Schalke forward Eric Choupo-Moting insists the Bundesliga club aren’t thinking about last year’s Champions League thrashing from Real Madrid.
Los Blancos hammered Schalke 6-1 in Gelsenkirchen on their way to winning La Decima, and the sides were drawn against each other in this year’s tournament too.
Choupo-Moting has spoken to AS in advance of the fixture and said the match won’t follow the same trajectory, although he hopes the Madrid players believe it will as that will work in Schalke’s favour.
“This is the Champions League, not the Bundesliga. It’s difficult to explain the difference,” he began.
“We don’t think what happened last year will happen again. Perhaps Madrid think they will win 6-1 again. That would be good for us.
“Madrid aren’t indestructible. Everything is possible in football and in a special competition like the Champions League.
“We can’t focus only on Cristiano Ronaldo. That would be a mistake because Madrid have other players. I like Karim Benzema and we have to be careful against him.
“I know Dani Carvajal from his season at Bayer Leverkusen. I like how he plays and, theoretically, he isn’t one of the big names. But even with these difficulties I believe we can score.
“I don’t know if this is a good time to face Madrid. I’m not in the heads of their players. I guess now they want to prove to everyone that [the 4-0 defeat against Atletico Madrid] was an aberration. But anything is possible in football and we want to win.”
