Arguably the least ideal team for Madrid to draw: Schalke.

RM's record in Germany is abysmal.

Recent form in the league and cdr is equally as bad.

A win at home might not be enough as Schalke will be very difficult to break down and also have players who can really hurt us in Draxler and Farfan.

Thoughts?

We did finally break the similar France slump- I knew it was Mourinho but I had to check the year/team. It was 2010-2011 against Lyon we tied away and won 3-0 at home in the round of 16.

I mean, personally, I honestly don't buy into this jinx stuff. I just think we have difficultly playing away regardless of where it is outside of Spain.

I just think Schalke are a very very good team and are underrated among the 2 seed teams.

Schalke are a decent team. If they do manage to score, we'll outscore them. They concede an average of 14 shots per game apparently.

We could've had a worse draw, avoiding City and Arsenal was good.

I'm sure we will win both games if not a draw and a win for us

marcelo might have his work cut out for him handling farfan, draxler's a descent footballer as well...regardless of poor form in germany we should be able to come out top in this one

It does seem like an easy tie but something tells me this is gonna be a rather close encounter. I never trust RM's away performances so I do hope we do not concede too many goals in Germany. I think we all know Schalke is a dangerous team if taken lightly so let's hope Carlo has his team prepared come February...

Very very tough draw for Real Madrid. As we all know, Real Madrid in recent years hasn't done too well in the Champions League when they came up against teams better than Galatasaray, ZSKA Moscow, Apoel, Lyon or Spurs. Although at first glance it might seem that the third best team in La Liga and second best team in Madrid should have an advantage over the 6th best team in Bundesliga, on paper it isn't as clear cut at all, especially since Florentino Perez aka FloP has decided to turn Real Madrid into Tottenham Hotspur with the acquisitions of Modric and Bale. Huntelaar is obviously a superior striker than Benzema and not many would argue against Draxler over Gareth Bale. Boateng is another big stage performer and has the experience and swagger to outshine Isco. So in the attacking department a lot will depend on Ronaldo performing or not. Of course dribbling past Uchida will be a bit of a problem for Ronaldo but he should still be able to score a few tap ins. After all Schalke's defense isn't on Dortmund level.

Let's also not forget what Schalke did the last time they faced a post Mourinho team in Inter. Not a good omen in my very humble and neutral opinion.

Astute observation as always. Forgot to mention the club basically plays with ten players as Ramos can be sent off on any given moment. Nine if you consider Pepe is as graceful as a bull in a china shop.

Most worried about this tie. Hopefully the EC could find something on Barcelona to distract the world of our incoming and inevitable defeat against the Germans...

Indeed, indeed. Raul's ex club really does have an advantage here, no doubt.

futbol wrote:Very very tough draw for Real Madrid. As we all know, Real Madrid in recent years hasn't done too well in the Champions League when they came up against teams better than Galatasaray, ZSKA Moscow, Apoel, Lyon or Spurs. Although at first glance it might seem that the third best team in La Liga and second best team in Madrid should have an advantage over the 6th best team in Bundesliga, on paper it isn't as clear cut at all, especially since Florentino Perez aka FloP has decided to turn Real Madrid into Tottenham Hotspur with the acquisitions of Modric and Bale. Huntelaar is obviously a superior striker than Benzema and not many would argue against Draxler over Gareth Bale. Boateng is another big stage performer and has the experience and swagger to outshine Isco. So in the attacking department a lot will depend on Ronaldo performing or not. Of course dribbling past Uchida will be a bit of a problem for Ronaldo but he should still be able to score a few tap ins. After all Schalke's defense isn't on Dortmund level.

Let's also not forget what Schalke did the last time they faced a post Mourinho team in Inter. Not a good omen in my very humble and neutral opinion.

Very humble opinion indeed but with load of bullshet attached. Daxler better than bale? Huntelar better than Benzema? Boeteng raping Barca has nothing to do with us..we have played him and kept him quite a few times.

One thing Sid Lowe said that I really agree with is that the round of 16 can be a really interesting because its in Feb., so not only is it super far off (time for injuries and recovery) each team can make some key transfers in Jan. that can really alter their chances

we might see a different team in Feb, I don't expect anything drastic, but Huntelaar for one will be back.