February 16, 201114 yr Valencia vs Schalke Player RatingsValencia were held to 1-1 with Schalke in the UEFA Champions League as Raul scored his 71st goal in Europe.ValenciaVicente Guaita - 6A few stunning saves to keep his side alive in the competition.Miguel - 6 Seemed to be on a different frequency with his right midfielder and did not compliment each other well.David Navarro - 4No excuse for letting Raul ease past him and score like he wasn't there. Not a night he would want to remember as he struggled to keep up with the Schalke forwards.Ricardo Costa - 6Got a rather harsh booking for putting the ball into the net after he "did not hear" the referee's whistle.Jeremy Mathieu (Off 79') - 7.5Lethal everytime he bombed forward to support the Valencia attack, yet competent at the back.Ever Banega (Off 68') - 7Looked lively going forward, and throwing himself into every challengeMehmet Topal - 6He was responsible for breaking up any Schalke attack, which became more difficult as time went by.Alberto Costa - 5.5Technically poor and really should have been subbed.Alejandro Dominguez (Off 68') - 6.5Decent performance from him which should put him in good shape to start the second leg.Roberto Soldado - 7The fox in the box was the first to react to a cross from Mathieu and was rewarded with a goal. Was relatively quiet in the second half though.Adritz Aduriz - 5Should have done better with his one on one to double his team's lead. Aduriz never really got going and should have been substituted.SubsJoaquin Sanchez (On 68') - 6.5Surprisingly managed to cause problems with his pace despite his age and he was willing to take on defenders, but probably needed more time on the pitch to make a more telling impact.Vicente (On 68') - 6Could not come up with a defence splitting pass to win the game.Jordi Alba (79' on)N/ASchalkeManuel Neuer - 7Conceded early but then kept his team in with a chance to equalise which they did through Raul.Atsuto Uchida - 6The young Japanese full-back's lack of concentration allowed Mathieu to whip in a cross for the Valencia goal.Benedikt Howedes - 5.5He must have been giving his manager a heart attack with his unsure clearances and mis-kicks.Christoph Metzelder - 7A reliable defender who more often than not was there to clean up the mess that his colleagues left behind.Lukas Schmitz (Sent off 90') - 5.5Deservedly sent off for two bookable offences - bad tackles summed up his work against Valencia.Jefferson Farfan (Off 79') - 6A mediocre performance from Farfan. More cutting edge was expected from him.Peer Kluge - 6.5Looked like the half time team talk worked for Kluge as he emerged a different player after the interval.Joel Matip - 6Helped mainain order in the middle of the park together with Kluge.Jose Jurado (Off 83') - 7.5A great passer and very intelligent with the ball.Raul - 8The man of the night. His record-breaking 71st European goal was typical Raul and it gives Schalke every chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals.Klaas-Jan Huntelaar - 5Caught offside way too many times and when he was onside he missed a glorious opportunity to score early in the game.SubsJulian Draxler (On 79')N/AEdu (83' on)N/AHao Junmin (On 90')Almost scored the winner with his first touch of the game!
February 16, 201114 yr Valencia 1-1 SchalkeRaul scored as Schalke forced a draw in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash with Valencia at the Mestalla.The former Spain international tucked away the equaliser in the 63rd minute for his 71st goal in European competitions, and the outcome might have been even better for the German side if Junmin Hao had tucked away a chance in injury-time which was saved by Vicente Guaita.The visitors were then reduced to 10 men at the death with the dismissal of Lukas Schmitz.Valencia had plenty of chances to put the game - and potentially the tie - out of reach after Roberto Soldado had put them ahead in the first half, however they could not take advantage and will face a tough trip to Gelsenkirchen.Both sides attacked from the off and Guaita was called into action in the fourth minute when Jose Manuel Jurado swung in a free-kick from the left forcing the Valencia goalkeeper to punch the ball away under pressure.The visitors should have taken the lead in the ninth minute when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar found himself unmarked as Valencia appealed for offside but he completely miskicked.However, it was the hosts who took the lead. Jeremy Mathieu overlapped on the left wing and crossed into the near post where Soldado had lost his marker, and the striker sent a first-time right-footed shot into the bottom right corner.Schalke kept plugging away and Mehmet Topal was powerless to stop the ball hitting his hands in front of his face in the penalty area before Guaita had to be alert to push Peer Kluge's looping header on to the bar, but they were having problems dealing with Valencia's attacking play.Miguel kept getting forward and on one occasion put a ball in for Soldado who flicked a header just past the left post.Schalke also allowed Aritz Aduriz to get free in the box and would have been thankful when his fine first touch was not matched by the finish as the striker put the shot into the sidenetting.Tino Costa unleashed a fierce shot from long range which startled Manuel Neuer as Valencia ended the first half in the ascendancy.Ever Banega's ball across goal was not anticipated and it went inches wide before Schalke had a good chance to equalise when Raul brought down Neuer's goal kick and unleashed a shot from the edge of the area, forcing Guaita to dive to his right to push the ball away.Aduriz again lost his marker in the area but his shot was more like a backpass and Valencia were penalised when Raul equalised.The ball was played in from the left by Jurado and Raul nipped across David Navarro, took a touch and placed the ball under the goalkeeper.Ricardo Costa played a poor backpass with Raul lurking, which the goalkeeper had to be alert to sweep away, and Valencia must have been frustrated to find themselves on level terms given their dominance of goalscoring chances.Aduriz had a feeble attempt at a chip after being played in but Schalke were a far different proposition in the second half and they had a chance to take a 2-1 lead in the tie.Hao found himself with just the goalkeeper to beat. He unleashed a firm, low shot which Guaita did well to turn aside before Schmitz was sent off, although the referee had to be alerted by one of his fellow officials that he had been booked twice.
