Real Madrid played 52 European fixtures against German opposition before crossing paths with Schalke 04 for the first time a year ago. Now the Uefa Champions League holders take on the Gelsenkirchen side again for a place in the quarterfinals.
Last year's round of 16 first leg turned into a procession for Madrid, who became the first team to score six away goals in the Champions League knockout rounds. Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo all scored twice; former Madrid striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar got Schalke's added-time consolation.
The lineups in Gelsenkirchen on 26 February 2014 were:
Schalke: Fährmann, Höwedes, Matip, Felipe Santana, Kolašinac (Fuchs 76), Farfán (Obasi 72), Boateng (Goretzka 59), Neustädter, Draxler, Meyer, Huntelaar.
Real Madrid: Casillas, Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo, Modric, Alonso (Illarramendi 73), Bale (Jesé 80), Di María (Isco 68), Benzema, Ronaldo.
The second leg at Santiago Bernabéu ended 3-1 to Carlo Ancelotti's side, Ronaldo adding another two to his season's haul which eventually reached 17.
Match background
Schalke
Schalke have won only two of their last 15 encounters against Spanish opponents, suffering eight defeats. They have played 25 Uefa games against Liga clubs with the record W7 D7 L11 (W5 D2 L5 at home) and have not won in Spain since a 3-0 victory at Espanyol in the 2005/06 Uefa Cup round of 32, nine games ago.
The Royal Blues have faced Spanish teams in knockout ties on three occasions in the last four years. They beat Valencia 3-1 at home after a 1-1 draw away in the 2010/11 Champions League round of 16. In the 2011/12 Europa League quarterfinal first leg Schalke lost 4-2 at home to Athletic Club, going out 6-4 on aggregate.
Schalke have won ten of their last 21 European home games, with five draws and six defeats.
Substitute Max Meyer scored the only goal at NK Maribor on matchday six to ensure the German side finished second in their group to qualify for the round of 16 for the third year running.
At home the Königsblauen drew 1-1 with Maribor, beat Sporting Clube de Portugal 4-3 and lost 5-0 to Chelsea.
Their best Champions League campaign came in 2010/11 when they reached the semi-finals, losing 2-0 at home and 4-1 away to Manchester United.
Real Madrid
Madrid have won only three of their 27 trips to Germany, two of those victories coming last term when they faced three Bundesliga teams in successive knockout ties on their way to lifting the trophy.
The Spanish side also won 4-0 at Bayern Munich in the semifinal second leg having lost 2-0 at Borussia Dortmund in their quarter-final second leg, prevailing 5-0 and 3-2 overall respectively. They have suffered 18 defeats away to German clubs.
Madrid lifted the European Champion Clubs' Cup on German soil in 1959, beating Stade de Reims 2-0 at Stuttgart's Neckarstadion.
Madrid have defeated three German sides in European finals, Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 in the 1960 European Cup and Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-1 in the 2002 Champions League, both in Glasgow. They also overcame 1. FC Köln 5-3 on aggregate in the 1986 Uefa Cup.
Madrid are trying to become the first team to retain the trophy in the Champions League era.
The Blancos won their record tenth European Cup on 24 May 2014, beating Club Atlético de Madrid 4-1 after extra time through goals from Sergio Ramos, Bale, Marcelo and Ronaldo.
Ancelotti's men are on a nine-match winning streak in the Champions League, scoring 25 goals and conceding three.
They have won seven of their last nine away games in the competition, including victories over Ludogorets Razgrad (2-1), Liverpool FC (3-0) and FC Basel 1863 (1-0) in the group stage.
The Merengues have failed to score in only one of the past 27 Champions League away fixtures since going down 1-0 at Olympique Lyonnais in the 2009/10 round of 16, a tie they lost 2-1 on aggregate. They have suffered only five defeats – four of them in Germany – in their last 27 European away games.
Ancelotti's knockout record against German sides as coach and player is W8 D1 L4.
Coach and player links
Huntelaar scored eight goals in 20 Liga games for Madrid in 2009.
Raúl González, the former Champions League's all-time top scorer with 71 goals and a three-time winner of the competition, scored five of those goals in a two-year spell with Schalke after transferring from Madrid in 2010; he had spent 16 years there.
Ronaldo scored Portugal's equaliser in a 1-1 friendly draw with Huntelaar's Netherlands at the Estádio do Algarve on 14 August 2013.
