BERLIN: Schalke 04 will be in buoyant mood when they aim to complete a stunning Champions League upset against holders Inter Milan on Wednesday.
New coach Ralf Rangnick has injected a winning mentality since taking over, masterminding a sensational 5-2 victory in the San Siro and erasing the club’s Bundesliga relegation fears with a win against VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.
“We have taken a lot of confidence with our win against Wolfsburg,” defender Benedikt Hoewedes said after the win against the club managed by former coach Felix Magath.
“Now we have the necessary calm for the game against Inter.”
However, he warned that there was still work to do before they could book their place in the semi-final against either Manchester United or Chelsea.
“Inter will most certainly try to reverse the result somehow and their front line is outstanding, that is no secret,” said Hoewedes, who is again expected to be partnered in central defence by Joel Matip instead of Christoph Metzelder.
Schalke have now won all three games since Rangnick replaced Magath late last month.
Rangnick will likely use 19-year-old defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos in a holding midfield role just as he has done in the past two matches, while Brazilian Edu, who scored twice in the first leg, should again partner Raul up front.
Inter restored some pride after an awful week by beating Chievo 2-0 in Serie A on Saturday but the holders know they have an almost impossible task in overturning Schalke’s first leg advantage when they travel to Gelsenkirchen.
Striker Samuel Eto’o has not given up hope though, according to coach Leonardo.
“Inside I believe that anything is possible,” the manager told reporters. “I believe it and the players believe it too.
Eto’o perhaps believes it more than anyone.
“He has plenty of comeback tales and he has played a part in lots of them. He told us all about them and they were great to hear.”
Leonardo had previously said it was “unrealistic” to expect his side to turn things around but Inter still plan to go and hold their heads up high as they all but certainly wave goodbye to their cherished trophy which took 45 years to regain.
Inter’s Argentina defender Walter Samuel has been included in their squad after missing the last five months because of a cruciate ligament injury.
Doctors had expected the centre back to be out for the season after reconstructive surgery but the 33-year-old, who suffered a similar problem in 2007, has quickly recovered having collapsed to the ground in agony against Brescia in November.
Playmaker Wesley Sneijder was included in the squad despite a bout of flu while Cristian Chivu, sent off in the 3-0 derby loss to AC Milan earlier this month which looks to have cost Inter a sixth consecutive scudetto, is banned following his red card in the first leg but Lucio is available after serving a European suspension.
Real Madrid should complete the formality of eliminating Tottenham Hotspur from the Champions League on Wednesday to set up a probable semi-final against arch-rivals Barcelona.
Real travel to White Hart Lane brimming with confidence after demolishing Spurs 4-0 in the first leg of their quarter-final last week, while Barca go to Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine 5-1 up.
Barring the most unlikely of events, Real and Barca will meet each other in European competition for the first time since 2002.
Real coach Jose Mourinho, publicly at least, has paid Spurs and English soccer the greatest respect by saying only an English team could overturn a four-goal deficit.
If that is true, then that club are Spurs, who have dazzled in their debut season in the Champions League with some stunning fightbacks and re-kindled a flickering light from the past.
After Manchester United, Spurs were English soccer’s trailblazers in Europe in the early 1960s when they became the first British side to win a European trophy, beating Atletico Madrid 5-1 in the European Cup Winners’ Cup final in 1963.
A year earlier Spurs reached the semi-finals of the European Cup when their manager Bill Nicholson, paying his respects to the all-conquering Real team of Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas, decided his team should change to an all-white kit for European games.
Real, some years later, became the first away team in 24 years ever to win a European tie at White Hart Lane when they beat holders Spurs 1-0 in the UEFA Cup in 1985 – and are easily equipped to score another win on Wednesday.
However, although Spurs are almost certain to go out, they will not go down without showing the spirit that has been a feature of their Champions League adventure which ended almost before it started back in August.
Spurs were 3-0 down after 28 minutes of the first leg of their qualifying playoff against Young Boys in Berne before losing 3-2 and then qualifying for the group stage with a 4-0 win in the second leg in London.
In the group stage they were losing 4-0 at halftime to holders Inter Milan before a Gareth Bale hat-trick in the second half pulled the score back to 4-3. Spurs then beat Inter 3-1 in the return in London.
Spurs manager Harry Redknapp said: “It has been a great experience so far and I am sure it will be a great experience on Wednesday. We will give it our best shot and see what happens.”
They will have to do that without striker Peter Crouch, sent off last week, while Real Madrid will be without the suspended Pepe.
Mourinho, though, can also call on Karim Benzema in attack after his recovery from an injury he suffered playing for France, and he could replace Emmanuel Adebayor, whose two headers last week set Real on their way to their emphatic win.
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