February 16, 201114 yr Valencia 1-1 SchalkeRaul scored as Schalke forced a draw in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash with Valencia at the Mestalla.The former Spain international tucked away the equaliser in the 63rd minute for his 71st goal in European competitions, and the outcome might have been even better for the German side if Junmin Hao had tucked away a chance in injury-time which was saved by Vicente Guaita.The visitors were then reduced to 10 men at the death with the dismissal of Lukas Schmitz.Valencia had plenty of chances to put the game - and potentially the tie - out of reach after Roberto Soldado had put them ahead in the first half, however they could not take advantage and will face a tough trip to Gelsenkirchen.Both sides attacked from the off and Guaita was called into action in the fourth minute when Jose Manuel Jurado swung in a free-kick from the left forcing the Valencia goalkeeper to punch the ball away under pressure.The visitors should have taken the lead in the ninth minute when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar found himself unmarked as Valencia appealed for offside but he completely miskicked.However, it was the hosts who took the lead. Jeremy Mathieu overlapped on the left wing and crossed into the near post where Soldado had lost his marker, and the striker sent a first-time right-footed shot into the bottom right corner.Schalke kept plugging away and Mehmet Topal was powerless to stop the ball hitting his hands in front of his face in the penalty area before Guaita had to be alert to push Peer Kluge's looping header on to the bar, but they were having problems dealing with Valencia's attacking play.Miguel kept getting forward and on one occasion put a ball in for Soldado who flicked a header just past the left post.Schalke also allowed Aritz Aduriz to get free in the box and would have been thankful when his fine first touch was not matched by the finish as the striker put the shot into the sidenetting.Tino Costa unleashed a fierce shot from long range which startled Manuel Neuer as Valencia ended the first half in the ascendancy.Ever Banega's ball across goal was not anticipated and it went inches wide before Schalke had a good chance to equalise when Raul brought down Neuer's goal kick and unleashed a shot from the edge of the area, forcing Guaita to dive to his right to push the ball away.Aduriz again lost his marker in the area but his shot was more like a backpass and Valencia were penalised when Raul equalised.The ball was played in from the left by Jurado and Raul nipped across David Navarro, took a touch and placed the ball under the goalkeeper.Ricardo Costa played a poor backpass with Raul lurking, which the goalkeeper had to be alert to sweep away, and Valencia must have been frustrated to find themselves on level terms given their dominance of goalscoring chances.Aduriz had a feeble attempt at a chip after being played in but Schalke were a far different proposition in the second half and they had a chance to take a 2-1 lead in the tie.Hao found himself with just the goalkeeper to beat. He unleashed a firm, low shot which Guaita did well to turn aside before Schmitz was sent off, although the referee had to be alerted by one of his fellow officials that he had been booked twice.
