El Clasico: Raul

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Champions League Semis: Schalke vs Manchester United Recap (1st Leg)

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Schalke vs Manchester United

I guess I could be right when I said that Manuel Neuer could be the next Van der Sar (also, I didn’t realize he was the captain). He made a lot of awesome saves, denying Man U’s dangerous scoring attempts from Rooney, Giggs, etal. He’s probably the main reason the score was still 0-0 by half-time.

for me, Manuel Neuer was the man of the match
photo courtesy of uefa.com

But after 67 minutes of deadlock, Man U finally beat Neuer when Ryan Giggs found the back of the net from a set up by Wayne Rooney. And two minutes later, Rooney scored another one, this time from a set up from Javier Hernandez. Well, Neuer held it off for as long as he could. Schalke’s defense just exposed their keeper one too many times in this match. I’m surprised that Man U didn’t score more than two.

I was hoping for Schalke to pull off another 5-2 kind of win against the Red Devils. But Man U’s defense was just pretty solid, neutralizing any attempts from Schalke.

Jersey swap watch: Saw Raul swap jerseys with Giggs after the match. Raul had hoped to swap jerseys with Giggs and actually said so prior to the match. Neuer approached Giggs afterwards, I think he may have asked for a jersey too, but I’m only just guessing, hehe. This is one of my favourite parts of the game, the minutes after the final whistle blows when players take off their shirts, swap jerseys… I wish the camera/coverage would be a bit longer during this part.

Christoph Metzelder wearing a face mask

On an unrelated note… I’ve been wondering why Christoph Metzelder was wearing a mask when I saw their previous games. Apparently he broke his nose… for the 4^th time. Too bad, though, coz without the mask, he’s kinda hot J

Metzelder without the mask. Isn't he a cutie?

Aggregate Score:

Schalke: 0

Manchester United: 2

Here are numbers:

Schalke		Man. United
0	Goals scored	2
5	Attempts on target	10
3	Attempts off target	6
3	Corners	6
26' 8''	Possession (time)	48' 8''
35	Possession (%)	65
12	Fouls committed	15
2	Yellow cards	1
0	Red cards	0

Goals:

67^th minute – Ryan Giggs (Manchester United)

69^th minute – Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

Yellow Cards:

Christoph Metzelder (Schalke)

Fabio (Manchester United)

Hans Sarpei (Schalke)

More great articles on the match here:

Dominant United too strong for Schalke

United beats Schalke 2-0 in CL semifinal

Manchester United outclass Schalke in 2-0 stroll

Schalke 04 0 Manchester United 2 - result

Schalke 0-2 Manchester United: Giggs & Rooney put Red Devils in pole position to reach final despite Neuer masterclass

United beats Schalke 2-0 in CL semifinal

Man Utd a step closer to Champions League final

Champions League Semis: Schalke vs Manchester United (1st Leg)

Schalke vs Manchester United (1^st Leg)

April 27 @ 2:30AM

Edwin Van der Sar, one of Man U’s dependable figures, chases one last Champions League glory. The 40 year-old Dutch goalie is set to retire after this season. But will an old foe, in the person of Raul, stand in his way? I love how eufa.com calls them the “two golden oldies” but it kinda makes me feel old as when I started to follow football and the Champions League, these two “golden oldies” were at the heights of their careers. Now they are at their twilight (why do I sound so poetic today??? I almost typed in “the epic battle” to describe this match… I think I’ve watched too many Barney scenes in HIMYM).

Man U are the match favorites with their Ryan Giggs (another “golden oldie”), Van der Sar, Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez and the iconic Sir Alex Ferguson. But I will be rooting for Schalke. This may be Schalke's first ever trip to the Champions League semi-finals but, who knows, maybe they could stage another surprising upset like they did with their 5-2 victory against the defending champions, Inter Milan (and to think it was an away game).

I like Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick’s outlook, he says, “Who knows how many of these players will play in a match like this in the coming years? The same goes for me. This is my biggest game so far judging by the attention it is getting in general and from the media. Surely, over the course of these two games, Manchester have more to lose than us. We have to stay focused but also enjoy this.”

With all this talk of golden oldies, let’s now take a look at the up-and-coming players. Could Schalke’s Manuel Neuer be the next Van der Sar?

He’s kinda cute, don’t you think?

photo courtesy of Getty Images

Interesting fact: Raul may have scored 71 Champions League goals and he's a serious threat to defense (scoring a goal every two games), but he has never scored against Van der Sar in the competition. Another interesting fact, Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to sign Raul when he left Real Madrid. But because Raul already had some sort of verbal agreement with Schalke, he turned down Man U’s offer (coz he’s classy that way :P).

Stadium: Arena AufSchalke (Schalke‘s home turf)

More great news articles on the match here:

Cool Van der Sar savours final straight

Neuer scaling the heights with Schalke

Schalke's Rangnick thrilled to meet Sir Alex

Match facts: Schalke v Manchester United

Rangnick braced for Schalke's 'biggest game'

United face up to German hoodoo

Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson desperate for Champions League triumph

Champions League preview: Schalke - Manchester United

We will aim to beat Manchester United home and away – Schalke boss Ralf Rangnick

Champions League QF: Inter Milan vs Schalke Recap (2nd Leg)

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Inter Milan vs Schalke

Raul scores the 1st goal
photo from uefa.com

Raul proves that he still got it, scoring the 1^st goal of the match. With brilliant ball control, he beat the goalkeeper and netted in his 71^st Champions League goal. Throughout the match, he posed quite a threat to Inter’s defense and goalie. He was either making shots or setting them up.

