Schalke 04‘s last UEFA Champions League foray took them all the way to the semi-finals and they will be dreaming of reaching those heights again when they kick off a new campaign with an away game against Olympiacos FC.
Schalke lost out to Manchester United FC in the 2010/11 last four and will be eager to make a positive start in Piraeus.
Previous meetings
This is the second successive season in which Olympiacos have faced German opposition in the group stage; 12 months ago they beat Borussia Dortmund 3-1 at Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium on matchday three.
The Greek club have enjoyed some remarkable home games against German teams, including a 6-2 victory over Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League first group stage and a 4-0 defeat by Hamburger SV in the 1982/83 European Champion Clubs’ Cup second round.
In six home competitive fixtures against Bundesliga opponents there have been a total of 29 goals scored, Olympiacos winning four of those matches with two losses.
Match background
Olympiacos are in their 14th participation in the UEFA Champions League and will be hoping to at least match their feats of both 2009/10 and 2007/08 when they reached the round of 16.
Olympiacos are in their 14th participation in the UEFA Champions League and will be hoping to at least match their feats of both 2009/10 and 2007/08 when they reached the round of 16.
Last year’s defeat of Dortmund followed a 1-0 home loss to Olympique de Marseille on matchday one. They also beat Arsenal FC 3-1 in Greece, and have won five of their last six home group games in the competition. They still finished only third in Group F last term.
Schalke are making their fifth appearance in the competition; in their four previous campaigns they were defeated on matchday one without scoring a goal, against Olympique Lyonnais (0-1 away, 2010/11), Valencia CF (0-1 home, 2007/08), PSV Eindhoven (0-1 away, 2005/06) and Panathinaikos FC (0-2 home, 2001/02).
The German club recovered from that Lyon loss to win seven of their next nine fixtures with the other two drawn. They finished first in their group before overcoming Valencia and holders FC Internazionale Milano in the knockout rounds but then came unstuck against Manchester United, losing 2-0 at home and 4-1 away.
Football news: Olympiacos FC vs. Schalke 04 2012-2013 UEFA Champions League preview | Football News http://www.football-media.net/2012/09/18/olympiacos-fc-vs-schalke-04-2012-2013-uefa-champions-league-preview.html#ixzz26sVoDwNT
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