Inter Milan Vs. Schalke 04 04/05/11
Schalke 04 Vs. Inter Milan
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The Champions League is now in its Quarterfinal stage, where the games will become all the more important and teams will oblige with more focus and effort. This one is Germany versus Italy as Inter Milan host Schalke in the First Leg Quarterfinal match at the San Siro.
Inter Milan are coming off an awful defeat in the Milan Derby, as they lost to city rivals AC Milan by a 3-0 score line. The Nerazzurri looked tired and flat with the main players in Samuel Eto’o and Wesley Sneijder pretty much non-existent figures, and the absence of Lucio was all the more apparent when looking at the defense. However, the current holders can feel good in the fact that they have already overcome German opposition in the Champions League, beating Bayern Munich in the last round and have an overall home record of 10-1-5 against German sides. Coach Leonardo has to feel like his team is favorites to go through, but he will once again be without Giampaolo Pazzini as he is “Cup Tied”. This might open the door for Diego Milito, who has struggled this season but is still incredibly dangerous.
As for Schalke, not many people gave this team a chance against Valencia but they have made it to the last 8 and are looking to make it to their first ever Semifinals. This club has gone through a lot of change as of late, with the main one being the sacking of Felix Magath and the return of Ralf Rangnick as coach. Although this team has had a disappointing league season sitting in 10 th place, they are getting key performances from the likes of Raul, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Jefferson Farfán. These three players along with the young creative Midfielder Julian Draxler (who is only 17 year old) have been crucial to what the Royal Blues do offensively, but the player that deserves most of the credit for constantly keeping the team in games is captain and Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. He is one of the best keepers in the world and if Schalke is to do the unthinkable he will need to be on his “A game”.
Although I think Inter will advance and might even with this game I don’t believe it will be as straightforward as most believe. Schalke will look to keep this game close and go into the Second Leg in Germany with something to fight for.
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