Manchester United defender John O’Shea backs his team to show their class against Schalke: UEFA News
Manchester United defender John O’Shea feels that his team must show their true class when they take on Schalke 04 in the first-leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final at the Veltins-Arena on Tuesday, 26th April.
United travel to Germany as favourites to book a place in the final of the competition, which takes place at Wembley Stadium, London on 28th May.
Schalke did not prepare well for this huge game, as they lost 1-0 to Kaiserslautern at the weekend. Meanwhile, United won their Barclays Premier League game against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Everton-c39043 by a similar score line, to strengthen their chances of winning the 2010-11 league
competition.
Manchester United do not have a good record against German teams in the Champions League, as they lost to Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals of the 1997-98 competition and went on to lose to Bayer Leverkusen two years later. O’Shea has insisted that his
team should not take the opposition lightly and must gear up to face the German outfit.
Talking to reporters, O’Shea said, "We have to make sure we show them our history, why we have got to finals, why we have won them, why we have been in this situation many times before. We have to impose ourselves whilst understanding the threats they have,
which we will have to cope with.''
The 29-year-old added that his team should be wary of the threat posed by Schalke, as they have been phenomenal in the current campaign, and have not lost a match yet. The Miners beat holders, Inter Milan, 7-3 on aggregate in the quarter-finals last month.
The versatile United defender added, "I wouldn't say we are pleased with the draw. Schalke have reached a Champions League semi-final. They have got to be a good team. We are favourites, which adds a bit of pressure but any side who can score so many goals
against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan has to have something about them.''
The Republic of Ireland international knows the importance of scoring an away goal in the first leg, and believes that his team will try their best to score at the Veltins-Arena to gain an advantage going into the clash at Old Trafford.
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