The curiosity of Schalke's mixed season

Despite a brilliant European campaign some would say Rangnick's side aren't Germany's real success story

(AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Schalke stand on the brink of the unknown as they prepare to face Internazionale tonight, still pinching themselves after the greatest result in their modern history – last week's 5-2 win over the European champions in Milan. "We know we have to digest this first, before we can fully appreciate it," their coach Ralf Rangnick said after the match. "If someone had told us before the match that we would beat Inter by three goals, we would have declared him mad."

Inter already resonate strongly in Westphalian football history. They were the opposition when Schalke won their sole European trophy, the 1997 Uefa Cup final, at the San Siro, with goalkeeper Jens Lehmann the pivotal figure in the penalty shoot-out victory. Though they expect a strong reaction from Leonardo's men tonight, Schalke are within touching distance of surpassing their previous best in the Champions League – when they lost to Barcelona in the 2008 quarter-finals – and all being well will next meet the victors from Old Trafford last night.

This is perhaps how it always should have been for Schalke, the original giants of the German game in the pre-professional era before the creation of the Bundesliga in 1963. Between 1933 and 1942 the Royal Blues reached nine national championship finals, winning six, but since lifting the 1958 title they have painfully cultivated a reputation as the nation's bottlers, finishing second four times in the last 11 years.

Yet even so, only five clubs in Europe – Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid – consistently draw bigger crowds than Schalke. A survey published last week by the German website Stadionwelt Fans calculated that the Gelsenkirchen club have sold over a million tickets for their Bundesliga home games this season, with an average attendance of 61,000-plus.

The curiousity then is the imbalance of a season that has been wonderful in Europe but little short of disastrous domestically. Schalke sit in a modest ninth place in the Bundesliga, just about stabilised now, having lost the opening four games of the season.

Despite the Champions League progress, club morale had hit rock bottom under the previous coach, Felix Magath, who was fired a week after Schalke beat Spain's Valencia to reach the quarter-finals. Magath returned with his new side, Wolfsburg, at the weekend, and Schalke, satisfyingly, won 1-0.

Before that game, the Schalke winger Jefferson Farfan offered an insight into the relief felt at the three-time Bundesliga-winning coach's departure. Farfan almost joined Wolfsburg on transfer deadline day before going on to score twice in the win over Valencia, and shuddered at the prospect that he could easily have ended up working under Magath again. "I would have dropped dead," he told the German newspaper Bild. "I think I would have terminated my contract and gone home to Peru." Wins in all of Rangnick's three games since returning to Schalke for a second spell speak volumes of a happier camp.

It will be happier still if they finish the job against Inter tonight but whatever they achieve on the European stage the gloss will be partially taken off by the success of their bitter local rivals Dortmund. While Schalke's Bundesliga season has been tumultuous Dortmund head the table, 27 points above them and they have achieved it in an enviable and economically sound manner.

Schalke, heavily in debt, spent massively last summer on the high-profile likes of 27-year-old Klass-Jan Huntelaar, Jurado and the ageing Real Madrid legend Raul, but their neighbours were supplementing a heady mix of quality youth products with budget signings such as Shinji Kagawa, the midfielder signed from the modest J-League side Cerezo Osaka.

Dortmund's thrilling 3-1 win over Bayern Munich in February, in the defending German champions' own Allianz Arena, showed a worldwide television audience the energy and invention of coach Jürgen Klopp's young side. It showed very clearly the way the wind is blowing in Germany, with the new supplanting the old. The Dortmund starting line-up at Bayern had an average age of just over 22, with the prolific Paraguayan Lucas Barrios the grand old man of the team at 26.

Reflecting the recent comments on the merits of the country's youth system by the Germany general manager, Oliver Bierhoff, at the Soccerex conference in Manchester, many of Dortmund's finest could provide the core of the national side in years to come. Sven Bender (22 years old), Marcell Schmelzer (23), Mats Hummels (22) and the 18-year-old Mario Götze were all involved in the recent friendly against Australia.

A fortnight ago it was revealed that more than 300,000 Dortmund fans had applied for tickets for the final game of the season at the Signal Iduna Park against Frankfurt. The money rolls in, yet the business model is based on young players and investing for the future.

Dortmund's domestic success and Schalke's European joy contrasts sharply with Germany's traditional big spenders, Bayern Munich, who are in an almighty tangle. Having announced that coach Louis van Gaal would depart at the end of the campaign, the Dutchman's leaving date moved swiftly forward in the wake of Saturday's draw at Nuremburg which saw them drop into fourth place, 14 points off top spot.

More disquieting for the current Bayer Leverkusen coach, Jupp Heynckes, who will return to Munich for a third spell in the hot seat this summer, is the prospect of missing out on the Champions League, the 2012 final of which will be played at Bayern's own Allianz Arena. Ironically, it is Heynckes' current club who look set to deprive his future one of the second automatic qualifying spot. Leverkusen are now nine points clear of Bayern, leaving Germany's behemoth to scrap with Hannover for third place and entry to the Champions League play-off.

Heynckes' initial task may well be to quell dressing-room unrest, as stars such as Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry have outlined their feelings on the prospect of Europa League football. "It's shit and we'll do everything to avoid it," Ribéry said recently. For Dortmund supporters, but particularly Schalke fans, the Europa League couldn't be further from their thoughts.

Schalke v Internazionale

Internazionale, the holders, overturned a home leg defeat with victory in Germany to reach the quarter-finals. They are back in Germany tonight with a first-leg deficit to recover, only this time they need to score four times against Schalke to repeat their triumph over Bayern Munich.

"I continue to be optimistic. Our goals haven't changed," said the Inter coach, Leonardo, whose side lost 5-2 in Milan.

"Anything is possible. That's what I think and the players as well, starting with [Samuel] Eto'o, who knows a thing or two about comebacks. He told us about them and it was really emotional."

Eto'o was with Barcelona when they overcame a 5-1 deficit against Getafe in a Spanish cup game with a 4-0 win. "It's fairly difficult to believe in this comeback, but anything is possible in football," the striker said.

Inter, who lost 1-0 at home to Bayern and then won 3-2 in Munich, are boosted by the return of Lucio in defence.