February 16, 201114 yr Valencia wary of Schalke threatValencia defender Ricardo Costa is wary of Schalke's stars ahead of their UEFA Champions League clash.The veteran defender knows their opponents well, having moved to La Liga from Bundesliga side Wolfsburg, and admitted giving coach Unai Emery a few tips on how to deal with their German opposition."Raul, together with Huntelaar, are the stars of the team," Costa said, in quotes reported in the Guardian."Nevertheless the strength of Schalke does not really lie there but with the work they put in over 90 minutes."They never give up, they're strong at set pieces and counter-attacks and are physically very powerful."We have to focus, play our football, perform well and rely on a bit of luck.""We have to keep in mind we are playing home and away and try to score in our stadium and avoid conceding," Costa added.On the other hand, Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer believes that their 1-0 win over Freiburg in the Bundesliga will help them in their bid to beat Valencia."We had an outstanding match and that will hopefully help against Valencia," said goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.Manager Felix Magath called on fans to support their team in the fixture."The fans have been patient just like the team and that is evident on the pitch," he said. "We need this union and I hope it stays that way."The two previous match-offs between the two sides both ended in draws, and it could take something special from either team to win this fixture.
February 16, 201114 yr love this video, listen to the commentator when Raul get's the ball before he scores 'HERE WE GO' yeah baby
February 16, 201114 yr LOL that would be normal, coming from supporters of a rival team... i meant the people who received him when he arrived in valencia for this match. they were all very supportive. and that's so cool! it must have been very touching for him.
February 16, 201114 yr the fans really pumped him up with their trash talk and it showed in his celebration to the goal most watched in Spain last night 7 million
February 16, 201114 yr so glad to know there are a lot of people who still miss him in spain and praise him for his soccer skills!!
February 16, 201114 yr LOLthat would be normal, coming from supporters of a rival team... i meant the people who received him when he arrived in valencia for this match. they were all very supportive. and that's so cool! it must have been very touching for him. Oh, sorry, I thought you were talking about the people on the stadium A friend of mine stayed there yesterday and she saw him, and she told me that he stayed with the fans that were there and signed to all of them and he was saying "thank you" to everybody for their support ^^ It's very hard to believe that he's such a great player and continues being so humble, but fortunately it's the truth
February 22, 201114 yr I promised you, that I will tell you about my visit in the Veltins-Arena against Freiburg last week. Here I am. It was a successful journey. We stayed at the Marriott-Courtyard Hotel near the Stadium and even nearer to the training centre. The game and the atmosphere in the stadium were great, Raul played very well, but I preferred the time after the game. He leads on his team-mates to celebrate the victory with the fans. He waves his hands to every person in the round who would celebrate this with him, in spite of the great effort that we could see. He’s running like an old man after the game. We think, people must carry him on the playing field and then re runs 90 minutes without having a brake and then someone must carry him away again….hihi… The entrance to the hotel is located 20 metres beside the entrance to the dressing room of the training centre, but we first discovered this on Sunday morning looking out of our hotel-room window. There were many people and we immediately knew that there was training. But the team mates playing the day before weren’t there. They preferred to make a cross country run, but a hardcore Schalke Fan told us, were there cars were parking. Unhappily we didn’t saw Raul, but any other player and the trainer, thus we took photos and spoke a little bit with them. Raul was definitely there, too, because we saw his car. While we have waited, we met people from all parts of Germany, Spain, Italy, Denmark and spoke with a Japanese Woman. We believed she is about Atsudo Uchida in Gelsenkirchen, but she came especially to see Raul and talk with him. He took a long time to take a shower, or had any other appointment inside and we couldn’t wait longer. What a pity! The Japanese woman had a lot of time and we hope she met him, after we had gone. It’s amazing how scattered his fans are all over the world. Finally we must say it was crazy how close we get to the players and how patient they are.
February 26, 201114 yr schalke 1x1 nuremberg RAÚL SCORED!!!!!! thank god he's good, because poor huntelaar lost 3 or 4 goals this afternoon. lord! raúl needs a better forward buddy... come on, schalke! magath, do something! fingers crossed so schalke will keep moving forward at champions league!!
