United aim to complete the job against Schalke

Manchester United FC have reason to be wary when FC Schalke 04 come to Old Trafford for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final.

• The Premier League leaders are unbeaten at home in all competitions this season but face a Schalke side who put five past FC Internazionale Milano at San Siro in the last round and whose striker Raúl González has experience of putting United to the sword.

• United, however, have the considerable comfort of a 2-0 first-leg win in Gelsenkirchen, thanks to second-half strikes from Ryan Giggs (67) and Wayne Rooney (69).

Match background
• United must rewrite their recent UEFA Champions League history against German clubs if they are to progress to a fifth European Champion Clubs' Cup final and deny Ralf Rangnick's side a first appearance in the showpiece game.

• Although they have lost just one of ten group stage meetings with Bundesliga opposition, winning five, in two-legged knockout ties United's record reads no wins and four defeats, most recently against FC Bayern München in last year's quarter-finals.

• United visited Bayern for the first leg and took a first-minute lead through Wayne Rooney, only for the hosts to turn the tables with two goals in the last 15 minutes. Sir Alex Ferguson's men surrendered an advantage in the return too, allowing Bayern to claw their way back from 3-0 behind to 3-2 and thereby win the tie on away goals.

• Those four defeats in full are:
1996/97 semi-finals: Borussia Dortmund (0-2 aggregate)
2000/01 quarter-finals: FC Bayern München (1-3 aggregate)
2001/02 semi-finals: Bayer 04 Leverkusen (3-3 aggregate, away goals)
2009/10 quarter-finals: FC Bayern München (4-4 aggregate, away goals)

• United's overall record in two-legged ties with German teams is W2 L4. They have won their last four home meetings with Bundesliga opposition, though, and have a record of W6 D3 L2 against German visitors at Old Trafford.

• Schalke have visited Manchester only once. In the 1969/70 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals they led United's neighbours Manchester City FC 1-0 after the home leg but crashed 5-1 in the return.

• Schalke's overall record in England is W0 D1 L3. The only time they have avoided defeat was on their first visit, a 2-2 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers FC in a 1958/59 European Cup first round tie that they won 4-3 on aggregate.

• The Royal Blues have not won in England but boast a fine away record in this season's UEFA Champions League, beating holders Inter 5-2 in Milan in the quarter-finals. Schalke have won two and drawn two on their travels since losing at Olympique Lyonnais on Matchday 1.

• United have won three and drawn two at home this term, with all their victories attained by a single-goal margin. Their last home defeat in any competition was on 3 April last year, a 2-1 Premier League reverse against Chelsea FC.

• While this is Schalke's first time in the last four of the UEFA Champions League, they have contested three semi-finals in UEFA's other club competitions – losing the aforementioned tie to eventual winners Manchester City in 1970 and going down 1-0 to Sevilla FC, who also went on to claim the trophy, in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup, but beating CD Tenerife 2-1 on aggregate en route to capturing the 1996/97 UEFA Cup.

• United are competing in their 12th semi-final in Europe's elite club competition, their record to date reading four wins and seven defeats (W3 L3 under Sir Alex):
2008/09 Arsenal FC: 1-0 (h), 3-1 (a)
2007/08 FC Barcelona: 0-0 (a), 1-0 (h)
2006/07 AC Milan: 3-2 (h), 0-3 (a)
2001/02 Bayer 04 Leverkusen: 2-2 (h), 1-1 (a)
1998/99 Juventus: 1-1 (h), 3-2 (a)
1996/97 Borussia Dortmund: 0-1 (a), 0-1 (h)
1968/69 AC Milan: 0-2 (a), 1-0 (h)
1967/68 Real Madrid CF: 1-0 (h), 3-3 (a)
1965/66 FK Partizan: 0-2 (a), 1-0 (h)
1957/58 AC Milan: 2-1 (h), 0-4 (a)
1956/57 Real Madrid CF: 1-3 (a), 2-2 (h)

• It is 20 years ago that Sir Alex won his first European trophy at United with a 2-1 victory against FC Barcelona in the 1990/91 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final on 15 May.

