Next Tuesday, 10th of March 2015, the current World and European champions, Real Madrid, will measure forces with a fairly inconsistent Schalke 04 at Santiago Bernabéu for the second-leg of the Last 16 stage of the UEFA Champions League. Los Blancos granted a solid 2-0 win at Gelsenkirchen almost three weeks ago and, for that reason it is not very likely that the Miners will manage to cause them any major setbacks.

Despite having defeated Schalke at Gelsenkirchen for the first-leg of Champions League last month, Real Madrid are definitely not going through a good moment. Their defeat against their neighbours and rivals of Atlético Madrid almost one month ago has shaken the team’s foundations and since that match onwards Los Blancos’ performances have suffered an huge blow. Last weekend, Real Madrid suffered another painful defeat at San Mamés and because of that offered La Liga’s leadership to Barcelona, who hammered Rayo Vallecano 6-1.

Carlo Ancelotti’s boys had several chances to score but, for one reason or another failed to overcome Athletic’s goalkeeper, Gorka Iraizoz, who put up an excellent performance.

There is something rotten in the kingdom of Real, since that superbly synchronized team from early this season seems to have disappeared. Not even the talent of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema seems to be able to help them anymore and their constant defensive mistakes are costing them several points on the Spanish league.

For the upcoming match against Schalke 04, Carlo Ancelotti is not yet certain if he will be able to rely on the contribution of James Rodriguez, Luka Modric and Sergio Ramos, all currently sidelined due to injury problems.

As for Schalke 04, the Miners are not having an easy life after the Bundesliga’s Winter break and most of their recent performances have really left something to be desired. After being heavily defeated by Borussia Dortmund last weekend, Schalke managed to bounce back and sealed a solid 3-1 over Hoffenheim on Saturday, thanks to two goals from Meyer and one from Fuchs.

For their Herculean task at Bernabéu, Roberto Di Matteo will not be able to rely on the services of Julian Draxler, Fährmann, Farfan and Obasi, all of them sidelined because of injury.

Real Madrid are obviously favourites for next Tuesday’s match, but they cannot let their guard down and wait for the things to happen naturally.

Real Madrid

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - LDWWW

Schalke 04

Stats: W-1 L-3 D-1

Recent Form - WLDLL

Possible Line-ups

Real Madrid (4-4-2) - Casillas - Carvajal - Varane - Pepe - Marcelo - Silva - Kroos - Ronaldo - Isco - Bale - Benzema

Schalke 04 (3-1-4-2) - Wellenreuther - Ayhan - Höwedes - Nastasic - Neustädter- Meyer - Barnetta - Höger - Füchs - Choupo-Moting - Huntelaar

Prediction

Real Madrid 2 Schalke 04 0