Schalke 04 Vs. Manchester United, UEFA Champions League: Red Devils Take 2-0 Lead To Old Trafford

Yes, Schalke did beat defending champions Inter Milan 5-2 at the San Siro, but giving them any hope of repeating that is silly - Inter Milan are a shadow of themselves this year, and United are a much stronger side. On the back of this performance today, there is absolutely no way the Champions League final won’t have Manchester United in it.

2-0 away from home means that Manchester United have the tie more or less wrapped up, so the only thing that will worry them would be if Schalke somehow fluke a goal between now and the end of the match, and even 2-1 would be a great result as far as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side are concerned. So, they’re playing a little bit of keep-ball, frustrating the hosts, who look like a beaten team.

If Schalke want to get back into this semifinal, they’re going to have to do it very fast, because it doesn’t look as though it’s going to happen unless they get a miracle in the final few minutes of the game. Then again, they did beat Inter Milan 5-2 at the San Siro, after which a 2-0 home loss would ahve been fine, but expecting lightning to strike twice in the same place might seem a touch foolish. You’d be crazy to bet against Manchester United making the Champions League final now.

Schalke aren’t really able to hit their guests on the counterattack and they’re not about to really do much in terms of clever possession play, so it’s all a little bit hit and hope from the home side at the minute. However, it’s still 0-0 and Schalke have more of the ball than they did in the first half, so that’s progress, I suppose.

At the other end of the pitch, Jose Manuel Jurado volleys well wide after a ball broke loose in Edwin van der Sar’s area - that was a real chance and a warning for the United defence, who were more or less asleep there. That faint hope hasn’t really counted for anything as far as Ralf Rangnick is concern, and the Schalke manager has made a move, yanking off Alexander Baumjohann for Peer Kluge. Greame Souness informs us that it can’t possibly be a tactical substitution as it’s the 52nd minute, which, well, okay then.

Meanwhile, Schalke are pulling out all of the stops to try to stop their more illustrious guests from carving them apart, including making tactical changes - they had a five minute affair with a 4-3-3 in the midst of all of this, with Jefferson Farfan moseying around as a left forward before reverting to the right midfielder in their regular 4-4-1-1. Obviously the 4-3-3 didn’t do them much good.

Schalke, for their part, are looking extremely dangerous on the attack but vulnerable to a pacy counterattack. Their fullbacks are pushing up to allow Jefferson Farfan and Alexander Baumjohann to rove around, but that does leave their back line exposed and it would come as no surprise if Chicharito thoroughly abused their centre backs’ lack of pace. The Germans are playing a pretty dangerous game here, although if they score they won’t mind too much.

Despite the fact that they have performed poorly enough in the league that their manager, Felix Magath, was fired (though the board claimed it was for not consulting them on signing a youth player, puh-lease), Schalke have been fantastic so far in this competition. They advanced out of a group with Olympique Lyonnais and Benfica in first place, and defeated both Valencia and Inter Milan en route to the semi-finals.

The task they have in front of them on Tuesday is a very difficult one, but based on what we’ve seen from them so far, not an impossible one. It’s fair to say that Manchester United are on a different level than the other great teams Schalke have faced so far - even Inter Milan - but the German side can’t be dismissed as merely a speed bump on the way to glory for United.