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The Champions League is back this week and it now gets serious with just the big boys left and the knock-out stage meaning there is no room for error. The intrigue of playing over two-legs will no doubt provide some mouth-watering action.
Germany’s sole surviving representative Schalke have been drawn against two-times winners Porto.
Schalke Flying The Flag
Schalke remain Germany’s only survivor in the competition following the elimination of both Werder Bremen and Stuttgart. At one stage it looked like they too were headed for the exit, but ultimately squeezed through thanks to the surprising weakness of Valencia.
The Königsblauen qualified from Group B ahead of the likes of Rosenborg and Valencia thanks largely to the six points they gained from the Norwegians.
Mirko Slomka’s side lost their opener to Valencia when they deserved more but then travelled to Norway and beat Rosenborg. Manuel Neuer had a nightmare at Stamford Bridge as the German side lost 2-0.
A better performance in the away leg brought a point and an impressive sowing at the Mestalla secured a 0-0 draw. Their qualification was secured with a 3-1 home win against Rosenborg to claim second place behind Chelsea.
The season began with the expected ‘hangover’ following their surrendering of last season’s title to Stuttgart in the last weeks of the campaign. A lack of investment in the squad also caused some unrest and although Mirko Slomka’s side were difficult to beat, they were drawing too many games and fell off the pace set by Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen.
A good spell just before the winter break and a good start in February has seen the Königsblauen back in contention, although a home loss to Wolfsburg on Friday was not the best preparation for the Champions League tie with Porto.
“We are very disappointed as we wasted so many chances” trainer Mirko Slomka said. “This is a bitter home defeat but now we have to recover, and from Sunday our focus will be on the Porto match.
“In the Champions League you simply have to capitalise on your chances like the ones we created tonight as you are unlikely to get too many” he added.
Dragons Ready To Breathe Fire
The Dragons finished top of Group A, but didn’t have things all their own way against Liverpool, Marseille and Besiktas.
The Portuguese giants opned with a 1-1 home draw against Liverpool, and followed that up by beating Besiktas away thanks to a late late goal from Ricardo Quaresma.
They then took four points from Marseille from the double-header with the Fench club, before being beaten 4-1 at Anfild in a game Liverpool had to win to keep their hopes alive. The defeat didn’t hurt them in the end with a 2-0 home win over Besiktas confirming their place at the head of the group on 11 points.
Domestically, Porto are dominating the Bwin Liga and currently sit ten points clear of second placed Benfica with just two defeats to their name. They have amassed 35 goals while concededing a miserly seven. Striker Lisandro has bagged 16 already in the league and two more in the Champions League.
However, since sealing their qualification for the knock-out stage of the Champions League, the club have suffered a blip in form. They went down to their first league defeat of the season ten days after their final Group B match, losing 1-0 to Nacional.
They suffered their second defeat on 27 January to Sporting, but coach Jesualdo Ferreira has seen a good response with consecutive 4-0, 4-0 and 3-0 victories. The latest of these was at the weekend against Maritimo.
“When Porto show the determination and courage they did tonight we are a very difficult team to handle. We have three more points and a timely morale boost ahead of the UEFA Champions League clash with Schalke” Ferreira said.
“We have the best attack, the best defence and the best goalscorer in the league so we are in a good place at the moment” he added.



Source:goal.com