Man Utd's negative German UCL past

Bundesliga side FC Schalke 04 host English giants Manchester United in the first-leg of their semifinal at the 'Arena auf Schalke' tomorrow night. It will be the biggest match ever for the Gelsenkirchen club, while for Manchester United this stage of the Champions League is much more routine.

But there is an interesting piece of statistic which could give Schalke some hope of making it to their first ever Champions League final, while it could play on the mind of Sir Alex Ferguson and his boys. Manchester United have met German opposition four times in the two-legged semifinals and quarterfinals of the Champions League and never would they come out of those ties as winners.

The only knockout round exception was the 1999 final in Barcelona where the Red Devils would score a sensational 2-1 injury time comeback win against FC Bayern Munich. But that was different as it was a one-off match and at a neutral venue.

So against whom did Manchester United all play and lose over the years?

- 1997 - Semifinals: vs Borussia Dortmund (0-1,0-1)
- 2001 - Quarterfinal: vs FC Bayern Munich (0-1,1-2)
- 2002 - Semifinal: vs. Bayer 04 Leverkusen (2-2,1-1)
- 2010 - Quarterfinal: vs FC Bayern Munich (1-2,3-2)

Interesting to note is that on the first two occasions Dortmund and Bayern Munich would win the tie on aggregate and go on to win the Champions League title, while Leverkusen and last year Bayern Munich would only draw the tie on aggregate and go on to lose the final.

Schalke surely isn't a star studded side as the other three clubs had in their encounters with United, but Schalke have had an incredible run in the Champions League this season led by Raul upfront and some brilliant goalkeeping from Manuel Neuer at the back.

And after beating defending champions Inter Milan the royal blues are ready for another upset to make a surprising run into the final. And surely Raul would like to play his former club Real Madrid, while Mesut Oezil is old boys at Schalke. But before that can happen there is at least 180 minutes of football left.