REUTERS/SUSANA VERA
Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos celebrates his goal against Real Sociedad during their Spanish first division soccer match at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, January 31, 2015.
Christian Post Report – Real Madrid will try to move one step closer to defending their UEFA Champions League title as they host Schalke 04 in the second leg of their round of 16 tie.
In their first meeting at Veltins Arena, Madrid won 2-0 thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcelo finding the back of the net.
The Portuguese star scored in the 26th minute, while the Brazilian capped things off in the 79th.
Madrid dominated possession throughout the match, holding on to the ball 63 percentof the time. As a result, they were able to attempt eight total shots, converting on their only two that were on target.
Schalke only managed six shots on goal, and despite having four on target could not beat goalkeeper Iker Casillas.
It was also a very physical contest, with 25 total fouls, and four yellow cards – one on Madrid’s Toni Kroos and three Schalke players namely Kevin Boateng, Roman Neustadter and Jan Kirchhoff.
With this return leg to be played at the Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid hold a big advantage.
However, things have not been up to their standards lately as they have failed to win in their last two matches across all competitions.
They drew against Villarreal and lost to Athletic Bilbao in the La Liga, surrendering the lead to Barcelona in the process.
As for Schalke, they are fifth in the Bundesliga and recently ended their four-match winless run with a 3-1 win over Hoffenheim.
The German club will surely try to take advantage of Madrid’s misfortunes if they want to advance to the next round of the Champions League.
Klaas Jan-Huntelaar leads the club in goals scored in the competition with three, but will need help as no other player in the squad has scored more than once so far.
For Madrid, Ronaldo leads the goal-scoring tally with six, while Karim Benzema has also found the touch with five in the competition.
Visit UEFA.com for updates during the match. For live streaming, click here.
www.uefa.com
Source : Christian Post