As the Schalke 04 first team landed at Madrid Barajas airport, slightly ahead of schedule, on Monday lunchtime, they were met by radiant sunlight and summer temperatures. The excitement, however, was quashed with daunting the trip to Cristiano Ronaldo and Co. ahead of them, ultimately a harbinger of Schalke’s Champions League exit. Nobody believes in a Royal Blue miracle. “We will not progress”, says German youth player Max Meyer before tonight’s second leg of the last 16 match with Real Madrid (20:45 CET).
After the 2-0 defeat in the home leg, their exit is certain and nobody at Schalke has any doubt about that. “Of course we are eliminated, there’s no point pretending otherwise”, says left back Christian Fuchs. It’s just about how they want to go about their third consecutive elimination at the last 16 stage. “We have nothing to lose”, thinks Meyer, “but if we let ourselves be slaughtered, we will look like real losers”
Heldt: "We’re not going for a day trip"
Fuchs also insists that Schalke aren’t travelling to Spain “just to congratulate” Real. “We’re not going for a day trip”, emphasised sporting director Horst Heldt before the Royal Blues took off on their final trip of the season. The seventh appearance in the Champions League competition for Schalke is all but finished. The defining question, however, is for how long Schalke will be saying goodbye to Europe’s elite competition?
With the 3-1 win against 1899 Hoffenheim, the boys from Gelsenkirchen ended their recent run of three games without a win, but still lie fifth behind their competition in the desired Champions League spaces. Due to the importance of the next games against Hertha BSC and Bayer Leverkusen, manager Roberto Di Matteo could rest the likes of Marco Höger, Benedikt Höwedes, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, all of whom are carrying slight knocks. Kevin-Prince Boateng is suspended, however.
Real’s form has dipped
Meanwhile for Real, the mood is low despite the first leg win. After Madrid conceded top spot in La Liga following a 1-0 defeat to Athletic Bilbao, they were criticised heavily from all sides, similar to Schalke after their 3-0 loss to Dortmund in the Ruhr derby.
Manager Carlo Ancelotti, especially, has come under fire. “I accept my responsibility”, says the Italian. “We are playing bad at the moment and the title race has become more difficult for us, but it’s not out of reach yet”. Everyone expects the game against Schalke to be a mere training exercise, however, and Real at least can “catch their breath” during the week, wrote one commentator.