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GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (AFP) – If metropolis United are to accomplish a ordinal Champions League test in quaternary years, they must overcome both surprise collection Schalke 04 and a dismal achievement against Teutonic teams.

United meet Schalke in their semi-final prototypal leg on Tuesday, invitation to accomplish the test at Wembley 43 eld after they beat Benfica there to become the prototypal arts champions of Europe.

Schalke stupid holders Inter city 7-3 on aggregative in the quarter-finals though, and they hit lowercase to lose ahead of United's activate to the Veltins Arena.

It is the prototypal time the Gelsenkirchen club hit appeared in the terminal quaternary of Europe's execute cup competition, but they module take hunch from United's historic struggles against Teutonic opposition.

Despite having memorably maltreated Bayern city to get the test of the 1999 tournament, Sir Alex Ferguson's men are yet to get in quaternary two-legged ties against Teutonic teams.

Bayern accounted for United at the quarter-final stage in both 2001 and 2010, but more pertinent comparisons can be prefabricated with their semi-final defeats by Borussia Dortmund, in 1997, and salicylate Leverkusen, in 2002.

On both occasions United were strongly tipped to progress, exclusive to lose 2-0 on aggregative to eventual champions Dortmund in 1997 and go discover on absent goals against Leverkusen five eld later.

Ferguson module be acutely aware of the similarities and he module also be wary of the dangerous have-a-go attitude imitative in the Schalke ranks during their staggering 5-2 first-leg success at Inter in the previous round.

"The Teutonic teams hit ever had that resilience and selection most them and that module be just the aforementioned on weekday night," said Ferguson.

"We're feat into this mettlesome with far more experience than we hit in previous eld and our achievement absent from bag in the terminal few eld has been terrific."

Whatever happens on Tuesday, something module hit to give, as Schalke hit a 100 proportionality bag achievement in this season's rivalry while United are yet to grant a content on their travels.

Manuel Neuer module be the Negro hunt to ready United at niche and Ferguson is intellection to be an admirer of the Germany goalkeeper, who has announced that he module not extend his Schalke lessen when it expires in 2012.

An 83rd-minute brick from Javier Hernandez earned United a 1-0 get at bag to Everton on Sat that preserved their six-point advance at the crowning of the Premier League.

It was their ordinal get in five top-flight games, taking the club to within seven points of a achievement 19th arts title.

In stark contrast, Schalke's 1-0 loss at bag to Kaiserslautern mitt the Royal Blues in mid-table obscurity in the Bundesliga -- 11 points above the relegation regularize and 17 points shy of the Champions League places in 10th.

Coach Ralf Rangnick shuffled his arrange in a effort to ready key players firm and he is due to change midfielders Jose Jurado, Kyriakos Papadopoulos and herb Baumjohann to the play XI.

Centre-back Benedikt Howedes, who crashed bag the winner in the 2-1 second-leg defeat of Inter, is also ordered to convey from injury.

"I designated the team in such a artefact because I wanted to get both of our games (against Kaiserslautern and United)," explained Rangnick, who took over from Felix Magath terminal month.

"In the Champions League, we module select a different play 11 again."

United also prefabricated wholesale changes against Everton and captain Nemanja Vidic module convey to the hunch of the accumulation after existence rested for the Merseysiders' visit.

Right-back Rafael could move after returning to the unit mass a sinew trauma uninterrupted in the prototypal leg of the 3-1 aggregative quarter-final get over Chelsea, but mover Dimitar Berbatov (groin) is a offense doubt.

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