Schalke set up a Champions League semi-final with Manchester United after a 2-1 win over Internazionale in Gelsenkirchen, making it a 7-3 aggregate victory as they reached the last four of the competition for the first time.
Boasting a 5-2 lead after the shock first-leg win in Milan, Ralf Rangnick’s side were always in control at the Veltins-Arena, going ahead through the evergreen Raul on the stroke of half-time.
Thiago Motta pulled one back for Inter but the German side never looked like giving up their three-goal advantage and added to it late on when defender Benedikt Howedes - who also had one disallowed - smashed a crisp finish past Julio Cesar following a delightful ball from Raul.
Schalke will now face the watching Premier League leaders United in the last four, with a place in the final against either Real Madrid or Barcelona at stake.
With Inter given an immense task to overhaul a 5-2 deficit from the first leg, Schalke were content for the opening to be cagey and scrappy, with only one chance in the first half hour as Raul headed weakly at Cesar.
The latter stages of the half saw the match come to life as Inter started to dominate possession and territory, although the use of Samuel Eto’o as a left winger must surely be consigned to history as again he failed to make an impact.
Manuel Neuer - reportedly a target for United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who was present in the crowd - was forced into a smart stop from long-shot specialist Dejan Stankovic, while Maicon flicked wide from the Serb’s ball in as they hemmed the Germans back with a succession of smart moves down the left, mostly involving Eto’o but without utilising his central attacking prowess.
But Schalke’s Champions League run has mostly been about one man - Raul - and he put the hosts ahead on the right with a smart diagonal run on to Jose Manuel Jurado's pass, rounding Cesar and finishing coolly to extend his record in this competition to 71 goals.
That made it 6-2 on aggregate just before the break and Inter would have been forgiven had they not bothered coming out for the second half.
Admirably though Leonardo brought on a third forward, Goran Pandev, and they attacked from the whistle, drawing level from a corner as Motta exploited some hesitant defending to flick home through a crowd of bodies.
They needed four more though and Schalke proved more than competent at containing them: indeed the Germans had a second goal disallowed just after the hour mark, Howedes fractionally offside when he lashed the ball into the roof of the net, while Alexander Baumjohann should have scored when he headed over from a corner.
Wesley Sneijder, lacklustre as he has been for much of this season, went close with a long-range free-kick that flew just wide but Schalke ended any faint hopes of a late comeback when Raul helped the onrushing Howedes spring the offside trap, the Germany U21 defender gobbling up the chance with a vicious low finish.
source : uk eurosports
No comments:
Post a Comment