Manchester City FC

This is going to be a big one. Now I don't know much about Schalke as a place so I did some research. They have a good recent record in Europe, last season in the Champions League they beat Rosenberg, drew with Chelsea in the group stages, then beat Porto before going out to Barcelona. They are previous winner of the UEFA cup in 1997, so no mugs then. Schalke is in the Ruhr valley, Germany's industrial heartland in the city of Gelsenkirchen. They have great support but long suffering fans deprived of the glory they deserve..parralells?

Schalke has been subject of a feature-length film called Fußball ist unser Leben (Football is our life) released in 1999, no idea if its up to much. Actors Uwe Ochsenknecht and Ralf Richter are from Schalke both of whom were in Das Boot. In one scene the bosun told the crew in their ward room "I got bad news for you men. Schalke lost 5:0, looks like we won't be in the final this year!"

I'm hoping for a draw. No Bob, Zabbie...oh and Gelson is out too. A decent performance would be just as good what with the scum up on Sunday.

Barry