Daniel Caligiuri: We want to win the group!

However, Caligiuri knows that there is still room for improvement despite the win: “I’m annoyed that we conceded two goals, even if it made the game exciting again.”

Schalke’s next game is against Porto in the Champions League on Wednesday. If Galatasaray fail to beat Lokomotiv Moscow in the early game, the Royal Blues can qualify for the round of 16 before their game even kicks off, but Caligiuri isn’t interested. “Obviously it’d be nice. Having said that, we want to win the Estadio do Dragao, because we want to go into the knockout stages as group winners,” he said.

Caligiuri has a lot of respect for Wednesday’s opponents: “Porto are extremely strong going forward. I played against Yacine Brahimi in the first game and it wasn’t easy. They also have some more physical attackers, who really work hard. You have to stop them first. If we manage that, I can see us having a very good chance.”

The first game was close, but Schalke had to settle for a point in the end. “It was annoying. We could have won the game. A very questionable penalty was given against us,” said Caligiuri. However, the first game has been and gone. All that matters now is the game on Wednesday, in which Schalke could take a huge step towards winning the group and getting into the last 16.