Inter equalized with a goal from Thiago Motta
photo from uefa.com

Inter's Lucio tried to convert with a header the corner kick from Sneijder. But the ball deflected onto a Schalke player (sorry, couldn't tell who it was) and Thiago Motta was just in the right place to give the ball a tap to score the equalizer.

Raul sets up Schalke's 2nd goal. He definitely is still an attacking force to reckon with.
photo from uefa.com

But then Schalke ended any of Inter’s hope of even just trying to salvage some pride from a 5-2 defeat in the 1^st leg when Raul, executed a clever move of chipping the ball forward, giving Howedes the chance to break away and score their 2^nd goal.

Schalke moves to next round and faces Manchester United. Speaking of Man U, Sir Alex Ferguson was seen watching the Inter Milan-Schalke game at the stands. I guess he we sizing up his next opponent.

Final Aggregate Score:
Inter Milan: 3

Schalke: 7

Here are the numbers:

Schalke		Internazionale
2	Goals scored	1
4	Attempts on target	5
2	Attempts off target	10
7	Corners	12
23' 48''	Possession (time)	34' 43''
40	Possession (%)	60
26	Fouls committed	13
3	Yellow cards	3
0	Red cards	0

Goals:

45^th minute – Raul Gonzales (Schalke)

49^th minute – Thiago Motta (Inter Milan)

81^st minute – Benedikt Howedes (Schalke)

Yellow Cards:

Lucio (Inter Milan)

Raul Gonzales (Schalke)

Thiago Motta (Inter Milan)

Kyriakos Papadopoulos (Schalke)

Lukas Schmitz (Schalke)

Andrea Ranocchia (Inter Milan)

Read 1^st Leg Match Preview Here

Read 1^st Leg Match Recap Here

Read 2^nd Leg Match Preview Here

More great news articles on the match on these links:

Schalke send holders Inter tumbling

Schalke ousts Inter Milan, reaches CL semis

Real Madrid, Schalke advance to CL semifinals

Real Madrid, Schalke advance to Champions semis

Vintage Raul fires Schalke 04 into Champions League semis

Inter’s Yuto Nagatomo disappointed with Champions League exit

Inter's Andrea Ranocchia: First-leg loss to Schalke decided Champions League tie

Inter's Wesley Sneijder rues missed chances against Schalke

Raul is 'Mr. Champions League' - Schalke's Christoph Metzelder after Inter win

Inter's Javier Zanetti eager to forget Champions League exit to Schalke

Leonardo left bitter by Inter's Champions League defeat

Schalke 2-1 Inter (7-3 agg.): Raul & Howedes complete champions' misery

Champions League QF: Inter Milan vs Schalke Preview (2nd Leg)

Inter Milan vs Schalke (2^nd Leg)

April 14 @ 4:30AM

Inter Milan, will have to work really hard to overturn a 3-point deficit. With Schalke coming in with 5 away goals from a stunning 1^st Leg win, Inter would really need to score a lot of goals. But I think It think, other than scoring goals, they should also have to fix their defense problems which was the cause of them conceding 5 goals to Schalke in the last match. Aren’t Italians known for their very organized defense? Or was it Germany?

Initially, I was rooting for Inter on this side of the table, but somehow the defending champions, doesn’t seem to be the strong team they were last season. Now I’m rooting for Schalke, with Raul leading the way to defeat Man U. And hopefully, face off with Barca in the finals J

Aggregate Score:

Schalke: 5

For the win:

Inter Milan:

Except for a 1 - 0 (in their favour), Chelsea just needs to score at least one more than the Man U, but the more goals they can produce, the better as these will be valuable away goals in case the final aggregate score will end on a tie.

Schalke:

At the very least, a draw can qualify to the next round

Key players who’ll miss the action:

Jefferson Farfan (Schalke) – suspension

Stadium: Arena AufSchalke (Schalke‘s home turf)

More news articles here:

Schalke’s Raul: We have to be careful of Inter in Champions League

Schalke hoping to cruise into CL semifinals

Champions League preview: Schalke – Inter

Massimo Moratti intrigued by Inter's ‘impossible’ mission against Schalke

Here's my attempt in being an “expert”... Below are score combinations showing which team can quailify to the next round.

Inter Milan	Schalke
0	0
1	0
2	0
3	0
4	0
5	0
1	1
2	1
3	1
4	1
5	1
6	1
1	2
2	2
3	2
4	2
5	2
6	2
7	2
1	3
2	3
3	3
5	3
1	4
2	4
3	4
7	4

Highlighted in yellow means that that team will will proceed to the Quarter finals. Pink means the aggregate score as well as the number of away goals is a tie, so I dunno if they'll do extra time, shoot out or coin toss...

Inter Milan: 2

Champions League R16: Lyon v Real Madrid Munich Recap (2nd Leg)

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Lyon v Real Madrid
Replay: March 17 @ 9PM

Real Madrid just really dominated this match in their classic Spanish posssession style of football. They had way more chances than Lyon and we able to convert three of them. I guess they finally broke the record of never beating Lyon in a match, and it’s a first time since 2004 that they finally reached the Quarterfinals stage.

Cristiano Ronaldo did play after all but was not able to score a goal (I guess I’ll have more chances to see if this is true).

former Real Madrid legend & captain, Raul who is now playing for Schalke

With Schalke also advancing to the next round, I wonder if the two teams will get to play against each other. This would be a really interesting match, but my money would be on Raul’s Schalke :P

Final Aggregate Score:

Lyon: 1

Real Madrid: 4

Here are numbers:

Real Madrid		Lyon
3	Goals scored	0
10	Attempts on target	3
5	Attempts off target	1
9	Corners	4
29' 5''	Possession (time)	25' 4''
53	Possession (%)	47
12	Fouls committed	18
2	Yellow cards	2
0	Red cards	0