Champions League - Matchpack: Schalke v Chelsea

Team news, manager quotes and stats ahead of the Champions League Group E match between Schalke and Chelsea at Veltins-Arena.

By : Eurosport
 
Team news
Schalke have a string of injuries, with top striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, central defender Kyriakos Papapdopoulos and midfielder Marco Hoeger out. They also had Jefferson Farfan ruled out for some four weeks earlier this month.

Germany forward Andre Schuerrle has recovered from a leg injury and has travelled with the Chelsea squad, but the match has come too soon for defender Ashley Cole. Schuerrle scored a hat-trick in Germany's 5-3 World Cup qualifying win over Sweden last week but missed Chelsea's 4-1 Premier League victory over Cardiff City on Saturday. The club said Schuerrle trained on Monday, as did Cole who has been out since sustaining a rib injury against Norwich City on Oct 6. Jose Mourinho has confirmed John Terry will start the match.

Manager quotes
Jens Keller (Schalke): "Chelsea are a top side with enormous quality. We have a lot of confidence from our recent results as well as our good showings in the Champions League over the past years. With the fans in our back, obviously we want to give our best. I have always said I want to win every game. But you have to see how the game goes, maybe a draw would be ok and we could live with that situation."

Jose Mourinho (Chelsea): to follow...

Match facts
Chelsea have finished as winners of their section in seven of their last ten campaigns and qualified for the knockout rounds as runners-up in two of the other years.

Last year though they became the first UEFA Champions League holders to have their title defence ended in the group stage, losing at FC Shakhtar Donetsk and Juventus after a 4-0 victory at FC Nordsjælland.

Compensation came swiftly however, with Chelsea going on to beat SL Benfica 2-1 in the UEFA Europa League final in Amsterdam thanks to Branislav Ivanović's header in the last minute of added time.

With their win in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League, Chelsea thus became the first side to win UEFA's two top club competitions in reverse order in successive seasons. They also became only the fourth side to win all three of UEFA's major club competitions.

Mourinho, who has lifted the trophy with both FC Porto (2004) and FC Internazionale Milano (2010), is bidding to become the first manager to win the European Cup with three different teams. Only Bob Paisley (Liverpool FC 1977, 1978, 1981) has won the trophy three times as a coach.

André Schürrle scored for 1. FSV Mainz 05 and Bayer 04 Leverkusen in two victories against Schalke between 2009 and 2013 before his move to London this summer. His other six games against the Royal Blues resulted in two draws and four defeats.

Schürrle is an international colleague of Benedikt Höwedes, Julian Draxler, Dennis Aogo and Roman Neustädter for Germany.

Substitute Schürrle scored in Germany's 3-2 win over Ramires' Brazil in a Stuttgart friendly on 10 August 2011. Aogo and Höwedes were on the bench for the home team.

Kevin-Prince Boateng played for Portsmouth FC in the 2010 FA Cup final against Chelsea, losing 1-0. Petr Čech, Ivanović, John Terry, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard all lined up in opposition.

Boateng also played for Tottenham Hotspur FC between 2007 and 2010 and with both clubs lost all three games against the Stamford Bridge side.

Demba Ba scored in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's 3-2 win against Schalke on 23 May 2009. In four years with Hoffenheim from 2007 he was unbeaten against Schalke, winning two and drawing two.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored as the Netherlands lost 4-2 in a friendly against Belgium in Brussels on 15 August 2012. Eden Hazard and Kevin de Bruyne played for the home team.

De Bruyne was on loan at SV Werder Bremen in 2012/13, losing both games against Schalke.

Huntelaar and Marko van Ginkel play together for the Netherlands; John Obi Mikel and Chinedu Obasi are team-mates for Nigeria.

Mark Schwarzer has German parents and both Australian and German citizenship. He played for 1. FC Dynamo Dresden in 1994/95 and 1. FC Kaiserslautern the following season, making a total of six Bundesliga appearances.