Champions League Nights FC Schalke 04 vs Manchester United by Dr. Michael Calleja
O
n the 26th of April 2011, Manchester United faced German club FC Schalke 04 in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final – away in front of a passionate Gelsenkirchen crowd. Despite United being huge favourites to progress from the two-legged encounter, the Germans were by no means a pushover. During the previous round, Schalke had comprehensively beaten Italian giants ‘Inter Milan’ 7-3 on aggregate. United for their part, had managed to eliminate Chelsea over two pulsating encounters (2-1 at Old Trafford and 1-0 at Stamford Bridge). Schalke’s line up included the mercurial ‘Raul’ – who had joined the German club after a stellar career at Real Madrid. The team, managed by a certain ‘Ralf Rangnick’ also possessed a very capable goalkeeper who would torment both Wayne Rooney & Javier Hernandez on the night. Manuel Neuer was clearly one of the best ‘up and coming’ goalkeepers and despite alleged interest from Sir Alex Ferguson (in particular), had already made it clear that his intentions were to remain in Germany
(wherein he eventually joined powerhouse Bayern Munich). On the night, Sir Alex Ferguson selected the following starting XI: Edwin Van Der Sar, Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, John
O’Shea, Nani, Michael Carrick, Anderson, Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez ‘Chicharito’. Ralf Rangnick’s selection included: Manuel Neuer, Atsuto Uchida, Christoph Metzelder, Joel Matip, Hans Sarpei, Alexander Baumjohann, Jose Manuel Jurado, Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Jefferson Farfan, Raul and Edu. Throughout the 90 minutes, Manchester United completely dominated the Germans and it was simply a matter of ‘if’ rather than ‘when’ they would score. Manuel Neuer kept the side from Gelsenkirchen in the game and a number of outstanding saves continuously thwarted the Red Devils. Manchester United’s pace and penetration were the main difference on the night – with Sir Alex’s men particularly impressive when going forward. After 14 minutes, United went dangerously close when Javier Hernandez latched onto a great pass by Park Ji-Sung but could not beat Manuel Neuer. Ryan Giggs also went close when his header was saved by the
36 VOL 49 - ISSUE 2 - DECEMBER 2021
