Our Champions League opponents in focus

Lokomotiv Moscow

Lokomotiv ended last season as Russian champions with a two-point lead over CSKA and a four-point lead over Spartak respectively. It was “Loko’s” third title in the club’s history, having won their two previous ones in 2002 and 2004. Juri Sjomin’s side have also won the national cup seven times, with their last success coming in 2017.

The success at Lokomotiv has been closely connected with head coach Juri Sjomin, who previously managed the club for 19 years from 1986 onwards. The 71-year old has turned a mid-table team into one of Russia’s most formidable sides. The former national team head coach returned to Lokomotiv in 2016 and was able to immediately guide the side from the capital into the Champions League for the first time in 14 years.

Sjomin is well supported in Moscow by former Schalke man; Erik Stoffelshaus, who previously worked for the Schalke youth academy. Stoffelshaus was responsible for the signings of two former Schalke stars; Benedikt Höwedes and Jefferson Farfan. Apart from the two familiar faces, the Lokomotiv squad is an experienced one with an average age of 28. Other well-known players include Croatian defender Vedran Corluka and Portuguese centre-forward Eder.

Lokomotiv haven’t started the new season in particularly good fashion, sitting in fifth position after five games with two wins, two draws and a defeat to their name. They play their home games in the RZD-Arena in Moscow, a ground built in 1923 with a capacity of just under 30,000. RZD, the state-run railway company, is also the main sponsor of the club.

FC Porto

FC Porto, who were drawn from pot 2, are one of the most successful clubs in European history, having won the European Cup in 1987 (beating Bayern 2-1 in the final) and the Champions League in 2004. Their Champions League triumph actually came in the VELTINS-Arena, where Jose Mourinho’s side beat Monaco 3-0. His side also won the UEFA-Cup the year before that, as well as the Europa League in 2011, when they defeated fellow Portuguese club SC Braga.

Porto have also been able to enjoy plenty of domestic success, winning 28 national championships and 15 national cups. However they had to wait five years for number 28, after their bitter rivals Benfica won the league in the four previous campaigns. They impressively managed to win nine titles in a row between 2003 and 2013.

Last season, the team coached by Sergio Conceicao, was only able to reach the last 16 in the Champions League. After finishing second behind Besiktas (and ahead of RB Leipzig), they were knocked out by eventual finalists Liverpool 5-0 on aggregate. Porto were also eliminated at the last 16 stage in 2008, when Schalke defeated them on penalties. S04 also defeated them in the first round of the UEFA-Cup in the 1976/77 season.

Galatasaray

Schalke will meet one of the most popular clubs in the Turkish Süper Lig. Galatasaray are also the most successful club in the division, having won 21 league titles, 17 cups and 15 Supercups.

The team known as the Lions, are coached by Fatih Terim and qualified for this year’s Champions League having won the league last season. They also reached the semi-finals of the cup, losing out to Akhisar Belediyespor. However they didn’t enjoy much success in Europe last year, losing out to Östersunds FK in the second qualifying round of the Europa League, although they were still being coached by Igor Tudor then.

The most well-known players include Yuto Nagatomo, Fernando Muslera, Eren Derdiyok and Younes Belhanda, who spent the second half of the 2015/16 season on loan at Schalke. Galatasaray play their home games at the recently built Türk Telekom Stadyumu, a ground which holds 52,650 fans.

Schalke have only met Galatasaray once before, losing in the last 16 of the Champions League in the 2012/13 season. The Royal Blues lost 3-2 at home, having drawn 1-1 in the Turkish metropole in the first leg.