Chanceless Schalke eliminated in Manchester

PFDC – MANCHESTER, Schalke were never close to the wonder they would have needed to overcome a 0-2 deficit from the first leg, suffering a 1-4 defeat to Manchester United in the second leg of UEFA Champions League semifinals.

Alex Ferguson lined up a complete B team to rest his players for the decisive league title clash against Chelsea on Sunday, but similarily to the first game ManU dominated the proceedings and easily won the game.

Valencia and Gibson gave the homeside a deserved two-goal lead before Jurado surprisingly pulled one back for the Germans.

But a second half brace from Anderson sealed Schalke’s destiny, who nevertheless can be proud of a historic season.

Ali Karimi, despite the return of two keyplayers from injury, as almost always was selected for the 18-men-squad ahead of Chinese international Hao or Greek Euro 2004 hero Charisteas, but didn’t come into play.

Coach Ragnick had brought on two strikers instead and had played without a defensive midfield for a short period before conceding the third goal and then opted for a defensive midfielder to avoid a further thrashing.

Schalke has two further meaningless Bundesliga games – against Mainz and in Cologne – in front of them, before taking on second Bundesliga outfits MSV Dusiburg in the German Cup final on May 21st.

Winning the Cup will be Schalke’s final chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League next season.