February 27, 201114 yr FC Schalke 04 1:1 NurnbergNeuer, M. : 4Bekam nicht viele Bälle auf sein Tor. Trotzdem mit einem Fehler vor dem 0:1, als er Ekicis Schuss zwar abwehrte, jedoch direkt vor Hegelers Füße beförderte.Uchida, A. : 3,5Nur vereinzelt mit Offensivvorstößen. Nachdem der Erste für Gefahr sorgte (31.), versuchte sich Uchida noch zwei-, dreimal, ohne dabei zu überzeugen. Hinten dafür mit einer ordentlichen Vorstellung, denn aus dem Spiel heraus ließ der Japaner nur selten Flanken zu. Reagierte vor dem 0:1 zwar langsamer als Hegeler, stand jedoch auch alleine zwei Nürnbergern gegenüber. Höwedes, B. : 3Redaktionsintern wurde diskutiert, ob Höwedes vor dem 0:1 nun entweder gut den Ekici-Pass verhindert oder schlecht vor dessen Füße geklärt hatte. Dass er Ekicis Steilpass überhaupt unterbinden konnte, bewerten wir positiv; ebenso die insgesamt souveräne Vorstellung im Abwehrzentrum. Bei seinem Vorstoß direkt vor Abpfiff hätte ein etwas härter geschossener Versuch aber womöglich das 2:1 bedeutet. Metzelder, C. : 3,5Auch mit einigen guten Abwehraktionen, etwa, als er gegen Mendler im Eins-gegen-Eins-Duell eine Großchance verhinderte (48.). Insgesamt aber nicht so präsent wie Höwedes und unkonzentriert vor der Mendler-Doppelchance (82.).Escudero, S. : 2,5Gab seine Startelfpremiere in der Bundesliga - und überzeugte. Sehr zweikampfstark in der Abwehr, unter anderem verhinderte Escudero per Tackling die Riesenchance zum 1:2 gegen Mak (66.) und opferte sich dabei; schließlich kostete ihn die Grätsche die Unversehrtheit . Vor der Auswechslung noch mit entscheidendem Anteil am 1:1. Edu. : 5Schwächster Schalker: Weder auf der rechten noch bei seinen wenigen Ausflügen auf die linke Mittelfeldseite gefährlich. Bereitete keine Gelegenheiten vor, weil ihm die Durchsetzungskraft in Zweikämpfen fehlte. Musste aufgrund seiner Wirkungslosigkeit früh vom Feld (55.). Kluge, P. : 3Mit mehreren Balleroberungen im defensiven Mittelfeld, und - wichtig - klugem Umschalten auf Angriff. Bereitete so unter anderem die Huntelaar-Chance in der 22. Minute vor. Annan, A. : 3,5Genau wie Kluge mit Balleroberungen und Stärken im Zweikampf allgemein. Im Gegensatz zum Nebenmann fehlten Annan jedoch Ruhe und Übersicht am Ball, sodass der Ghanaer durch sein hektisches Passspiel einige Ballgewinne direkt herschenkte. Durch seine Bissigkeit und Laufbereitschaft trotzdem insgesamt durchschnittlich. Jurado, J. : 4In Ansätzen ließ Jurado seinen Spielwitz aufblitzen, wenn er gemeinsam mit Raul zum Kombinieren kam. Das geschah aber zu selten und brachte effektiv selten richtige Torchancen. Raúl. : 2Praktisch an allen guten Schalke-Angriffen beteiligt. Kluge Pässe - mal per Außenrist, mal per Kopfballablage - setzten allein Nebenmann Huntelaar vier-, fünfmal in Szene. Eiskalt beim Ausgleichstreffer; auch sonst torgefährlich. Wie die gesamte Schalker Offensive aber auch mit Phasen, in denen weniger gelang. Huntelaar, K. : 4Bewegte sich gut: Immer wieder stahl sich Huntelaar im Rücken der Nürnberger Verteidiger davon und brachte sich so in Position. Oft gelang es Wollscheid und Co dabei, den entscheidenden Steilpass zu unterbinden. Trotzdem kam der Niederländer zu mehreren Chancen, von denen zwar keine kläglich vergeben wurde; gleichzeitig zwang er Schäfer auch zu keiner Weltklasseparade. Draxler, J. : 3,5Direkt nach seiner Einwechslung belebte er das ohnehin erstarkte Schalker Spiel noch weiter. Es schien, als würde Draxler das Geschehen an sich reißen, indem er als zentrale Figur Bälle forderte und in die Spitze schickte. Auffällig aber, wie sehr der Youngster nach starken Anfangsminuten abfiel. Ab der 70. Minute kam nur wenig vom FC Schalke, und 15 sehr starke Minuten, die 20 unauffälligen gegenüber stehen, ergeben eine durchschnittliche Note. Schmitz, L. : 3,5Ersetzte den verletzten Escudero und zeigte direkt, dass er um seinen Platz links in der Viererkette kämpft. Großer Einsatz, sehr aktiv, konnte aber wenig bewegen.
February 27, 201114 yr Raul tried his best to help Schalke ,also some wondful assists,but Huntelaar wasn't the one who could turn to be goals.......
March 2, 201114 yr Berlin, Berlin...wir fahren nach Berlin!!!!!!!!!!!! Bayern - Schalke 0 : 1 Goal Rauuuuuuuuuuul
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