• With Gary Neville's retirement earlier this season, Giggs is now the only survivor of the United team that defeated Bayern 2-1 in the 1999 UEFA Champions League final in Barcelona.

• United have progressed in all 14 UEFA competition ties where they won the first game away from home, including against Chelsea in this season's quarter-finals (1-0 away, 2-1 home). That includes four 2-0 away wins, all in the European Champion Clubs' Cup: against RSC Anderlecht (1956/57 first round, 10-0 home), ASK Vorwärts Berlin, now FFC Victoria 91 (1965/66 first round, 3-1 home), RC Deportivo La Coruña (2001/02 quarter-finals, 3-2 home) and AS Roma (2007/08 quarter-finals, 1-0 home).

• Only twice in the UEFA Champions League era – Inter's triumph at Bayern in this season's round of 16 (0-1 home, 3-2 away) and the 1995/96 semi-finals, when AFC Ajax recovered from losing 1-0 at home to Panathinaikos FC with a 3-0 away triumph – has a team turned round a tie after a home first-leg defeat.

• United's record in shoot-outs in UEFA competition is:
6-5 v Chelsea FC, 2007/08 UEFA Champions League final
3-4 v FC Torpedo Moskva, 1992/93 UEFA Cup first round
4-5 v FC Fehérvár, 1984/85 UEFA Cup quarter-finals

• Schalke's record is:
4-1 v FC Porto, 2007/08 UEFA Champions League round of 16
1-3 v Brøndby IF, 2003/04 UEFA Cup second round
4-5 v SK Slavia Praha, 1998/99 UEFA Cup first round
4-1 v FC Internazionale Milano, 1996/97 UEFA Cup final

Team ties
• Raúl scored four UEFA Champions League goals in three games against United for Real Madrid. He appeared in both legs of Madrid's quarter-final win in 1999/2000, striking twice in the 3-2 second-leg success in Manchester that secured an identical aggregate victory.

• Raúl hit two more when Madrid beat United 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu in a quarter-final first leg in 2002/03, but did not play in the Old Trafford return. Giggs and Paul Scholes lined up against Raúl in both of those seasons, while Wes Brown and Rio Ferdinand faced the Spaniard in 2002/03.

• Dimitar Berbatov was a substitute in the Leverkusen team beaten 2-1 by Madrid in the 2002 UEFA Champions League final, Raúl scoring the first goal. During his time with Leverkusen from 2000 to 2006, Berbatov hit six goals in 11 league meetings with Schalke.

• Jefferson Farfán and Berbatov scored the goals as PSV and Tottenham Hotspur FC drew 1-1 on aggregate in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 16. Both also converted their kicks in the resulting penalty shoot-out, PSV prevailing 6-5.

• Nicolas Plestan's LOSC Lille Métropole side were beaten 1-0 both home and away by United in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League round of 16.

• At the 2010 FIFA World Cup Rooney's England went down 4-1 to Manuel Neuer's Germany in the round of 16. Neuer had earlier been on the losing side against Nemanja Vidić's Serbia, who were 1-0 victors in the group stage. Hans Sarpei's Ghana team beat Vidić and Serbia 1-0 in the countries' opening game in South Africa.

• Atsuto Uchida was in the Japan team that beat Park Ji-Sung's Korea Republic on penalties after a 2-2 draw in the AFC Asian Cup semi-finals in Qatar in January.

• Park struck one of Korea Republic's goals in a 2-0 first round victory against Angelos Charisteas's Greece at last summer's World Cup. The Korean was a team-mate of Farfán at PSV Eindhoven in 2004/05, the pair losing a UEFA Champions League semi-final against AC Milan.

• Klaas-Jan Huntelaar played in both legs of Milan's 7-2 aggregate defeat by United in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League round of 16.