Schalke vs. Real Madrid: Team News, Predicted Line-Ups, Live Stream, TV Info
Real Madrid will hope to secure an away goal and a solid result when they face Schalke 04 in the first leg of their Champions League, round-of-16 tie on Wednesday.
Carlo Ancelotti’s men travel to Germany on the back of a 2-0 victory over Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday. It was not an entirely convincing display, but they nevertheless came away victorious thanks to well-taken goals from Isco and Karim Benzema.
After receiving a mixed reaction from their own supporters in the wake of their 4-0 defeat to local rivals Atletico Madrid, they will be glad for the opportunity to get away from La Liga and Madrid for a few days.
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The capital-city club saw off Schalke 9-2 on aggregate at this stage of last year’s competition, before going on to defeat both Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich on route to their 10th Champions League trophy. Ancelotti is, though, keen to stress that things are likely to be tougher for his side this time around.
He has reason to be cautious. Schalke have conceded more than once on just one occasion (at home to Koln) in their last 10 matches in all competitions and have gradually grown more solid over the four months of Roberto Di Matteo’s reign to date.
Despite a 1-0 defeat away to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, the Gelsenkirchen-based club currently sit fourth in the Bundesliga table—seven places better off than they were when Di Matteo replaced Jens Keller in early October.
"We are playing against the reigning champions but we still go into the game with the aim of winning it," Di Matteo said in his pre-match press conference, as per Karolos Grohmann of Reuters. "It is going to be a test for us to see how far we have developed in the past weeks and months."
Date: Wednesday, February 18
Time: 7:45 p.m. GMT / 2:45 p.m. ET
Venue: Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen
TV Info: Sky Sports 5 (UK only) / Fox Sports 1 (U.S. only)
Live Stream: Sky Go (U.K. only) / Fox Sports Go (U.S. only)
Form
| Schalke | Real Madrid |
| Eintracht Frankfurt (A): Lost 0-1 | Deportivo La Coruna (H): Won 2-0 |
| Borussia Monchengladbach (H): Won 1-0 | Atletico Madrid (A): Lost 0-4 |
| Bayern Munich (A): Drew 1-1 | Sevilla (H): Won 2-1 |
| Hannover 96 (H): Won 1-0 | Real Sociedad (H): Won 4-1 |
| Hamburg (H): Drew 0-0 | Cordoba (A): Won 2-1 |
| Paderborn (A): Won 2-1 | Getafe (A): Won 3-1 |
Predicted Formations
Per Jose Felix Diaz of Marca, Madrid will again be without the injured Fabio Coentrao, James Rodriguez, Luka Modric, Sami Khedira and Sergio Ramos for Wednesday’s match. They will, though, be able to welcome Pepe back into the fold following his recovery from a rib injury.
Dani Carvajal was rested for Saturday’s victory over Deportivo and is, as per Pablo Polo of Marca, in line to make his first Champions League start of the campaign at right-back.
Ancelotti still has a decision to make over whether to start Asier Illarramendi or Lucas Silva alongside Toni Kroos and Isco in the midfield three.
Per Marca, Benzema left Tuesday's training session early due to a bout of the flu. He is, however, still expected to start.
Schalke have regularly used three centre-backs under Di Matteo and will do so again against Madrid.
The Italian’s primary concern is in goal, where first-choice Ralf Fahrmann and backup Fabian Giefer are both unavailable. It had been hoped that Giefer would return in time to take part, but Di Matteo confirmed in his pre-match press conference that the 24-year-old will again be absent.
That leaves 19-year-old rookie Timo Wellenreuther as Schalke's most likely custodian on Wednesday, in what would be just his third start for the club.
Di Matteo will also be without the injured Chinedu Obasi, Jefferson Farfan, Julian Draxler, Leon Goretzka and Sead Kolasinac, as per WhoScored.com.
He has, however, confirmed that ex-Madrid striker Klass-Jan Huntelaar will take part on Wednesday after recovering from illness.
Expected Schalke XI (3-1-4-2): Wellenreuther, Howedes, Matip, Nastasic; Kirchhoff; Uchida, Hoger, Barnetta, Fuchs; Choupo-Moting, Huntelaar.
Players to Watch
Schalke: Eric Choupo-Moting
It would be fair to say that Eric Choupo-Moting is not the most consistent of players. Per WhoScored, his nine Bundesliga goals so far this season have been scored across just six of the 21 matches he has started, while half of his assist tally of four was secured in one match.
He has, though, provided a direct contribution to goal every 138.54 minutes, which makes him the most prolific contributor of any player to have taken part in at least half of the club's league minutes to date. On form, he is capable of causing the Madrid defence plenty of problems.
Real Madrid: Isco
With Rodriguez injured, Isco is the only midfielder in the Madrid squad who is capable of bringing the ball forward on the dribble from midfield and committing players to open up space in opposition defences.
Atletico Madrid did an excellent job of stifling the talented 22-year-old in their victory at the Vicente Calderon and he will need to impose himself more forcefully on Wednesday’s match if Madrid are to come away from Germany with a good result.
Key Battle: The BBC vs. Schalke's Back Three
Madrid could be set for an encounter similar to their away defeat to Valencia in January. In that match, their opponents matched up the BBC three-on-three, with their wide centre-backs man-marking Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, while Nicolas Otamendi patrolled the central area and kept an eye on Benzema.
Schalke sporting director Gerhard Zuber recently told Sky Sports that the club’s improved defensive stability has been key to their turnaround under Di Matteo. It will be given a severe test on Wednesday against one of the most potent strike-forces in world football.
If they are able to nullify Madrid’s front three, it would set the tie up very nicely for the second leg in Spain.
Odds
Schalke: 13/2
Real Madrid: 100/227
Draw: 4/1
*All odds via Oddsshark.
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