GERMANY: SOCCER - Valencia coach considers Schalke a "tough opponent"

Record ID: 555901

  • Title: GERMANY: SOCCER - Valencia coach considers Schalke a "tough opponent"
  • Date: 18th September 2007
  • Summary: PITCH AT STADIUM PLAYERS ON PITCH KEEPER TIMO HILDEBRAND WARMING UP KEEPER SANTIAGO CANIZARES RUIZ WARMING UP PLAYERS ON PITCH VALENCIA STRIKER FERNANDO MORIENTES PLAYERS TRAINING PITCH WITH PLAYERS HILDEBRAND TRAINING CANIZARES DRINKING VARIOUS OF STRIKER JAVIER ARIZMENDI MORIENTES RUNNING TEAM ON PITCH
  • Embargoed: 3rd October 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA7UPC3W0O8P8Z1NO2ABEVVSOP5
  • Story Text: Quique Sanchez Flores confident ahead of champions league opener against Shalke.
    Valencia coach Quique Sanchez Flores was confident ahead of the Champions League match against Schalke on Tuesday (September 18), but said Schalke was a powerful squad.
    "Schalke is a tough opponent who has great strength at home", he told reporters at a news conference in Gelsenkirchen on Monday (September 17).
    "We just want to get through this round, how we will achieve that the matches will show", Flores added.
    Schalke have never made the sort of impact in the Champions League as Valencia, twice runners-up and quarter-finalists last season, but Flores said his side were facing a difficult start.
    Banned Schalke 04 coach Mirko Slomka promised he will make no attempt to communicate with his assistants from the stands during Tuesday's Champions League Group B game against Valencia.
    Slomka was given a one-match touchline ban for a gesture he made to the referee in a UEFA Cup game against Nancy last season.
    Schalke 04 lost their only previous Champions League home game against a Spanish team, going down 1-0 to Real Mallorca six seasons ago. They have kept clean sheets in five of their last seven European home games and are unbeaten in eight.
    Valencia, who have failed to win any of their last eight games against German teams, have lost on six of their last seven visits to Germany, including a 7-0 reverse to Karlsruhe in the UEFA Cup in the 1993-94 season. Their last win in Germany, a 2-1 win over Nuremberg in the Fairs Cup, dates back more than 40 years to 1966.
    Valencia have failed to win any of their last five Champions League matches.
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