Kevin-Prince Boateng, Modric and Bale all played for Tottenham Hotspur between 2008 and 2009, winning the League Cup in 2008.
Sami Khedira and Toni Kroos were part of Germany's victorious 2014 Fifa World Cup squad, alongside Benedikt Höwedes and Julian Draxler.
Kroos scored Germany's goal in a 1-0 friendly international win over Spain at the Estadio de Balaídos, Vigo, in November 2014 with Khedira and Höwedes also on the winning side. Iker Casillas, Ramos and Isco all started for Spain.
Khedira, Kroos and Höwedes' Germany won 4-0 against Ronaldo, Pepe and Fábio Coentrão's Portugal in the 2014 World Cup group stage in Salvador. Pepe was sent off while Draxler was an unused substitute.
Schalke
Boateng, Marco Höger and Huntelaar are all a booking away from a ban.
Schalke went into the winter break fifth in the Bundesliga, 18 points behind leaders Bayern Munich. The Royal Blues are now fourth and remain 18 points off the pace after losing on Saturday to an Eintracht Frankfurt side that had been six games without a win.
Roberto Di Matteo's men had lost one of their previous six games since the end of the group stage, a 2-1 home defeat by 1. FC Köln on 13 December.
The Gelsenkirchen club had two friendlies while at a training camp in Doha, Qatar, from 6 to 16 January, going down 2-0 against AFC Ajax and drawing 2-2 against al-Merrikh SC. Schalke also lost 2-1 to SK Rapid Wien a week before the Bundesliga resumption.
Huntelaar is serving a four-match domestic ban, reduced from six on appeal, following his dismissal in Schalke's 1-0 home victory over Hannover 96 on 31 January.
As in the reverse fixture in late August, Höwedes scored Schalke's equaliser in a 1-1 draw against Bayern on 3 February.
Goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann was ruled out for the rest of the season after straining the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee on 8 January. Understudy Fabian Giefer made his first Bundesliga appearance for Schalke against Hannover but, suffering with an adductor problem, was replaced at half-time three days later in Munich by senior debutant Timon Wellenreuther. The 19-year-old has started the last two games.
Chinedu Obasi (out since December, tibia), Draxler (31 October, thigh), Sead Kolašinac (23 August, knee), Leon Goretzka (5 July, hamstring) and Jefferson Farfán (early July, knee) are long-term absentees.
Huntelaar extended his contract until summer 2017 on 20 December.
Champions League squad changes
In: Joy-Lance Mickels, Matija Nastasic (Manchester City, loan)
Out: Donis Avdijaj (SK Sturm Graz, loan), Christian Clemens (1. FSV Mainz 05, loan), Felipe Santana (Olympiacos, loan)
Real Madrid
Marcelo will incur a suspension with his next booking.
Madrid have played 13 games in all competitions since matchday six, with their record reading: W9 D1 L3.
The Whites recorded 22 consecutive victories between 16 September and 20 December, the last of them a 2-0 win against CA San Lorenzo in the Fifa Club World Cup final in Marrakesh.
The Merengues, with a game in hand, were a point clear of second-placed FC Barcelona at the end of 2014.
Madrid were beaten in their first two outings of 2015 - 2-1 at Valencia on 4 January and 2-0 away to Club Atlético de Madrid three days later in the first leg of their Copa del Rey last-16 tie, which they lost 4-2 on aggregate.
Atlético completed their first Liga double over Madrid since 1950/51 when they won 4-0 at the Estadio Vicente Calderón on 7 February – the European champions' heaviest loss since a 5-0 defeat by Barcelona in November 2010 and their first Liga loss at the Calderón in 17 years.
Ronaldo was suspended for Madrid's triumphs over Real Sociedad de Fútbol (4-1) and Sevilla FC (2-1) following his red card in a 2-1 success at Córdoba on 24 January.
Sergio Ramos has been out since sustaining a hamstring injury against Sevilla on 4 February. Khedira (also hamstring) has not featured since going off against Atlético three days later.
James Rodríguez fractured the fifth metatarsal in his right foot against Sevilla and will miss the Schalke tie. Luka Modric (out since 16 November, thigh) is still sidelined.
Madrid lost 4-2 to AC Milan on 30 December in a Dubai friendly.
Champions League squad changes
In: Martin Ødegaard (Strømsgodset IF), Lucas Silva (Cruzeiro)
Out: Abner, Guillermo Varela
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