Schalke v Manchester City background

Schalke's last three UEFA Champions League campaigns have all ended in the round of 16 and they will be keen to make the most of home advantage as they welcome Manchester City for the first leg of their latest knockout tie.

• The German club reached the semi-finals in 2010/11, but have not been past the round of 16 in three attempts since. Schalke qualified for this season's knockout stages by finishing second to Porto in Group D.

• The winners of Group F in the autumn, Manchester City are in the knockout stages for the sixth year in a row, and have won two of their last three round of 16 ties. In 2017/18 they went on to the quarter-finals, where they lost to fellow English side Liverpool.

Previous meetings
• City have won two of the teams' three previous fixtures, most recently a 2-0 success in Gelsenkirchen in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage thanks to goals from Benjani and Stephen Ireland. Vincent Kompany played 90 minutes for City, the only player from either side who is still with their club.

• The English club also came out on top against Schalke in the semi-final of their victorious European Cup Winners' Cup campaign in 1969/70, overturning a 1-0 first-leg loss in Germany with a 5-1 victory in Manchester.

Form guide
Schalke
• Schalke are in the last 16 for the first time since 2014/15, when they lost 5-4 on aggregate to Real Madrid, going down 2-0 in the home first leg and bowing out despite a 4-3 success in Spain.

• That made it three successive last-16 eliminations for Schalke, who were also beaten 9-2 on aggregate by Madrid in 2013/14 and 4-3 by Galatasaray the previous season, in each instance losing the home leg – the 6-1 home loss to Madrid in February 2014 equalling their biggest European defeat.

• Overall, Schalke have won only two of their five round of 16 ties in the UEFA Champions League. In each of those aggregate victories, against Porto in 2007/08 and Valencia in 2010/11, they won the home leg.

• Schalke picked up 11 points in this season's group stage, seven coming at home where they beat Galatasaray (2-0) and Lokomotiv Moskva (1-0) after opening with a 1-1 draw against Porto.

• Schalke have still won only three of their last eight UEFA Champions League games in Gelsenkirchen (D2 L3), conceding 18 goals.

• Schalke are, however, unbeaten in nine home European fixtures (W6 D3).

• The German club are without a win in their last five games against English sides (D2 L3), since a 2-0 victory at Arsenal in October 2012. Their most recent game with a Premier League side in Gelsenkirchen was a 5-0 loss to Chelsea in the 2014/15 UEFA Champions League group stage, equalling their heaviest European defeat.

• That defeat by Chelsea made it six home matches against English clubs without a win – during which they conceded 14 goals and scored two – for Schalke (D2 L4), who won the first three such fixtures; they have not beaten an English club in Germany since a 3-1 defeat of Arsenal in October 2001.

• Schalke's record in two-legged knockout ties against English clubs is W1 L1. Their most successful UEFA Champions League campaign, in 2010/11, was emphatically ended by City's neighbours Manchester United in the semi-finals (0-2 home, 1-4 away).

Manchester City
• City have been in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 every year since 2013/14, although they have won only two of those five previous ties. Twelve months ago a 4-0 away first-leg success at Basel effectively booked their place in the quarter-finals, Josep Guardiola's side going through despite a subsequent 1-2 home reverse.

• The win at Basel was only City's second away success in the round of 16; the other came at Dynamo Kyiv in 2015/16 (3-1), the only other tie they have won at this stage. They have lost all of their other three round of 16 away matches.

• This is City's second game in a row against Bundesliga opponents; they beat Hoffenheim 2-1 in Manchester on matchday six, having won by the same scoreline in Germany. That made it six wins from their last seven matches against German clubs (D1), stretching back to a 1-0 loss at Bayern München in September 2014.

• The Citizens have won three of their last five games in Germany, losing only one; in contrast, they suffered five defeats in their first six visits, the exception that 2008 victory at Schalke.

• City have lost both two-legged contests against German clubs, UEFA Cup quarter-finals against Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1978/79 and Hamburg 30 years later.

• City's best UEFA Champions League performance was reaching the 2015/16 semi-finals.

• The English champions opened this season with an unexpected 2-1 loss at home to Lyon – their third successive European defeat in Manchester – but won four of their next five fixtures, including a 6-0 home victory against Shakhtar Donetsk on matchday four that was their biggest win in UEFA club competition.

• City have won only five of their last 11 European matches, home and away – losing five. Away from home it is three wins in six matches (D1 L2).

Links and trivia
• Leroy Sané was a Schalke player from 2005 to 2008 and from 2011 until joining City in 2016; he made 47 Bundesliga appearances between April 2014 and May 2016, scoring 11 goals.

• Matija Nastasić made 34 Premier League appearances for City between September 2012 and August 2014, when he joined Schalke, initially on loan.

• Sané scored Schalke's goal in a 1-1 draw against Wolfsburg in April 2015; Kevin De Bruyne was on target for Wolfsburg.

