Schalke heartened by domestic bliss

Slomka satisfied
The Gelsenkirchen outfit face the unenviable task of cancelling out a one-goal deficit when they travel to Camp Nou for the second instalment of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie, but do so in high spirits. A 1-0 victory at home against strugglers FC Hansa Rostock on Saturday made it 13 points from five games for Schalke and, with Hamburger SV succumbing to resurgent VfB Stuttgart, they moved second behind FC Bayern München. "It was our goal to capitalise should our opponents slip today," said Schalke coach Mirko Slomka. "I am happy to be second for now."

'Right track'
Halil Altıntop struck the only goal shortly after half-time at the Arena AufSchalke and there could have been a lot more, but Fabian Ernst was simply grateful for the points. "We are back on the right track now," said the midfielder. "We created lots of chances and sooner or later we will be back to converting more of them." It would have pleased captain Marcelo Bordon, who had insisted in the run-up to the game that, with only seven Bundesliga games to go, the time had come "to quit talking and play football" if Schalke wanted to secure a top-two finish and an automatic place in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

'Go figure'
They have not given up the ghost on their current European campaign either, with Jermaine Jones eager to make an impression in Catalonia. "You don't get to play against the best of the best that often so the return will be quite something," said the German international. "We have 90 minutes to consign the first match to memory and we know Barça can be fragile in defence. Nobody gave us a chance against [FC] Porto yet we made the quarter-finals. We have been written off in the Bundesliga and now we are second. Go figure!"