirchen but will ultimately lose at Nou Camp.
First leg at Schalke: 2-2 draw
Second leg at Barcelona: 3-1 in favor of Barcelona
Goliath triumphs in this story.
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6 months ago
Hows Peter Lovenkrands doing at Schalke these days? He is one of my old favs.
6 months ago
Not a factor at all. He has barely played at all for them and hasn't scored a goal yet this season. He comes off the bench only once in awhile.
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