Valencia keen to shut down Schalke

FC Schalke 04 lost both their opening games without scoring a goal on their last participations in the UEFA Champions League and as they return to the competition after a year's absence with a home tie against Valencia CF in Group B they will be hoping to seize the opportunity to put immediate points on the board.

• On their UEFA Champions League bow in 2001/02 the German club began by conceding two late goals at home to Panathinaikos FC and it set the tone for a disappointing campaign in which they finished bottom of the group. Four years later their first home fixture began with the concession of a first-minute goal against AC Milan although they quickly equalised and were by no means disgraced in holding the previous year's beaten finalists to a 2-2 draw. It followed a 1-0 defeat at PSV Eindhoven on Matchday 1; that season Schalke finished in third place in the section with two wins and two draws from their six games.

• Coach Mirko Slomka's club, who were pipped to the Bundesliga title by just two points last season, have good memories of their only previous home game with Valencia, a 2-0 success in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup quarter-final with the away tie ending 1-1. It put Schalke into the semi-finals where they again faced Spanish opposition, another 2-0 home win, this time against CD Tenerife, wiping out the single-goal deficit in the away leg. In the final the German side drew 1-1 against FC Internazionale Milano, before winning 4-1 on penalties to clinch their first European crown.

• Another UEFA Cup semi-final appearance, in 2005/06, was the last time Schalke met opponents from Spain. Facing eventual winners Sevilla FC, they lost the away leg 1-0 having drawn 0-0 at home. That defeat was their first reverse in five meetings against Spanish foes. In six home games they have recorded three wins and two draws, their only defeat in the Arena AufSchalke coming in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League group stage against RCD Mallorca.

• Valencia, finalists in both 1999/00 and 2000/01, reached last season's UEFA Champions League quarter-finals before succumbing to Chelsea's late winner at the Mestalla, Michael Essien's goal producing a 2-1 aggregate victory for the London side. Their fifth attempt at landing Europe’s most sought-after club prize began with a 4-2 victory away to Olympiacos CFP in which Fernando Morientes scored a hat-trick. They followed up with another two wins, building a platform which enabled them to finish as group winners with a margin of three points ahead of AS Roma.

• In the group stage their other two away games finished with a draw and a loss while in the knockout rounds they managed to avoid defeat in the away legs, drawing 2-2 at FC Internazionale Milano before that 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.

• They are traditionally strong starters, in every one of their five campaigns they had three points on the board after Matchday 1, although before last season they had always enjoyed a home fixture first.

• Quique Sánchez Flores' team, who finished fourth in the Primera División and booked their ticket for the group stage (in which they will also face Chelsea FC again along with Rosenborg BK - the two sides meet in the group's other fixture) with a 5-1 aggregate victory over IF Elfsborg in the third qualifying round, have never won in Germany in UEFA club competition. In a total of eight visits they have only once avoided defeat. That came in the 1999/00 UEFA Champions League when they returned from the Olympiastadion having held FC Bayern München 1-1. They met the same team in the following season’s final and at San Siro battled to another 1-1 draw before losing on penalties.