quarter final - match report

Overly respectful Schalke out of luck in 1-0 defeat against Barca

The atmosphere inside the VELTINS Arena was excellent, as was the effort and the passion put in by the players, but too much reverence in the opening 45 minutes of the quarter-final first leg against Barcelona cost Schalke 04 a better position going into the return at the Camp Nou. Mirko Slomka's men will now have to reverse a 1-0 deficit there on 9 April if they are to progress to the semi-final.

The Schalke boss made just one change to the side that faced Karlsruhe in the Bundesliga on Saturday, Levan Kobiashvili replacing the suspended Jermaine Jones role in midfield. But without the man who has taken on Marc Wilmots's mantle of midfield terrier, the Royal Blues were unable to make a mark in the opening 45. "In the first half we showed them far too much respect. We made the mistake of letting them into the game", said Slomka correctly. Barcelona were thus well worth their half-time lead, which came on 12 minutes when the excellent young talent Bojan Krkic was allowed to slide the ball home after some unchallenged build-up play by Andres Iniesta and Thierry Henry.

"The goal tells you everything: we gave them too much space in midfield, instead of preventing the pass we left them the gap, and we could have blocked the first shot better and been more alert on the rebound", said Slomka, recounting a string of mistakes. The Schalke fans did their best from the stands, repeatedly getting behind their team, but genuine chances to equalise failed to materialise. In the first half, then, everything went to plan for Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard: "In the opening stages, in particular, we were very good down the flanks, we put Schalke under pressure and forced them into mistakes", the Dutchman said.

But that was to change after the interval. "Obviously it would have been nice if we could have kept that high level up, but we worked very hard in the first half. As the game wore on we started running out of steam", Rijkaard added, explaining the visible dip in performance in the second period. This was partly because the Royal Blues drew the right conclusions from the first half. "Attacking their back four early forced them into playing long balls, which ended with us thanks to our strength in the air. That allowed us to build up the pressure", said Slomka. "We showed a marked improvement in the second half. We had a lot of very good chances - including some headers, which was what we wanted. We would have deserved an equaliser, there's no question about that, but unfortunately we didn't get one."

Indeed, Gerald Asamoah (70'), Halil Altintop (71') and Soren Larsen (78') all went very close, while Abidal's challenge on Westermann as he rose unchallenged for a header ten minutes from time drew loud appeals for a penalty from the home crowd. The fans drove the players forward in search of at least an equaliser, but it wasn't to be, as both Bordon and Larsen, again, failed to find the target with stoppage-time headers. "The second half showed we have a chance in Barcelona", concluded Slomka. "Even if we had got the equaliser, we still would have had to score in Barcelona. A goal for us can make a huge difference. It won't be easy, but we'll give it a go."

Schalke: Neuer - Rafinha, Bordon, Krstajic, Westermann - Ernst, Kobiashvili - Asamoah (Larsen 74'), Pander - Kuranyi (Sanchez 60'), Altintop (Lovenkrands 88')
Barcelona: Valdes - Zambrotta, Puyol, Milito, Abidal - Xavi, Toure (Marquez 74'), Iniesta - Eto'o (Giovani 82'), Krkic (Sylvinho 86'), Henry
Referee: Vassaras (Greece)
Goal: 0-1 Krkic (12')
Attendance: 53,951 (sold out)
Yellow cards: Pander (2), Larsen, Ernst, Krstajic - Milito, Giovani, Marquez, Puyol