• Have also played in Germany:
Kevin De Bruyne (Werder Bremen 2012/13, Wolfsburg 2014–15)
İlkay Gündoğan (Bochum 2008, Nürnberg 2009–11, Borussia Dortmund 2011–16)
Vincent Kompany (Hamburg 2006–08)

• Have also played in England:
Nabil Bentaleb (Tottenham 2013–16)
Benjamin Stambouli (Tottenham 2014/15)
Sascha Riether (Fulham 2012–14)
Omar Mascarell (Derby 2014/15)
Gudio Burgstaller (Cardiff 2014)

• Sergio Agüero scored one goal and set up two more in Atlético Madrid's 4-0 defeat of Schalke in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round second leg.

Latest news

Schalke
• UEFA Champions League squad changes
In: Rabbi Matondo, Jeffrey Bruma, Bastian Oczipka
Out: Abdul Rahman Baba, Naldo, Franco Di Santo, Jannis Kübler

• Schalke's record since matchday six is W3 D3 L3. They drew 0-0 at home to Freiburg on Saturday.

• Suat Serdar was sent off in the 42nd minute against Freiburg, the fourth Schalke player to be dismissed in this season's Bundesliga, level with Stuttgart as the most in the league.

• On 6 February Schalke reached the quarter-finals of the German Cup with a 4-1 win against Fortuna Düsseldorf, Salif Sané scoring a brace. They will play Werder Bremen at home in the last eight in early April.

• Schalke's sole league victory so far in 2019 is a 2-1 defeat of Wolfsburg in their first game on 20 January, Daniel Caligiuri scoring twice.

• Ahmed Kutucu, who made his professional debut on matchday six, has scored three goals in eight competitive games.

• Haji Wright scored his first Bundesliga goal in a 2-1 home defeat against Bayer Leverkusen on 19 December.

• Benjamin Stambouli (cheekbone fracture), Alessandro Schöpf (knee) and Steven Skrzybski (hamstring) have all been out since a 2-2 draw at Hertha Berlin on 25 January.

• Guido Burgstaller (Achilles tendon and groin) had been sidelined since 8 December before coming on for the final seven minutes on Saturday.

• Breel Embolo suffered a broken metatarsal on 11 November and has not played since.

Manchester City
• UEFA Champions League squad changes
In: Claudio Bravo, Gabriel Jesus, Philippe Sandler
Out: Brahim Díaz, Luke Bolton, Eliaquim Mangala

• Vincent Kompany's next appearance in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final, will be his 50th.

• Raheem Sterling made his 50th appearance in UEFA club competition on matchday six. İlkay Gündoğan will reach the same mark in his next game.

• City's record since matchday six is W13 D1 L3 – all three defeats coming in the Premier League.

• The English champions have won 12 of their last 13 games in all competitions, losing one – they have scored 49 goals in that run, conceding only six.

• City reached the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 4-1 win at fourth-tier Newport on Saturday evening, Phil Foden scoring twice. The 18-year-old has four goals in his last five appearances.

• Josep Guardiola's side have scored five or more goals in nine of their 42 games this season.

• Sergio Agüero scored Premier League hat-tricks against both Arsenal (3-1) on 3 February and Chelsea (6-0) a week later, and has nine goals in his last six City appearances.

• The treble against Chelsea was Agüero's 11th in the Premier League, equalling Alan Shearer's competition record.

• City's away record in all competitions this season is W13 D4 L3 – they have won five of their last nine (D1 L3).

• City will play Chelsea at Wembley in the English League Cup final on 24 February.

• The Manchester club beat third-tier Burton Albion 9-0 at home in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final on 9 January – City's biggest win since a 10-1 defeat of Huddersfield in 1987. They won the return leg 1-0.

• The Citizens signed 18-year-old midfielder Ante Palaversa from Hajduk Split in January, loaning the teenager back to the Croatian club for the rest of the season.

• Kompany picked up a muscle injury in a 2-1 win against Liverpool on 3 January and has not featured since.

• Benjamin Mendy had surgery on the cartilage in his left knee on 14 November.

• Claudio Bravo has been out since sustaining an Achilles problem on 20 August.

Video Assistant Referees (VAR) will be introduced into the UEFA Champions League from this round. The VAR will be used in order to support the referee when making decisions concerning four match-changing situations:
1.    Goals
2.    Incidents in the penalty area
3.    Red cards
4.    Mistaken identity

The VAR will inform the referee when there is evidence of a clear and obvious mistake in one of these match-changing situations. The referee can then use the review area next to the pitch to take a final decision. The VAR is also able to take into account any infringement that could have taken place in the immediate build-up to the incident (the attacking phase of play).

Decisions like offside or whether a foul was committed inside or outside the penalty area will be recommended to the referee directly by the VAR and no on-field review necessarily takes place in such cases. The on-field review process will be communicated within the stadium using either the stadium screens or the public announcement system.

• Full story on UEFA.com

• Interview with UEFA's Chief Refereeing Officer Roberto Rosetti

More information on the introduction of VAR, including videos and images can be found here.